PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
43
CONSUMABLES
it may seem like selling third-party toner
is a quick way to increase margin but
the reality is that the products you’re
selling are marketed as superior, high-
end investments. When the problems
associated with counterfeit toner, such
as streaky grey backgrounds, drop off,
ghosting and damage to the machine start
to appear, your reputation and business
relationship with your client is on the line.
You may end up spending a lot of time and
money on trying to rectify this, including
engineering visits and replacing spare
parts.”
The war against counterfeit
Brother works closely with the ICCE and
to fight the fakes on three levels. “At the
point of entry – when customs officials
check containers, they can validate any
imports of Brother consumables and
check their authenticity,” Jones explained.
“We also work closely with the channel,
ensuring we point resellers to purchase
from authenticated distributors and as
mentioned earlier, end-users have the
ability to go online to validate their
purchases.”
KYOCERA runs its own investigations
across Europe into fraudulent goods and
many cases that it is currently investigating
were originally flagged by its partner
community. “We’ve also been training
customs and excise officers at ports and
airports to spot KYOCERA supplies that
come into the UK via unexpected channels.
All KYOCERA toner should enter the UK
through one port and if it enters by any
other port our legal team is alerted. We’ve
made several successful seizures thanks to
this and have even followed a trail back
to a plant in China, which we had closed
down,” Allen explained.
To help protect its customers from
unwittingly purchasing third-party
consumables, OKI includes a hologram
label on its Original Consumables
packaging. “The label features a number
of important security measures that
are designed to be beyond the reach of
counterfeiters and also provide customers
with a simple process to check the
authenticity of their consumables,” Hall
explained.
Size and scale
“At KYOCERA, we are aware that
educating both our partners and our end-
users is the only way forward and so we
have launched many marketing campaigns
in the past and will continue to do so,”
Allen said.
“More often than not, we find that
our partners are aware of the counterfeit
problem but some don’t realise how
widespread it is. We’re continually investing
in educating our partners about the risks
and problems associated with counterfeit
goods along with the tell-tale signs to look
out for such as: a lack of a hologram on
the toner cartridge, testing the hologram
with the KYCOERA “Handy Viewer” to
identify fake holograms, inconsistent lot
numbers, badly printed packaging or a
price that seems unrealistic,” he added.
“If our partners or customers are
suspicious of any consumables that do
not have KYOCERA labelling or have an
unrealistically low price, we encourage
them to report to our team who can verify
the products,” Allen continued. “Our
message is that if it looks too good to be
true then it generally is.”
Jones argues that the internet in
particular has become an enabler of online
counterfeit products. “GfK reports point
to the growing trend for consumables to
be purchased online. Often as consumers
when we buy from a well-known reputable
site, we take that as validity to purchase,
but it is easy to be misled by marketplace
pop-up sellers who are here one minute
and gone the next. We should all ask: what
checks are we putting in place to ensure
that any purchases we make are made
from a trusted source of supply?” he said.
Jones pointed out that MPS (Managed
Print Services) has of course eliminated
risk for companies. “Those organisations
signing up to a Brother MPS contract with
an approved reseller for example have
an additional layer of assurance, as a
manufacturer we can validate our entire
supply chain, thus eliminating any risk of
counterfeits.
“And the advent of Basic MPS, which
caters to smaller SMBs means that even
companies with two or three printers can
also enjoy these same advantages and
ensure that the counterfeiters never get a
foot in the door,” he said in conclusion.
/
anti-counterfeit
.
co.uk
We also work
closely with
the channel,
ensuring
we point
resellers to
purchase from
authenticated
distributors
...continued
Deyon Antoine,
Product Manager,
Toshiba Tec
Nigel Allen,
Marketing Director
,
KYOCERA Document Solutions
