The fake card seizure article really caught me eye so I’m switching gears today to write a short article about the fake cards I bought last year on EBAY since counterfeit cards are a hot topic this week.  Click this link for the Pojo post about the seizure: ICE Seizes Millions in Fake Yu-Gi-Oh cards Article.  While I’m not an expert, you might learn something useful from my experience.

The seller was in China and the cards were less than half the normal cost for a new box on EBAY.  I e-mailed the seller and checked his feedback.  The seller assured me that the cards were real and his feedback rating was good.  I bought 6 boxes.

When the cards came the boxes looked good and when I opened the first pack of Metal Raiders cards I got a Slifer the Sky Dragon.  I was speechless, not over the card, but the likelihood that I had 6 boxes of fake cards.  I opened up another pack and I got a Parasite Paracide card that started out with the word “PLIP”.

Within days I figured out that others had bought counterfeit cards; the sellers feedback went from great to horrible in days.  EBay and Pay Pal shut the seller down and despite numerous e-mails to the seller, EBAY and Pay Pal I was unable to recover my money.  EBAY has this “Square Deal resolution process, however they wanted me to pay them $20 just to start the process of trying to get my money back.  Since the total cost of the boxes was about $120, I didn’t mess with EBAY’s square deal.  When I paid for the cards I did not purchase the Pay Pal buyer protection, which I’ve heard is pretty good when you need it.  I’ve never used the Pay Pal buyer protection so I really can’t comment on whether it’s a good thing or a waste of money.  I called American Express and after several weeks of calling and faxing and explaining, I finally got someone on the phone who said to mail the cards to them at AMEX in Fort Lauderdale.  When I called to follow up AMEX said they had not received the cards, but I had a certified reply mail receipt that showed that they got the box.  After some pleading with AMEX, I got a full refund.

Here’s what I learned about buying cards:

1)   Buy from folks who know about Yu-Gi-Oh cards.  Don’t buy from folks who have no feedback from selling Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

2)   Don’t buy from folks in countries where a) you wouldn’t expect them to have UpperDeck cards and b) there is a worldwide reputation for making and/or selling fake stuff.

3)   If the deal is too good to be true, it likely is.  Or, at least spend more time checking.

4)   When there is a problem, save all communication, names and phone numbers of everyone with whom you communicate, and dates.

I’m sure there is more to know, but this is only about my only personal experience with fake cards.  Regarding the cards themselves, here’s what I remember about the cards I received:

1)   The fake cards had a different texture then regular cards even the holos had an odd smooth shininess about them that was not normal. 

2)   There were misspelled words on the cards.

3)   Packs had cards in them that they should not have had.

4)   The packs did not have the top and bottom seal that is sort of ribbed.  Instead, the top and bottom pack seals were smooth.

5)   The back of the packs had the company name, Upendeck.

6)   The back of the card said Konaini

7)   The back also said trading card game, but the lettering was slightly bigger then normal and the halo effect around the lettering was bigger and not uniform.

8)   Kazuki Takahashi was misspelled.

Oddly enough, the silver and gold holographic eyes on the bottom front of the card looked like the real thing.  So you need to scrutinize cards carefully.  I can’t speak for other batches of fake cards, but I’m sure glad that our US tax dollars and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency are helping to keep our game clean.  I’m sure there’s a lot more to know, you might want to check the message boards.

notasperfectasyou

It’s easy to find me on the message board, e-mail is ok, but I like open discussion better.

napay’s prior articles and why you’d want to read them:

“The Star Circle” presents a very visual way to think about the components of your deck and how to think about card flow as a way to improving your deck.

“How Big is your Monster” is about why you need to stop thinking about how to get big ATK monsters in your deck and why you do need to think about how cards work synergistically.

 

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