KO or Not?

[sifun]

knock off they are..

[griffin]

And he didn't keep it for 20++ odd years....
Check out his feedback and you'd find that he bought it from Italy for ard AUD55 in September....
So something must be wrong to be rid off pretty quickly.

Just echoing what Paulbot noticed, the item that was won in the Italian auction is different to the one he is selling. However, it could mean that the Italian listing used a stock photo, and the seller sent out a similar KO in its place, which is what the local seller is now trying to get rid of.

That link Rampage posted (http://highendtfs.com/?q=node/20) shows that the backing card of the one being sold is clearly not a legit backing card (yellow shouldn't go above the grid pattern, and the purple should not be above Laserbeak's wing), and the screws are shiney (the legit ones have black screws - which is ironic that something so insignificant compared to plastic/paint/stickers, would give it away).

If the seller hadn't claimed that they had bought this some time ago, before KOs were being done, I would have given them sympathy, as I would to anyone who was duped into buying a KO they thought was legit. But since they appear to be trying to offload what they now know is a KO to recoup their losses at being stung by a dodgy dealer, I think they should be reported to ebay for it, if that would do any good.
Or at least let the seller know that it is a KO, and see how they react.

[griffin]

Bit disappointed that his Q&A at the bottom of the listing has him making out that the KO he bought from the Italian auction is a rare factory error. Either he has no idea about KOs or just wants to avoid mentioning them at all, to prevent people from thinking he could be selling one.

[griffin]

I sent them a message, to point out the evidence from that KO website link, and if I don't get a response in the next day, I'll see what ebay's opinion is.

[Rampage]

what gave it away to me is the registered symbol at the end of Transformers

Pre-Rub TF's almost always have a trademark symbol rather than a registered symbol at the end of Transfomers on the front of the packaging

[Soundwarp]

I sent them a message, to point out the evidence from that KO website link, and if I don't get a response in the next day, I'll see what ebay's opinion is.

Dude i never get replies about KO's!!!!

[griffin]

Well he replied to my message claiming that he really thought it wasn't a KO, believing KOs had different colours. Which is technically correct - a KO is generally obviously different, while a counterfeit (which we call KO for convenience) is a replica that is very difficult to tell the difference. This guy had a counterfeit replica, that he claims he bought 2 years ago.
Anyway, he has pulled the listing. So, yay to us - and the fight against counterfeits continues...