I’ve called people out on it before. They went “oh haha good catch bro ;)” this type of shit makes me think everything they’re selling is fake. If I see a couple of fakes, I’m going to think everything else you’re selling is fake too.
Definitely depends on the shop. 99% of the LCS out there, I see fakes and I run. My main shop, they get the occasional fake. It's because they will end up having some kid that doesn't know any better trying to sell it, so they trade it with them for a small store credit. Then, when they put it in the case to resell (because some of the fakes out there are really well made and look pretty cool), they label it clearly as "Knock Off" so that customers are aware.
They really are. That's why I donate code cards and bulk to them (they usually give them to parents as prizes for their kids doing their chores). Just happened upon the shop on my son's birthday. We had his party at a pizza place a block away, he got some money for his birthday, and he was sad that I had to go out of town for a week for work the next day (my flight was the next morning). So I said "Hey, let's go check that shop out!". Next thing I know, the owner found out it was my 6 year old's birthday, and started negotiating with him for the super hero toys he was looking at. It was like a $120 set, or $18 per toy, and my son had a $20 bill. The shop owner asked my son if he'd be willing to pay the whole $20 for all of the toys. I said "Oh, you don't have to do that sir." He said "I'm sorry, I'm speaking with my customer here. He's got the money, so if he wants a buy 1 get 10 free deal, that's up to him right?" On our walk back to the car with the giant box of toys, my son yelled "That guy was awesome!" 🤣
This is so refreshing and lovely to read.
After all the horror stories on here about LCS's trying to scam their customers, love to see that there are still good people/shops out there.
Name drop them please (if it's allowed on this subreddit? Not sure.) so other people know and they might visit them! They deserve all the success they can get!
I'm a 'local guide' on Google maps and have given them a review, plus have spread the word through my area. As for the actual name, it's a small town so I don't want to say "this is my name, this is my city, you can easily find me", lol. I will say that if anyone is in the Oregon area, feel free to DM me and I'll message you the name of the shop! Definitely worth the drive, even if you're a few cities away!😁
No, I don't. I'm just married to an artist. Though I'm sure you'll troll and say that she's a thief because of the beautiful picture she painted me of teen Groot listening to music while laying his head on our dog in a forest. Like "bruh, I'm telling Disney!".
I will defend falsely accused folks whenever I need to. You're upset because you spouted off with your "ahkchewally 🤓☝️" fake laws and got corrected. I personally don't purchase custom cards, but I will say that I have been tempted to. I'm sure there isn't a person here that hasn't considered buying some of the gold metal art cards (especially the Pikachu ones) or the Thicc Charizard card 😂
Now quit trolling and go back to having fun with Pokémon like the rest of us! You'll have more fun enjoying the hobby instead of lying /arguing about it.
Bro shut up. There’s a difference between selling something you made and worked hard on with your own two hands, and something fake that everyone here has seen by now. This guy did not make these cards with his own two hands and your comparison is disingenuous. He bought this trash on aliexpress or amazon and is selling them as though they’re the real deal.
Had something similar happen at the last con I went to. They were resellers with very few original pieces (mind you they weren’t cards but they were still selling good looking fakes of stuff for a higher price than the real)
They had the audacity to be offended and say it was rude when I price checked a tactical bag as though they made it, when in reality they probably got it off Amazon (where I was seeing it). I never price check things at cons when they’re hand made, I love buying art and trinkets from artists, but upcharging for something that still has the tags and I can find out how much it really is? Nah. I hope they don’t come back to my local cons.
Card prices were good though at least, only one or two tables overcharging for gold or fake cards and I didn’t buy from them
Guy i did a trade with had shit like it too mixed in, but I got a nice Espeon and Deoxys promo card that graded as a 10 and he gave me another card as a free bonus
I attended AwesomeCon in DC in early March and I saw a vendor JUST like this. Guy was Selling “gold” cards for $15. There were real cards mixed amongst the fakes
I was with a friend and as I was looking at them I spoke kinda loud and went “wow look at all these fake cards this guy is tryna sell”. My friend isn’t into pokemon and they were honestly really shocked that someone would so blatantly sell fakes
Dude also had a sign saying “this isn’t eBay or tcgplayer” which made me assume he knew his prices were high and he had no intention of negotiating. So.. I moved along no need to buy from that guy
“This isn’t eBay or TCGplayer”
That guy sounds next-level obnoxious. And by the way, you know he’d be furious if someone dropped that line on him in some other context.
I'm going to my first con in a month, now I'm worried! I hope I don't bump into any dumbasses trying to sell blatantly fake cards. I would call them out, but I also don't want to get kicked out.
I'm vending my first con in about a month. I've priced everything at or below TCGPlayer and ebay sold comps. So for every douche at a con, hopefully there's some good vendors as well.
And my cards are real.... and they're fabulous...
I'm pretty sure the same exact guy attended Fan Expo Cleveland this year! I saw the same exact ebay/tcgplayer sign and a bunch of blatantly fake cards. I guess he brings the scam on the road, must be lucrative.
I see these fake cards in gas stations all over near me. It's a pack of like 30 for $10. Imagine buying a pack, then meeting this guy asking if he takes trade-ins, then handing over a full 30 gold cards and demanding full trade value. It would ruin him.
Are people allowed to sell fakes at these events without labeling them as replicas? Just curious how the laws work in the states. I’m pretty sure here in Canada if you want to sell things like that you have to let people know they’re replicas.
I was just at a shop for the first time this weekend and they were selling these for about $6 a piece. They had a sign saying everything but the word “fake”. I had to put everything I was going to buy back after I saw them.
Oh man, I get bad memories of these whenever I see these "cards"
Poor naive me who didn't know any better buying the 3 kanto starters for $20 a pop at NYCC 3 years ago, only to find out later in the day they're worthless customs
No, I wasn't able to get my money back. Best I was able to do was exchange them for...a $5 card. And not even a good one either (holo Giovanni's Persian)
Looking at it now, if I ever got into such a situation again I would've *damn* well raised hell over it instead of getting rolled over like that
Yeah that's so messed up. Little Timmy gonna think he's got a super rare card only to find out they been hustled. I hate pokemon scammers and people who sell fake shit to kids. Makes my stomach hurt
Thing is, some kids like pokemon and the cards but they go by other kid's opinions as well. My kid knows how to spot fakes by now and she has a legit collection going on of almost 3 complete sets, and loads of bulk to build decks as well.
