The Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly IIIs are one of the most popular boots on the market. However, their $400US price tag causes many to turn to eBay and other sites in the hope of landing a bargain. Some have caught on to this and have started selling fake Superfly III boots at a deceivingly affordable price.
Here’s the Soccer Reviews guide on how to spot a fake pair of Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly IIIs.
Without the picture below, you’d be forgiven if you thought that the boots above are a real pair of Superfly IIIs. There are four tell tale signs of a fake.
1. On lots of fakes the swoosh on the sole plate is the wrong way around.
2. The heel is usually uneven on the fake Superlfy III boots.
3. If you look closely above at the insole the “Mercurial” lettering is in orange, the authentic pair has the lettering in black (varies by colourway).
4. Nike shoes are never laced like the pair above.
Replica pairs contain tongue labels in a different position and are outdated most of the time. The tongue label on the fake pair is contains the wrong date, it states that the Superfly III (orange peel colourway) was manufactured in 2007 when in actuality Superfly IIIs were manufactured in 2011.
Authentic Superfly III boots contain 8 lace holes while fakes contain 7 (may vary) as illustrated below.
Lets move on to the packaging, Nike’s Elite range sports a white shoe box and come with black carrying bag for the boots. Fake Superfly IIIs are being packaged a lot better now as you can see below but still don’t contain the black carrying bag; instead they contain two individual boot bags.
Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III Soccer Shoes (Orange Peel/Metallic Silver/Volt) – $359.99
Retail Price: $369.99
You Save: $10.00
from: WeGotSoccer.com
Do you know of anyone who’s unintentionally bought a pair of fake Superfly IIIs? Leave your answers in the section below.
What if there is no swoosh on the bottom on a Superfly II?
I’m sure the 2 doesn’t have anything on the soleplate, check a gallery on soccerbible. The elite has Nike in white letters, I’m talking about the world cup ones btw
Nick is correct, the Superfly IIs don’t contain the Swoosh.
Fake ones have stitching underneath the chassis that is very different from the real superflys’ design. The fake ones also usually have a sticker for the carbon fibre.
lots of times on ebay they call the fake boots the “economical version”
true peter and don’t let people tell you “there not fake, there the 50% carbon edition”. whatever they are there not made by nike and they’re a waste of money. Just save up and buy real ones or buy vapors, miracles, or glides…
Funny article. It is very disappointing that this article has to even be written in the first place!
I thought Nike cleats were made in china
I’d be very interested in how a $60 “superfly” would perform! Perhaps somebody could arrange that?
Hey Genau,
Hmmm. Shotgun reviewing the fake Superflys! I think we can arrange that…
funny how the fakes cant even get the number of lace holes right
Why in the Nike ad with the 4 boots (mercurial, t90, ctr360 and tiempo) hanging by their shoelaces is the mercurial logo on the insole not black (it’s orange), they wouldn’t have used fake superfly’s for one of nike’s biggest ads…
Hey Jackson,
It varies by colourway but I wasn’t clear so I’ll add a quick note, thanks!
just got back from a tournament and i saw a kid with blue and yellow CR7 mercurials; looked great, but obviously a fake
I have bought a pait of NIKE Superfly 2 in the offical nike store in Italy and I got the two bags like in the last picture, but other than that they look like original boots!!!
is the sizing the same as real nikes? if anyone knows?
are these real or fake? http://www.lovecleats.com/nike-mercurial-vapor-superfly-iii-fg-red-balck
its fake
Guys, I bought a pair of fake Mercurial Vapors from China. They costed me 100 dollars with the shipping included to Argentina. They are the same as the news said. The sizing is the same as any nike, but the whole feeling of putting your feet on them is completely different. On the bright side I can say that they look as if they were the real deal. But, when on the pitch, its noticeable that the fake soleplate compress the studs against your feet. It’s an unbereable situation. It’s almost impossible to stand a game without feeling pain. Any more questions, just tell me.
are these fake? http://www.cheap-football-boot.com/NikeMercurialVaporSuperflyIIIFGFootballBootsVioletWhite-p360.html
I just found out my Mercurial’s were fake. Do they affect your performance though?