i got scammed

[@Heymrk]

It's important to note that eBay does not allow aftermarket parts to be sold as original. If that listing is in fact an aftermarket unit, you can report it and they'll take it down.

[@olepigeon]

While not Gameboy related, I've reported a seller for selling fake vintage Chuck E. Cheese stickers. The seller is still there, still selling fake stickers as "genuine" vintage stickers. They're not even good fakes. They're inkjet printed. A technology that didn't exist for well over a decade after these supposed stickers were made.

[@GlutzahnLP]

Sadly ebay is not really good at that. Im in the Isaac Four Souls Community and there are a lot of fake promo cards sold on ebay and sometimes ebay takes down one or two listings but the sellers themselves always stay and just remake the auction

[@SavingPrivateBob]

Japanese auction site

[@lenya2004]

@@SavingPrivateBob "Japanese auction site" - whats the problem in naming the "site", or why did he use Ebay Logo in the thumbnail ? Why no original auction screenshots, mails, etc? Gullible people like you, I swear... He's fearmongerin, so maybe people dont bother trying to buy rare consoles or lying to create low effort content. smh

[@MasterControl90original]

On paper eBay does that, in practice they do not... I got scammed with some that games some years ago and they didn't believe me... They pretended a specialized shop to certify and sign they were indeed fakes.... Ofc the only one available to even look into them refuses to show their name, he only allowed me to take pics of original ones side by side with the fakes... Not sufficient for ebay and the scammer flee

[@TechSightKara]

I work in the back of a used video game shop fixing handhelds and consoles. The people who work at the register always bring stuff to me for authentication. These types of videos help me keep an eye out for some minor details that I might overlook.

[@gabevaldez6906]

So glad you made a video about this. I saw 2 Mirinda GBCs on a recent trip to the electronics market in Mexico City. I was tipped off by the IR sensor on the top, it looked a little too opaque-almost matte- compared to the black, glassy look of legit ones. Yours looked a little off too but I only got a short glance at 2:54. Might be a good tell.

[@nathanaelsmith3553]

When I was studying cabinet making during the 90s I met a guy who knew people who made 'reproduction' furniture. He told me that these items were sometimes artificially aged and that sometimes dealers forgot to tell people that the antique looking pieces were 'reproduction' pieces. I guess this is the same.

[@sexygirlmax2019]

Not the same. Reproduction furniture is made as a cheap alternative for aesthetics. Aftermarkets are made to look real or trick people into paying market price to fraud them out of monwey. Reproductions are titled as Repros or Aftermarkets. Bootlegs and fakes the seller will try to convince you its real.

[@apollolux]

Proper thorough PSA, Elliot, thanks for letting us know! It's unfortunate that you went through a scam like this in pursuit of your passion.

[@somelazyboi1739]

Aw man that sucks, but that's just something that comes with collecting. Keep up the great work Elliot!

[@lalo2509]

The original one was given as a prize in a TV game show called "En familia con chabelo", as far as I know that GBC was exclusive for Mexico.

[@saber5821]

Thank you for taking the hit so others don't, the man just took a bullet for an entire community

[@WorkforceSFCC]

Yeah as someone who worked in screen printing and or waterslide decals, it's not easy to reproduce without putting in a ton of money so they definitely just printed a sticker on sticker paper for what's there. But that said I still like that shell haha.

[@Jan-nk2dg]

Good on you for not hiding in shame that you fell for a scam and instead making an educational video about it to make others aware!

[@RC32Smiths01]

Thanks for these heads-ups. It does take a true knowledgeable man like yourself to tell what is real and what is not in the collection game.

[@mrclean3088]

True, but at what point does it no longer make sense to know if it's fake or not? For me, as long as some or even all of the couple minute little differences would be changed I honestly wouldn't mind. After all if it's literally the same just maybe another type of plastic for example why should I even care about that Edit: Just glanced over my comment, let me clarify. I don't mean that even if it would've been 99% the same i.E. only one minute lttle difference that it would be okay to sell as original. That's still wrong to sell it as original if ya know it just isn't. My comment was more of a hypothetical question to even partly myself and other collectors like you out there

[@ekspatriat]

And the price of course.@@mrclean3088

[@TimelordUK]

I think the issue is with a seller claiming it's original and selling for an inflated price to an unknowing naive trusting buyer, whereas they could list it as repro and charge a lot less.

