Fake Big Money Cards On Ebay? Russian Sellers
Economics forum
Posted on July 8, 2015, midnight by 00xtremeninja
So in my hunt for getting ABUR dual lands and trying to score a deal, I have been watching several auctions. When doing some more searching, I ran across something interesting.
Take this Volcanic Island
not near mint at all, no back of the card, etc. now, not to say the guy doesn't legit have this card, but look at his other listings. Playset of Goyf, playset of FOW. That's a lot of money. Plus, the background on each picture is different. Also just joined Ebay on July 5th. Suspicious. Also, not to generalize, but wouldn't the folks of Russia be opening Russian boosters? Not that they can't get English ones there, but still.
NOW! More fun!
TWO Volcanic Islands?! English? And located in the fine country of Russia. Just started selling, yesterday? Interesting. Let's see what else he has....
Mint condition Tropical Island and Karakas in the same auction?! Why would you lump the two together? the Karakas is going to net you a ton to begin with. And his other auction is a promo Wasteland and Lili. He uses the same stone surface to take a pic on, but still, seems odd.
Now, I am not an expert on identifying the small nuances of real vs fake MTG cards like I know a lot of people are, especially around P9 stuff. But, MTG Lion did a ton of research on it and I know that people that make bootleg cards sell the big cash cards for Modern and Legacy.
So what say you T/O community? Are these guys legit, or are we going to have to keep our eyes open for high quality fakes coming from Russia?
I apologize if this is in the wrong section.
SimicPower says... #3
I am going to point out that there are no Russian Volcanic Island
s. Revised only saw print in English, Italian, French, and German. So a Russian owning old non-Russian cards ins't that suspect.
July 8, 2015 12:23 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #4
Good point simic. However, doesn't take away from the other red flags about these sellers.
July 8, 2015 12:29 a.m.
You gotta start from somewhere you know? Plus Paypal has your back if any of the transactions go poorly. I wouldn't put myself in the position to need there support, simply because it is tedious, but I wouldn't be worried about shopping on ebay. Just make sure to read the ad completely and you will be fine. I do all of my mtg card shopping on ebay and have had almost no problems.
July 8, 2015 12:36 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #6
Oh I have gotten insanely good deals on ebay before too, and the main reason I am shopping duals on there. But even with all of the buyer protection out there, don't want to go through the hassle of that, nor should innocent people be potentially getting ripped off.
July 8, 2015 12:44 a.m.
The easiest way it to ask them to take additional pictures of the card for you and other questions, like, why they're selling the cards together in a lot. This will give you more views and information to determine the overall quality of the cards condition better, and put the seller in a position where they'd need the physical product in order take additional photos.
Then any further red flags would make the decision to avoid these auctions much easier. Like if they won't provide additional photos of the front and back or if they are on various backgrounds like before it would imply that they were photos taken at different times (possibly of different cards) or even if just their answers to your questions are vague or incomplete. Basically just do everything you can to acquire as much information from them before you make a decision on if you trust the seller or not.
July 8, 2015 1:46 a.m.
As Abenz said.
Ask for additional pictures - sure sign whether they own the card or not.
If you do get ripped off paypal will refund your money.
I got into a situation where a guy who had sold magic cards for years and had over 1000 feedback suddenly started scamming people. I thought I'd picked up some great bargains but it turned out that he just got up one day and decided to ruin his reputation. Got all of my money back from paypal.
July 8, 2015 3:39 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #10
And this is why I only buy ABURs and stuff from my LGS. I know not all LGS's are lucky enough to have really old, really expensive stuff in their inventory, but I just happen to be one of those lucky few.
July 8, 2015 7:51 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #11
sure buying local is nice, but I am such a deal hunter that paying full retail for a dual land in played condition doesn't appeal to me. Can use the 50-75 dollars saved on other singles I need. Plus, a few shops in my area have been known of having some of these fake duals in stock and using them to promote Legacy events. Then when you think you are playing for a Tropical Island, they tell you they just learned it's fake and then you are playing for a Taiga.
With anything, if my gut says something isn't right, I am usually right and pass on it, and in this case, I have no problem passing on these sellers. I just hope this can shed some light for others out there to be careful with things and that we might start seeing an influx of high quality fakes on ebay here soon.
July 8, 2015 11:23 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #12
00xtremeninja that LGS sounds shady as hell but you know what? in the end, I wouldn't really mind if I was just playing for a Taiga as opposed to a Tropical Island. why? because it's still a card that's useful to me.
July 8, 2015 11:42 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #13
You know, it's really not a good idea to speculate on things like fakes unless you have reasonable evidence to support your claim. Nothing about your post leads me to believe the cards themselves are fake. The auctions might be suspicious, but that's it.
Further, the "influx of high-quality fakes" happened years ago when the Chinese forgeries were exposed. It's been going on for a while. It's not even that dangerous to the average consumer.
July 8, 2015 11:42 a.m.
00xtremeninja says... #14
yeah maybe fake isn't the proper term to be used, suspicious is more like it. was late last night as I was going through those auctions, it started throwing red flags at me like when I got started collecting hockey jerseys and had to wade through the influx of people selling knock off sweaters on ebay. I guess time will tell with these sellers. As always, buyer beware.
canterlotguardian that shop is incredibly shady and has done other tactics to try and run other shops out of their area. When the main shop I used to play at would close at night, they used to send their guys or faithful players over and plaster the windows with posters for events they were throwing. If you would go in and browse cards, and say you went to frequently play elsewhere, they would ridicule you for it and talk smack about where you played at. Needless to say, huge turn off from wanting to go in there and I drive further out of my way to go play with other people.
July 8, 2015 11:53 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #15
Store owners like that will learn eventually: shady tactics may pay off in the short-term, but in the long run, it will do nothing but harm to them.
JRaynor says... #2
Any account on ebay that pops up selling high dollar items with no previous history is highly suspect in my opinion. Doesn't have to be magic related.
July 8, 2015 12:11 a.m.