[s5s]

Hi all,

I ordered 2 Bosch pre-cat lambda sensors from ebay from 2 different sellers. Both came in bosch boxes but one came in a box that had a silver/metalic sticker with a code to use to check authenticity at www.protect.bosch.com. The other didn't. Bother were around 1/2 the price I would get from a site such as autodoc.co.uk...which claims it is giving a discount itself.

The fact that one came with a sticker and one didn't arose my interest and I concluded that the one without a sticker is most likely counterfeit because these parts should come with a sticker. I looked it up online and it is true that a lot of Bosch parts come with these security stickers. Anyway, for the part that came with the sticker, I went online and entered the code to be told that this code does not exist. Basically, both parts are AFAIK fake.

I also ordered a new Bosch cabin air filter from autodoc which is a legitimate website as far as I can tell. This came in a Bosch box with no authenticity code sticker on it. I'm reasonably comfortable that this is genuine because I trust the website.

I do believe, given that the cabin air filter is like £15, they likely don't bother with a sticker. I'm almost certain the sensors are fake, both of them. The black plastic pin adaptor has no writing on either one and from what I've seen, Bosch sensors have beige writing on there. Anyway, I would love to hear your opinion as I've never purchased these parts before. Would you expect this code on each box and would you expect it to work. I find it really silly that if this is a counterfeit item, you'd put a code that you know won't work unless your hope is that the buyer won't check the code.

I'll definitely return these to Ebay. Should I contact Bosch and point them to the seller's direction? One of the sellers tried to be a smart a$$ effectively telling me I should be thankful because it's the same as a Bosch (manufactured in the same factory) but cheaper because they are not paying for marketing...and apparently he's offering 3Y warranty whereas Bosch offers 1Y. Obviously that makes no sense. Then he went on to tell me that when it says "Made in Germany" on the sensor, this doesn't mean it's manufactured in Germany but that it's a German design but could be manufactured anywhere.

I'm genuinely shocked. Is there a way to tell if a part is a genuine? Is it just avoid ebay? I didn't expect someone will fake a sub £100 part with fake "Bosch" and fake "Made in Germany". I recently bought a NOX sensor on ebay and there were a lot of Chinese sensors but they were sold as Chinese sensors, not as a Continental NOX sensor. The parts I've bought from ebay so far have been pretty good. My observation is that a lot of the sellers I used have businesses and websites and ebay is just another venue to sell on so maybe a rule to live by is to buy from reputable sellers with genuine shops.