Fake Pokémon cards are better than they used to be, and the volume coming through marketplaces and bulk lots keeps growing. The good news: almost all fakes still fail a handful of simple, non-destructive checks. Here is what actually works, roughly in the order worth trying.
Start before the card: the seller and the price
Most fakes are avoided before any card is inspected.
- A price far below market is the single strongest signal. Genuine chase cards have a well-established market value. A card at a fraction of it is not a bargain — it is the product working as intended.
- Bulk "rare" lots are where fakes hide. Two hundred assorted ultra rares for the price of one real one answers its own question.
- Sealed product from non-retail channels deserves the same suspicion. Resealed and counterfeit booster packs exist; sealed is not automatically safe.
- Blurry or stock-photo listings that never show the actual card, front and back, are a red flag on their own.
The checks that catch most fakes
1. The back of the card
Fakes get the back wrong more often than the front, because the front is what gets copied carefully. Compare against any genuine card you own: the blue should match, the borders should be even, and the artwork should be sharp. Washed-out, purplish or overly dark backs are the classic giveaway.
2. Print quality under magnification
Genuine cards are printed to a consistent standard. Under a phone camera zoom or a loupe, fakes commonly show blurry text edges, misaligned colour layers, or fuzzy energy symbols. Spelling and font errors still appear on fakes far more often than you would expect.
3. Feel and texture
Handle enough real cards and fakes feel wrong immediately — too glossy, too flimsy, or oddly stiff. Genuine modern textured cards (full arts and many ultra rares) have an embossed pattern you can feel; flat, smooth "textured" cards are a strong fail.
4. The light test
Genuine cards have an opaque middle layer, so a torch pressed against the back produces only a soft glow. A card that lights up like paper is almost certainly fake. This is safe and non-destructive — unlike the rip test, which proves a card fake by destroying it and should be a last resort on a card you have already written off.
5. Holo pattern and colour
Counterfeit holofoil tends to be either mirror-flat or garishly rainbow, and often covers areas a genuine card would not. If you can compare against a real copy of the same card — even a photo from a reputable listing — differences in the holo treatment are usually obvious.
No single check is definitive
Run several. A convincing fake can pass one test and fail the next, and print variation means an occasional genuine card looks slightly off on one measure. Weight and exact centring vary on real cards too, which is why we have not listed them — they generate more false alarms than catches.
Bought a fake in Australia? You have real rights
A card sold as genuine that turns out to be counterfeit is a straightforward Australian Consumer Law problem for the seller. Goods must match their description — you are entitled to a remedy from the seller, and misrepresenting counterfeit goods as genuine is misleading conduct. Document the card and the listing, contact the seller in writing first, and escalate through the marketplace's buyer protection or your state's consumer affairs body if they refuse. If you paid by card, a chargeback is a further backstop.
How we handle it
Every single we list is checked before it goes up — authenticity as well as condition — and sealed product comes through authorised distribution, not marketplace arbitrage. If anything we sold you ever failed these checks, we would want to know within 7 days and would put it right; that is the same faulty-goods promise as our refund policy, and your ACL rights sit above it regardless.
Browse checked singles and sealed product — or if you are weighing up a card from elsewhere and want a second opinion, send us a photo. We look at this stuff all day.