Counterfeit Board Games - Just How Big of a Problem Are They?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 เม.ย. 2018
- Counterfeit board games have been rapidly invading the industry, taking away from publishers' profits as well as consumers' enjoyment. We tackle the subject from a few different angles and try to come up with solutions.
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I happened upon your video while doing research on the counterfeit issue. My company is not in the board game industry, but in the craft industry. Specifically, we are in the paper crafts segment, which is very niche, and specializes in card making (think handmade birthday cards) and scrapbooking (personal photo albums which you decorate with stickers and all sorts of embellishments). We have been experiencing a huge issue with counterfeits of our products, and all of our colleagues in the industry have as well. As soon as we design a new product, the Chinese have it copied and sell it for pennies on the dollar. The consumers then get the idea that we (the real companies who design the original items) are ripping them off because of the "exorbitant" prices we charge. Now, we are talking VERY small companies here.... I mean often companies of just 1 person working from their spare bedroom. My company employs 5 people total.... so we're not talking large companies at all. This is our living. This is how we feed our families.
In doing my research the last few days, I have encountered the fact that every sector of retail products is being touched by this. From board games to golf clubs, coffee makers to cosmetics, safety helmets to designer handbags, shoes to iPhones, toys to toothbrushes, shower curtains with your favorite music band on them, coffee mugs to dog food... you name it, there is someone making a counterfeit.
What really surprises me is that people buy this stuff. They feel that they are getting a good deal, and that the real company is out to rip them off. What they don't realize is the safety of the items they are putting on their faces, in their mouths, etc.... they also don't realize how many US jobs this is costing. The more we lose sales to counterfeits, the less my company can grow and hire people.
Numbers.... well, numbers are hard to come by, because we have no way of knowing how many fakes are being sold. Would these fakes translate into real sales if they were not out there? I do know that I have seen "sales counters" on Ali for some of my products that showed 5,000+ sold, when I sold only 30 or 40 of the real thing. Yes, we are talking VERY small numbers here.... we are not a giant company. But again, this is how I feed my family. I design a products, test it, refine it, put money up to produce it (in the USA with high quality materials), and sell maybe a couple hundred which barely doubles my investment. That profit goes to pay my employees, and invest in the next item. If all of a sudden, I can only sell 30 or 40, and am left with the rest, I have no money to pay my employees or to develop the next product.
So yes, this is a HUGE issue... not just in the board game industry, but E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!! I implore: Please don't buy fakes!!!!
I bought a counterfeit copy of 7 Wonders off of Amazon. I didn't know it and had never purchased a Repos Productions game and I just assumed that they made poor games. I didn't touch the game again until I heard about it being possibly counterfeit. Asmodee helped out and I got a copy that looks amazing.
Amazon fulfillment is the culprit here. They way the do things at the amazon wharehouse is to put all like products in one spot then fulfill from that spot no matter who you order from. So if Company X (Repos) sends in 100 copies and company Y (asmodee) sends in 100 copies and bob's bargin bin sends in 10 copies that happen to be counterfeit all of them are put in the same 'bin' and when you order from Repos Amazon employees just pull a random copy from that bin and sadly you got the counterfeit but Repos got the blame.
Did you buy from Amazon or a 3rd party through Amazon?
there is alot of print to play self made games, most of them are better then original for example Reprinted spartacus, fans made better version
I suspect this is a bigger issue in their Asian markets, as every time I find the obvious ones are in Asian online stores.
You're right. AliExpress (Alibaba) China is the worst. They're selling counterfeits of my game Survive! plus at least 6 others.
Found marketed games at 1/5th of the original price on. Exploding kittens, NSFW: Exploding Kittens, Imploding kittens, Risk, Cluedo: Harry Potter, Ticket to Ride.
Sad.
I just bought Pandemic season 2 from a third party seller on Amazon. Is it really that bad with the new one? I will see if mine is a counterfeit, I hope not. But Amazon has never disappointed me with returns/refunds yet.
Other point of view : why should I buy from scalpers games that are not longer printed when I could get one, EVEN COUNTERFEIT, for 90% less ?
I bought a copy if Architects of the West on Amazon it wasn't cheaper but when I got it the cards and player board felt grease and the board had scuff marks I returned it immediately
if you want to buy copy do it from good sources, reprinted spartacus is way better then original
I went to a market yesterday, and found a stall selling suspiciously cheap board games (eg. Ticket to ride for $20, Clank! For $45) and then noticed that all the boxes were discoloured and some card illustrations looked strange on the back of the boxes.
Always good to make sure if a deal is too good to be true.
Nice video, i just bought a counterfeit copy of Catan Plus, it cost about 30$, im very happy of it because Original Catan in my country costs around 80$, table top games should be available for everyone, not just for some lucky players with tons of green bucks.
Agreed. I own counterfeit versions of Coup+Exp and have also bought counterfeit Love Letter. They were cheap, 1/3-1/4 of the price of the original ones in our stores and have bought them just to replace the dreadful quality printed versions we made for ourselves. Also half of my original games come from second hand markets because of the high prices new ones are.
