I recently purchased some figures from an ebay seller known as 123models123. This seller lists a large number of figures for sale as "used" from various manufacturers in various scales.

I believe that this seller is using the Ebay Item Condition designation of used as a way to cover the fact that recasted figures are being sold.

Be very careful when buying as these appear to be very legit.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/123models123?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Please refer to the pictures to see the casting condition and be the judge yourself.

This is the box that the figures arrived in:










This is from a Warriors set:






This is a side by side of a legit Tank figure:



Side by side of Legit headphones vs. questionable headphones

Photobucket photos don't show up here.

Oh. My. God. Those are abysmal! I have a feeling if you try and get your money back, you won't even see it again, those are really bad, they have to be recasts!

appears as though who ever it is, isn't degassing the resin, I think theres a way to highlight these on ebay as not original

Ebay's ruling is that only the original manufacturer can complain and get illegal recaster figures blocked from sales on Ebay.

It's not an ideal situation. The best solution is for people to buy only from genuine sellers listed by the manufacturer or if a private seller they can prove they are genuine by having the box etc.

This recaster is being a little bit trickier than most of the scumbags who say "no more box" by having similar boxes produced.

Buy with a conscience, otherwise the makers will simply dry up if all their profit is lost to scumbag recasters.

No offence, but look at the followers tags on the main sellers eBay page, there al only following him all are randomised names but all are the same style and length. ( most likely ghost accounts)

Also the reviews 35 all five stars multiple identical reviews from the same account and others and all from the "followers" of there accounts.

So that's what 3-4 red flags to me. That this is a scumbag seller

All names are shown like that on eBay now. For a couple of years at least. A privacy thing...

I have to say that I am typically on the ball and can pick out most recasters; however, this fellow is really good as he sends the items in original manufacturers boxes. The only box that doesn't seem legit was the box for the Warriors figure set. It is a bubble pack with an adhesive decal.

I am not trying to cry the blues about being ripped off, as I fully recognize that this is a "buyer beware" world. I am just hoping to make others aware of this fellow. I have purchased legit figures in the past from people that are clearing out a large collection and at first that is what this appeared to be.

Here are some details:

Email: [email protected]

First name: Rinat

Ebay Store: 123models123

Here are box photo's, the Tank Box on the left is from a Legit Tank figure purchase from an authorized distributor, and the one photo of the Warriors box....

Email:

And we are back with the problem of pirated copies.
Do not be blind to see that these figurines are recat.
Many vendor on ebay, sells copies.
There, what is exceptional is that the seller announces brands with boxes (boxes that seem to be original).
We are, it seems, before what the French law describes as counterfeits.
But what to do ?
It is unfortunately for trademarks or custodians of the rights to report these facts to ebay.
Difficult for some brands that have now disappeared!
Finally, the most worrying is the increase of counterfeit sellers on the internet, figurines, resin models as well as sometimes for photo-cutting.
The risk is the coming on the market, counterfeit plastic model, lack of quality, dangerous plastic, etc ....
So pay attention ....

This jackass is still at it with another account? He is also this person: https://www.ebay.com/usr/hondurasez

Username: hondurasez

And same email listed before.

Everything he makes is a copy and a poor copy at that. His FAKE packages are hard to notice unless you look close. I bought a PRECISION MODELS 35th Barrel wagon Rohrwagen it looked legit but upon closer inspection there was something about the resin. It was not the right color and a lot (Heavy emphasis) of flash. Those who own Precision Model kits know they don't have flash. I just thought I got an end of the line kit. So a couple of years pass I ordered from him again (I did not realize this until later) he had a rare Precision Models kit I wanted (I collect them). Again the wrong color resin and a lot of flash. There was a misspelling on the box.

Believe it or not but he is a well known Pirate among the after market kit makers. I contacted Frank from Kraut Kits (Formerly New Connections) and he knew exactly who this punk is. Per Frank " a jung russian criminal, that used to operate from germany (his parents still live here). After his piracy account was banned for fraud, he moved to russia. It is not easy to get a hold of him in russia. Just do not buy from him, he only sells inferior copies."

I did think it was odd that his profile said Russia but his items came posted from Germany.

Oh and he now puts this on his postings: "FOR THOSE RESIN-PROFESSORS outside: If you can not accept that resin parts may be broken or wrapped. Thank you for cooperation."

