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[yatesl]

I'm in the process of selling some of my games now, and just doing a search for Pokémon highlights how many counterfeit products are on sale.

The first tip off is when it's cart only, and there's 160+ sold of 200+ remaining. In addition, just look at this listing.

Specifically the fact that every cart has "GAME" at the top, instead of "Nintendo GAME BOY".

I'll be honest, part of this is self serving as people who don't realise are more likely to buy a £7 copy than the price I'd hope they'd pay for mine, but it's also infuriating that people are just happily selling pirated goods - and the people who are buying them (potentially parents for their kids) are getting a fake product that has the potential to break.

One listing has this exact phrasing:
"Our games are sourced from the U.K and abroad in the United States. These are copies of the originals."

Unfortunately many people wouldn't read that/skim over in such a block of text.

 

[indask8]

Ebay has become hell for finding genuine GBA cartridges...

The fakes are also getting very very good, now they have the "copyright nintendo" writing over the contacts, they use eeprom as save memory (fake usually used save battery even on eeprom carts), the sticker is embossed with the revision number... They are made to fool you.

 

[mr_chun]

MetalJesusRocks did a video on this a while ago -- Kelsey had some great tips of things that she's learned at her game store. Some of it is obvious, but some of it requires knowing what to look for or cracking the game open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqwDN-njSls

Gameboy at 9:54

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Gonna be dumping a bunch of my GBA stuff on eBay between now and the end of the year and it's always tough figuring out how to convince people my stuff is legit. Thankfully I still have the boxes and manuals for most of it.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I mean China fakes goddamn dinosaur fossils.

 

[Ogodei]

Or a Green version with an ESRB rating when that never even came out in the US!

 

[Lagamorph]

For me the biggest giveaway that those carts were fake was that the business seller information lists them as being in China.

 

[Betty]

I actually own this, bought it off eBay.

I knew it was fake but I thought it would be fun to check out anyway.

Unfortunately there's a really early game progression bug so you can't continue too far anyway.

 

[KHlover]

Guess it's a shame for collectors, but as long as those carts work and don't brick my console I probably wouldn't care if those <10 bucks cartrides are real or fake.

 

[Shiggy]

Guess it's a shame for collectors, but as long as those carts work and don't brick my console I probably wouldn't care if those <10 bucks cartrides are real or fake.

I had a fake GBA game and the battery died like a year after, so progress couldn't be saved.

 

[Syriel]

I'm in the process of selling some of my games now, and just doing a search for Pokémon highlights how many counterfeit products are on sale.

The first tip off is when it's cart only, and there's 160+ sold of 200+ remaining. In addition, just look at this listing.

Specifically the fact that every cart has "GAME" at the top, instead of "Nintendo GAME BOY".



I'll be honest, part of this is self serving as people who don't realise are more likely to buy a £7 copy than the price I'd hope they'd pay for mine, but it's also infuriating that people are just happily selling pirated goods - and the people who are buying them (potentially parents for their kids) are getting a fake product that has the potential to break.

One listing has this exact phrasing:
"Our games are sourced from the U.K and abroad in the United States. These are copies of the originals."

Unfortunately many people wouldn't read that/skim over in such a block of text.

Counterfeits are both illegal and against eBay policy.

If you buy one, simply file a claim w/eBay and/or PayPal and you'll end up with a full refund.

Sellers who sell that crap deserve to get caught.

 

[yatesl]

Gonna be dumping a bunch of my GBA stuff on eBay between now and the end of the year and it's always tough figuring out how to convince people my stuff is legit. Thankfully I still have the boxes and manuals for most of it.

Unfortunately the 3 I've found in my cupboard (Red, Fire Red, Gold) are just the carts. I've plastered my listing with "GENUINE. BE WARY OF FAKES. THESE ARE REAL. THERE'S A LOT OF FAKES. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION."

 

[Huge Succeeded]

I avoid fake carts of real games like the plague but there are a small handful of Pokemon hacks that I'd actually love to own in a physical format.

