Just a little public service on KO listings (HA Barricade)

Two weeks ago there was a eBay listing for a Human Alliance Barricade, something I wanted as part of my bayformers collection.

Now everyone here knows about the Human Alliance figures being extensively KO'ed and for the price of $58.95 MIB, I was almost 100% sure that this was one of them. Most sellers are usually very upfront about this and clearly mention if their item is a KO or original Hasbro release.

What made this particular seller (Victoria based, shipped from China) interesting was that they advertised their item as being branded and manufactured by Hasbro, suggesting a genuine item with model number Rd-24. Nowhere did the seller mention that it was a KO so thought it might be worth the risk for that price and if it happened to be a KO, I could blast them.

eBay listing: https://goo.gl/bf4AMu

I received the parcel on yesterday and although it was well packaged with bubble wrap and cardboard, the plastic on the outer box was broken.

http://imgur.com/0L0RPd7

After opening it, I noticed that everything inside had sticky tape holding it down with the Barricade and Frenzy being a little bit more securely fixed with twist ties. All in all the whole packaging seemed a little suspect, but nothing screamed KO. Barricade himself looked pretty good, but unless you knew what to look for, you probably would never realise you bought a KO.

I based my KO assessment off this TFW2005 thread and this youtube video.

And using the mould difference in the front grille section, you can easily tell between Hasbro and KO Barricade. This one had paint scratches above the front 643 number but the seller gets around this by quoting "Basic figures as per pictures (not hand painted collectibles!) so some inconsistency in finish can be expected.. May have some paint imperfections."

http://imgur.com/a/gs4LZ

Frenzy is also in poor condition and cannot stand at all and the thread suggests that floppy Frenzy is most likely a KO.

This particular KO also had a flaw in the front left wheel not reaching the bottom and hence not rolling with the rest of the car

http://imgur.com/a/PA0em

So, after gathering my evidence, I contacted the seller for an explanation and after giving them the photos, they said it might be a supplier defect and they'd issue a refund when I send it back.

I took things a little further and after mentioning eBay's policy of reporting counterfeit and bootleg items that bear an official trademarked logo (Hasbro), they stated that they genuinely did not know it was a KO and henceforth will not stock or sell such items, and also begged me to not report it to eBay as they might lose their trading account.

Their response:

Quote:

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Thanks for your reply, please don't report it to ebay, we didn't know it's a KO, and as you can see, we already don't sell it any longer. I'm so sorry for your time wasted, as we will refund you as soon as we receive it, and will not sell it any longer, could you please don't contact ebay?Thank you, really appreciate it. and I will send you a return shipping label soon, could you please print and post the parcel to the post office. Thank you.

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Hopefully this stops them from selling such items and other people spending $60 on a poor quality KO that should in all honesty never have seen the light of day.

As of today, the item is listed as 'out of stock' so I'm assuming this worked :cool:

Is the "Police" wording on the back of the car mode split slightly off center on the "L" letter?

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Originally Posted by graza78

Is the "Police" wording on the back of the car mode split slightly off center on the "L" letter?

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http://imgur.com/a/OPDKP

This is the KO 2.0 version where they have corrected the split by moving the POLICE word slightly to the left so the split looks identical to the official Hasbro one. But by doing this, the entire POLICE word is off center compared to the spoiler section (more black space on the right).

Do an item not described dispute before you send it back, the new e-bay return system is designed to support the buyer on these types of issues, they can say they didn't know it was fake all day long but if you are 100% it's KO then as per e-bay rules it isn't as described so you are entitled to the usual buyer protections offered by e-bay.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by den10

http://imgur.com/a/OPDKP

This is the KO 2.0 version where they have corrected the split by moving the POLICE word slightly to the left so the split looks identical to the official Hasbro one. But by doing this, the entire POLICE word is off center compared to the spoiler section (more black space on the right).

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Hmm bummer. I may have bought a KO as well. The "Police" and "643" writing on my bot is in silver paint, but the box has hasbro australia on the bottom. Also, the grill doesn't have the bit that sticks out. Did they make KO hasbro australia boxes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jetfire in the sky

Do an item not described dispute before you send it back, the new e-bay return system is designed to support the buyer on these types of issues, they can say they didn't know it was fake all day long but if you are 100% it's KO then as per e-bay rules it isn't as described so you are entitled to the usual buyer protections offered by e-bay.

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I don't really see the point in doing the 'item not described dispute'. eBay suggests to talk with the seller before asking them to step in if a refund/replacement is not granted, which the seller is willing to do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by graza78

Hmm bummer. I may have bought a KO as well. The "Police" and "643" writing on my bot is in silver paint, but the box has hasbro australia on the bottom. Also, the grill doesn't have the bit that sticks out. Did they make KO hasbro australia boxes?

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not too sure on this, but it should be easier to fake the boxes than the actual figures. You can pretty much tell if the bot has loose joints, rough paint apps, sections that don't tab too well etc then its most likely a KO

There were a couple of takara releases (most recently the APS-03 release) which may have different molding and fixed the grille section, but not 100% sure on this

Thank you den10 for sharing your detailed police work :)

I passed on moderately well priced (roughly 75% of eBay) HA Barricades in HK 5 years ago. At the time he was highly sought after and it was known that incredibly hard to identify KOs were floating around. Good to know I made the right choice!