How do you spot a fake rare or oop deck and preferable/trusted sellers

[Aliki]

How do you spot if a rare oop deck is an original or fake? And which places/sellers you prefer and trust to get these decks from?

[joy]

Hey @Aliki in my opinion an indicator is the price. Fake stuff is often cheap.

[Raggydoll]

When I was looking for vintage RWS it was very helpful to look at close ups where I could get an idea of the cardstock. Pre copyright decks have a different finish to them. Plus the images are printed off center so the borders are uneven. 

I agree with @joy, prices are telling. Also, look at what other things that person sells. If they only sell other genuinely vintage items then that’s a good sign. But if they sell cheap contemporary items, it’s more suspect. Also, anyone who has multiple copies of rare decks is probably selling fakes. 

[Scarlet Woodland]

It can he tricky. I spotted a seller on ebay that would seem completely legit: different prices, nothing overly rare, all second hand items etc. When I researched the lenormand decks that caught my eye though, they were unavailable indie decks that should have come in premium packaging but just had little tuck boxes. I'd like to think they're unwittingly selling on fakes that they bought in good faith... but I'm doubtful.

[DanielJUK]

Fake decks tend to be cheap like others have said. Also they will say LWB (little white book) is a PDF download, that is a huge alarm bell for me!

 

Some decks which are self published have PDF downloads from the artist but I have never seen this from a mass publisher. We get members posting here for the leaflet or book but it's because they most likely bought a fake sadly 🤦‍♂️

 

It's so easy to buy a fake deck now, members here have reporting finding them on Amazon and Etsy as well as Ebay. Always report them!

 

I think you have to have a look at a series of 🚩red flags which make you suspicious, price, quality of the deck and guidebook are huge clues. Check the sellers info, does it seem legit? It takes some detective work these days

[Aliki]

4 hours ago, joy said:

Hey @Aliki in my opinion an indicator is the price. Fake stuff is often cheap.

Hi yes i agree it's usually that or the deck is quite damaged or stained or cards are missing etc

[Aliki]

4 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

When I was looking for vintage RWS it was very helpful to look at close ups where I could get an idea of the cardstock. Pre copyright decks have a different finish to them. Plus the images are printed off center so the borders are uneven. 

I agree with @joy, prices are telling. Also, look at what other things that person sells. If they only sell other genuinely vintage items then that’s a good sign. But if they sell cheap contemporary items, it’s more suspect. Also, anyone who has multiple copies of rare decks is probably selling fakes. 

That's so helpful thank you 🙏

[Aliki]

3 hours ago, Scarlet Woodland said:

It can he tricky. I spotted a seller on ebay that would seem completely legit: different prices, nothing overly rare, all second hand items etc. When I researched the lenormand decks that caught my eye though, they were unavailable indie decks that should have come in premium packaging but just had little tuck boxes. I'd like to think they're unwittingly selling on fakes that they bought in good faith... but I'm doubtful.

It definitely needs carefull searching I've recently noticed some even put on others pictures of used decks on eBay too 

[Aliki]

2 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

Fake decks tend to be cheap like others have said. Also they will say LWB (little white book) is a PDF download, that is a huge alarm bell for me!

 

Some decks which are self published have PDF downloads from the artist but I have never seen this from a mass publisher. We get members posting here for the leaflet or book but it's because they most likely bought a fake sadly 🤦‍♂️

 

It's so easy to buy a fake deck now, members here have reporting finding them on Amazon and Etsy as well as Ebay. Always report them!

 

I think you have to have a look at a series of 🚩red flags which make you suspicious, price, quality of the deck and guidebook are huge clues. Check the sellers info, does it seem legit? It takes some detective work these days

I didn't knew that thank you yes i would be suspicious too if a mass publisher has a pdf guidebook instead

Fr thought and i think as much as popular a deck is more the scams it's sad what ppl will do for profit

[Scarlet Woodland]

God Amazon is terrible at the moment. I just searched tarot decks by most recently released and over 95% are counterfeit! That's filtering with Prime delivery too. The way I scanned through there, was just to ignore anything that didn't have an author listed under the title. I still had to give up after 3 pages though, as there was just nothing but fake decks for miles. Can't see a way to report them on the listings either.

[gregory]

Here's a thread about this.

 

One very reliable indicator is if the seller has multiple copies of an OOP deck. Price is a good sign, too. And get a look at the box - very often they aren't even slightly like the original ones.

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by gregory

[Aliki]

40 minutes ago, Scarlet Woodland said:

God Amazon is terrible at the moment. I just searched tarot decks by most recently released and over 95% are counterfeit! That's filtering with Prime delivery too. The way I scanned through there, was just to ignore anything that didn't have an author listed under the title. I still had to give up after 3 pages though, as there was just nothing but fake decks for miles. Can't see a way to report them on the listings either.

Oh my that's why i prefer to shop from my local ms store i know they order them directly from the publisher so if i get a lo scarabeo deck for example at least i know it was bought from lo scarabeo to get there and then to me 😅

[Aliki]

3 minutes ago, gregory said:

Here's a thread about this.

 

One very reliable indicator is if the seller has multiple copies of an OOP deck. Price is a good sign, too. And get a look at the box - very often they aren't even slightly like the original ones.

 

Thank you @gregory 😊 i think it's horrible in general cause for example i like a reprint to see if i connect to a deck it's gonna be prized cause of the rareness at least as an indie deck if not more but so many ppl either don't include the reprint part or steal other ppls photos instead of theirs etc so they can bait you to think it's original it's an issue in general