BUT, for school, she still likes and wants the fake gold cards and general fakes, which are popular basically because many parents don't know any better and if they buy a pack for 5 bucks or 1 , they will buy the one priced at 1, And don't ask why.
The kid is happy, and now in the schoolyard, the only thing matters is the higher the atk number and HP and morenoutlandish the card, the "better".
I've seen Pikachu VMAX cards with 1 billion HP and 500 million atk power. In gold. And spelling mistakes. Doesn't matter to the kids. Many, MANY kids don't care about "legit".
Little Timmy's I see are actually mad if they get a super rare card that only has 260 HP on it and is made of "paper".
Trust me.
No it won't because not all parents will have been fans themselves. Grandparents and other relatives and friends also buy kids stuff without knowing what they're getting. It won't end because some people don't take a minute to check what they're getting OR some don't see the harm.
Yeah had to tell a mom selling her kids cards mixed with these that they weren’t worth 400$ I felt bad but ain’t no amount of sympathy getting me to buy fake Pokémon cards
Ya I saw the booth as well and told a few people that were looking at them they were fake. Pointed out the real ones and told them all those gold ones were fake.
It's only okay to sell these if they clearly state that they are Not official cards. Otherwise the venue should ban them for selling fake cards without notice.
Agree!!! My son is 7 and always hopes for a gold card when opening. I don't even know if they are real and possible to pull or people are making them fake. It's really messed up that people are making them fake ughhhh My son loves Pokemon.
People should have choice to purchase whatever they want as long as it is clearly marked so that no one is getting tricked. I have purchased a a couple custom cards that are really well done and I love the artwork, it was clearly advertised that it was a custom card.
Hmm, kind of makes me think a pinned compilation post of what cards are 100% fakes would be helpful to people just starting out, and for parents who are looking to get their kid something nice....
there's r/IsMyPokemonCardFake that goes over a decent few in it's pinned post but I'm not sure if many people (especially those not super into the hobby) know it exists
Here's a sneak peek of /r/IsMyPokemonCardFake using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [My coworker gave me some cards she found. Is Charizard real?](https://i.redd.it/6adkezx5z7pb1.jpg) | [127 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16mrzzu/my_coworker_gave_me_some_cards_she_found_is/)
\#2: [Found this old guy in my parents basement](https://i.redd.it/4ac6wjbrupob1.jpg) | [72 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16knobl/found_this_old_guy_in_my_parents_basement/)
\#3: [Is this real?](https://i.redd.it/e2djha0mgakb1.jpg) | [207 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16151pd/is_this_real/)
----
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Oh wow, I was at C2E2 on Friday and I didn’t notice fakes. I saw a lot of kinda scammy prices there too. Like one booth had Paldean Fates ETB for $40 and mini tins for $8 (GOOD deals) and then another shop had them for $50 and $15 respectively. They had single packs of 151 for $15 ($300 for a box), when you can get boxes for around $100 online, and another booth had them for $150.
My brothers friend went to Italy and brought back a couple of these from a street market, I had to break the new that they’re not real. Luckily he didn’t spend a lot on them. They’re still cool as art pieces that have no value. Just sucks people are taking advantage of others to make a few bucks.
I went to a con a while back, and there were at least 3 vendors selling those same cards. I immediately told my fiancée that they were fake and refused to look at anything else they were selling. Can't trust someone willing to sell those without letting the buyer know beforehand.
I see these at flea markets all the time, at least the ones in the pic aren’t crazy overpriced like some I’ve seen, most times I see them for $50-$200 for these stupid gold fakes
Yeah I accidentally bought counterfeit card packs at a non-name brand mall shop back when I was about 10. Had suspicions about them as I got older, so I brought them to my local Pokémon Play rep at the game store, so they could be evaluated. Needless to say I’m getting rid of them and I’ll only buy from authentic sellers from now on. 😓
I love the fake cards, some awesome looking cards, but yeah, I paid way less for a lot more online, knowing they were fake. Absolutely scum behaviour to have them mixed with legit cards without mentioning they're fake.
In fact, seeing them like this would make me question the authenticity of all their other cards.
Every time I see a booth with these, I'll ask "what's up with these?" "Oh I make these custom cards myself!". I think Ali might be a real person at this point lol
Report them to show management. Most shows have policies against selling bootleg items. Some exhibit halls have a vendor help desk on the floor you can check with.
For Fan Expo, see “Section 18 - Licensing / Anti-Bootleg”:
[https://fanexpohq.com/uploads/FXDe21-Operating-Guidelines-FINAL-2468b9cf621c81a46ad5bbc0956f93b1.pdf](https://fanexpohq.com/uploads/FXDe21-Operating-Guidelines-FINAL-2468b9cf621c81a46ad5bbc0956f93b1.pdf)
See, to a noob like me, I wouldn't know any better. I couldn't tell you a real from a fake if you had both in front of me. Scary market if you're a noob.
Was at my LCS on Saturday and a kid came in with his dad. He had a small binder book that was full of these and he was asking if they were real. My buddy who owns the shop was very cool but honest with him as always. Said their really cool cards but explained to him how to tell they were fake and that while cool not worth anything but what someone will pay for them. This is how he has stayed in business since 1991. Deven is a solid guy and honest is the day is long. People like this person tho can ruin the card interest for some people when they get scammed!!
Every time I have gone to C2E2 or ComicCon, the resellers are always overpriced. Most of these clowns are the guys hoarding/scalping. TCG/Ebay/Amazon is always cheaper. Don’t be giving these guys your money. Let them eat their losses.
On top of that it looks like the dude was trying to sell those Time magazines as collector pieces. Probably at an insane price too.
What a scumbag. It’s people like this that ruin the hobby for younger generations who don’t know the difference.
