VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of private run shops introduce themselves as the authorized resellers for Apple in Vietnam which have been selling counterfeit Apple products.
Bao, 45 in Tan Phu district in HCM City is still full of pent-up anger when looking at his iPhone 3G. Bao purchased a cover for his mobile phone one month ago at 700,000 dong after consulting with many friends and colleagues. However, just after a couple of weeks, the cover got cracked even though Bao did not drop the phone.

“I purchased counterfeit goods,” Bao complained.

Bao said that he purchased the phone cover from a shop in district 1, which introduced itself as “Authorized Reseller” and got the commitment that this was the “first class” product. “First class” is always understood as the best product; therefore, Bao decided to buy the cover, even though the product was really expensive.

Phuong in Phu Nhuan district said that she went to PLStore on Nguyen Van Troi Street in Phu Nhuan district in HCM City to purchase a handphone at 600,000 dong for her iPhone 4. However, Phuong has got discouraged when realizing that the sound quality of the newly purchased product is much worse than the handphone which was associated with the iPhone 4.

Also according to Phuong, PLStore is an authorized reseller of Apple in Vietnam, which made debut several months ago.

“V”, 51, in Binh Tan district in HCM City, the wholesaler of accessories for Apple’s products in HCM City, has revealed that only the authorized resellers in Vietnam which always have specific signals for recognition have genuine products. Meanwhile, the majority of private run shops only sell counterfeit products.

V said that as for phone cover alone, there are four different quality levels, while the gap between the levels is up to hundreds of thousands of dong. There are also three or four classes of handphone. Counterfeit batteries, battery charging devices and screens have also been flooding the market.

“In many cases, importers import counterfeit goods, but when the goods arrive in HCM City, suppliers will seal the products, so that the products look like real goods,” he said.

“Even traders cannot recognize counterfeit goods, let alone normal people,” he said. “The consignments of products with seals always have the sale prices nearly equal to the prices of the real products”.

Where do the counterfeit goods come from? According to V, the counterfeit goods are collected from different sources, including the products carried out by people across the border. However, V said, most of the imports come from China.

In Vietnam, to date, five official distributors have been recognized, namely VinaPhone, Viettel, FPT Distributions, Thakral and Jel. Thakral and Jel are the distributors from Singapore.

The retail system in Vietnam can be divided into two different levels, Premium Reseller (PR) and Authorized Reseller (AR). PRs can purchase goods directly from foreign general agents, while their shops can be designed by Apple in accordance with the corporation’s standards.

Meanwhile, ARs can get products from domestic suppliers, while their shops have the colors and designs similar to PR shops.

Regarding the retail prices, there could be the differences in the prices quoted by different AR. However, all the Apple’s products can enjoy the 12-month warranty policy.

Apple decides that only VinaPhone and Viettel have the right to distribute iPhone series, from 3G, 3GS to iPhone 4. Meanwhile, PRs and ARs only have the right to distribute iPod, Macbook and iPad.

KC