Square-Enix, creator and publisher of many beloved game series, such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest/Warrior, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, and many others, also creates and produces many different high-quality figures and various other products associated with their games, right in Japan. Square-Enix DOES NOT outsource the production of their products. They used to many years ago, but not anymore. Unfortunately, this means that SE figures tend to be more expensive than others, since it costs more to produce them right in Japan, and the prices of SE figures rarely drop, but this also means it's much easier to spot a SE bootleg.
People in China can't steal their molds, because they never get them in the first place; however this does not mean that SE products are bootleg proof. A franchise like Final Fantasy is so popular that Chinese and Malaysian bootleggers will go to the trouble of making their very own molds to create their bootlegs with. The bootleggers will try to make their products look very similar to the official ones, but they can never get it quite right. Due to this, it's much easier to spot a SE bootleg compared to those made with the original molds. Just find the pictures of the official products, on SE's own website (square-enix-shop.com), even, and compare them to the pictures on the eBay page. You'll notice glaring difference between the reals and fakes.
Really, there isn't much reason to buy SE products from eBay at all, unless they aren't being sold on SE's website anymore, since the prices aren't going to change much. If you do decide to buy a SE product on eBay, however, just make sure the seller is in Japan or America and always compare the photos. There is almost no reason for Chinese or Malaysian sellers to even be in possession of mass quantities of SE products, so if the seller is from one of those countries, you're likely looking at a bootleg.
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