[@JoeRabone]

Crazy how someone’s gone to the effort of making this only to use the worlds worst looking serial number 😂

[@sexygirlmax2019]

Fr. Bruh moment

[@silversonic1]

Also of note is the IR lens. The fake's lens is really scratched up, which is majorly off when compared with the more pristine condition of the shell.

[@FRANZTENDO64Philippines]

For those who dont know : Mirinda is an orange brand of Pepsi (Pepsi's answer to Fanta) and it sold only in parts of the world it has also counterparts such as Yedigum (Turkiye), etc.)

[@hxz]

we can litteraly get it in the uk

[@mrclean3088]

It's also available here in Germany , but only ever see the original (supposedly there are more than 1 flavours avaliable all over the world)

[@Topgunnder]

@@mrclean3088 yh there's a strawberry flavour as well

[@FRANZTENDO64Philippines]

@@mrclean3088 in our country (the Philippines) it used to have many flavours in it but all of them are dead except the original orange ones.

[@ChicagoMel23]

It’s sold as Tropicana Twister in the US

[@VRSMLTD]

The Mirinda shells have been in production for over a year now and while they have gotten really close to the original, its not that hard to spot the fake ones right away, the color of the shell is off (they are usually more bright or "neon" reddish orange), the serial numbers usually have the wrong font or just arent correct format and usually the black sticker on the back is also an incorrect one. As a longtime collector of gameboy colors I always tell people to go with boxed/cib ones as the chances theyre counterfeit shells is reduced (especially if youre going after the more rare/expensive ones), if youre just looking to "mod" them just buy any old plain gbc and youre set. As a side note, the Mirinda GBC was released in a few countries with Mexico being the one where most of them are commonly seen and was able to be won via a contest for a kids tv show and also as a promotional prize for pepsico. It was also a part of a similar campaign in Italy and another country whos name I cant remember. Turkey also had their own version under the name Yedigun and comes with its box art depicting the Yedigun logo. Also while not impossible, the distance between the origin source of the Mirinda and where the auction post is located will probably mean it might not be genuine to begin with. For example if you find a listing for a Mirinda being sold from Mexico as opposed to say one being sold in Russia. One of those two is more likely to be real.

[@FRANZTENDO64Philippines]

Its also associated with Pokémon too, Pepsi held these promos which you could win Pokémon games and the GBC Mirinda

[@MxMoondoggie]

I'd love to know what the price was on it. Guys like this cry when they get scammed but regularly look out for people who don't know what they have so they can lowball and flip items for money. He knew something wasn't right but if it was legit it was too huge a deal to pass up and he doesn't care if he loses a couple hundred on a scam because rich hipsters have bottomless pockets thanks to inflating the prices on these things.

[@scamperooniespanker8736]

"that is in absolutely MINGIN condition" lmfao i love that word so much

[@TysyTube]

Thank you for letting us know 😎

[@akenjah]

Love your channel

[@-Fidelis-]

I love tacos

Very important: check th C in the "Color" logo of the screen. Original ones are magenta, fakes tend to be more red. And yes, that logo seems to be totally UV printed edit: oh crap, replaced a gameboy shell few days ago, didn't remove the protector film. It could suppose any problem on the future?

[@harryh536]

"Dirty is genuine, clean is fake." Seller that cleans everything they sells: 😢

[@RideRedRacer]

every retro item i own is spotless.

[@NeoSlashott]

The Mirinda decal logo looks way thicker and didn't clear coat layered properly. ( just my gunpla decal experience, legit decals should be thinner as a stretchable plastic before clear coated )

[@sonofsolo69]

on the fake ones they never seem have the colour sticker inside the battery compartment, also on the pokemon themed ones it never says game freak on the back sticker either

[@spoonsky]

This, it's one of the markers you always check first for GBC. It's also super easy to see even in mediocre images. If it's not there move on.

