CreekMonster Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I recently bought some rapalas on ebay and the quality of the lures was second rate at best. The lures were NIB and at a glance looked good, but when I took them out of the boxes, top coat was crap. The quality of the lures is nowhere near that of the ones I've bought a WalMart. They look legit, but I can't help but wonder if they're counterfiet.Possibly seconds or rejects? Anybody else had the same problem? Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.dsaavedra. Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 wow i have NEVER had a single problem with ANY rapala. my guess was you got ripped. they are probably counterfeit for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I buy some discontinued Rapalas on Ebay. I think many come from stock found moldering in warehouses or from failed businesses, etc. They've been carted around from place to place, sold/resold, and can be scuffed from handling or poor storage. And of course clearcoat technology has progressed quite a bit in recent years. I don't much care since I buy them for fishing, not for collecting, and often repaint them anyway. I wouldn't hesitate to dip them in some Dick Nite to fix any serious clearcoat problems though. I gotta wonder if it would even be worthwhile to counterfeit a Rapala, since the price point on them just isn't that high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasey9 Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 years ago i saw a guy selling rapalas nib at a flea market for 3.00 a freind who had a bait shop said that they were rejects because the lips had cracks in theme only visable with a magnifiney glass i always thought that he lied because he didnt want me to buy and resell at the flea market so maybe yours are rejects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekMonster Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 They just about have to be real, they were in the boxes, still glued shut. But the color schemes were new, I even got 2 of the silver with 3D eyes. I bught them to repaint. I sanded lightly, I mean LIGHTLY, with 400 paper, to knock the gloss off and hit them with 2 differant kinds of primer.( I tried a second kind after the I messed up the first lure) The paint ate through the clear coat and bubbled up the graphic wrap. I couldn't believe it! All my other Rapalas are so tough, you have to use a hammer to scratch them. I'm leaning on the "rejects". Probably quality issues with the top coat. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lure--Prof Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Jay, If you took the lures out of the box and fished them, and then the paint began peeling off, then that is a quality issue with Rapala. If you took them out of the box, scuffed them, and primed them, and your primer ate through their clear coat when it would not do that on their older lures, that means they have changed their clear coat to something with which your primer is now incompatible. It is not surprising that they've change their clearcoat, considering that they are made in a different country with no doubt, modern production techniques and using different materials. This leaves you with some options. You can adapt to the new lures by finding a compatible material with which to prime or coat their new lures and proceed with your painting, of which I'm sure that many here are currently doing. You can completely strip their lures and start over from wood. Or you can begin making your own lures exactly the way you want to make them, which is one of the big reasons that this Hard Baits board is so popular. Just a few years ago, I switched from making a variety of lures to mostly making balsa crankbaits because there were very few balsa cranks available. There was no more Bagley baits; you could Google Bagley and literally come up with no responses. That left either Rapala's few cranks or a small manufacturer who was primarily local, with limited distribution. But there were several years where major sporting goods wholesalers and big stores carried no balsa cranks. Just saying here, that necessity is indeed the mother of invention. But it is really not fair to call out Rapala here, and question the quality of their new lures, because your primer is no longer compatible with their clear coat. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackjack Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Never had a problem with any wood bait doing that and the reason is I strip all the factory finish off right down to bare wood, this way you know exactly what to expect when it is time to paint and clearcoat, Bagleys and Rapalas are my speciality, Never have painted over any factory finish as all you are doing is adding weight and decreasing the action of the bait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Craig, you're braver than me - I don't strip them all the way to bare wood because I can't sand the body "straight" if part is raw wood and some still has finish on it. I just sand them down to the undercoating. JMHO, Rapalas have the highest quality versus price of any mass produced wood bait. They don't cover the whole spectrum of crankbaits I like to fish, but with the addition of lots of shallow models the last couple of years, they're getting there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekMonster Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I am by no means calling rapalas bad. As far as I'm concerned, you can't buy a finer quality lure that is mass produced. I still have rapalas I've been fishing for 15 to 20 years and are still very fishable, (and yes, I catch fish on them...LOL) I was just inquiring if any one had experienced a similar problem. I refinish some here and there to try and balance money spent on my habit of handcrafting lures.(can get kinda expensive..lol) and Rapalas are fairly good sellers.Stripping down to the wood is just not lucrative for me and in the past, a light sanding on their super tough top coat was all it took. Kinda hurt my feelings when I realized the coating was not durable, and I sincerely hope this is not the new "norm" for the company. I have quite a lot of experience fishing lures, and I'm here to tell ya, these particular ones wouldn't have lasted up to a couple of fish. I'm fairly positive they were seconds or rejects. The top coat on them was equivilent to one coat of clear lacquer from a rattle can. PLEASE DON'T GET ME WRONG, I WILL CONTINUE TO BUY THEM, I'LL JUST BE MORE CAREFUL WHERE I GET THEM. Yall know the old saying, " if its sounds too good to be true, it probably is" well, in this case it WAS....LOL I should know this very well by now, but sometimes I just can't pass up a good bargain. Or at least what I thought was one..... Thanks for the replies.. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekMonster Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Oh yeah, I personally test every single one I paint, and not once have I had a problem with weight or action. I have actually had some of them develop a wider wobble with more vibration. Some of them, but the majority are not affected at all. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkman Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Ive had problems...but thats rare...some times the bad ones get out and in the open..just get them from Wally world or any where else but eBay...lesson learned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmetto Balsa Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Has anyone ever seen Wal-Mart change out a display? Has anyone ever noticed that Wal-Mart never has dust on top of the blister packs? I use Wal-Mart as an example because most of us have one near by and have visited the sporting goods dept. The big stores will change out an entire display and every lure on that display. They do this just to put new boxes of some of the same lures back in the same way or in a entirely new display set so that all stores on this date will be set up in the same manner. Some of these lures will be put on the clearance pegs and some just goes in the green plastic shipping bins still on the pegs. The ones that get put in bins go back to a single warehouse to be inventoried and then they are sold by the truck load (18 wheeler full) to a liquidator. The purchaser pays the price for the contents of truck (at a huge discount) and then they have to find a driver to deliver the truck or trucks to his location. Resellers will purchase from these liquidators and then sell them in there tackle shops, at a flea markets, on the side of the road, or on eBay. These lures are first quality and are bought and sold at a below cost price. It is a secondary market that is profitable to the original seller, the liquidator, and the reseller and allows the final purchaser to own some great lures at a below retail price. This is how many of the items on ebay get there at the prices they are at. I am not going to say that there is never rejects or stolen items on ebay, but I would say that for the most part it is just a quality product selling at auction prices. They are sold in large groups because of shipping logistics and the idea of moving volumes of inventory is a lot easier than selling them one by one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Pal -great answer. I have bought lots of Rapalas (c-downs) from Thailand, through eBay and never had a problem with the quality, and get some colors that we don't ever see here, and even occasionally catch a fish. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuskyGary Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 I like to buy them on E-bay for the purpose of repainting. Good practice and a cheap way of doing it without having to make the plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Bait Co. Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 You may have gotten a "Bootleg" Rapala on ebay if it was a discontinued one. I sell Hard to find and discontinued Rapalas on ebay and some Rapala's are big money makers. I get mine from local tackle shops. We have one here that you could consider a fishing museam. But mainly people don't use thoes colors around here. Anyways some people have just as much skill as you guys do painting lures probaly more time then we do to repaint a lure and alter packages. That they picked up on clearance and poof a $5.00 Rapala be comes a $25.00 to $50.00 Rapala on ebay.Yes Rapala does make mistakes every big company does one way or the other. Unless its a Lure thats his made in the U.S. If their is any left? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