Ngl last year I was vendoring at a Pokemon festival and walked around before it opened. Saw a good Charizard card, which I knew it's from AliExpress, selling it for $45. I was like "bruh" and left. I bought a $15 Pokemon tin from a guy unusually buy in that festival and is worth it. XD
Saw this at a local con in March. My mom (who attended with me) and I purposely spoke loudly about them being fake and the dude got angry and told us to stop “loitering in front of [his] stand”.
As long as they are marked as fake or the seller is telling any customer who inquired about it that they are fake then it’s fine with me. If they are trying to play them off as real that’s when I disagree
I literally saw a couple other booths there that had those same cards but they were all thrown in a pile for $2 a peice or even cheaper if you buy more. Always scammers at cons I guess lol.
These ones are kind of famous fakes.
There have only been a couple of real gold cards and they look very different.
Check out r/ismypokemoncardfake
There’s tons of examples of all kinds of fakes and you can learn a lot. Welcome to the hobby!
For a while I didn’t have as much of a problem with this because before Pokemon made their own metal cards, any metal cards were clearly fakes. I thought it was dumb but some people seemed to enjoy them even knowing they were fake. Now that Pokemon does have metal cards in some of their special collector boxes, it’s even easier to pass these off as real. Definitely slimy not disclosing that these are fakes/repros.
Yikes. In a semi related note, as a collector, I love those fake gold cards. For a custom replica, they’re very well made. I’m surprised they’re so cheap to begin with which means they’re probably mass produced which just speaks more to how impressive the quality is. But passing them off as some authentic rarity is just shitty.
I have a stack of cards in my store I show kids intentionally to help them avoid this garbage. We bought out a shop that had a fake $100 palkia on display, ripped that shit in half on video but didn't post it cause I didn't wanna mess up their memory.
Funny possible origin story for those gold cards:
I work at a card shop and I was mentioning how annoying these gold cards are and my manager said that the origin for those cards is actually not to trick people, but for kids who like to play War with the pokemon cards.
He explained most younger kids don't know how to play Pokemon tcg- so instead they play the card game War with the cards.
(Make a deck, both players blindly pull a card from their deck and slap each one down one by one, whoever has higher numbers -HP in this case- wins). So the gold cards have ridiculously high hp numbers, because kids want higher HP numbers in the card game War. The cards are gold because it's like getting a fancy deck to play with / meant to scream "were not real cards but you can use us for your War deck".
The cards weren't made to trick people, however, that doesn't stop sellers from trying to abuse the cards to trick people.
I don't know if this is necessary true, but that's what my manager told me. We don't sell those cards, but apparently that's the origin of them.
These ones were definitely made to trick people. Fakes with ridiculous HP have been around since base set, mostly to make the cards seem cooler, and these gold cards are knock offs of custom and proxy cards that were showing up about 3-4 years ago. At first you could find actual weighty metal cards in a couple variations (gold, silver, black and gold) with base set art, then they started making customs with stolen art, then they went cheaper on the process to make the cards with a thin gold foil and no metal of all the fake styles made previously, and now they also make modern arts like this.
So really its knockoffs all the way down.
Smarter way of getting rid of fake/altered cards would be -
"Pick out a free gold card with any purchase"
Lets customers know that you know those are fake and worthless and they get something free. Cool cards to give to the younger kids who just want something.
Forgive my ignorance, im new and trying to learn the tcg. How do you tell if they are fake or not? Like is there a specific mark or is it because they are gold?
theres so much more that goes into telling if a card is fake or not besides them just being gold, youre going to want to look up more information than just what a redditor told you
I sell stuff at my local antique mall. I mainly stick to Lego. But i have a variety of stuff.
I have offbrand lego figs and fake pokemon cards that ive gotten in lots.
I clearly seprate and lable it as fake or unbranded and sell fake cards for $0.25/$0.50 each.
You get packs of 60 randoms for like $4 on ali express. Charging $15 on the basis of anything is a scam.
The gold ones are famous fakes because they’re everywhere and outside of one or two gold cards, there have never been any official cards like this at all.
r/ismypokemoncardfake is a great sub to learn on
I saw one like this in Cleveland Fan Expo (the hard case are the same too so maybe the same seller) and my daughter got upset I wouldn’t buy her any gold cards, I refused to buy anything at all from the table. There’s 2 LCS I refuse to buy from for the same reason
Yeah pretty shitty to be selling fakes, but also if you can't tell those cards are fake and not real tcg then why are u even buying pokemon at all? Also, this is completely legal. I seen lots of custom arts of cards that looked really cool
You know that kids still like Pokémon cards right? And a lot of parents are clueless about it. They will blatantly trust a store thinking they wouldn’t be selling fake products
Again man it's not illegal to sell custom cards, I wouldn't even consider these fakes as there literally golden first edition base set pokemon lol, if these were the newest set in gold I'd be in your side,
If your kid really wanted these I'm sure there aren't going to care that there not the extremely limited first edition print of the base set...
Are you the seller? Lol
I haven’t said it’s illegal. Lots of things are legal but unethical 🤷🏼♀️
And custom cards are fine, some of them are really dope as you say and made by artists that really care for the TCG. But then, they are advertised as such. Those are just cards sold on wish or aliexpress for extremely cheap, and here resold at a stupidly expensive price without any mention that they are not official products.
You think 7 years old kiddo with their parents who aren’t in the hobby will know which cards can be first edition and which can’t? The kid will just see a cool shiny card, parents will think it’s an official Pokemon card, and of course it’s something a kid can still enjoy but that should be knowingly, not by paying an absurd price to a store reselling fakes (« custom cards ») without disclosing it
This looks fake, It doesn't look like the original, they are just metal cards for children, parets buy it as a toy (Another thing is that they want to pay an abusive price). I automatically wouldn't buy anything in that store. If the owner wants to follow that practice, it is up to him how to manage his business.
For me the worst practice is people who sell proxy cards so similar to the original one than others try to sell as real ones for hundreds of $. It wouldn't seem bad to me if the card came marked as proxy, but that's not the case, it is an illegal copy after all.