[@owenclinton]

After a certain point they essentially just become a re-issue of the old console

[@zilog1]

I had a really rare film camera one time that i thought was real. worth thousands. then one day i started to notice things and then i discovered it was a fake. BUT THEN, it turns out that it was a manufacturing defect OF THE RARE MODEL and its worth twice as much....crazy

[@benjaminvlz]

The problem with buying consoles and cartridges online is you can't inspect them closely like you can if you were buying at a retro game shop, thrift store, flea market, convention, etc. You have to go by what's in the photos, and maybe there aren't enough photos, or the photos aren't detailed enough to really tell if the item you're looking at is a bootleg/reproduction.

[@basvanderwerff2725]

always ask for more photosfor these rare ones

[@Skeeve-Magick]

If you've been scammed and you bought on ebay and/or paid via PayPal, it should be possible to get your money back.

[@widge]

Hi Elliot. Thanks for the vid. You didn't mention one major giveaway that would be easy for someone to spot on an eBay photo, and that's the spelling errors on the big sticker on the back. I reckon all those repro stickers get printed in the same place because AFAIK they all have the same spelling errors on them. The word "apparatus" on the bottom line for example.

[@NasheedPog]

I mod and reshell all types of gameboys for people in my country, and I always use original buttons and membranes, as well as the shoulder guards for the GBA. Except, if the buttons follow a colour scheme. Original buttons are almost always of a better quality than aftermarket ones. Also, on GBC, GBP and GBA, the little knob under the d-pad tends to be a mm or so shorter, which actually means you can press down all the direction buttons at the same time, which is a big reason why i use the orignal buttons. Probably, the person that modded this gameboy thought the same. and ps, i never give off my stuff as original...

[@sunspot5]

makes you wonder where this gameboy even came from. imagine this was just some kids old gameboy that’s been repurposed into a scam

[@lloydaran]

eBay has great buyer protection, you can open a controversy and have your money back.

[@ClampEEGEE]

m8 he said it wasn't on ebay

[@RaphaelWiggum]

@@ClampEEGEE Great use of the eBay logo for the thumbnail, then 🙄

[@lenya2004]

This video is fake and hes lying anyways.

[@RideRedRacer]

@@RaphaelWiggum he knows the ebay controversy so he used it in his thumbnail. so basically clickbait thumbnail.

[@fluffycritter]

Yeah that serial number font is completely wrong, and also both the serial number and the information sticker look like they were printed on a consumer inkjet printer, not real professional label-making equipment. Sorry you got scammed but I'm glad that you're willing to share this and highlight this darker side of gameboy collecting and things to watch out for.

[@Gabbe211]

hi, i was wondering if you can make detailed video on how to clean a gameboy color and make it seem brand new or if you know a good video then could you send it to me? thanks! also what ips screen should i use for a gameboy color that is nearly the same size (if it cant be the same size i would prefer it to be bigger than the original), almost identical screen protector, requires no triming, good quality and somewhat cheap. btw im kinda new at this xd, thats all, thanks!

[@greenhowie]

This is kind of like how museums are discovering that a lot of stuff they thought was genuine had actually been genuine scraps that were repro'd with modern (for the time) parts so they would sell for more, but we can only tell now with advanced techniques. Goes to show, it's a minefield out there for collectors.

[@daniel070487]

the thing is, they didnt use the new buttons that came with the aftermarket case, because it made it look like a more genuine gameboy. this was a scam that was thoroughly planned.

[@Albert-ru7ob]

On good way to tell if a gameboy is fake or not (at least for the gba sp) is if it has one screen or two. If it has two, that’s how you know it’s good.

[@x_nekomew_x]

???

