REPORT KNOCK-OFFS AND RIP-OFFS!!!

Whether it's someone at a booth at an event or the numerous knock-off listings on online auction sites, knock-offs hurt the mostly independent mom&pop design houses that make up of the vast bulk of the rubber design market.

What are they doing and how do they do it?

Knock off sites sell cheaply made copies of other people's designs, usually using pics stolen from the designer's own website. If you see a listing that you know is using stolen pics, report it to the designer AND to the site (if it's an auction site). If an auction site won't act to take down a fraudulent listing, contact the Attorney General for the state they reside in and contact the hosting company.

What's the harm in saving a few bucks?

The harm is that both you and the real designer are getting screwed. You will 99% of the time get an inferior product made by slave labor that will fall apart on you and it takes money out of the pockets of someone who worked hard to bring something you like to market. While that dildo you got a XXX bookstore for $20 has a 800%+ mark up on it since it was made in bulk by machines, that catsuit made by your local designer, by hand, has maybe a 100-200% mark-up, which they have pay taxes on, and rent, and food, and materials, etc. Piracy also makes it harder for new designers to break into the market. Your sex life is a tremendous facet of your life as a whole, and purchases in regards to it should be seen as real investments, like your home or car. Piracy results in depressed wages and a marketplace flooded with crap. It also results in fewer people who know HOW to work, because there's less incentive for people to bother learning to work, so again, you end up with vastly overpriced, cheap-machine made crap. You get what you don't pay for.

Fraudulent Sites

In some cases, a crook will swipe someone's website code and set up their own site to try to just rip people off of their money. I once found someone who'd done this The Baroness's website. These types of scams also show up on online auction sites. If anything about a website makes you feel uneasy, report it to the designer or site owner.

Things to look for

If a website or auction listing doesn't have a direct email address, street address and phone number, BE CAREFUL! If someone's asking for your money, you have the right to know who they are and how to contact them if there is a problem.

Fellow Pirate Busters

The great folks over at KINKENGINEERING* have also launched their own anti-piracy page HERE , where they do point by point comparisons of pirated outfits to the originals.

*Full disclosure: Kink Engineering is a current sponsor of Miss Rubber World 2011.