How to spot a fake card

Counterfeit cards are common, especially for valuable Pokémon and chase cards. No single test is definitive, but a handful of quick checks catch the large majority of fakes. The golden rule: compare against a card you know is genuine.

Quick checks

• Print quality — genuine cards have crisp text and clean colour. Blurry fonts, slightly-off colours, or pixelated edges are red flags.
• The dot pattern — under magnification, real cards show a fine, regular rosette/dot printing pattern. Fakes often look blotchy or have the wrong pattern.
• Texture and holo — holofoil patterns and any embossed texture should match the genuine version exactly; fakes frequently get the foil pattern wrong.
• The back — check centring, colour, and the blue swirl pattern against a real card. Off-centre or wrong-shade backs are a common tell.
• Card stock and feel — genuine cards have a specific weight and stiffness, and a thin black core layer in the middle. The light test (holding a card up to a bright light) often reveals a fake that lets through too much light.
• The details — set symbol, card number, rarity symbol, and copyright line should all be correct for the set the card claims to be from.

When in doubt

Buy from reputable sellers — the vendors on our marketplace are vetted, real card shops, which removes most of this risk. For a high-value card, the surest route is grading: PSA and the other graders authenticate a card as part of assigning its grade, so a slabbed card is confirmed genuine.