The £800 Fake Charizard I Nearly Bought
I was looking for a Base Set Charizard and found one listed at £750, against a market price of perhaps £900 to £1,000 at the time.
Not suspiciously cheap — just a good deal. The seller had strong feedback and a couple of hundred transactions behind them.
Important: those figures are illustrative, highly time-sensitive, and not a current price guide.
I asked for more photos and they obliged. At a glance the card looked right, and I was close to buying.
Then I zoomed in on the energy symbols in the attack cost. They were ever so slightly soft — not obviously wrong, just not the razor-sharp edges I could see on my own Base Set cards.
I asked the seller for a quick light-test photo.
They refused: “Card’s authentic, take it or leave it.”
I left it.
A fortnight later, the account was suspended for selling counterfeits.
The point of that story isn’t that I’m especially sharp-eyed — it’s that no single thing gave the fake away. One slightly soft detail, one refused reasonable request, and a price that was good rather than absurd.
Spotting fakes is rarely about one dramatic tell.
It’s about stacking up small checks until you’re either satisfied or you’re not.
What This Chapter Covers
This is the seventh chapter in the Pokémon Card Collecting series, and it’s about verification: the visual and physical checks that reliably separate genuine cards from counterfeits, how to apply them when buying online and in hand, how to verify graded slabs, and what to do if you’ve already bought a fake.
Graded slabs can also be faked, so authentication does not stop at the label.
What it won’t do is hand you one magic test.
Counterfeits vary enormously in quality, the best of them are genuinely good, and anyone selling you a single foolproof trick is overselling.
The reliable approach is a combination of checks and a willingness to walk away — which, conveniently, is also the cheapest approach.
Know What You’re Up Against
Fakes fall roughly into three quality bands, and knowing which you’re dealing with sets your expectations.
The Obvious Ones
The obvious fakes get the font, colours or spelling wrong outright.
Wrong-shaped energy symbols, off colours, “Pokeman”, printer-paper card stock — these turn up on cheap overseas marketplaces and dodgy market stalls, and nobody with basic familiarity is fooled.
The Middling Ones
The middling fakes are passable at a glance.
The colours are slightly off, fonts are a touch blurry, the card stock weight or holo pattern is not quite right.
These catch casual buyers, especially online where photos hide the detail, and they’re common from low-feedback sellers and informal sales.
The Good Ones
The good fakes are genuinely difficult.
Colours, fonts, stock and holo can all be close enough to pass visual inspection unless you compare directly against a known-genuine card and test physically.
These are the ones sophisticated scammers use, and they can fool experienced collectors without a hands-on check.
Predictably, the cards most often faked are the expensive, desirable ones:
- Vintage Base Set Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur in all their variants.
- Sought-after WOTC holos generally.
- Modern alternate-art and rainbow chase cards.
- High-value promos and prize cards.
The more a card is worth, the more it’s worth faking — so the more checks it deserves.
Specific “most-faked” lists shift over time, so treat examples as indicative rather than permanent.
Visual Checks You Can Do From Photos
Most of these work before the card is ever in your hands, provided you can get clear, high-resolution images.
If a seller won’t provide them, that itself is an answer.
The Card Back
The card back is the strongest first check, because backs are standardised, so any deviation is meaningful.
Compare the blue against a known-genuine card from the same era. Counterfeiters frequently can’t match the exact hue and saturation, and you’ll often see it’s too light, too dark or slightly wrong.
Check that the Poké Ball logo is centred, the “Trading Card Game” text is crisp, and the borders are even.
The Energy Symbols
The energy symbols in the attack cost are highly reliable.
On genuine cards they’re sharp, with cleanly defined edges and solid colour. On fakes they’re often faintly blurry or fuzzy at the edges.
This is exactly what saved me on the Charizard, and it’s one of the easiest things to check on a zoomed-in photo.
Fonts And Text
Fonts and text repay close attention — especially the HP figure, attack text, flavour text and card number.
