Buying Gameboy games on ebay from Hong Kong = fake

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ZForce915

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http://cheapassgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7889

There is a topic started "Fake Castlevanias" that discusses this. I made this topic to be more direct about what to look for.

If you go to eBay and see a buy it now price of $12 for a $30 game, and it's from Hong Kong...it's not a real GBA game. Hell, if you see anything outside of USA or Canada don't buy it. It's not worth the risk. This is something us cheapasses have to look out for though, in the effort to save a buck or two we might be tempted to buy something like this.
 
That is a dead giveaway. The pirates (arrrrgh!) are pretty darn good at what they do. So if you've never seen the game before you might not notice.

Just remember, if a seller doesn't have 100% feedback, check in detail the feedback profile.
 
hahhaha NINTONDO.... anyways Ive been in the same situation, trying to get a copy of Aria of sorrow for less than 30. But all I see are NINTONDO Carts
 
Also look out for 'Ninfendo'

I'm scared to death to buy GBA games off ebay but I am tempted sometimes. You just don't know what it's like seeing something like say, Legend of Zelda, X-men, and Mario Advance 2 in some poorly worded auction in the furniture section going for a little over $10 but not bidding 'cuz your not sure if they are authentic.
 
But if the games work and you are only paying 10$ then I don't see what the big deal is. Sure it's not the "same" but if you are a true cheap ass then getting three fairly new games for 10 bucks isnt too bad.
 
I suppose that is true what you say but I am a purist and more importantly, the seller didn't have a shipping estimate. I've had some real bad experiences with that too.
 
[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']But if the games work and you are only paying 10$ then I don't see what the big deal is. Sure it's not the "same" but if you are a true cheap ass then getting three fairly new games for 10 bucks isnt too bad.[/quote]

I think one can be a "true cheap ass" and still avoid stolen goods. A pirated game is a different item than an original, so if one attempts to get the lowest possible price on the original then, I believe, that person still qualifies as a "true cheap ass" even though the price may be more than they would have had to pay for the pirated game.

Also, I often buy games with resell value in mind. That is, if I don't like it, or finish it, or get bored with it, and I decide to get rid of it, I like to be able to recoup a good portion of my cost (at least if there is a quick turnaround). In the case of pirated games, I could not recoup anything, because I would not sell pirated games. Since I would never sell pirated games, I do not buy pirated games.
 
Truthfully, I think ebay should be doing something about these sellers. I think ebay doesn't do much to eliminate this problem. True that they are trying to fight piracy, but all talk, not much action.

I have the feeling that ebay is also enjoying the listing and commission fees from these sellers. This is just my assumption. I may be wrong, but until I see some proof, I will still assume this way.
 
Search eBay for "Pokemon Leaf Green".
Those are the most authentic looking pirated games I have ever seen, the only thing they missed was color infused plastic cartriges. Theirs are black, Nintendos are green.
 
One of the auctions for the Pokemon Green Leaf states:

"If you are a serious game collector, this item may not be your choice. If you are a fast game player and enjoy the game content only, this item is your best choice." Hmmmm I wonder why someone would say something like that.
 
[quote name='"Mr Unoriginal"']One of the auctions for the Pokemon Green Leaf states:

"If you are a serious game collector, this item may not be your choice. If you are a fast game player and enjoy the game content only, this item is your best choice." Hmmmm I wonder why someone would say something like that.[/quote]

The HK knockoffs probably don't have a battery save.
You may have to play through in one sitting.
 
Ebay and Paypal are greedy bastards. I wish some other competition existed for auctioning off stuff, because their fees are pretty high and policies suck. It's moved away from what it used to be with genuine computer users trading and selling their stuff to a big business where sellers try to get a small business going, sometimes with knockoffs.

Ebay is too busy collecting $$$ to do anything about piracy. They'll do something about it when the game companies stand up and take notice.

I've accidentally gotten shafted with pirated DVDs from Ebay before. Definitely sucks.
 
We really need a trade embargo to stop all of this.