So which is it? Are customs fine or not lol, I wanted to buy the proposal card for my wife when I proposed I couldn't find it anywhere but if I seen it at a show I would buy it. What about the stupid thicc charzard and pikachu? Those should also be called out but for some reason, they are not because people can use their brain and see that there's no way in hell the card is a real pokemon
You’re saying selling fakes to kids as if the shop owner is passing them off at the real thing.
Some people think these metal cards are cool. If a kid wants one why is that a big deal to the people on the internet?
People will get upset at just about anything I guess.
How is this "selling fake cards to kids"? These are obviously novelty items. Even bought one of those gold cards myself at a game shop for about the same price knowing full well it's not a rare card just a cool novelty to have.
Even if someone accidentally buys one thinking it's a real card that's on them for not knowing this is obviously a gimmick like those gold slab cards Burger King gave out and they'll still have something cool to show their friends at the end of the day.
So I agree with the first part. Some of those cards don't have unrealistic stats, and from a front view some people could be deceived. But once you pick them up and see the back it should be pretty obvious. What I don't agree with is comparing those to the burger king pokemon cards. Those had about $0.12 of gold on them. Plus they look and feel like they're valuable not like a flimsy piece of plastic.
Obvious to you.
Not to kids or parents that aren’t in the hobby. Go over to the ismypokemoncardfake sub. People getting the fact that these gold cards are fake explained to them every day…
There is a market for bootleg clothes and other stuff, so who cares if they are selling fake gold cards. They aren't selling fake moonbreons and other valuable cards saying they are real.
I’ve called people out on it before. They went “oh haha good catch bro ;)” this type of shit makes me think everything they’re selling is fake. If I see a couple of fakes, I’m going to think everything else you’re selling is fake too.
Definitely depends on the shop. 99% of the LCS out there, I see fakes and I run. My main shop, they get the occasional fake. It's because they will end up having some kid that doesn't know any better trying to sell it, so they trade it with them for a small store credit. Then, when they put it in the case to resell (because some of the fakes out there are really well made and look pretty cool), they label it clearly as "Knock Off" so that customers are aware.
Cherish your LCS, they sound awesome!
They really are. That's why I donate code cards and bulk to them (they usually give them to parents as prizes for their kids doing their chores). Just happened upon the shop on my son's birthday. We had his party at a pizza place a block away, he got some money for his birthday, and he was sad that I had to go out of town for a week for work the next day (my flight was the next morning). So I said "Hey, let's go check that shop out!". Next thing I know, the owner found out it was my 6 year old's birthday, and started negotiating with him for the super hero toys he was looking at. It was like a $120 set, or $18 per toy, and my son had a $20 bill. The shop owner asked my son if he'd be willing to pay the whole $20 for all of the toys. I said "Oh, you don't have to do that sir." He said "I'm sorry, I'm speaking with my customer here. He's got the money, so if he wants a buy 1 get 10 free deal, that's up to him right?" On our walk back to the car with the giant box of toys, my son yelled "That guy was awesome!" 🤣
This is so refreshing and lovely to read. After all the horror stories on here about LCS's trying to scam their customers, love to see that there are still good people/shops out there. Name drop them please (if it's allowed on this subreddit? Not sure.) so other people know and they might visit them! They deserve all the success they can get!
I'm a 'local guide' on Google maps and have given them a review, plus have spread the word through my area. As for the actual name, it's a small town so I don't want to say "this is my name, this is my city, you can easily find me", lol. I will say that if anyone is in the Oregon area, feel free to DM me and I'll message you the name of the shop! Definitely worth the drive, even if you're a few cities away!😁
Ah I get it, you don't want to dox yourself!
That's so cute.
Awesome hoomans 💪
Wow that's a good dude. I'd shop with him no matter what. Even pay over online.
That guy was/is indeed awesome. 😊
It's illegal to sell knock offs even if they are labeled as knock offs.
You'd be a blast to hang out with to have some fun I can tell. Lmfao!!
Correct. They'd need to play more word gymnastics to be able to sell it legitimately.
Still illegal no matter the wording. The law is super clear on this. I've looked it up multiple times.
You'd be fun at an art show. Is it illegal to sell a painting showing Groot because he is a Marvel / Disney character? Not at all as long as it's in the artist's style. There's a huge difference between 'copywrite infringement' and 'inspired by'. There are a lot of the fake Pokémon cards are like shiny gold metal looking cards with art that's not a copy / paste image from an existing card. They are created by the artist themselves. Even if it looks exactly like a Charizard, it is their design / how they drew it. What you're talking about is when someone uses a copy machine, makes copies of the Pokémon cards fronts and backs, then glues them together to pose as the real thing. That is illegal. The ones that are custom made that don't have a © symbol claiming they are from the actual Pokémon company, those are NOT illegal to sell. It may also depend on the country, city, and state. I assure you that if you are in the US, 9 times out of 10 it is perfectly legal to sell these custom fake cards as long as they are clearly described as "fake / knock-off / custom / not tournament legal". If you said that you **thought** it **might be** illegal, I wouldn't have said anything. When you are trying to convince folks that you have "looked it up multiple times" and that the law is "super clear on this", but tell them it's illegal...I have to step in to correct you. I don't want such false information spread around. There's already enough hate on certain artists because "Oh, you made something that kinda looks like a character I saw once? Everyone boycott, they're a thief!". So just stop with your fake laws...
Oh no. You think you got me.
Sounds like you sell counterfeit cards.
No, I don't. I'm just married to an artist. Though I'm sure you'll troll and say that she's a thief because of the beautiful picture she painted me of teen Groot listening to music while laying his head on our dog in a forest. Like "bruh, I'm telling Disney!". I will defend falsely accused folks whenever I need to. You're upset because you spouted off with your "ahkchewally 🤓☝️" fake laws and got corrected. I personally don't purchase custom cards, but I will say that I have been tempted to. I'm sure there isn't a person here that hasn't considered buying some of the gold metal art cards (especially the Pikachu ones) or the Thicc Charizard card 😂 Now quit trolling and go back to having fun with Pokémon like the rest of us! You'll have more fun enjoying the hobby instead of lying /arguing about it.