There is a certain place in hell for these types of people.

Thanks for the warning.

Thanks for pointing out his other alias, I had been looking at some New Connection items - it turns out to be him.....THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

It's so frustrating that this goes on, a lot of the old OOP items just aren't in shops, or available from reputable retailers anymore - if you want something that is OOP there isn't much choice. My belief is that the majority of sellers are honest and legit; however, there exists a few rotten apples in the barrel.




YUP! The package arrived from Germany, and when I was provided with a tracking number ending in "de" I found it odd as he is not listed as living in Germany.

He also includes the following line:

"Resin parts may contain small bubbles (especially in the incast zone) or light deformation due to high humidity or heat. If you generally can not accept that please don'b bid"

Horrible. Thanks for information. You need start to disput on ebay. Best way to avoid poroblems with piracy - make order directly brand manufacturers - https://models-hobby.com/
Low cost airmail shipping, worldwide delivery, original quality guaranteed

I've bought some original Verlinden figures that were almost as badly cast as the above.

Greg if you are still interested in New Connection kits check out Kraut Kits. The owner purchased the original castings and if you contact him he seems to be pretty open to casting kits of you want them.

http://www.kraut-kits.de/

https://www.facebook.com/KrautKits/

His name is Frank and I have contacted him via Facebook messaging.

SWEET! Thanks Scott!

Recaster is the cancer of this hobby and ebay together with Aliexpress is their natural element

Well after a single call to Paypal a dispute is filed; all that I have to wait on is whether or not our recaster buddy wants his forgeries back - that will be at my expense.

Lesson learned...this guy is good, his prices aren't so low as to make one think recaster right away, and he has figured out the box system for each company.

You will have to escalate your claim at paypal if you want to see your money again. Simply filing a complaint is not enough. Hope this helps

Live by my code: Never buy eBay.

I have never found an item that can't be had elsewhere with the requisite google scrounge. And if it is on the bay, usually for a reason.

Amazon is slowly becoming a good resource and so far no funny business, I think they're more stringent with their resellers.

Do not send his crap back to him. Throw them out. They are illegal counterfeits. If you send them back, he'll just try to sell them to somebody else.

Ebay and Aliexpress are almost nothing but counterfeit items. Lots of modellers get upset when I tell them that buying from Ebay is just supporting counterfeiters, which drive legit producers out of business. Because they like to buy and sell their plastic kits on there, they get upset at the suggestion that Ebay is a criminal enterprise. Well... it is. It's like buying a pizza from a mob-owned pizzeria. Just because you bought pizza from them, doesn't mean you're not giving money to the same people running a loansharking operation out of the kitchen.

Here's the rule. NEVER BUY ANYTHING RESIN FROM EBAY OR ALIEXPRESS. That's it. That's how we stop the recasters. Without those global marketplaces, recasters again become a very small part of the market. Right now, they are a large part of the market. The fact that recasts are so common and the crooks keep coming back with new accounts tells you how lucrative it is. Their customers are:

- Those who don't know any better.
- Those who do, but don't care.

The former category needs to be informed. Threads like these help. Manufacturers must also do a better job of informing their customers on their websites how to spot fakes.

The latter category is the group that needs to be shamed. They know they are buying fakes and depriving the true owners of legitimate sales. They reason it away by saying "it's cheaper" or "it's OOP, so it's ok for me to buy a fake". That's all baloney. Theft is theft. Being a knowing party to that theft is just as bad as doing the thieving.

Assume any resin items on Ebay or Aliexpress (or their associated websites) are illegal recasts and do not buy them. Not ever. If you want to find deals, there are several AFV/Figure forums with classified sections where you can buy and sell items with others in the hobby much more safely.

Specifically refute it as an illegal/counterfeit item.

If you paid using a credit card via paypal, dispute it with them if paypal refuses to issue your refund in a timely manner.

If you paid with paypal dollars, you might be out of luck.

It's best to always use a credit card for purchases so you can dispute them if something goes wrong. Credit card companies care 100000x more about good relations with their cardholders than with merchants. If a chargeback is issued, the burden is on the merchant to prove that the cardholder is lying.

Thanks for the heads up !! doesn't Ebay back up the sales ? Does Ebay offer any guarantee ?