 

[Jb]

Ebay has become hell for finding genuine GBA cartridges...

The fakes are also getting very very good, now they have the "copyright nintendo" writing over the contacts, they use eeprom as save memory (fake usually used save battery even on eeprom carts), the sticker is embossed with the revision number... They are made to fool you.

Yeah I was looking for a genuine copy of FF6 Advance a while ago and came across a crazy number of fakes.
Plus sellers aren't very happy when you tell them you need to open their cartridge to make sure it's legit. From what you're saying it seems like even that might not be enough now.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Pokemon carts are just the tip of the iceberg, the vast majority of GBA games on eBay are fake (when I was looking for FF6 the other day some of the fakes were so close to genuine in the low res eBay photos that even I was almost fooled by one) along with any of the slightly in demand DS or GB/GBC games.

More recently Mega Drive fakes have started to flood there as well, thankfully they all have the shittiest labels and boxes possible so nobody buys them without knowing they are fake, but it's at the point where eBay is starting to look like Aliexpress.

Also hell, I didn't even mention the PC Engine stuff, it's super dangerous buying any of the rare CD games like Dracula X now because almost all of them on eBay are fakes for the same price.

Yeah I was looking for a genuine copy of FF6 Advance a while ago and came across a crazy number of fakes.

Yeah FF6 is baaaad, a lot of the US fakes are obvious but one of them I encountered uses a high quality print of the EU label and the only difference is the Gameboy Advance font on the cartridge has slightly incorrect spacing between 2 letters.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Whats the chances of people taking fake games and trading them into gamestop?

 

[TheAggroCraig]

Whats the chances of people taking fake games and trading them into gamestop?

Probably very high. My friend had a fake copy of Fire Emblem (or Sacred Stones) way back when that iirc he traded into Gamestop. (The back of the cartridge said Nintondo, which I pointed out to him when he was asking why it didn't save properly)

My GBA collection is pretty much complete for what I want, so thankfully I haven't had to dig through any fakes to find a real one.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Ebay has become hell for finding genuine GBA cartridges...

The fakes are also getting very very good, now they have the "copyright nintendo" writing over the contacts, they use eeprom as save memory (fake usually used save battery even on eeprom carts), the sticker is embossed with the revision number... They are made to fool you.

DS games are a crapshoot too. Got a fake Shadow Dragon card that seems to use parts from a recycled Mario Kart DS card. The stamped code on the back corresponds with MKDS's anyway.

 

[BolognaOni]

I recall eBay being full of fake carts in the GBA era, do it's not exactly a new development. Pretty much any "cartridge only" auction was guaranteed to be a fake.

 

[Luigi87]

I actually own this, bought it off eBay.

I knew it was fake but I thought it would be fun to check out anyway.

Unfortunately there's a really early game progression bug so you can't continue too far anyway.

Cold Steel version when?

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Whats the chances of people taking fake games and trading them into gamestop?

Super high. Even retro game specialist shops near me are 50% fakes when it comes to GBA carts.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Every collectors market has fakes. It's extremely frustrating. Not because it's easy to fall for them, but because they clog up your search results. If you're looking for something rare, you might get 30 results, but only 5 of them are legitimate. It makes it very difficult to gauge prices or even determine availability.

But with all hobbies, most collectors know what the thing they want is supposed to look like.

The most frustrating fake economy I've had to deal with are movie posters. Fakes are so common and so frequent that they actually have subcategorization. Since they're mass-produced, people have learned what specific fault different fakes have, like the "hairy belt" Star Wars poster.

 

[Gaardus]

Whats the chances of people taking fake games and trading them into gamestop?

My brother bought a fake copy of Pokemon Pearl from Game Stop, exchanged it when it crashed regularly, and received another fake, so I'd say pretty high.

(He returned it and picked up a genuine copy on ebay for less than half the price.)