I am gonna grow my hair long then go sit on the white house lawn with signs and protest.

Or maybe not, because I would most likely get shot.
 
Some people are even putting the ROM list number in the auction's title now! I have also seen the listings that elude, "If you are a collector who cares about originality, this item is probably not for you. But, if you are a gamer who only cares about the content of the game, this item is for you!!!!!" Don't give in and get a bootleg to save money; they are poorly built and you have no idea what the saving mechanism they will use is. Will it be flash memory, a battery, or nothing at all? Because of this, they are very unreliable (lots of problems saving, or lost data). I have seen cartridges that can't even save at all because the piraters don't know what they're doing.

The worst part of all this: It seems that eBay has just stopped caring. They rarely remove suspicious auctions now. Oh, and to the guy who said "outside the U.S. and Canada," don't trust Canadians, either; (nothing personal LOL) I've gotten bootleg crap from there, too. And finally, some dead giveaways of a bootleg:

1) Auction says "cart only," but seller has a picture of the box.
2) Auction says "Box will be flattened to protect it in shipping!" What a load; this is because the bootleg boxes they make now are made flat, and it's cheaper to just send them that way.
3) The seller is from somewhere outside the U.S.
4) The seller has sold multiple copies of the same GB games, but they are not sealed, or even cart only.
5) The seller has feedback that says he sells bootleg games. This one is rare because eBay buyers are usually easily fooled. I once was sold a pirated game, and the guy's feedback was 100% positive, with about 100 entries.
6) The seller has "private" feedback. eBay really needs to stop making this an option.

Always make sure the seller passes these six tests (you can rule out every above scenario) if you do end up buying. Hope this helps anyone who was unsure, and good luck with your buying. :)
 
First off when FFTA still goes for $35 I go for Ebay. I got mine $20 shipped. Never had any problems saving and it worked just as well as the original. I then bought Golden Sun and it didn't save. I emailed the seller and he sent me out another copy, something I didn't think he'd do. That one worked fine. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with buying bootlegged games but all I want to do is play them so for me it's a cheap alternative to outrageously priced games. If it's $20 new I'll go to the store and buy it causes it's not worth hassling with Ebay or waiting.

Also another key in figuring out bootleg games (they accept them at Gamestop, EB, Gamecrazy so beware) is they are slightly darker and the real ones have a small two digit number stamped usually on the lower right hand side of the face of the cart. Somewhere around there, not always in the same place. Oh and the "instructions" that are included in some Ebay auctions from Hong Kong to look authentic are copied sheets of paper folded up with bad translations ("You play A button to jump super").
 
I'm glad I checked this thread before bidding. I was looking at buying Metroid Fusion and noticed half the auctions were for the "English version" of the game. At first I thought it was the American release, because the Japan version has several different endings and difficulties not in the American one. There are never pictures of the game itself, which I thought was weird, but this confirmed it. Thanks guys.
 
Hi there dudes I have been had now twice in one week with these fake games so I have decided to put a listing on ebay.co.uk to try and warn other ebayers on what to look out for but I need help The more information I can put on the listing the better as I dont want another child to be hart broken like my 5 year old son was with these copys these sellers are conning children as most of us buy games for our children.
Any way the listing No is 8159965022 ant the title is ">>-->FREE GBA FAKE GAME INFO INC POKEMON + OTHERS
 
[quote name='Hardriveuk']Hi there dudes I have been had now twice in one week with these fake games so I have decided to put a listing on ebay.co.uk to try and warn other ebayers on what to look out for but I need help The more information I can put on the listing the better as I dont want another child to be hart broken like my 5 year old son was with these copys these sellers are conning children as most of us buy games for our children.
Any way the listing No is 8159965022 ant the title is ">>-->FREE GBA FAKE GAME INFO INC POKEMON + OTHERS
 
It's a shame so many fakes are out there, I list GBA games occasionally and they are ALWAYS the real deal, I make sure to say this in the descriptions. Once a jerk sold me Aria of Sorrow as LEGIT when it was clearly a fake, the guy thought I was lying to him! It took two weeks to convince the guy he was an idiot.
 
also if the seller is in california, this is another warning sign- not that everyone there is selling gba crap, but high percentages are
 
The thing is, almost every Gameboy game on ebay is from Hong Kong. And if you go to Gamestop or EB Games, they almost never have any pre-owned Gameboy games.

