Fakes Outside of the US?

[HarZard]

I have been out of the TCG scene for years but when I was into it when they first came out, I remember fakes being a big problem.

I'm wondering how common this was for those of you who live outside of the US and if it's still a problem now?

 

[Athena]

It's pretty easy to avoid getting fake cards so long as you only buy official Pokémon sealed products from trusted retailers, or singles from trusted resellers and/or if they have scans available (since fakes are pretty easy to spot). Resealed packs and 3rd party packaged cards may contain fakes. In my experience, though, fake cards are overall less common now than they used to be.

Apparently China still bootlegs a lot of Pokémon cards to the point where people have a hard time finding legitimate Pokémon cards in Chinese, but this is not something I've experienced first hand. Here in the Netherlands, cards are kept behind counters at retailers and no one sells 3rd party repackaged cards like you can find in the US at Target and the like, so in that respect, and the fact that so many more people buy and sell Pokémon cards in the US than in Europe, you're probably at a higher risk of finding fakes in the US than here, though it's still not a common problem so long as you shop smartly.

 

[Nin]

I've found two or three fakes from my old cards (Base Set to Delta cards), but not too many and I haven't seen any since I started playing again (Next Destinies onwards). I'm in the UK, but I'm very surprised at the amount of fakes in the US - my girlfriend brought her cards over from America and it's probably about 25% fakes! I don't think cards have the popularity they used to so I guess they're not as common any more though.

 

[bbninjas]

In Australia, fakes are quite common, especially as they are sooo much cheaper. Cheap shops often can be found with them, while some Asian stalls at shows and markets sell them.