Genuine printing is consistent in weight, spacing and alignment.
Fakes tend to be subtly off, with irregular spacing, slightly wrong letter shapes, the wrong “é” in Pokémon, or inconsistent boldness.
Holofoil Pattern
For holo cards, the holofoil pattern should match the era and set.
Older sets use the familiar cosmos-style pattern. Modern cards can have more varied textures and foil treatments.
Fakes get this wrong in telling ways:
- The wrong pattern entirely.
- Foil that looks like cheap wrapping paper.
- Foil that’s oddly dull.
- Holo that covers the wrong area of the card.
Overall Colour Accuracy
Overall colour accuracy matters across the border, artwork and text.
But only judge it side-by-side against a genuine card under the same, consistent lighting. Lighting alone can shift how colours read.
Use daylight or a steady LED source, not mixed indoor light.
Physical Checks Once It’s In Your Hands
The Light Test
The light test is the most useful non-destructive check there is.
Hold the card up to a bright light — a phone torch works.
A genuine card has a dark, opaque layer in the middle of the card stock, so very little light passes through. Many fakes either lack this layer or use the wrong one, and noticeably more light comes through.
Treat the results as a strong signal rather than absolute proof.
No dark layer at all points firmly to a fake, but better counterfeits now sometimes include a dark layer. A pass here means “keep checking”, not “definitely genuine”.
This is the single check I’d never skip, and it’s also the one to request as a photo before buying.
Card Stock Feel
The feel of the card stock — its weight, flexibility and surface texture — is informative but takes experience to judge.
Genuine cards have a particular heft and a slight, springy flex that returns flat.
Fakes tend to be too light or too heavy, too floppy or too stiff.
The only way to build this instinct is to handle a lot of genuine cards until “wrong” becomes obvious.
If you do flex a card to test it, do so very gently and never crease it.
Texture On Modern Cards
Many modern cards are textured. Alternate arts, VMAX cards and similar higher-rarity cards often have a raised pattern you can feel.
Run a finger across the surface and compare to a known-genuine example.
Fakes often have no texture, the wrong texture, or texture that’s too pronounced or too faint.
The Tear Test
There is also a destructive option: tearing a card to inspect the internal layers directly.
It’s almost never necessary, since the light test gives you much of the same information without sacrificing the card.
Reserve it, if ever, for a worthless card you already own and need definitive proof on for a dispute.
Never do it to a card you don’t own or one that might be genuine.
Extra Steps For High-Value Cards
For anything where authenticity is uncertain and the value justifies it, professional authentication is the cleanest answer.
The major grading companies verify authenticity as part of grading, and a fake simply comes back as ungradable.
For a card worth a few hundred pounds or more where you’re unsure, that fee buys certainty.
Check current grading and authentication fees before submitting.
Magnification, using a 10x–20x loupe, lets you inspect the print itself.
Genuine cards show the consistent dot or rosette pattern of professional offset printing. Fakes printed by other methods can show different or irregular patterns, plus fuzzy text edges and uneven foil.
The catch is that this only helps if you know what the correct pattern looks like for that era and set.
One method to treat with scepticism is UV-light testing.
In theory, genuine and fake cards may fluoresce differently. In practice, different sets and eras respond so differently that it produces too many false signals to rely on.
Use the checks above instead.
The Red Flags That Should Stop A Purchase
Some signals are reason enough to walk away on their own, and most fakes show more than one.
A Price That’s Too Good
A high-value card well below market, several expensive cards from a new seller at a steep discount, or a “lot of 100 vintage holos” for pocket money should all slow you down.
A genuinely underpriced rare card is rare.
A fake priced to move is common.
Reluctance To Provide Photos
Stock images only, a refusal to photograph the back, or no close-ups of the symbols and text are all warning signs.
Legitimate sellers accommodate reasonable requests, including a light-test photo.