I have received two different fake copies of Pandemic In the Lab expansion. FIrst one i bought from a local store and the disease cubes were two pieces melted together much larger and sharper than the purple cubes in my OTB expansion. Also the research stations are rough and made of really cheap plastics. The pawns are not the same shape and again made of a cheaper more matte plastic. The cards have a ligher contrast on them overall. So you can spot them out amonst the other cards from the OG Pandemic and my OTB which match perfectly. The second INL I ordered from Amazon, once again the disease cubes are not the same purple color as my OTB. They are closer in size but still have sharper edges. The pawns and the research stations have the same issues though. The cards are also a different color. I finally gave up and just ordered my third copy straight from Zman games. Im done playing around.
Could you do a full length documentary on board game fakes....
I agree that it's wrong, but when you add that game to your cart and then hit estimate shipping and the shipping cost is more than the game...
Just got a counterfeit Azul from UK amazon seller.
I paid Energy Empire at the supper low price on Amazon and never received it. Later I realized that many others had given them 1 start and complained about them. It was a scam. However, Amazon gave me a full refund.
I have received as a gift the game sequence. It has a bowed board, dreadful playing cards and tidley winks for counters instead of chips. My sister has this game and it's quality but my one is rubbish. As the man in the video said this gives the genuine manufacturer a bad reputation.
This is such a big problem in tiangges (cheap mixed market rather than hobby stores). The prices of the board games there are ~50% (or less!) of the original so many people are tempted to just buy there.
I suspect a large amount of counterfeiting occurs due to demand in a region that does not have distribution. I'd be fine if proven wrong (with reports, numbers, etc), but since we only have speculation to go by...this is my speculation. In many parts of the world, the price of board games is considerably higher in regards to the cost of living than in other parts of the world. Additionally, these areas of the world lack a distributor (can't buy it if it's not available). For this reason, I believe a great deal of people end up producing counterfeit copies to meet the demand that the company or distributor won't/can't meet.
I'm a strong proponent of open source information and don't find anything inherently wrong with counterfeit under the above circumstances. I have the means to purchase the games I want because I live in a part of the world where the games are available and within a cost range that I can afford. Since this is an option, I choose to support the developers, designers, publishers, distributors, etc because I want them to continue creating content for me to consume (basic economics). Supply and demand. If there is demand, you better meet it or don't get mad if someone else does.
I'm from Asia and let me tell you, the board game prices are absolutely ludicrous here. $60 for 7 Wonders or literally any Board Game with a Medium Box. Which is also why I mostly buy fakes, they go by a lot cheaper and they're still fun to use.
I live in Jordan most of the board games here are fake cause the original ones prices are super high - cause of high taxes and low supply etc - ( for the average Jordanian customer ) so yeah fakes play a good role to help the games reach an audience that otherwise won't ever hear about them
I'd say it's definitely a huge problem especially with card games. Stay away from both Amazon and eBay. Buy board games and card games from retail stores or a trusted online retailer for board games.
Thanks for the video! You might be interested to know that someone is selling 150 fake copies of Pandemic Legacy: Season One on ebay right now for $29.99 shipped. It'll be amusing to see their feedback rating tank as people receive their counterfeit copies. In fact, it's already begun...
Send a link :)
lmgtfy.com/?q=pandemic+legacy+season+1+ebay
I just realised that my copy of azul and TTR US are fake....They looked genuine...And were not cheap either
I bought from Asian store fake games. They sold them.as the real thing but when arrived I could easily spot the difference.
No quality control at all. Meeples head missing, the cards are too thick, some of them out of colour.
In other game the components cut not straight, the tiles cant match next to eachother.
Some seller refunded me straight away, some of them deny "this different upgrade". Haha. Downgrade mostly:)
Annoying because I seen the logo on them I expected to get the real game.
The price was not suspicious cheap, totally normal price! I thought this would be the real game.
But not.
Some games obviously fake, no logo on them, they call different name too, written Chinese. They obviously fake, but the buyers know what to expect when arrives.
Bought Tarot cards also, they look amazing,good quality, but the box is thin, amd packed too tight, the box rips apart after the second or third open.
And the size smaller too...
Got fake x mini speakers from Amazon,
And fake Andrew James Coffee Grinder on ebay.
Look identical but different touch, different, cheaoer plastic and loos like a rejected item from quality control...
It is not just bad for any industry what involved, it is bad on Chinese retailers as well.
Lot of them selling real, honest and legal things, but some counterfeit products ruins their business as "they Chinese, must be fake".
Furthermore from Alibaba shop even the sellers have no clue at all what they sell.
They just organise shipping and have no idea what they just shipped.
Some of the counterfeits have really good and comparable components though
That doesn't justify paying bootleggers instead of the people actually making the game though.
@@freedomtheplayer4235 Yeah sure, if it makes you feel better.
Haven’t ran into any fakes yet, and hopefully never.
Umm, counterfeit video games are a huge problem . . .