General Buying Guide/Tips
The world of Pokemon plush, figures, and other merch can be a difficult place to navigate. Keep the following tips in mind to make sure you don’t get stuck with a piece of fake merchandise, overspend, or be limited to common items:
0. Don’t support fake merchandise. Many people don’t care if the merchandise they buy is fake in the first place. What you do with your own money is your own choice, but bootleggers hurt people who make legitimate merchandise by taking away profits and making it harder to find legitimate items. They also tend to be far lower-quality and will break easier, and can even be made with unsafe materials since they are not regulated like real merchandise is. Reports have come out of plush stuffed with glass or needles and figures painted with lead paint. This does not necessarily apply to custom merchandise from Etsy and similar places, this is mostly for unlicensed merchandise trying to pass itself off as licensed. That being said, you should make sure that any custom merchandise is high-quality before buying from anyone who makes custom items, and make sure all copyright laws are being followed.
1. Keep all of these tips in mind for physical locations too. It’s easy to think of bootleg merchandise as an online-only problem, but it happens in physical locations as well. Mall stores, conventions, and other places are prime targets for fake items. You have the benefit of looking at all angles of an item and feeling it to see if it is durable or not, so use that to your advantage when buying at a physical location.
2. Check the reputation of the seller. This is probably the easiest way to find out if the seller has problems like fake merchandise, misleading information, overcharges, bad shipping times, and other problems. Googling the name of the website/seller can help a lot, as well as checking feedback ratings if it is a 3rd party seller on a website like Amazon or eBay. If they have any negative feedback mentioning serious problems, don’t buy from them. Remember to check any neutral feedback and to read the comments on all types of feedback (negative, neutral, and positive), and don't buy from them if there is any mention of bootlegged items. Keep in mind that on these websites there are hundreds of sellers that sell fakes with stock photos, and they may not even get in trouble for doing this if they do not explicitly say it is legitimate merch. We have a list of good and bad sellers
here, but this is not comprehensive.
3. Shop around. There are many websites that sell legitimate merchandise, but charge far more than they should just because they can. With very rare items you obviously don’t have much of a choice since it may be ages before you even see another one, but for more common items you should price compare at all of the major trusted websites and check eBay/Amazon for any listings by known legitimate sellers. If there appear to be quite a few listings of that item, you should also try waiting a few days to see if you can snag a lower-price one. If you don’t care as much about condition, an item without tags may cost you far less than a mint item with all tags attached/in the box/etc.
4. When you can, preorder. Within reason, of course. You shouldn’t preorder everything you may possibly want, especially from Japan (see the
International Buying Guide) if you can’t afford it. But if you know it’s an item you really want, you should order it as soon as you find a price you can live with, since they will almost always go up in price and very rarely will go down. Most Pokemon items are limited-run, so once the initial shipment sells out, it is gone for good, and then you will have to deal with aftermarket sellers which are a minefield of bootlegs and inflated prices. Many import shops will also start charging more for their items as they sell out. I personally bought a Raichu plush last summer for $40 from a trusted site, and at that same shop as I type this, it has gone up to $80, and that is not uncommon. Sometimes items do get a later international release or a second run, but I would not count on that happening if it's an item you can't live without.
5. Use credit cards when you can. Or Paypal if you must, though a credit card through Paypal is the most preferable. If an issue happens with something you buy, you should contact the seller first, since it will let you get it resolved more quickly. If they are on a third-party website like Amazon or eBay, contact the site itself if the seller does not help you. If neither are cooperative, these methods give you another way to get your money back. Credit cards will let you do a charge back if you don’t receive an item or there is something wrong with it, and it is very easy to do; usually all you need to do is fill out a fraud report and give them all the information you have, so don’t delete any communication. It also adds an extra layer of protection if your information gets stolen, which makes your life a lot easier than if you used a debit card or Paypal. Paypal can also help you get money back if you get scammed, but they take longer, often don’t refund the full amount, and often make you send the physical item back, so credit cards are preferable. A credit card through Paypal allows you to first request a refund from Paypal, and then from your credit card company if Paypal does not help you, so that gives you the most options.
If you are doing a high-value trade with someone, then use Paypal and pay each other whatever the item(s) are worth (be sure you select payment not gift, because gift gives you no protection). Paypal takes out a small fee, but think of it as insurance, since in a trade your only option if you get scammed is law enforcement. If it is an amount of money you can't afford to easily replace, the ~3% Paypal takes away is worth it when you have to trust people on the internet. I would also recommend when using Paypal you take your money out and transfer it to a real bank immediately, since they have been known to freeze accounts and/or take money for no reason, and it’s very difficult to get it back if this happens.
If you get scammed, be sure to leave negative feedback and tell us here so we can add them to the
bad seller list. Whatever you do, don’t just give up and let them get away with it, since you could be helping other people in the future not get scammed.
6. Ask to see additional pictures of the actual item. Real sellers will not have a problem with this and if the item is fake this will often make it more obvious, since most bootleggers either use a good angle or stock photos. If someone refuses, that is a great way to know that they are either scamming or are just a bad seller.
7. Avoid items that only use stock photos. While some trusted sellers do this, if it is a seller you know nothing about, I would be extremely cautious. Most legitimate sellers want to show off the exact item they are selling, and stock photos either show the seller is lazy or has fake things that don't look as good as the stock photo. This is especially important if you are buying cartridge video games, as most (though not all) fakes can be spotted easily from a picture.
8. Make accounts early and often. If you are anticipating buying an item that may sell out quickly, you should make an account as soon as possible, long before the item is up for sale. Many websites take quite a bit of time to set up an account, and if an item only lasts 15 minutes, that could be the difference between getting one and not getting one. If you are given the choice of creating an account or checking out without an account, you should almost always create one. It makes it far easier to find your information if there is a problem with your order, and many offer loyalty points or other benefits for buying things on the same account. Collecting merchandise is an expensive hobby, and every little bit helps cut costs.
9. If the price seems to good to be true, it probably is. Should be common sense, but is important to keep in mind. If a deluxe figure cost $80 at launch and now retails for around $100, and you see one listed for $40 that isn't damaged or anything, it is almost definitely a fake.
10. Pay attention to the number of items available. This is not always an issue, as there are some legitimate sellers that buy in bulk. However, combined with several of the other issues discussed in this post, it could be a sign of fake merchandise. If you see a rare plush that sold out 5 years ago, and a seller has 10+ available, that should set off some alarm bells. They are also likely to be scalpers, which you may not want to support for other reasons.
11. Avoid buying things from China. Not all Chinese sellers sell fake things, but most fake things come from China. Sometimes they will have an address in the US to appear legitimate, but it is still coming from China, so pay attention to their user page and feedback for that. If it comes with a box/tags, also check those to make sure that they look right and are the right ones for that item.
12. Items that are new without box/tags are very likely fake. Especially if they are coming from China. It is more difficult for them to print good-quality boxes, so they will often claim something that normally comes in a box is new without the box. Legitimate sellers
should list anything out-of-box as used, not new.
13. Even on good feedback accounts, beware of unusual activity. Occasionally eBay/Amazon accounts or even whole websites get hacked. One common thing for hackers to do is list impossibly good deals on items the seller has sold in the past (common one I've seen is brand new game consoles for $20) in order to take your money, banking on the good reputation of the account they hacked. Then they hope you never bother to file a claim to get your money back. It's not hard to get your money back but if you're tight on funds it could tie up that money for a bit, so make sure you're extra cautious if it seems too good to be true.