Authenticity check on an eBay seller
There's a seller on eBay called customers1stgaming that has a ton of boxes for select GBA games that are in mint condition. His listing claims they are all authentic boxes.
I suspected the possibility of them being fake reproductions because he has so many of these boxes. However, I've been tracking him for several months and I do not see any new additions or boxes for super rare games. I think someone that was into selling fake stuff would get tempted to add new stuff to his selection.
Anyhow, one of the items he sells is the Super Mario Advance 4 (SMB3) for GBA box with all of the inserts and it even includes the E-Reader card sealed in plastic.. I think that would be nearly impossible to fake, so I bought one and it looks pretty real to me. The only thing is the front of the box seems to have some very suttle printing smudges, but I'm wondering if thats just the quality of the printing that Nintendo used back then.
So I asked the seller how he got all of these boxes and he bought them years ago from a video game supplier. I was wondering if anyone else bought a box from this seller and if they could give their opinion on the matter. I'm kind of leaning towards saying its all genuinely authentic but I still have a small lingering doubt.
I suspected the possibility of them being fake reproductions because he has so many of these boxes. However, I've been tracking him for several months and I do not see any new additions or boxes for super rare games. I think someone that was into selling fake stuff would get tempted to add new stuff to his selection.
Anyhow, one of the items he sells is the Super Mario Advance 4 (SMB3) for GBA box with all of the inserts and it even includes the E-Reader card sealed in plastic.. I think that would be nearly impossible to fake, so I bought one and it looks pretty real to me. The only thing is the front of the box seems to have some very suttle printing smudges, but I'm wondering if thats just the quality of the printing that Nintendo used back then.
So I asked the seller how he got all of these boxes and he bought them years ago from a video game supplier. I was wondering if anyone else bought a box from this seller and if they could give their opinion on the matter. I'm kind of leaning towards saying its all genuinely authentic but I still have a small lingering doubt.
Comments
You can only see the smudge marks when held at an angle in the light and the marks are kind of small, hence it is difficult to capture this on camera. However, I have compared the boxes carefully with other boxes I have that are guaranteed authentic and I do not see any similar marks on my boxes.
If these turn out to be fakes, then box collecting is doomed. Aside from the smudges every other detail checks out good.
I would really appreciate if someone who is a printing expert could closely examine my boxes and tell me whether they think this is a printed defect or if the smudge marks happened after they were printed. I'd be willing to take care of shipping.
I've looked it over again last night and I feel pretty strongly that these are truly authentic. Sorry tried taking pictures but there wasn't anything to see on the photos I took.
one way to know if its authentic is to smell the inside of the box. usually its got an old musty smell. if its not authentic then the box will smell new