What Makes a Funko Pop! Fake and how can you protect yourself? With so many discrepancies from one Funko Pop! to the next, one might ask what makes a Funko Pop! fake. With the list of fakes growing we don’t have a list of every single counterfeit Pop but we can provide you with some insight as to our experience and thoughts to help you protect yourself from being scammed. Let us look at some facts first.
Places where obvious fakes are sold:
There are numerous places on the web where fake Pops! are believed to be for sale. They are flooded all over Mercari and eBay. Alibaba, AliExpress and many other Asian centered selling sites also offer Pops! which seem to be fake. Funkopopmall.com has just about any vaulted (no longer on the market) Funko Pop! item you may be looking for at a price of $29.99 or less. Keep in mind that many seasoned collectors know the difference between a real and fake Pop! and will likely not do business with you if you are trying to trade or sell one of these items deemed to be fake. If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Funko Pops are made in China and Vietnam but they are shipped out before being sold. That being said, if you are buying off of eBay, they are discounted big time and shipping from China there is an exponentially slim chance of them being authentic.
How To Protect Yourself
Here is a list of some things to look for when purchasing a Pop. When purchasing from Facebook Marketplace, Mercari, local swaps, Offer Up and places of the like CHECK REVIEWS! Sellers have feedback in most all of these places. Facebook selling and trading groups usually have feedback threads. Before you make a purchase you should definitely check this thread to make sure this person had good feedback. If you are buying from a Funko related Facebook group and they don’t have much feedback yet we suggest asking other members or admins that have completed deals with the seller before to vouch for them. If there is no feedback, ask an admin or friend for their opinion. Most groups have admins that can identify and recognize fakes, but it is not always caught so it is better to be safe than sorry.
Check profiles, sometimes people will use multiple accounts to sell. You can check to see if it is a person’s genuine profile by seeing how old the profile is, if it has very few posts, and/or friends etc. Usually people who sell pops are members of multiple groups so if they are in just one that is definitely a red flag.
PayPal is a great form of payment because they have the “Goods and Services” payment option. Make sure you are sending this way and not via friends and family. If you send via friends and family you can not dispute the charge so make sure you always send via “goods and services.”
Counterfeit listings can be recognized easily because they have a big quantity available. If you see a vaulted item for sale and it says they have 20 available they are most likely fake. Watch out for stock photos and ask to see as many pictures as possible. Also ask to see a picture of the Pop with a paper that includes their name and the date. Sometimes scammers will use other people’s pictures so they can slip it by the buyer.