Can you tell the difference between these two products?
Well, one is an official product, the other is a knock-off. It’s easy to tell because the official has the Toei sticker on it, the other doesn’t. Otherwise, hard to tell, right? Well, according to a seller on eBay who bought one of these unofficial Figuarts:
While you can buy the unofficial Super Sailor Moon for under $15 versus $50 for the official, the old adage “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. Not to mention that the author of Sailor Moon, Bandai, and all the employees who were involved in the making of this figure get nothing.
So, how can you avoid buying an unofficial product like the above-mentioned seller?
Be cautious of sellers from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
No offense to to the citizens of these countries, but they manufacture a lot of fakes. Some less scrupulous sellers will even use pictures in their listing of the official product or, like on Amazon, piggyback on the real product listing. Make sure if you are buying from sellers outside of Japan or the US that you see a picture and look for some of the other warning signs.
Look for tags.
A seller who has multiples of an item but claim all are new without tags should also be viewed with skepticism. It’s one thing for a seller to have a couple of used products without the identifying tickets, but all?
In addition, like in the case of Toei above, some companies have a special mark to indicate it’s an official product. So if you see that silver sticker on a Figuarts, you should be okay. But even with a tag, you need to be careful:
Know what the official version looks like.
This may seem obvious, but lots of bootleggers put a D-grade effort into their packaging: using images from later seasons for a box set, fanart drawings that clearly use a different style than the series uses, lots of misspellings. Even if you know what the US version looks like, do a Google search and see if you can find the what the official version looks like in the seller’s country — chances are, they won’t be in full English.
In some cases, bootleggers may try to get a jump start and release stuff that’s not even licensed in the US for home video release, so do a little research first. Also remember that DVDs are far easier to copy than Blu-rays.
For other items like bags, plushies, etc., try to look for any oddities or imperfections. Of course, official merchandise can have errors in production, but if you notice the character with the wrong colored dress or something, then it’s more likely a substandard counterfeit.
Know what the official version costs.
As in the case of the Figuarts, can someone really sell a figure for a quarter of its retail cost? Sure, sometimes you will get an awesome deal thanks to some needing cash in a hurry or a company dumping excess DVDs to a liquidator. But some things couldn’t be more obvious it’s counterfeit:
You can barely buy a basic kids ring for $5, let alone a licensed piece of jewelry. If a seller or a store has all kinds of items at bottom-barrel pricing, you should have your eyes wide open.
Know what’s included.
If you are looking up an anime set, you can see how many episodes are in there — chances are, if the number of episodes is above 26, sound the alarm! Other red flags include Chinese subtitles, multi-language subtitles, DVD or Blu-ray being all-region, or lack of English dub when one exists.
Check official stores and manufacturer’s website.
See a neat bag you’ve never seen before? Look to see if you can find it elsewhere. GE Animation allows you to browse their catalog, and they manufacture a majority of anime merchandise in the US. For imported merchandise, that may be hard if you have trouble with Japanese, but even a basic Google search may steer you in the right direction.
Consult resources for known bootleg companies.
Companies like Son-May (music) and Anime Studio (anime sets) are known counterfeiters. If you can see a company name, do a little research. Places like Otaku News have a lengthy list of pirate companies while some official merchandisers like Good Smile Company have comparison pictures, so you can check these resources.
Only buy from reputable retailers.
Avoid buying from random sellers on Amazon or eBay. Instead, spend a little more and go to a site that assures 100% bootleg free: Right Stuf Anime, Robert’s Anime Corner Stores, Crunchyroll Store. You will likely spend a little more, but it’s peace of mind. If it’s a store you have never heard of, do research and look for other red flags. There are some stores that may be set up just to gather your personal information, and that’s far worse than buying some bootleg items. If you are still going to take a chance, use something like PayPal where they can’t access your credit card number.
Notice if there are a lot of unusual images represented.
Most licensors get a set of images that they can use for things like mugs, wall scrolls, wallets, etc. Very rarely — or with much limitation — is a merchandiser allowed to have someone draw the characters. Sure, they will add different effects, only use one character from a group image, use different colors. But there is a reason why the same pictures pop up on so many different types of merchandise.
Obviously, there is more leeway with things like plushies. But even if the T-shirt or whatever uses an official image (like a screenshot), if it’s something you don’t see slapped on other products, be wary. Of course, every image has to make a debut at some point, and bootleggers may use the same fanart-level drawing on multiple products, so this method isn’t fool-proof. But if the style looks very different from official art, it probably isn’t.
Consider the timing and how popular the series you love really is.
As I mentioned before, some counterfeit anime box sets will be available before it’s picked up in the US — sometimes, just as soon as the series has finished airing in Japan. And one of the purposes of creating an anime is to sell other merchandise, so the Japanese stores will be stocked with merchandise for people to buy while it’s airing. But if it’s just barely finished a cour in Japan, chances are, companies haven’t signed the contracts, made the product, designed the packaging, and sent them to US stores in that short of time. Even if some merchandise has made it to Western shores, would that much really be available already? Was it even popular enough to have that much made? Sure, a wider range of series are being represented at places like Hot Topic, but I think most licensors would rather go big on a few series rather than get the rights for a series where they’re only planning on releasing a couple of products.
So, you have counterfeit merchandise. What do you do?
There’s a high chance that, eventually, you are going to get something that isn’t official. You might have picked it up early in your fandom before you knew better, been given a well-meaning gift, or figured there aren’t many alternatives and couldn’t hurt. Heck, even major retailers like Amazon have been duped into selling bootlegs as official products.
But now you know. So what should you do?
If you’ve recently purchased it on eBay or Amazon, first contact the seller. They may issue you a refund or send a label for you to ship it back. That’s nice, but that doesn’t stop the next person from getting snookered.
If it’s obvious that the seller is a big-time counterfeiter and not just an individual who likely didn’t know, report them to eBay/Amazon. They are likely to be kicked off if they receive too many reports or have an agent who immediately recognizes some of these telltale signs. Unfortunately, there’s a chance they’ll just rebrand themselves or find some way to try again, but at least they’ll have to start back with zero feedback and will be regarded as more suspicious by potential buyers.
If you used a credit card or PayPal, you can file a claim with them. They may ask to see photos, and you may want to also submit images of what you thought you were getting or what the official product looks like. Again, some companies may help you send it back while others will just credit your account and close the case.
If it’s something you bought years ago, however, the ill-gotten gains can’t be reversed. So what should you do? Pass a bootleg set on to another person? Trash an unofficial wall scroll that’s still in good condition? Keep using that counterfeit messenger bag?
The ideal situation is to find an official version and try to “balance out” the original purchase. If that isn’t possible for whatever reason, the main thing is to keep it out of circulation. Don’t try to resell it or give it away. Trash it, recycle it, find something so that more people aren’t benefiting from it.
Now, let’s say you bought a figure that wasn’t official. You already spent the money on it, so is it really that much worse if you keep it on display? Or is that still getting some value out of it, and you should not be rewarding the bootleggers? Perhaps it’s okay since it’s not something that other people will really notice, but a T-shirt or something that makes others want to buy one not okay?
It’s a grey area, and hopefully one you can avoid in the future. It’s true that the price is attractive, and sometimes bootleggers make products that official companies don’t. But you should always support the original creators and the many people who are responsible for the merchandise along the way, not someone who just leeches off of others’ hard work.