Beatix Potter Fake Figurines: Collectors have to be more careful than ever to avoid being scammed by rip off artists on the internet.
Fake Beswick Figures, and not just of Beatrix Potter characters, are being sold as genuine every day.
Buyers are attracted to the internet because of really low prices compared to local collectible shops. Internet sellers of course do not have the considerable overheads, for example rent, rates, wages etc that most bricks and mortar shops do.
Much information is available on the Internet to educate buyers so that they are more aware of the scams and fraudulent practices of the more unscrupulous sellers online.
A few tips to help are really no more than common sense, however here they are in no particular order
Find out as much as possible by doing research online about that particular piece that you want to purchase. Ask other collectors if they have experience with the seller or with the marketplace in general that you wish to purchase from. Try asking the question in active newsgroups where feedback can be measured more often than not in hours rather than days. eBay is one of the largest markets on the Internet for collectable figurines and as such attracts buyers and sellers from all over the world. The choice here can be much wider than with any one particular seller. But if you see a piece you like ensure that you look at the details of the seller, especially his feedback score. see if all the people that have dealt with the seller in the past six months have overall been happy with his performance. Bear in mind that some people will not be happy with the performance of the seller no matter how good he is. See if the seller deals mainly with collectables and if he sells items closely related to the piece you fancy; if he does then there’s a good chance that the items will be genuine, as word will soon get out about a dishonest seller. However, if collectables are not the sellers main product line then it could be that the eBay account he is dealing from has been hijacked. A quick way to satisfy yourself that this has not occurred is to send them a friendly e-mail.If you see a classified advert for a collectable items that you like then always insist that the seller e-mails you pictures of the item for sale. At the very least get a picture of the back stamp (the manufacturer’s stamp).Go with your gut feeling when you visit a website, if it looks professionally put together and has links to various web trust sites then you can have more confidence in this than a site that looks like it was thrown together in half a day.Finally always realise that when an offer looks like a fantastic deal then it will need more investigation because we all know when something looks too good to be true it usually is.