pvcblue

Hi all - I was perusing eBay last night looking over listings for a new contest and was astounded by the number of fake smurf on eBay!!! I was amazed, from the obvious "spain" smurfs to the less obvious fake smurfs made to look like rare pieces. What really amazed me was that allot of them are from well known sellers with descriptions that try make the buyer think that the piece is either authentic or a rare variation not seen before!! The lack of truthfulness by sellers on there is disgusting. The most common one now is "Astro" smurfs....... they are said to mint and complete, but they are the Schleich versions wearing bully helmets!!! I must have seen at least 2 dozen of these in the past couple of days!! If you see a auction for AstroSmurf and it is the schleich version(finger pointing up) wearing a bully helmet IT IS NOT MINT!!

BUYERS BEWARE!!! eBay is full of fakes lately!!

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bluenosesmurf

That is just the kind of advice a "newbie" like me needs. Fortunately, I think I will give myself some more time before attempting any auctions. Thanks .

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Chrissy

matbot

yes gary
but there are a lot of new fakes.. i don't know if they are full of fakes since weeks or if it's ebcause i've never seenthem closer before, but each day, i discover 4 new fakes, and some of them are not clearly described as fake...

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Charly

Gary, how can you tell the difference on the helmets? Bully and otherwise??

Charly

pvcblue

Charly - sorry to get to this late - but if you goto my collection pic page - this one - CLICK HERE - there are 2 astro pics - one set is authentic, the other has replica or bully helmets on schleich figures.

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mandy2323

Just becare full what you buy on Ebay......because sometimes people can rip you off selling things to you anymore these days.........

matbot

i've also noiced an amazing number of "rohling" smurfs, that are just smurf unpainted with some chemicalproducts
the last one i get here for testing was clearly a normal smurf that had paint ripped off

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Syd Smurf

I agree Mat....you can tell from some of the Ebay pics that the PVC has been affected. I haven't bought any of these paint stripped smurfs yet but I have been aware that they are out there and in growing numbers too.

Dyar

koob

Hi, How can you tell fakes?? I am not an experienced collector so wouldn't know. Many thanks

Syd Smurf

Hi Karen

It's hard to know what are fake and what are authentic smurfs when you are not familiar with them. Over time it becomes a lot easier to identify them.

You can check out my website by clicking the www. link at the bottom of my post which shows different types of fakes under each of the authentic smurf. There is also a fantastic website done by Attom who is the legend when it comes to collecting fake smurfs and his websites specialises in just fakes so that would be really worth checking out as well. Here's the link to Attom's website:

http://www.mennoblue.com/

If you are ever in doubt then post a link here and we can always help you as many times as you need until you become more familiar with fakes.

Dyar

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koob

Thank you Dyer, It great to know the support is there if needed. I just hate to get ripped off! Karen

Syd Smurf

Hi Karen

That's no problem to help as that is one of the best things about these forums. I learnt so much after joining the forums and I always ask for opinions or advice when I am not sure of something. That way we all learn together or hear the different opinions from various members to make up our own minds. It's fun to help others the same way it was great for me to get the same type of help when I first started.

Take care

Dyar

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thewebs

Hi Gary, I totally agree. Fakes being sold on Ebay seem to be increasing in numbers all the time. The last year or so has not only seen the problem getting bigger, it also seems that there are now more types of fakes around as well and like you say, many of them being sold by quite established Ebayers. The number of repaints around now is quite frightening, plus you then have the Hong Kong Easter smurfs and the vinyl kings flooding the market and also the fakes of fakes, that is the newer versions of the older fakes smurfs such as the millionaire and pirate smurfs, they seem to be absolutely every where now.

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Smurfy Greetings

Rachel



Blue Imps Smurf Collection

Coral

I am from little new zealand, smurfs here are hard to come by, the only ones we have are the ones that were sold at bp. I am just starting to use ebay to try and find the ones im missing what is the safest way to select them as shipping costs are huge never mind the exchange rates.

Syd Smurf

Good questions SANY. It will be interesting to see if more fakes come out of Hong Kong and if IMPS will go after them. It does seem strange that we can't use the word "smurf" or the name in other languages to showcase our collections yet others can get away with selling fake smurfs which would have to be a bigger concern to them. Maybe it's difficult chasing after the HK companies as there are so many but I am sure IMPS are aware of it so it will be interesting to see what happens int he future.


Hi Coral

Nice to see another Kiwi on here. I guess the best thing to do is to watch ebay and become aware of prices. Some smurfs will sell for a lot more than others and even the same smurf with different markings can sell for a lot more than other markings. It's confusing to start off with but the more you pick up the easier it gets. We will always be here to help the best we can.

I guess becoming familiar with postage rates would be handy as there are too many sellers in my opinion that overcharge for postage. Some sellers do try to rip off others from different countries thinking they wouldn't have a clue about international postage but most of them are fine. I do find Canadian post can be very expensive so always check before buying there until you become familiar with the rates.

If you are starting out then buying some bigger lots would be more economical. Youc an always sell off the spares on ebay to recoup some of the costs and you usually find that you get better value for money with the big lost especially when you don't have a lot in yoru collection. Sometimes you even get surprised with rarer expensive smurfs in the bigger lots that nobody else has noticed. Just work out how much you would pay per smurf and stick to that when buying the big lots.

Everyone is different when it comes to collecting and I am sure you will find your own way soon enough.

Good luck

Dyar

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