[@Albert-ru7ob]

@@x_nekomew_xone time he made a video giving the gba sp 2 screens and in some of his videos he says he’s got a “perfectly normal gameboy” when he pulls out the modded one

[@x_nekomew_x]

@@Albert-ru7ob ohhh gotcha! Sorry I forgot about that ahaha

[@SeikoHolic314]

i hope you bought it as modded and not actually paid for an actual real one. thank you for the info. learned quite a lot about legit checking gameboys. haha. love the content as always Elliot. stay safe man!

[@BRAVOROBINSON]

If he did would he have titled the video, scammed? Idiot.

[@Sevilian]

I fucking love this channel

[@ChicagoMel23]

No need to swear

[@TheSocialGamer]

There's always crap posted for thousands of dollars, you need to show us the sold units prices

[@TheRetroFuture]

that first one was a sold listing! lol.

[@TheKyuber]

We all make mistakes in the heat of passion, Jimbo.

[@slateportraichu5416]

I am so sorry this happened to you=( Wishing you all the best=)

[@agaspiderman921]

Another thing to know is that this gameboy was only given by a tv show in Mexico.

[@ChloeKream]

The wear is something i always look for. If im buying say an old pokemon gb game i would rather buy a slightly worn label then one that looks fairly authentic but immaculate condition. The worn ones are a lot higher likelyhood to be genuine

[@giec3484]

I like how people rate the commercial value of a product based on its average price in buy-now eBay auctions, either forgetting or ignoring the fact that, if the auction is still there, it could alao mean that the product has yet to be sold (likely because the asked price makes absolutely no sense).

[@Nintendex64]

U Always Find Us A Way To Entertain Your Viewers Love It Man❤. The Sad Part Is How People Are Fooled And Don’t Get The Legit Item.

[@quesochecko]

It’s all right man, we’ve all gotten scammed. I bought a 2DS that was supposed to work and the charging ports broken on it. It sucks. But I am going to fix it

[@AdamWulfric]

For a aftermarket shell that is really good it’s a shame it was passed off as authentic because I would totally buy a shell like that to salvage a old Game Boy Color

[@rhen1215]

I bought one (Mirinda edition) from a guy in the uk. Paragraphs of arguing later and I got my money back but still lost money and time. Still is up for sale, guy used a real sticker on the back pasted on noticed the reproduction buttons almost instantly when my dad got it for me on Christmas. Was bummed

[@vectorhunter4659]

tbh, all the collectors, it's original or not, it's so important to them, if they find out the object they bought for collection is not original, they are just gonna post a video like this and cry: i've got scammed

[@sixxtwo4785]

You can see the difference in the serial # font. That sticks out so much.

[@jaredf.6532]

I got scammed as well with this same exact one about a year ago. Everytging looked almost nice till i saw the screen had an aftermarket look where it said "gameboy color" and realized it was a fake and I was scammed. I took it as a lesson to thoroughly examine rare gameboys and to see if they are actually real and the hint of fakeness i get from it, I wont even bother with

[@JonPonikvar]

I wonder if this is kind of a Theseus' Paradox sort of situation: If you have a special edition console, but over time it somehow gets damaged to the point where you would need to replace the shell, and you end up buying one that is identical (as far as you can tell) to the original... is it still an original, or is that now considered a fake? If all the internal parts are authentic, but just the outermost skin is not original, is that enough to disqualify it? Like when I was young, my dad managed to get ahold of the frame of a '70 Mustang Convertible and made it his life's mission to track down every other part of this car to rebuild it. He never actually finished it (the budget ballooned until it was wayyy more than he could afford), but if he had, he still would have bragged that he now was the proud owner of a '70 Mustang. It wouldn't have mattered that it was rebuilt using a Frankenstein's mishmash of pieces salvaged from other vehicles (or parts completely remade from scratch). The FRAME was original, so the car itself would have been considered legit.

[@methibosheth]

love your content my dude , just wanted to tell you I appreciate you.

[@ValentinesEve1996]

My conclusion is that the seller was selling a real Game Boy Color with the real motherboard and buttons but placed in a fake aftermarket Game Boy Color casing.

