Rules For Buying On eBay: Part 1

So eBay seems like a great place to buy new toys, right?  The selection is huge, you can find just about anything, the prices seem cheap, and it's just oh-so-easy.  Unfortunately, it's never quite so simple when it comes to collecting, well, pretty much anything.  If you have any intention of reselling your toys for a profit someday, you need to make sure you get the real toys, not one of many knock-offs, bootlegs, fakes, frauds, phonies, unlicensed toys, or whatever you want to call them.  It can be easy to spot a fake when you're holding it in your hand (I'll tell you how later), but spotting one on an eBay seller's page is another story.  I'll get you started with a few simple tips in this post, and I'll go into more depth in later posts.

So, here are a few simple rules for buying on eBay:

Rule #1 - If a deal sounds too good to be true, it ain't.
You're going to be seeing a lot of great-looking deals on eBay.  You'll see figure sets that have been out of production for 10 years, overstocked and selling for 10 bucks.  98% of the time, these are bootlegs.  Research the figures if you need to, see how long they've been out of production, how much they're selling for from trusted sites, if possible, and compare the price to those of other eBay sellers.  Most importantly, just use common sense. 

Rule #2 - Check the manufacturer.
Look at the manufacturer of the toys.  Companies like Square-Enix, Yujin, and Bandai are big makers.  If the items are bootlegs, the seller will almost never list a manufacturer on the item page.  The sellers like to try and trick you, but rarely will they flat out lie to you, otherwise they risk suffering a number of eBay penalties.  Just run a quick google search for the item(s) you want to buy, or try finding the item(s) on play-asia.com.  Play-Asia keeps product pages on their site, even long after the item has gone out of stock and out of production.  This makes the website a useful database.  Play-Asia does not sell bootlegs (or at least I've never heard of any instance where they have), so you can be assured that the appropriate info for your item(s) will be there if the item has a page.

Rule #3 - Check the photos.
First of all, never buy anything without a photo, period.  If the photo is too small or blurry to see clearly, it's likely a trick, and I wouldn't advise buying that item.  Look up photos of the real figures (again, on play-asia or just with a google search) and compare the photos to the ones on the eBay page.  Bootlegs will often have noticeable differences that I'll go into more depth on later.  The biggest differences will be shoddier paint jobs, incorrect colors, slightly different poses, or cheaper plastic and shoddy sculpting.