eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

:soapbox:
Hi all - I was perusing eBay last night looking over listings for a new contest and was astounded by the number of fake smurf on eBay!!! I was amazed, from the obvious "spain" smurfs to the less obvious fake smurfs made to look like rare pieces. What really amazed me was that allot of them are from well known sellers with descriptions that try make the buyer think that the piece is either authentic or a rare variation not seen before!! The lack of truthfulness by sellers on there is disgusting. The most common one now is "Astro" smurfs....... they are said to mint and complete, but they are the Schleich versions wearing bully helmets!!! I must have seen at least 2 dozen of these in the past couple of days!! If you see a auction for AstroSmurf and it is the schleich version(finger pointing up) wearing a bully helmet IT IS NOT MINT!!

BUYERS BEWARE!!! eBay is full of fakes lately!! :aargh:

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

That is just the kind of advice a "newbie" like me needs. Fortunately, I think I will give myself some more time before attempting any auctions. Thanks .

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

yes gary
but there are a lot of new fakes.. i don't know if they are full of fakes since weeks or if it's ebcause i've never seenthem closer before, but each day, i discover 4 new fakes, and some of them are not clearly described as fake...

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

:help4: Gary, how can you tell the difference on the helmets? Bully and otherwise??

Charly

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Just becare full what you buy on Ebay......because sometimes people can rip you off selling things to you anymore these days.........

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

i've also noiced an amazing number of "rohling" smurfs, that are just smurf unpainted with some chemicalproducts
the last one i get here for testing was clearly a normal smurf that had paint ripped off

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

I agree Mat....you can tell from some of the Ebay pics that the PVC has been affected. I haven't bought any of these paint stripped smurfs yet but I have been aware that they are out there and in growing numbers too.

Dyar

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Hi, How can you tell fakes?? I am not an experienced collector so wouldn't know. Many thanks :aargh:

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Charly - sorry to get to this late - but if you goto my collection pic page - this one - CLICK HERE - there are 2 astro pics - one set is authentic, the other has replica or bully helmets on schleich figures.

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Hi Karen

It's hard to know what are fake and what are authentic smurfs when you are not familiar with them. Over time it becomes a lot easier to identify them.

You can check out my website by clicking the www. link at the bottom of my post which shows different types of fakes under each of the authentic smurf. There is also a fantastic website done by Attom who is the legend when it comes to collecting fake smurfs and his websites specialises in just fakes so that would be really worth checking out as well. Here's the link to Attom's website:

http://www.mennoblue.com/

If you are ever in doubt then post a link here and we can always help you as many times as you need until you become more familiar with fakes.

Dyar

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Thank you Dyer, It great to know the support is there if needed.:tiphat: I just hate to get ripped off! Karen

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Hi Karen

That's no problem to help as that is one of the best things about these forums. I learnt so much after joining the forums and I always ask for opinions or advice when I am not sure of something. That way we all learn together or hear the different opinions from various members to make up our own minds. It's fun to help others the same way it was great for me to get the same type of help when I first started.

Take care

Dyar

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Hi Gary, I totally agree. Fakes being sold on Ebay seem to be increasing in numbers all the time. The last year or so has not only seen the problem getting bigger, it also seems that there are now more types of fakes around as well and like you say, many of them being sold by quite established Ebayers. The number of repaints around now is quite frightening, plus you then have the Hong Kong Easter smurfs and the vinyl kings flooding the market and also the fakes of fakes, that is the newer versions of the older fakes smurfs such as the millionaire and pirate smurfs, they seem to be absolutely every where now. :013:

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

I was wondering if the "new fakes" has stopped at these Easter ones or if new fake versions are being produced as well in Hong Kong or whatever?

I also am curious to know and understand how they are able do this fake reproduction thing and how they do it and if IMPS does anything about it? I've seen how there are cd's and musicians out there that have used the Smurf name and now with these fake Smurfs that are being produced and yet it seems so unfair that IMPS have gone after smurf-fans who simply want to dedicate a title of their website to Smurfs?

Just my 2 cents here.

Re: eBay - fake everywhere - beware!!
 

Sorry that was me up there with the Smurf fakes/IMPS question, thought I had logged in. :knackered