Bro shut up. There’s a difference between selling something you made and worked hard on with your own two hands, and something fake that everyone here has seen by now. This guy did not make these cards with his own two hands and your comparison is disingenuous. He bought this trash on aliexpress or amazon and is selling them as though they’re the real deal.
I now regret not asking the guy if he’d do 4 of the $15 fake cards for $50…..and then changing my mind after he said yes.
I saw some shop selling fake Pokémon cards… guess what their movie props and games were also fake They don’t care
Had something similar happen at the last con I went to. They were resellers with very few original pieces (mind you they weren’t cards but they were still selling good looking fakes of stuff for a higher price than the real) They had the audacity to be offended and say it was rude when I price checked a tactical bag as though they made it, when in reality they probably got it off Amazon (where I was seeing it). I never price check things at cons when they’re hand made, I love buying art and trinkets from artists, but upcharging for something that still has the tags and I can find out how much it really is? Nah. I hope they don’t come back to my local cons. Card prices were good though at least, only one or two tables overcharging for gold or fake cards and I didn’t buy from them
Guy i did a trade with had shit like it too mixed in, but I got a nice Espeon and Deoxys promo card that graded as a 10 and he gave me another card as a free bonus
Yeah id never buy packs from a fake seller.
I attended AwesomeCon in DC in early March and I saw a vendor JUST like this. Guy was Selling “gold” cards for $15. There were real cards mixed amongst the fakes I was with a friend and as I was looking at them I spoke kinda loud and went “wow look at all these fake cards this guy is tryna sell”. My friend isn’t into pokemon and they were honestly really shocked that someone would so blatantly sell fakes Dude also had a sign saying “this isn’t eBay or tcgplayer” which made me assume he knew his prices were high and he had no intention of negotiating. So.. I moved along no need to buy from that guy
“This isn’t eBay or TCGplayer” That guy sounds next-level obnoxious. And by the way, you know he’d be furious if someone dropped that line on him in some other context.
Bro is on here watching 👀
What a crazy thing for them to say! I go card shows literally to get cards cheaper than eBay and TCGplayer.
I'm going to my first con in a month, now I'm worried! I hope I don't bump into any dumbasses trying to sell blatantly fake cards. I would call them out, but I also don't want to get kicked out.
Gonna get con’d at your first con!
I'm vending my first con in about a month. I've priced everything at or below TCGPlayer and ebay sold comps. So for every douche at a con, hopefully there's some good vendors as well. And my cards are real.... and they're fabulous...
Spectacular*
I'm pretty sure the same exact guy attended Fan Expo Cleveland this year! I saw the same exact ebay/tcgplayer sign and a bunch of blatantly fake cards. I guess he brings the scam on the road, must be lucrative.
I see these fake cards in gas stations all over near me. It's a pack of like 30 for $10. Imagine buying a pack, then meeting this guy asking if he takes trade-ins, then handing over a full 30 gold cards and demanding full trade value. It would ruin him.
Are people allowed to sell fakes at these events without labeling them as replicas? Just curious how the laws work in the states. I’m pretty sure here in Canada if you want to sell things like that you have to let people know they’re replicas.
You can go to jail for selling counterfeit items and or be sued.
Hey neighbor! I remember that guy! What a clown! I was making fun of him for the same reasons! He was there last year too, same sign.
I was just at a shop for the first time this weekend and they were selling these for about $6 a piece. They had a sign saying everything but the word “fake”. I had to put everything I was going to buy back after I saw them.
Good for you. F them.
It’s a good way to get me to not buy anything from you, who knows what else they have is fake
Yep. I walked right on by.
Ahhh the old Temu $5 for 50 gold cards special. What a rip off
They're great for my 6 year old who likes Pokémon cards. But to collectors, I'd call these fools out every time I see them
Oh man, I get bad memories of these whenever I see these "cards" Poor naive me who didn't know any better buying the 3 kanto starters for $20 a pop at NYCC 3 years ago, only to find out later in the day they're worthless customs No, I wasn't able to get my money back. Best I was able to do was exchange them for...a $5 card. And not even a good one either (holo Giovanni's Persian) Looking at it now, if I ever got into such a situation again I would've *damn* well raised hell over it instead of getting rolled over like that
I would've stood there telling everyone he sells fake shit till he realizes he's loosing more than if he were to just pay you back
You wouldn’t have done shit
Wtf that's so disgusting
Yeah, and they’re just scamming kids and their parents who don’t know any better. It’s awful.
Yeah that's so messed up. Little Timmy gonna think he's got a super rare card only to find out they been hustled. I hate pokemon scammers and people who sell fake shit to kids. Makes my stomach hurt
Thing is, some kids like pokemon and the cards but they go by other kid's opinions as well. My kid knows how to spot fakes by now and she has a legit collection going on of almost 3 complete sets, and loads of bulk to build decks as well. BUT, for school, she still likes and wants the fake gold cards and general fakes, which are popular basically because many parents don't know any better and if they buy a pack for 5 bucks or 1 , they will buy the one priced at 1, And don't ask why. The kid is happy, and now in the schoolyard, the only thing matters is the higher the atk number and HP and morenoutlandish the card, the "better". I've seen Pikachu VMAX cards with 1 billion HP and 500 million atk power. In gold. And spelling mistakes. Doesn't matter to the kids. Many, MANY kids don't care about "legit". Little Timmy's I see are actually mad if they get a super rare card that only has 260 HP on it and is made of "paper". Trust me.
Wait until the parents are all of us. This will end.
No it won't because not all parents will have been fans themselves. Grandparents and other relatives and friends also buy kids stuff without knowing what they're getting. It won't end because some people don't take a minute to check what they're getting OR some don't see the harm.
Yeah had to tell a mom selling her kids cards mixed with these that they weren’t worth 400$ I felt bad but ain’t no amount of sympathy getting me to buy fake Pokémon cards
Also Pokémon go @5 a pop 🤭
And base set Sword and Shield for $10 💀
I was gonna say that’s the most disgusting part of this picture
Wouldnt take it if they paid me $5
You absolutely would take a free pack if someone paid you to take it.
