Just came back from a local toy fair, went after a driving lesson with my Mother to check it out.
I picked up some cool Movie/Entertainment related collectible card packs and I was also interested to see the Pokemon presence there.
Quite a lot of the stores had random boxes/sealed product of newer sets and every other table had an old binder filled with common/uncommon junk that was 50c each.
However I came across a table where a guy was selling the fake packs/Pokemon GO TCG product that you see all over eBay. I wanted to test him so I called him over and asked about the products, I asked if they were authentic product and he said they were and they were hard to get because of how popular Pokemon was.
I called him out on it and said that all of his TCG product was fake, he got defensive about it and said that it didn’t matter because it was just kids buying it so who cares. I was tempted to go off at him about how bad that attitude was but I bit my tongue and went to seek out the person running the event.
Turns out the guy running it is an old friend of my Dads who I recognised from when I used to help my Dad at his Stamp/Philately Auctions. I explained the situation to him and he said he couldn’t do anything about it right now but would look into it after the event had finished. Not sure whether he was blowing smoke up my ass or would actually do something so hopefully he actually does.
Hah bite my tongue is something I cannot do when it comes to these fake ass card sellers. You should see the way I enlighten the potential fake card buyers at flea markets. The sellers hate me but not as much as I hate them for trying to explain how they are in fact real, smug face and all; it’s disgusting! I don’t give a fuck about making a small scene as long as I let my niggas know that the person running this business is selling fake shit.
Believe me I was tempted to let him have it, however it wouldn’t have accomplished anything. Going to management was my best course of action and there may be a sliver of a hope because I was acquainted with the organiser.
I don’t go to the fairs often, but if I go again in the future and see the same guy selling fakes I will say something to him.
Good job calling that guy out Milhouse. On a super related note I’m going to an anime/videogame convention today and every single year there is always a booth in the vendors room that sells fake Pokemon games. Every. single. year. The booth does sell legit videogames but for some reason all of the Pokemon GBA games are fake. This will be the 6th year in a row that I’ll be giving that specific vendor some shit haha
I remember one year I confronted the the guy running it. He looked right into my eyes he was like “Listen man, I JUST got my business degree and this isn’t where I expected to be in life.” I instantly died laughing and left the poor bastard alone after that.
Some people just don’t care. Not much you can do unfortunately.
You see people on YouTube opening fake sealed booster boxes just to get a few views and see the cards. It exposes it but actually buying them and revealing them is discouraging. As the money from the purchase only causes the problem to get bigger.
Its the parents who are the most at risk here. As they will be oblivious to the fact what is real and not.
I totally disagree with it as a whole and whenever I see fake cards on eBay I report the item as fake and try to get it removed.
I can’t see much being done as yes they are rip offs but at the end of the day they are just playing cards that are meant to look cool and be played with.
Its sad but true.
I am not looking to get into any discussions or arguments about this as its too big of a problem. Just giving my 2 cents on the matter.
A lot of parents, aunts n uncles, etc AND kids under 12 can NOT tell the really convincing fakes apart from real cards. At many flea markets, conventions in the USA selling bootleg/fake stuff gets you banned from the event. At a local anime convention 1 year they were selling fake pokemon plush, well they got told to stop selling them, pull all fake products down, or they would be shut down and not allowed to sell at all.
When I go to anime conventions (and often meet up with @reinasierpe ) you would be surprised the number of vendors that sell bootleg merchandise. It is appalling. Even at some of the more reputable seller tables, there is still quite a number of bootlegs due to regular sellers just not knowing where to go.
Last week at my nephews 6th birthday the neighbour-kid proudly showed his cards to me after my nephew opened his tin. He had some regular stuff, strangely enough a Base Set Blastoise (played, but atleast he sleeved it) and some Gym Heroes. The only valuable cards he had were some SM GX’s. His dad told they buy Pokemon cards on flea markets because that’s a lot cheaper. Because I only casually showed interest in it I didn’t really felt the difference in card quality. But turned out all what should be valuable was worth less than toilet paper. Showed him the light trick (and explained all to my brother to prevent his kid from taking big losses trading fakes with the neighbour-kid)… If it doesn’t come from retail; don’t buy it.
I work as a volunteer at a convention here in the Netherlands and the staff does a sweep of the dealers area before opening. Every single vendor with fake stuff, even if it’s just some Chewbacca teaspoon is requested to remove the bootleg from the table. If he refuses or it’s spotted back on table his table is being forced to be cleaned and he’s kicked out of the event.
Sadly, there is nothing to do against it. If you’re into the hobby you can spot it. As you say, the family that just wants to give you a nice gift don’t. They just see a nice price tag and think it’s ok.
(2 minutes after buying the fake packs from the man and overhearing @milhouse conversation) 5 year old boy: daddy, my 1st edition charizard isn’t real? we can’t send this to PSA and sell it on ebay so we can finally move to a better apartment?
The fake pokemon go packs are popping up at retro game conventions as well here in the Netherlands. I saw a box of fake packs sitting on a table but I was too busy scouring for retro games that I didn’t want to pay it any attention. On my second visit to the table I noticed a ton of packs were already gone. Then I noticed he was charging 4 euros per pack. I didn’t do anything with it but I guess I should have…
4 euros for a fake booster pack is a disgrace. I’ve seen booster boxes of that fake product being sold for less than 10 euros (36 packs!). Imagine the profit they make if they bought fake boxes with that price. It makes me sick really. These stuff is all over on sponsored links on eBay as well. I really feel for the kids who think they have legit stuff when their fakes in fact are worth absolutely nothing.