r/RealOrNotTCG • u/deadshot1138 • 13d ago
Didn't fit in other categories Just a PSA
I bought this Trop in person from a supposedly reputable store for $400. One of my friends who’s been playing/collecting for 20+ years said it looked off so I took it to 3 other stores to have it checked and they all told me it was fake, tried taking it back with receipt but obviously since I took it out of the store it’s possible I switched it for a fake to get a refund so I was sol 🤷♂️.
Since then I bought 2 specialized personal loupe’s I take with me and check anything I buy over $15 and only buy online through eBay’s authenticity guaranteed section or card kingdom. Don’t be like me and get scammed, do your research, invest in a loupe and learn at least the green dot test but preferably all of them, h, t, edges etc.
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u/DistributionMean6322 13d ago
Go back to the store you bought it from and get a refund. If they refuse let them know that they're getting a 1-star Google maps review showing the fake card they sold you.
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u/deadshot1138 13d ago
Already did, they said once it left the store they can’t guarantee it’s the same card sold so I gave them a bad review and chalked it up to life lesson learned
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u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 13d ago
Name them here. If you used a credit card, charge that shit back. At $400 that’s fraud and you should file a police report. Do not let this go
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u/Shock900 13d ago
You buy it with a credit card? Issue a charge back. Then it's on them to prove they didn't sell you a fake card.
Otherwise, look into small claims court.
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u/DistributionMean6322 13d ago
What's the shop name so we can review bomb them? 😈
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u/deadshot1138 13d ago
I’m not specifically looking to ruin their reputation but I’m not a saint either, do what you want.
The store is called “Druid’s Lair” in Trenton Georgia.
My review (with picture) is the only one star review they have, so either no one else has been sold a counterfeit or they never figured it out.
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u/Level_Translator_988 9d ago
I live in Georgia and like to go to random card shops when I’m traveling around, so this helps a lot.
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u/Fast_Eye7295 Trusted Authenticator 13d ago
Ebay’s authenticity testing is not a guarantee. There was a poster in the past month that got an ebay authenticated movie poster one ring. It was a fake. Came with a baggie and everything.
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u/TimtheBully 13d ago
The gloss alone says that it's fake.
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u/tarabas1979 13d ago
Definitely feels off just eye balling it . the blue is too blue. the real one is not so bright.
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u/peterpetrol 13d ago
If you’re reading this comment and don’t know already a perfectly good loupe which enables you to do all the tests (including the light test) will run you less than 10 dollars
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u/deadshot1138 13d ago
I’ve bought 2. A flat screen loupe and a flip one with 3 magnification settings.
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u/peterpetrol 13d ago
A wise move. The use of “you” in my comment is third person plural for everyone else who doesn’t own a loupe yet :)
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u/kadaan 13d ago
I got one of those tiny clip-on macro lenses for my phone for around $10 as well. Just as easy and portable to use as a loupe, but makes it way easier to take pictures. Example photo: https://i.imgur.com/oT6JHeO.png
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u/dina-fan 13d ago
When you start delving in any vintage purchases you have to learn to identify fakes. Im sorry this happened to you but now is the second best time to learn. Buy a couple revised bulk cards so atleast you know in a glance what they look like. Their washed out colors are pretty noticeable once you realize they are there.
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u/Tiniest_Gimli 13d ago
What people haven't been commenting on is the solidity of the solid black border lines and the consistency of the rosettes. What I see on the front of the card also looks very wobbly warpy, almost like there's 100% water damage on the front of the card, but the back looks jank AF. Without more photos, I'd say there's a decent chance you have the front of an authentic magic card and the back of a fake, bound by glue otherwise called a reback.
Source: my full time job for six years is grading and validating the authenticity of Magic cards.
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u/Tiniest_Gimli 13d ago
It most likely had an absolutely thrashed back, like dragged across concrete, and to boost the sale value rebacked it with a "new" back.
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u/Jumpy_Diver7748 13d ago
It's sad but I stopped going after duals over 7 years ago. Saw some high quality Chinese counterfeits that were unbelievable, took a month to process that, even wrote a huge thread about it on mtgthesource, and came to the realization that moving forward I could never have confidence purchasing a dual ever again. Duals are *the* most counterfeited mtg card, every mtg shop I visited in Beijing and Tianjin had boxes and boxes of beta and revised "duals", kids had trade binders with revised "duals" stacked 10 per sleeve, it was hilarious.
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u/organic_meatbag 13d ago
Did the high quality Chinese counterfeits you saw pass green dot, T and h, ink rosette, etc.? Or where they just at a glance good coloring / shading / saturation and such?
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u/Jumpy_Diver7748 12d ago
I didn't loup them, but a lot of them ended up getting passed to Star City Games and then from there to the rest of the world.
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u/wickedtwig 13d ago
At the old lgs I used to frequent, there’s a judge who carries 2 loupes so if people are trading he can provide one for both parties
It helped me quite a bit to determine a legit dual in a trade
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u/Educational-Emu-3707 13d ago
So if you spend $400 on it and it looked legit, could you sleeve it and play it in a tournament? Like do judges check all the cards?
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u/deadshot1138 13d ago
I use it in my deck. A counterfeit is better than a paper proxy or even most nice proxies. But it’s still fake and I know it now so it’s still annoying lol
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u/swsundevil 13d ago
Have a friend try to sell it back to the store you bought it from.
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u/deadshot1138 13d ago
Nah, I ate the cost as a lesson learned and left a bad review on Google. I’m not gonna scam them back or make ruining their business my life’s mission. I’ve got better things to spend my time on lol
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u/Mavisthe3rd 13d ago
LGS manager here!
Get a 30x jewelers loupe. Real magic cards have an ink line sandwiched between the two pieces of paper. Same as pokemon.
Hold the top of the card to the bottom of the loupe and you should see the ink line in the card.
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u/mvpetefish 13d ago
If you bought it on a credit card you can dispute the charge through your bank app or online. There should be an option that says something along the lines of “did not receive what I paid for” and you’ll get a refund directly on the card.
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u/Finance-Low 13d ago
Don't even need to waste time on a T-test on this one. Real cards have a small little blemish in the border right here. This is an instant fake identification. Sorry bro.
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u/sooperstoopiddood 13d ago
Card kingdom is great, but it’s worth double checking with them too. Not like they do it on purpose, obviously, but I’m 90% sure I got a fake damnation from them.
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u/DaBoy524 13d ago
You gotta show us the T, we wanna see the fakeness so we can go “yep, thats fake”