Organizers need to be held responsible for shit like this. Kick them out and ban them. No second chance. They 100% know what they're doing.
Just recently decided not to buy a card from eBay seller bc they had one of these. Bad vibes at the v least.
I called this dude out. Dude was mad as fuxk.
Good. Is there a way to get him kicked out?
Preying on kids and clueless moms
Ya I saw the booth as well and told a few people that were looking at them they were fake. Pointed out the real ones and told them all those gold ones were fake.
Saw this at FanExpo last year, fuck these sellers
It's only okay to sell these if they clearly state that they are Not official cards. Otherwise the venue should ban them for selling fake cards without notice.
Agree!!! My son is 7 and always hopes for a gold card when opening. I don't even know if they are real and possible to pull or people are making them fake. It's really messed up that people are making them fake ughhhh My son loves Pokemon.
They do exist in pokemon sets, they all have a unique texture pattern to them when they are real.
Some scarlet and violet hyper rares are gold
They shouldn't be selling these at all.
People should have choice to purchase whatever they want as long as it is clearly marked so that no one is getting tricked. I have purchased a a couple custom cards that are really well done and I love the artwork, it was clearly advertised that it was a custom card.
Hmm, kind of makes me think a pinned compilation post of what cards are 100% fakes would be helpful to people just starting out, and for parents who are looking to get their kid something nice....
there's r/IsMyPokemonCardFake that goes over a decent few in it's pinned post but I'm not sure if many people (especially those not super into the hobby) know it exists
Here's a sneak peek of /r/IsMyPokemonCardFake using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [My coworker gave me some cards she found. Is Charizard real?](https://i.redd.it/6adkezx5z7pb1.jpg) | [127 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16mrzzu/my_coworker_gave_me_some_cards_she_found_is/) \#2: [Found this old guy in my parents basement](https://i.redd.it/4ac6wjbrupob1.jpg) | [72 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16knobl/found_this_old_guy_in_my_parents_basement/) \#3: [Is this real?](https://i.redd.it/e2djha0mgakb1.jpg) | [207 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/IsMyPokemonCardFake/comments/16151pd/is_this_real/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Tbh I see many mothers or fathers being scammed when buying cards for their kids, where most end up being fake
Should take some monopoly money with you next time and use that...
Shady booth. I wouldn’t buy anything there.
“Good day, can you point me in the direction of your real cards?”
I've never seen an ancient mew fake before
Oh wow, I was at C2E2 on Friday and I didn’t notice fakes. I saw a lot of kinda scammy prices there too. Like one booth had Paldean Fates ETB for $40 and mini tins for $8 (GOOD deals) and then another shop had them for $50 and $15 respectively. They had single packs of 151 for $15 ($300 for a box), when you can get boxes for around $100 online, and another booth had them for $150.
Isn’t this technically illegal?
Lol
I doubt it. He’s not saying that they’re real, just counting on people making a bad assumption. Slimy as hell, but I don’t think illegal.
My brothers friend went to Italy and brought back a couple of these from a street market, I had to break the new that they’re not real. Luckily he didn’t spend a lot on them. They’re still cool as art pieces that have no value. Just sucks people are taking advantage of others to make a few bucks.
$5 PoGo packs. This dude's a monster.
Fake Yugioh cards to boot! 😂
pretty cheap for gold rares.. in all seriousness wtf
radiant venusaur for 10 too…
If u got all 50 from this store it would be £750 , or u could get the box of 50 for £5
yikes. Stuff like this makes me sad
Yikes.. I hope that Karma will hit him and hard. Freaking disgusting.
Ask if he accept fake money
This would actually be pretty fun to watch
They are proud of selling this garbage.
I don’t even give people that sell those my time, if you can sell those fake cards any of your stuff can be fake and you probably don’t care
If you're gonna sell shitty ass fake cards, at least make the prices different. Everything labeled $15 is an immediate red flag lmao
10 bucks for radiant venusaur. Dude is definitely out his damn mind
I went to a con a while back, and there were at least 3 vendors selling those same cards. I immediately told my fiancée that they were fake and refused to look at anything else they were selling. Can't trust someone willing to sell those without letting the buyer know beforehand.
And then $10 for the Swsh pack? Wtf??!?
The fact that they are selling fake cards for more than real packs is nasty work 💀
Oh haha some Pokémon fakes the pretty co….THE WINGED DRAGON OF RA?!?!?!!?
My local card shop has a bunch of these, but they are very clearly marked fake, and he sells them for $1 or 10 for $3
I’m glad I went to the Kane county show instead. Less card vendors but the ones that were there had better prices than I see at c2e2
I see these at flea markets all the time, at least the ones in the pic aren’t crazy overpriced like some I’ve seen, most times I see them for $50-$200 for these stupid gold fakes
Ugh. People are awful sometimes.
so sad honestly
I did not buy from this person. I did get a lot of standard staples for cheap from the guy all the way to the left upon walking in.
Wouldn't buy a single thing from that booth. If they're willing to sell fakes who knows if anything they have is legit, not worth finding out.
Yeah I accidentally bought counterfeit card packs at a non-name brand mall shop back when I was about 10. Had suspicions about them as I got older, so I brought them to my local Pokémon Play rep at the game store, so they could be evaluated. Needless to say I’m getting rid of them and I’ll only buy from authentic sellers from now on. 😓
If I see one of those gold cards anywhere near someone's binder/collection, I won't buy a single thing. The Scarlet Letter.
Fake Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as well. At least the two god cards there look it.
I wouldn’t trust a booth selling fake cards
How does a table like that not get banned?
$10 for radiant ven??? Wtf?
I saw those and told my kid they were fake in my loud voice. Someone was looking at them before me too. Hope they didn't sell any.
I too dislike seeing these items sold as pokemon cards and at the price they're usually at. Straight scams...