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

I don't buy off ebay anymore, because of this. It's more expensive buying on the high street but at least you can look a cartridge over before paying any money.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I wish I could leave eBay behind. But it remains the only viable market to buy the Pokemon cards I collect.

 

[Deadpool_X]

Check out that Crystal cart. Real Crystal carts done have the GB cutout slot in the tip right, as it was GBC only

 

[Siege.exe]

I remember having a bootleg cart of Emerald when I was a kid, think it was from a friend but I don't remember where or how they got it. It was plain blackish gray like normal GBA carts were and the label was weird, there were tons of translation errors, some text just ended up becoming a mess of random symbols, and it always crashed when I got on the boat to go to the Battle Frontier, destroying my save in the process. I don't why I played it so much, especially when I had a real copy of Emerald, but the level of jank the person who made that bootleg managed to accomplish was incredible.

 

[pete_clarf]

Gonna be dumping a bunch of my GBA stuff on eBay between now and the end of the year and it's always tough figuring out how to convince people my stuff is legit. Thankfully I still have the boxes and manuals for most of it.

This is pretty much why I will only buy GB/GBC/GBA games that are complete... just in case I ever want to sell it down the road.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Check out that Crystal cart. Real Crystal carts done have the GB cutout slot in the tip right, as it was GBC only

And the fact the cartridge is the wrong colour.

 

[Jb]

I don't buy off ebay anymore, because of this. It's more expensive buying on the high street but at least you can look a cartridge over before paying any money.

Yeah but if you realize it's a fake on ebay you can always complain and get your money back. It's not as risky as it used to be.

This is pretty much why I will only buy GB/GBC/GBA games that are complete... just in case I ever want to sell it down the road.

I feel like complete GB/A games are even harder to find than pre-jewel cases console games. Maybe because most of the kids who bought these games put the cartridges in little plastic protectors and threw away the box.

 

[Poppy]

i got a fake firered once

felt bad man

 

[daxy]

I don't buy off ebay anymore, because of this. It's more expensive buying on the high street but at least you can look a cartridge over before paying any money.

I only buy GB(A) carts over Ebay that have actual pictures of the carts attached and the pictures have enough detail for me to ascertain whether they're real or not. The vast majority of fakes are relatively easy to spot and -- just in case you're hit by that 1% of elaborate fakes that can only be spotted reading the chip's identifying numbers -- Paypal always has your back as a buyer. Buying based on a stock photo is just asking for trouble.

 

[MaverickHunterX]

Back in the GBAs heyday, I was sold a bootleg copy of Comix Zone from the U.K. I mean, it works perfectly, but considering the original print goes for a decent sum...

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Super high. Even retro game specialist shops near me are 50% fakes when it comes to GBA carts.

My brother bought a fake copy of Pokemon Pearl from Game Stop, exchanged it when it crashed regularly, and received another fake, so I'd say pretty high.

(He returned it and picked up a genuine copy on ebay for less than half the price.)

The hell.. whats stopping people from just making fake carts and trading them in to gamestop for money? I know the DS fire emblem game is like 20 something trade in dollars

 

[daxy]

The hell.. whats stopping people from just making fake carts and trading them in to gamestop for money? I know the DS fire emblem game is like 20 something trade in dollars

I don't know about the US, but if you're caught selling counterfeit goods in the EU you can get in deep shit.

 

[LayLa]

I only buy GB(A) carts over Ebay that have actual pictures of the carts attached and the pictures have enough detail for me to ascertain whether they're real or not. The vast majority of fakes are relatively easy to spot and, just in case you're hit by that 1%, Paypal always has your back as a buyer. Buying based on a stock photo is just asking for trouble.

Yeh same, I've been collecting loose GB/A carts over the last couple of years and if the seller doesn't provide good enough pics I just move on. Once you know what to look for it is easy to spot the fakes. There are certain games that are swamped with fakes though, Pokémon & FF5/FF6 might be the worst.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

I would buy fake cartridges for every single one of Drayano's hacks if I could afford it