Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Original eBay Ad

eBay Filter
Actual Toyota filter






I should have been more cautious when the price was that low, but I think this is a valuable lesson for anyone shopping online for genuine parts.

Here are the reasons I believe this air filter is NOT genuine Lexus/Toyota.

1. A genuine Toyota/Lexus parts box is all red with white checkered logos, not striped.

2. The filter itself is missing DENSO and TOYOTA branding

3. The filter media has less material than the original equipment.

The original seller advertises the item as Genuine Lexus/Toyota. Can I report this to eBay and/or Lexus or did they find some sort of loophole?

crwys

I thought it was pretty well known that eBay is filled with counterfeit parts.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Yeah you're right, I know there is a lot of junk on there. I've had a good experience in the past purchasing from genuine dealers, but never saw fake packaging/misleading descriptions for very good knock offs like this one.

nsghtbrwry

Yeah, can't trust that eBay. I still do buy stuff occasionally, but only if it's actually sold by a dealer...and they price-gouge you. What I usually do is get part numbers, then order from one of the site sponsors on TN, he's great and prices are very very hard to beat.

HomerJay

I too sometimes wonder if the item being sold is authentic or counterfeit . Do you think the slight differences maybe attributed to the filter being manufactured in Japan and not the USA?

Oro

This is a very prudent and valid question.

I had an issue like this several years ago. I was sure the part was bogus but then found out that different sources had different looks (and packaging). I can't say this in particular is for sure one or the other, but I an SURE that there are packaging and part detail differences based on location of the part manufacturer. You have to keep in mind how truly global Toyota is and how many different suppliers they have for the exact same part, and on wholly different continents. They have three wholly different manufacturers (refiners), on three different continents, just for their transmission fluid, for example. (Caveat, that was a few years ago and XOM may be making more of it now than in the past).

semlin

i wouldn't buy anything oem on ebay unless it was priced as aftermarket. that being said, you might get luck.

while it is possible it is counterfeit, it is more than likely the source supplier to toyota japan making extra filters and selling them or possibly a batch of qa/qc rejected parts. i have purchased parts from taiwan that come without oem packaging but have the aisin or denso mark on them. a recent example is a transmissions speed sensor marked aisin. it looks identical to the part it replaces and performs as it should. it was under $10 shipped and the factory part is $50. my old one was intermittently failing. so far so good with the new one

intramorph

yeah I made the same mistake buying “genuine Toyota” iridium spark plugs and they worked for about 2 weeks and after that one of 6 failed miserably causing my engine to misfire. I took the car to the shop and sure enough they weee all fake spark plugs. Replaced all with genuine denso plugs thank god it didn’t do any permanent damage to the car. I reported the seller to eBay they chose to ignore me and said there’s no proof this is counterfeit part. Be ware they even sell fake oil and fake oil filters and so on. Never buy from an eBay seller unless they’re a reputable dealer. I learned the hard way.