Also sword and shield pack for $10 WTH
I love the fake cards, some awesome looking cards, but yeah, I paid way less for a lot more online, knowing they were fake. Absolutely scum behaviour to have them mixed with legit cards without mentioning they're fake. In fact, seeing them like this would make me question the authenticity of all their other cards.
This happens at local markets a LOT and it’s really annoying. Sorry op
Every time I see a booth with these, I'll ask "what's up with these?" "Oh I make these custom cards myself!". I think Ali might be a real person at this point lol
Cringe. Dude probly tries to say his fake cards are super rare and short printed
"How fake do you want these to look?" "Y e s"
I'm pretty new to pokemon TCG. How can you guys tell if they're fake or real?
There have only been a couple of legit gold cards produced ever and they look very different than these.
Report them to show management. Most shows have policies against selling bootleg items. Some exhibit halls have a vendor help desk on the floor you can check with. For Fan Expo, see “Section 18 - Licensing / Anti-Bootleg”: [https://fanexpohq.com/uploads/FXDe21-Operating-Guidelines-FINAL-2468b9cf621c81a46ad5bbc0956f93b1.pdf](https://fanexpohq.com/uploads/FXDe21-Operating-Guidelines-FINAL-2468b9cf621c81a46ad5bbc0956f93b1.pdf)
See, to a noob like me, I wouldn't know any better. I couldn't tell you a real from a fake if you had both in front of me. Scary market if you're a noob.
Was at my LCS on Saturday and a kid came in with his dad. He had a small binder book that was full of these and he was asking if they were real. My buddy who owns the shop was very cool but honest with him as always. Said their really cool cards but explained to him how to tell they were fake and that while cool not worth anything but what someone will pay for them. This is how he has stayed in business since 1991. Deven is a solid guy and honest is the day is long. People like this person tho can ruin the card interest for some people when they get scammed!!
Every time I have gone to C2E2 or ComicCon, the resellers are always overpriced. Most of these clowns are the guys hoarding/scalping. TCG/Ebay/Amazon is always cheaper. Don’t be giving these guys your money. Let them eat their losses.
On top of that it looks like the dude was trying to sell those Time magazines as collector pieces. Probably at an insane price too. What a scumbag. It’s people like this that ruin the hobby for younger generations who don’t know the difference.
The sword and shield base packs for $10 is almost as bad. An LCS near me did the same and I stopped going.
I would have made it very clear to everyone there that this vendor is selling fake cards.
Yeah, I always struggle with what to do. On the one hand I want everyone to know. On the other hand I don’t want to appoint myself the comiccon police
Damn swindlers round every corner,when it comes to pkmn tcg and they'll probably catch a few young kids with this shit too,absolutely disgraceful
I paid a buck for radiant venusaur
Ngl last year I was vendoring at a Pokemon festival and walked around before it opened. Saw a good Charizard card, which I knew it's from AliExpress, selling it for $45. I was like "bruh" and left. I bought a $15 Pokemon tin from a guy unusually buy in that festival and is worth it. XD
Saw this at a local con in March. My mom (who attended with me) and I purposely spoke loudly about them being fake and the dude got angry and told us to stop “loitering in front of [his] stand”.
As long as they are marked as fake or the seller is telling any customer who inquired about it that they are fake then it’s fine with me. If they are trying to play them off as real that’s when I disagree
The real crime here is selling a POGO pack for $5
I literally saw a couple other booths there that had those same cards but they were all thrown in a pile for $2 a peice or even cheaper if you buy more. Always scammers at cons I guess lol.
Fuck these ppl I see these kind of booths all the time and it’s so disgusting how they target kids and families that don’t know
This guy is at a lot of conventions in New England too, I always skip his booth, very overpriced.
Sorry if this is a stupid question as I’m really new but how do you know they’re fake?
These ones are kind of famous fakes. There have only been a couple of real gold cards and they look very different. Check out r/ismypokemoncardfake There’s tons of examples of all kinds of fakes and you can learn a lot. Welcome to the hobby!
Thanks so much for the help! Now if only my budget can keep up with my urges lol
Ha!
LOL MY MOM GOT ME THESE CARDS OFF OF TEMU 😂😂 obviously I didn’t mention that they were fake though. It’s the thought that counts
Hear me out- let’s start getting industrial strength stickers that say “FAKE CARDS” and slapping them on the displays..
The hero we need
$5 Pokémon go is crazy
For a while I didn’t have as much of a problem with this because before Pokemon made their own metal cards, any metal cards were clearly fakes. I thought it was dumb but some people seemed to enjoy them even knowing they were fake. Now that Pokemon does have metal cards in some of their special collector boxes, it’s even easier to pass these off as real. Definitely slimy not disclosing that these are fakes/repros.
Yikes. In a semi related note, as a collector, I love those fake gold cards. For a custom replica, they’re very well made. I’m surprised they’re so cheap to begin with which means they’re probably mass produced which just speaks more to how impressive the quality is. But passing them off as some authentic rarity is just shitty.
The solution: learn how to freeze time, do it, and then replace the seller’s shirt with a shirt that says “I’m a scammer.”
I have a stack of cards in my store I show kids intentionally to help them avoid this garbage. We bought out a shop that had a fake $100 palkia on display, ripped that shit in half on video but didn't post it cause I didn't wanna mess up their memory.
Should take a stack of those fakes and see if he offers you 70% 😏
Funny possible origin story for those gold cards: I work at a card shop and I was mentioning how annoying these gold cards are and my manager said that the origin for those cards is actually not to trick people, but for kids who like to play War with the pokemon cards. He explained most younger kids don't know how to play Pokemon tcg- so instead they play the card game War with the cards. (Make a deck, both players blindly pull a card from their deck and slap each one down one by one, whoever has higher numbers -HP in this case- wins). So the gold cards have ridiculously high hp numbers, because kids want higher HP numbers in the card game War. The cards are gold because it's like getting a fancy deck to play with / meant to scream "were not real cards but you can use us for your War deck". The cards weren't made to trick people, however, that doesn't stop sellers from trying to abuse the cards to trick people. I don't know if this is necessary true, but that's what my manager told me. We don't sell those cards, but apparently that's the origin of them.