[@kilbabaplays8944]

The reason it's easy to fake is because it was cheap in the first place. It's just an orange shell

[@bruwin]

You could also tell that the print quality on the rear labels was atrocious. That's definitely the quality you'd see from a consumer grade inkjet printer. I'd say if an auction site doesn't have closeups of those kinds of details then you should assume it's a fake because nobody wants to hide anything that can authenticate something worth thousands of dollars.

[@basvanderwerff2725]

these are not thousands of dollars as a lose console

[@HappyMonkey8238]

Sorry for your loss of money

[@AgentSmith2K]

The problem is these get mixed in with original ones. Then it becomes harder to know what’s true and false. People are also complicit when they buy these repro and knowingly/unknowingly resell as real

[@Vegan_Lifting]

Did you buy it from Sendico?

[@Theoonesock]

This is what has stopped me from collecting anymore, way too many scam artists out there in games as well as the consoles, just makes me sad.

[@RideRedRacer]

you can literally return anything that is not a described. its impossible to get scammed on ebay

[@KingKool2099]

"Can you see that there?" (immediately pulls the thing way out of the focal range) Jeez, I need new glasses, I guess.

[@RiderLeangle2]

I don't mind the existence of shells copying limited editions, sometimes when doing repairs to resell I'll use them, but the important thing is LET PEOPLE KNOW IT'S NOT THE ORIGINAL, and don't try to charge like it's the limited edition, maybe do a slight premium over a regular version of whatever console but don't try to sell it for the price of a legit one, and just going to restate clearly advertise it's just a reshell

[@nintendians]

damn, that sucks - got to hate those scammers for life.

[@cyprusmiraque]

More. The design looks good, but the almost cloudy resin in the middle threw me off so much.

[@SylentEcho]

Can you do a video about screen burns? Every GBC I've ever owned has had the screen go bad within a year, or two, despite being in moisture-free storage.

[@KentRoads]

Big sign is the rear sticker is darker and not a specific grey colour

[@retroid3859]

Since it's been a long time, you should suspect a limited edition with a clean exterior. I'm still making Game Boy Housing in China because of my strong Nostalgia for Game Boy. It's hard to find a genuine product that's really clean.:(

[@RideRedRacer]

ebay has them in mint condition. what are you talking about

[@gaborszucs8935]

On the pictures of the one thats for sale on ebay as of the release of this video you can see that the screen ribbon is not even inserted correctly and one side of the brown latch is open...

[@yrtgmx]

Is it just me, or do you have huge hands? How big are they?

[@DreamDaddie]

The dirt on the membranes would have been my evidence that it was a fake resell. Unfortunately that fall into the 'Too Late' category of scammed.

[@justintietz4477]

the fake one has a UV flatbed print onto the top, the True ones are pad printed.

[@MobiusGT]

i wouldn't give this one away. worst case scenario a bad apple tries to resell it as real

[@Evercade_Effect]

Very informative video. It's a shame scammers have to ruin everything.

[@James_D.]

He got scammed so we wouldn’t get scammed. What a hero! 🤗

[@ShadowW0lf1]

Missed opportunity to show how it looks when powered on.

[@Lucifronz]

Regardless of anything, it's a scam because it says "sol[d] as seen" and it is not as seen. The sticker on the back is clearly brand new, whereas the original had a marred sticker. They took a picture of another system from somewhere and then used it to sell their system. That alone is grounds for getting your money back from eBay.

[@JakitSol]

I also thought I saw the fake shell's corners looked a little more pointed than the original's did. Like it was a minute size difference, but side by side I thought I saw that

[@TANKTREAD]

Um Elliot I don't think you have a strange addiction. I think it's cool to see all the different GameBoy Colors you've come across in your travels. Plus, you know all the "ins and outs" of the consoles, which is quite impressive. Just have fun and enjoy!

[@DTO3167]

Don’t take it as scammed, You clearly are smart. Do your thing, fix it up. People like me will actually buy it from you. If you modded the screen , I will

[@intoxicode]

Now you need to get someone to send you an official one so you can compare...

