Ever spotted the pull of your dreams, a Charizard on Facebook Marketplace going for way less than it's worth, and felt that little alarm bell go off? Trust the alarm bell; your gut is usually onto something. Fake Pokémon cards are more common than you might be aware of, even in New Zealand.
Once you know what to check, spotting one takes about ten seconds. Same goes if you're buying for the kids or sourcing singles for a tournament decklist.
Key takeaways
- Fake cards feel too smooth or too flat compared with genuine stock
- Colours on counterfeit cards bleed together, lose their sharpness and print details
- A rip test reveals a black or blue inner layer genuine cards always have
- Estimates put fakes at 20% to 40% of the secondary market
- A deal priced well under market value is almost always fake
What makes a Pokémon card look fake?
Run your thumb across the back
Genuine Pokémon cards NZ collectors own have a light, consistent texture across the ink. Fakes go one of two ways: glossy like a magazine page, or dead flat like plain cardboard. Neither feels right once you've held the real thing.
Colour is the other giveaway
Fakes get scanned and reprinted from a digital image, crushing fine detail. Highlights and shadows smear together, leaving the card with compressed details and oversaturated colours. Borders give it away too; the blue and yellow both need one consistent shade. A patchy border is an easy tell.
Is the rip test worth doing?
If you're willing to sacrifice the card, it's the closest thing to a guarantee. Genuine Pokémon cards are built from three layers: white, black, white. Some vintage cards have black or blue in the layers upon a rip test. Peel back a corner and check for that black middle layer. Counterfeiters skip it, since it's expensive to fake and buyers rarely check.
Why are they so common and how can you spot a fake Pokémon card?
Overseas printing is cheap, and demand for chase cards and big pulls never lets up. Estimates put fakes at 20% to 40% of cards on secondary marketplaces. Higher than most collectors would expect. Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh!, which stamps every card, Pokémon TCG NZ collectors know there's no universal watermark across sets, so it comes down to knowing what to physically check set by set.
Sticker scams are the sneaky one. Some sellers strip a cheap genuine card with acetone and stick a fake high-value card face on top, hoping you won't flip it over. Tough to catch from a photo, since the card underneath is usually real.
Where do you usually spot fake Pokémon cards in NZ?
- Facebook Marketplace listings
- AliExpress and similar overseas sellers
- Loosely moderated eBay listings
- Bundle deals priced well under market value
How do you avoid buying a fake Pokémon card?
- Always check the price against current market value first. If you see a $50 Charizard that has a market value of $1,500, it's most likely fake. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
- Check print quality and border alignment under strong light or a loupe before you commit to buying.
- Post it on Pokémon community pages. Collectors there have usually seen the exact same fake do the rounds already.
- Buy from a source with a credible reputation as a Pokémon retailer and weekly hobby host, or grab PSA-graded slabs on your bigger pulls.
Still not sure if your Pokémon card is real?
We're players and collectors first. Founder-led and hands-on since 2019, we've handled thousands of Pokémon trading cards NZ collectors have brought into our Sydenham store.
Honestly, some fakes are genuinely hard to picture from a phone photo alone, even if you've pulled hundreds of the real thing. Bring it in and we'll check it for free, no charge and no judgement. Grab a seat at the play tables while you're there. It happens to the best collectors, even the ones who've been at this for years. Everything we sell online is guaranteed genuine too; we deal straight with our suppliers, so you're never the one taking the risk.
Browse our Pokémon range for singles, sealed products, and Japanese and Chinese cards, or flick us a message if you've got a card you want a second set of eyes on. We ship across New Zealand and Australia, with free delivery on NZ orders over $250, excluding large or bulky shipments, so check your cart total before checkout.