A refusal is, in my experience, close to conclusive.
“No Returns” On An Expensive Card
Sometimes this is innocent, but a seller confident their card is genuine has little reason to refuse returns.
“No returns due to authenticity concerns” is a contradiction worth noticing.
A Suspicious Seller History
A new or repurposed account suddenly listing high-value cards deserves scrutiny.
So does a pattern of feedback mentioning authenticity problems.
Read the negative feedback specifically.
A Vintage Card That Looks Too Perfect
Genuine 25-year-old cards usually show some age.
Edges and corners that look factory-fresh on an old card can mean exactly that — that the card is new, and therefore fake.
Beyond the red flags, the safe-buying basics are simple:
- Request multiple clear photos: front, back, symbols, text and an angled holo shot.
- Ask for a light-test photo and walk away if it’s refused.
- Read the seller’s feedback properly.
- Compare against sold prices rather than asking prices.
- Always pay through a method that carries buyer protection.
- Never pay by bank transfer or Friends and Family for a purchase.
For the highest-value purchases, buying already-graded cards largely removes the raw-fake risk — provided you then verify the slab itself.
Graded Slabs Can Be Faked Too
It’s worth saying plainly: sophisticated scammers produce counterfeit slabs with fake cards sealed inside, mimicking the major grading companies.
The good news is that every genuine graded card carries a certification number, and each grading company lets you look that number up on their official website.
Always do this, and check that the details and photos on the cert record actually match the card in front of you.
Beyond the cert lookup, compare the slab to a genuine one if you have access to it:
- The weight.
- The feel.
- The seams.
- The label’s font and positioning.
- Any security features the company currently uses.
Counterfeit slabs often differ subtly in these details.
Specific verification features — official cert-lookup URLs, QR codes, label security details and slab designs — change over time. Check each grader’s current guidance before relying on them.
If You’ve Bought A Fake
Act methodically rather than emotionally.
First, document everything:
- Photograph the card from all angles.
- Photograph the packaging.
- Save all correspondence.
- Screenshot the listing before it can be removed.
Then contact the seller, explain that the card appears counterfeit, share your evidence, and request a full refund.
Give them the chance to put it right.
If they refuse, open a dispute with the platform, providing the same evidence.
If that fails and you paid by card, a chargeback is a last resort.
Report the seller so others are protected.
What Not To Do
- Don’t stay quiet — reporting fakes protects the next buyer.
- Don’t ever try to resell a card you know is fake.
- Don’t destroy the card or packaging while a dispute is open, since it’s your evidence.
- Don’t sit on it — disputes have time limits, so move promptly.
Trying to resell a card you know is fake is both illegal and a betrayal of the collector you’d be selling to.
A Repeatable Process Beats A Lucky Eye
For reference, the routine I actually use is just the above, applied consistently.
Before Buying Online
- Check the seller.
- Compare against sold prices.
- Request photos: front, back, symbols and text.
- Ask for a light-test photo.
- Compare everything against my own genuine cards.
On Arrival
- Run the light test straight away.
- Compare side-by-side against genuine cards.
- Assess the stock and texture.
- Check symbols and text under magnification.
- If anything fails, start the return immediately.
For High-Value Cards
- Favour graded copies where sensible.
- Verify the cert online.
- Consider professional authentication where there’s any doubt.
The Charizard I nearly bought looked fine in photos and came from a well-rated seller at a fair price.
The only reason I didn’t lose £750 is that a couple of small checks didn’t sit right and I was willing to walk away.
That’s the whole lesson: no single test is infallible, but several together rarely fail, and there is always another card.
When something doesn’t add up, the right move is simply not to buy.
That brings the Pokémon Card Collecting series to a close.
If it’s useful, the documented Collection shows genuine cards described and assessed in detail, which is exactly the kind of reference you want when learning what “right” looks like.
The monthly dispatch carries new guides and grounded UK market notes.