I know people always post fake cards on ebay but at the moment it seems like every other card is stated as a replica or proxy card. What’s worse, is people either pretend not to know or just think it’s funny to con people. Makes me so mad.
I am always careful and confident I know what I am looking for but I wondered if anyone else know of anyone being caught out? There was a bid on a fake 1st ed, shadowless, base set Charizard at about £90 recently and I wished so much I could tell the person not to buy it. The word proxy was in the title but was hidden because of the length.
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Yes, it is extremely frustrating. I just randomly searched 1st edition base Charizard and it seemed like 85% of it came back with “proxy”, gold cards, or something similar. Apparently, that is where the hobby is at and people keep buying this shit, so why not keep making it. I can’t lie and say I don’t like some of the custom/proxy card looks but buying one is just feeding those who are making it.
My only weakness is that this wasn’t a proxy but someone took the same card like 10x and cut it out so that it looks 3D, which is pretty damn cool…
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I always wondered why the Pokémon company doesn’t do shit about those counterfeit listings. If enough people report a listing, eBay usually removes it. But the Pokémon company itself doesn’t do anything about it, and people keep buying them. I don’t have anything against altered cards made from real cards, like the 3D cards above made from multiple real cards, or the altered/extended cards with paint, which I collect for the Base Set Pikachu from different artists. With those kind of altered cards, you still buy the real card, and in addition the art of the artists who made them.
But with those counterfeit cards like that Base Charizard you’ve mentioned, or fake Pokémon Illustrator cards, or those rainbowy Chinese EX/GX fakes, etc., it is nothing more than a scam and imo the Pokémon company should at least do something about them, since more and more seem to be popping up on eBay, Amazon, and alike these days and more and more people also buy them because they are cheaper than real cards or they simply don’t know any better (i.e. moms buying cards as a present for their children).
Greetz,
Quuador
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- It would cost them money and time.
- They won’t be making enough money off of it.
If it were one big company producing all the fakes? Sure, it would be in their best interest.
But to go after every single individual is an exercise in futility.
The only way to stop counterfeiters is to inform potential buyers and make them not buy the fake stuff.
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I was researching 1st edition charizard and shadowless charizard prices in all raw conditions just yesterday and saw (and was going to post but you beat me to it!) this phenomenon. I was like WHAT ON EARTH! I saw one that sold for $500USD! I was dumbfounded. Alot of them aren’t even misleading, some will say clear as day only a few words or even the first word in the description that it’s a proxy! Alot of the descriptions say clearly and transparently it’s fake too! If they dont say its proxy and are misleading or shady in the title/description then it’s a straight up scam. So for those listings that are straightforward about it’s fake and or proxy status…
I came to a couple conclusions:
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People are literally just stupid… I hate to say it and no offense to stupid people but maybe some people are too stupid to read the title and description? They just see picture and price and click? Maybe they dont know what the word proxy means? Maybe they cant read? I dont know what the case is but stupidity seems like it must be a factor in one of the scenarios. But then theres the fact that if they are buying stuff on ebay they have an account and a PayPal, so you have to have some kind of smarts to set all that up, along with the ability to comprehend and read.
And I’m not saying the grandmothers are stupid, the assumption was made that they could be buying these as birthday or Christmas presents, but cant they read?? Wouldnt they do some research before spending that kind of money? Are 9 year olds after this card and dont care if fake??
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People literally just dont care. I would think and hope a “true” or “serious” collector would never buy one of these proxy cards. So going back to the end of point one, perhaps the 9 year old kid who just thinks it’s cool looking doesn’t really understand yet and therefore doesn’t care it’s fake and his parents have enough money to blow on it to please their kid. Seems likely.
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People could be buying these to use as a sleight of hand type trick while looking at collections. If two people are in person (seller and buyer) together going over a collection the buyer could easily hide one of these proxys in his sleeve or pocket and at the right moment swap it with the real deal while evaluating the cards. The seller just has to look away, or sneeze, or close his eyes in thought for just a small amount of time and the swap could be done. If the seller is uneducated on pokemon, i.e. selling their kids childhood collection or something they picked up inadvertantly in an auction or estate sale, they would never know the difference. And even it’s a knowledgable collector, at a quick first glance they’d likely not notice. If it’s done through a craigslist ad, the buyer could easily have a burner email and/or phone so they couldn’t be tracked. By the time the knowledgable collector noticed they’d have no way to get in contact with the scammer or do something about it. All they could do is file a police report based on the persons description.
I hope this trend will end some how some time very sooon. I have no clue how to truly combat this phenomenon. The only thing I can think of to do is make a burner ebay account and bid on the auctions and make best offers on non auctions listings with that option and then never pay once you’ve won the auction or agreed on price on the best offer. That will at least postpone the sales and keep them in limbo for a while.
Craaaaaaaaazzzzy stuff!
Sadly, the word “proxy” has been fooling the unknowing pretty often on ebay.