Counterfeit packs and cards show up at swap meets, flea markets, and smaller stores that may not even know what they bought. Buying them into inventory, knowingly or not, is a fast way to burn trust with customers. The checks below go roughly in order: pack first, then the cards inside it.

Before opening a pack

  • A price that's obviously below market for the product. This alone is reason enough to walk away
  • Artwork, text spacing and shading that look slightly off compared to a known-real pack side by side
  • The cut of the pack. Real packs have a straight edge. A triangular or unusual cut is disqualifying on its own, no further checking needed
  • How tightly it's packed. A real pack has almost no give, cards don't shift around inside it. A fake often does

While opening it

Real packs use a thin foil that tears easily. Counterfeits often use a thicker foil and stronger glue that resists opening the same way, a difference that's noticeable in hand once you've felt a real one.

After opening: check the cards

  • Orientation. Every card in a real pack faces the same direction. Cards facing different ways or upside down is a strong signal
  • A code card. Every real pack includes one. No code card, no real pack
  • Cards that don't belong to the set the pack claims to be. This shows up more often than expected in counterfeits
  • Off-center printing on text, energy symbols, or artwork
  • Printed information that doesn't match reality: a "3rd edition" stamp (that print run doesn't exist), a name that doesn't match the card's actual Pokédex entry, or text that clearly doesn't belong
  • Holo texture. A real holo has visible texture under light. A flat, smooth shine with no texture is a common counterfeit tell

  • Fastest disqualifier

    One check that alone rules out a pack, no further steps needed.

    checkPack cut

  • Last-resort check

    Destructive, only for a card you're already prepared to write off.

    checkRip test

The Playbook · Buying safely Celeste TCG · Miami, FL

The last resort: the rip test

A real card is two layers of cardboard glued around a thin black core layer, visible if the card is torn apart. A counterfeit is usually one solid piece of cardboard straight through. This obviously destroys the card, so it only makes sense on something already assumed to be fake and not worth returning, not as a routine check.

None of these checks require special equipment, just a known-real card or pack to compare against and a few minutes of attention before a purchase gets added to inventory.

Vetting a supplier before you buy from them → Common mistakes once you're listing real ones →