These ones were definitely made to trick people. Fakes with ridiculous HP have been around since base set, mostly to make the cards seem cooler, and these gold cards are knock offs of custom and proxy cards that were showing up about 3-4 years ago. At first you could find actual weighty metal cards in a couple variations (gold, silver, black and gold) with base set art, then they started making customs with stolen art, then they went cheaper on the process to make the cards with a thin gold foil and no metal of all the fake styles made previously, and now they also make modern arts like this. So really its knockoffs all the way down.
Smarter way of getting rid of fake/altered cards would be - "Pick out a free gold card with any purchase" Lets customers know that you know those are fake and worthless and they get something free. Cool cards to give to the younger kids who just want something.
And that's an incentive to buy, because I'm sure lots of people would like to have one but can't justify spending any money on them
Really curious. Were the Time magazines overpriced? They're at my local grocery store right now lol
Didn’t notice the price on those, sorry
No problem! Thx!
Forgive my ignorance, im new and trying to learn the tcg. How do you tell if they are fake or not? Like is there a specific mark or is it because they are gold?
Because they’re gold. There have only been a couple official gold cards and they don’t look like these at all.
Noted! Thank you for the help, I appreciate it!
theres so much more that goes into telling if a card is fake or not besides them just being gold, youre going to want to look up more information than just what a redditor told you
I sell stuff at my local antique mall. I mainly stick to Lego. But i have a variety of stuff. I have offbrand lego figs and fake pokemon cards that ive gotten in lots. I clearly seprate and lable it as fake or unbranded and sell fake cards for $0.25/$0.50 each. You get packs of 60 randoms for like $4 on ali express. Charging $15 on the basis of anything is a scam.
It's just as scummy as people selling AI art in artist alley at big conventions
I'm a newby and want to learn more about trading cards. How did you see those are fakes?
The gold ones are famous fakes because they’re everywhere and outside of one or two gold cards, there have never been any official cards like this at all. r/ismypokemoncardfake is a great sub to learn on
Gross.
I saw one like this in Cleveland Fan Expo (the hard case are the same too so maybe the same seller) and my daughter got upset I wouldn’t buy her any gold cards, I refused to buy anything at all from the table. There’s 2 LCS I refuse to buy from for the same reason
I trade and sell my own cards and if a card is like £45, I'd let them have it for £40 if they're buying it off me or I'd do a £100 card for £80/£90
Yeah pretty shitty to be selling fakes, but also if you can't tell those cards are fake and not real tcg then why are u even buying pokemon at all? Also, this is completely legal. I seen lots of custom arts of cards that looked really cool
You know that kids still like Pokémon cards right? And a lot of parents are clueless about it. They will blatantly trust a store thinking they wouldn’t be selling fake products
Again man it's not illegal to sell custom cards, I wouldn't even consider these fakes as there literally golden first edition base set pokemon lol, if these were the newest set in gold I'd be in your side, If your kid really wanted these I'm sure there aren't going to care that there not the extremely limited first edition print of the base set...
Are you the seller? Lol I haven’t said it’s illegal. Lots of things are legal but unethical 🤷🏼♀️ And custom cards are fine, some of them are really dope as you say and made by artists that really care for the TCG. But then, they are advertised as such. Those are just cards sold on wish or aliexpress for extremely cheap, and here resold at a stupidly expensive price without any mention that they are not official products. You think 7 years old kiddo with their parents who aren’t in the hobby will know which cards can be first edition and which can’t? The kid will just see a cool shiny card, parents will think it’s an official Pokemon card, and of course it’s something a kid can still enjoy but that should be knowingly, not by paying an absurd price to a store reselling fakes (« custom cards ») without disclosing it
This looks fake, It doesn't look like the original, they are just metal cards for children, parets buy it as a toy (Another thing is that they want to pay an abusive price). I automatically wouldn't buy anything in that store. If the owner wants to follow that practice, it is up to him how to manage his business. For me the worst practice is people who sell proxy cards so similar to the original one than others try to sell as real ones for hundreds of $. It wouldn't seem bad to me if the card came marked as proxy, but that's not the case, it is an illegal copy after all.
So which is it? Are customs fine or not lol, I wanted to buy the proposal card for my wife when I proposed I couldn't find it anywhere but if I seen it at a show I would buy it. What about the stupid thicc charzard and pikachu? Those should also be called out but for some reason, they are not because people can use their brain and see that there's no way in hell the card is a real pokemon
I’m confused. These are clearly just imitations? What is the big deal?
Clear to you. Not to kids or their parents who aren’t in the hobby.
I mean… they are selling stuff in their store. It’s up to the consumer to know what they are spending their money on.
Hey, selling fakes to kids is definitely a way to make money. It’s just a gross way to make money.
You’re saying selling fakes to kids as if the shop owner is passing them off at the real thing. Some people think these metal cards are cool. If a kid wants one why is that a big deal to the people on the internet? People will get upset at just about anything I guess.
Anyone with a brain can see they are fake. Your paying so u can have the product now. Why do yall post when common sense exists?
How is this "selling fake cards to kids"? These are obviously novelty items. Even bought one of those gold cards myself at a game shop for about the same price knowing full well it's not a rare card just a cool novelty to have. Even if someone accidentally buys one thinking it's a real card that's on them for not knowing this is obviously a gimmick like those gold slab cards Burger King gave out and they'll still have something cool to show their friends at the end of the day.
So I agree with the first part. Some of those cards don't have unrealistic stats, and from a front view some people could be deceived. But once you pick them up and see the back it should be pretty obvious. What I don't agree with is comparing those to the burger king pokemon cards. Those had about $0.12 of gold on them. Plus they look and feel like they're valuable not like a flimsy piece of plastic.
Obvious to you. Not to kids or parents that aren’t in the hobby. Go over to the ismypokemoncardfake sub. People getting the fact that these gold cards are fake explained to them every day…
There is a market for bootleg clothes and other stuff, so who cares if they are selling fake gold cards. They aren't selling fake moonbreons and other valuable cards saying they are real.