I would have thought there would be as big a market for pre-owned/re-sold Gameboy games as for anything else, so why are they so extraordinarily hard to come by? :?
 
I dont see what the big deal is as long as the game works, its not like the guy is sending you an empty box, Ive been looking at a few of these auctions and at only $10 a game, I might buy some gba games
 
hey....just because the seller is in the US or Canada doesnt mean it's not bootleg....i mean, that guy could have bought their copy from hong kong and is selling it to you since you believe that the copies from sellers in the US and Canada are legit...

just a warning
 
I got a version of Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis for $45.00 located somewhere on the west coast. It advertised the box and instructions, so I assumed it was not a pirate, but it showed up, and teh box was a pirated recreation, as was the manual. And the game wouldn't save. I was quite pissed, but I was lucky enough to get refunded.
 
[quote name='gamer6587']I dont see what the big deal is as long as the game works, its not like the guy is sending you an empty box, Ive been looking at a few of these auctions and at only $10 a game, I might buy some gba games[/quote]

As was noted before, these games don't save. I'm pretty sure my copy of Mario Kart Advance is a pirate version. The cart hardly fits in the system and it doesn't save anything.
 
The thing is that sellers mislead us to belive that the games are genuine when in fact they are fake this isnt right the games dont save properly you dont get what you paid for and at the end of the day its illegal to sell pirated goods I didnt have a clue till I got stung twice and the games was for my 5 year old son. what makes it worse is that my son had been looking forward to getting his games he is pokemon mad and the day one of them arrived he was in hospital having two teeth removed and the game came and he was looking forward so much to playing it, When he came round after his operation and the anestetic he wanted to play his game and the damm thing didnt work properly, he was in tears and as a parent I felt terabble as you can imagine. I didnt even know that people sell pirated GBA games so im trying to educate people in some of the things to look out for. Been intouch with Nintendo they were great and they know about the listing as does a couple of newspapers which will be printing the story on monday.
 
[quote name='MrSneis']It's a shame so many fakes are out there, I list GBA games occasionally and they are ALWAYS the real deal, I make sure to say this in the descriptions. Once a jerk sold me Aria of Sorrow as LEGIT when it was clearly a fake, the guy thought I was lying to him! It took two weeks to convince the guy he was an idiot.[/quote]

The same thing happened to me with a copy of Megaman Battle Network. To the very end, he insisted his friend bought it for his son at Target. I sent him links to Nintendo and got proof from Capcom and everything. And he accused me of trying to rip him off even though he gave me the bootleg. That whole ordeal was such a pain.

Location alone is not going to tell you if it is bootleg or not. As someone said earlier, bootlegs can come from anywhere. And there are legit GBA game sellers in Hong Kong, believe it or not. The one I dealt with, loongsfj, sells Japanese GBA games, and they actually ship them box flattened too (because Japanese GBA games aren't sealed, I believe... at least the ones I've bought off reputable sites haven't been sealed... not sure).
 
[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']But if the games work and you are only paying 10$ then I don't see what the big deal is. Sure it's not the "same" but if you are a true cheap ass then getting three fairly new games for 10 bucks isnt too bad.[/quote]

They may work at first, but quality for bootlegs is severely lacking. Chances are, within weeks after you buy it, problems start happening.
 
Most seem to save but most come with message "The save file is corrupt. The previous save file will be loaded" For what you pay for these damm copys you can get the same game original second hand for the same price and the beauty of buying the original is that when you get bored with it its worth roughly what you paid for it but if you have bought a fake game realisticly you cant sell it on as its against the law to sell pirated goods.
 
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