[@arturobuenrostro6404]

I remember when those Mirinda GBC where in my country. These were really hard to get, only in a TV show in the sunday morning (En Familia con Chabelo) and win a contest in that show. I think imthat is the cause of the scarsity of that GBC.

[@matthewgatskie1287]

How do they not know after all these years the font they use for the serial number, or that the T in Nintendo doesn't have a hook at the bottom? :D

[@KentRoads]

3:39 you said the fake rear sticker is rounded at edges, but it's genuine that is

[@KentRoads]

I realise you clarified this

[@makutmrax]

That was a Mexico and Spain exclusive Gameboy, most of them are still in Mexico. I see one with box in "retro play show" a mexican store for $41,500 MXM, $2300-2500 USD

[@juliocesarcastaneda8215]

If I was old enough I would also have a gameboy addiction

[@rickywinowiecki]

Regarding the print quality - the fakes use a process called UVPrinting that uses a CMYK ink process - you should be able to see the dots in the print (similar to a magazine or any ink jet printer) under a magnifying glass. I don’t have limited edition old game boys, but my guess is that the originals use screen based printing with solvent spot inks. With these inks when you look at them under a magnifying glass, they’re homogenous color. It’s possible this isn’t the case, but video idea - grab a magnifying glass and if you discover this to be true this may be an easy way to spot.

[@Swat_Dennis]

Gameboys have insane value nowadays even though MILLIONS have been made, so yeah. People have a lot of reference to scam you.

[@phailynrowan7976]

I got scammed on a GBA SP 101 which someone had switched to a 001. It's very aggravating! I'm sorry that you had this happen.

[@yolobathsalts]

Watch collectors learned this lesson decades ago. Before buying ANYTHING you get it inspected. Yes it costs money but it's worth the peace of mind.

[@karna6342]

I actually got scammed for this exact version a year ago, didn't realize until I opened the acrylic case and saw the chinese label.

[@meticulouselectronics]

*notices Gameboy is made by Chintendo* "That doesn't sound right"

[@skycloud4802]

China does what Nintendont

[@RideRedRacer]

then why not return it?

[@karna6342]

@@RideRedRacer Returns aren't really a thing with eBay.

[@RideRedRacer]

@@karna6342 i have purchased around 2,000 retro game items from ebay and i can return anything i want if its not as described. its impossible to get scammed on ebay. they definitely are a thing lol

[@braddeicide]

We were all scammed when Nintendo announce a colour Gameboy, and it turned out being greyscale with a colour case ... Very funny Nintendo.

[@Topgunnder]

Lol the TLC intro

[@Julayla]

Aww sorry to have that happen to you, but hopefully something good can come out of this

[@alphaedrum]

Dunno if its because of my monitor or because of the video itself, but I feel that the color is a bit off too since I remember it being a bit less dark. I have one a genuine one in my house, I should look for it to compare.

[@DavesConceptShow]

Theres a guy I know in Mexico selling his for 850 dollars. Thanks to you I know what to look for.

[@skateecho]

Oh wow. that looked really legit at first but yeah, shell isnt quite right and too clean to be true while the buttons are disgusting! shame, hopefully didnt cost you too much money but we appreciate your service. also that logo on the front honestly almost looked like a bloody sticker not a screen print. def doesnt look like a real one but im sure you cant tell in the auction photos...

[@simondanielssonmusic]

A fun video idea would be if you bought several more gameboy fakes, put them and the original models they're replicating on a table and try to guess which is a fake and which is not.

[@CasualConsoleGamerGuy]

Whelp, I now know I'll never be putting any of my retro consoles under a microscope. Definitely don't want to know how dirty they are!

[@Meh-qe4rw]

Can you play it like a regular game boy?

[@kid.dracula]

I got an OG, new open box mirinda for sale at $2k USD if u want to get a perfect condition one for your collection this is what u looking for, I'm from Mexico, tons of references ☝ (when I say new open box I mean just that, original unused 10/10 condition, perfect box). I do collect gameboy stuff btw ❤

[@viridionwaves]

Thank you for helping educate us!