It hurts to end a sale on a bad note

I generally like fake goods and I'm not alone. How else to explain the continued popularity of Beijing's Silk Market among tourists, or the rip-roaring success of China's biggest online shopping marketplace, Taobao, where I recently bought two Tag Heuer spectacle frames for about 150 yuan ($23.50) - and then spent 10 times as much having the lenses put in by opticians. I reckon that I saved 4,000 yuan and even with my new glasses on I can't tell the difference between my frames and the real thing.

I'm hoping the recently launched "Four Evils" crackdown on fake goods won't affect my inclination to pay a tenth of the price for goods that are 10 times more expensive than they should be merely because they have a label on them. That said, I do agree with the need to remove fake blood products, dangerous goods and tainted foodstuffs, such as melamine in kiddy milk powder because it is a matter of life and death.

Another type of fakery I'm against is dodgy money. If I buy goods online and the seller says they are genuine brand name, I assume the merchant is having a laugh. If he admits they are copies, I tend to buy, thinking he's trustworthy. If the goods aren't up to par, I return them and write a comment telling everybody else not to bother.