Love this visual guide and attention to detail! 🫶 I think in the west we're so used to merch/products in general not looking exactly like the ad/promotional material, but in Japan the standards are much higher (usually)! If the listing doesn't look similar, we should take a closer look or if you're able to, request more pics! Happy merching every1! 

If it’s confusing, just focus mainly on the stitching and tags. They always will have one of those flaws if they are fake + no one is making really good fakes of Chiikawa since it’s pretty widely accessible in Japan and isn’t really that big in the US.

At best you will find a fake that has some identical stitching or features to the real one but all of em always got a flaw.

hii!

thanks for this guide. i have pinned it to our community highlights 😊😊

no you’re so valid- the bootlegs unfortunately have been getting better and it’s being made faster after new releases. the quality of the chiikawa merch is actually really well made! its one thing for a seller to be explicit about selling a dupe but when they hide it and sell it for more, thats scummy 😣

I'm fine with bootlegs, so long as i'm paying bootleg price

Thank you egguo!

https://preview.redd.it/l41txsu1ht3f1.jpeg?width=723&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1a398a17f0b9ec713bd3c6d74648778fd167fd4

Doing god's work🙏

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I NEEDED THIS ❤️❤️

It's a question of ethics. Respect for the creator, respect for the people who designed the goods, respect for the people who make it, respect for the people who sell it in legit places.

Uncontrolled counterfeit can be dangerous and is often made by barely paid children who just get dismissed and replaced when they are hurt.

I want to support Nagano and I don't want to buy products from someone who is making money selling low quality fake products without permission.

I understand that in some areas you can only get fakes.
But I don't like people who take advantage of the feelings of Chiikawa fans and sell them fake products.

For me it’s a price thing, if I pay the price I would pay for a real item I want to ensure I get the real thing. I’m okay knowingly buying dupes/fakes for much lower prices, but if I’m paying $20 +for a keychain it better be genuine. If someone sells it to me as genuine and authentic it had better be authentic. I’m not okay being lied to or scammed out of money. I’m sure most people feel like this.

You can't be serious right?

Consumers are expecting they're products to be authentic instead of receiving a fake especially when sellers are charging over retail for them.

i like to support the original creator even if its something like merch

A big thing I've noticed, look at the tag carefully. Official Sanrio will say "Sanrio" or "Sanrio License". Fake Sanrio will almost always say " Sanrio Smiles"

It's honestly difficult to tell with figurines. Some are very obvious due to quality alone. But some are very well made. Imo, if it's cheaper and good quality, it shoudktn matter much.

Sanrio Originals are, well, the original. This tag is on products designed and manufactured by Sanrio’s Japanese branch. These products are the ones you find in Sanrio stores and authorized specialty retailers only. They’re super strict about this one.

Hello Kitty & Friends are North American Sanrio. These are legit but they’re designed and manufactured by a different branch with completely different standards (and much bigger volume). You’ll find these at lots of mass retailers.

If it’s Sanrio for other countries, it will say Sanrio and then License underneath. I think they always have a holographic sticker too.

Hope this helps!

This is a reminder for all posters and commenters! Please make sure you've gotten familiar with our rules before participating: https://www.reddit.com/r/sanrio/about/rules

Please note that trying to bypass any of our filters will result in an automatic ban. If you need clarification on a rule, please contact the moderators via modmail.

We are not an advertising subreddit, nor are we a buy/sell subreddit. Someone asking if you have a link or a shop (which they shouldn't be asking in the subreddit anyway) doesn't mean you can break this rule! If you must know where someone got an item, please take it to DMs, as we cannot be involved in or moderate any possible transactions. Please also do not share links to any sites such as Depop, eBay, Mercari, or any similar sites where storefronts are not official resellers of Sanrio products. We cannot moderate each and every link that is shared here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

sanrio needs to start doing something like the nintendo seal tbh

I’ve been thinking of making a video or something showing the different types of tags. If I do I’ll post it here!

It’ll have Kodansha or Viz as publisher if it’s authentic.

By looking at the publisher, if the original print is hardcover/soft, etc but it diffrence from series to series

The bootlegs have a different spine than official copies. Anything from Malaysia on eBay is fake. You can also backwards image search pictures from listings to see if the pictures have ever been used before, bootleg listings reuse photos a lot.

Reality just is you’re going to be paying $75 at least for an authentic copy of Abara in English.

Stay away from eBay, that place is a cesspool of fakes. Amazon actively removes and prosecute counterfeiters, which is why they don't do business there.

Abara and Biomega is our of print so you're at the mercy of resellers but there have been a lot of Biomega volumes showing up so you can get some volumes for only $22 on Amazon but Abara is a different story.

I think the only choice a buyer would have would be to contact the seller, converse with them, get pics of the product being held by the seller (such as them having the manga next to a piece of paper saying their seller name, like "Silicon-Seller-997") and then taking a bet on its authenticity.

The only real safeguard would be a strong, guaranteed return-policy that would insure that you'd get your money back if it's a bootleg item.

Would you say a Labubu that has a legit QR code on its paper tag is the best way to verify authenticity?

Do you have any tips on identifying fake Zimomos or just the labubu blind boxes

https://preview.redd.it/ytrjwfhair1f1.png?width=1169&format=png&auto=webp&s=e64406cb399f71bf1e873965b419264b930b2691

Just don’t trust the QR CODE. The one I sent was used on the care label inside the package. The QR code I show here were taken from unused box and it is real

When you open the link it will bounce to popmart that is how they fake it like real

EMPHASIS ON THE QR CODE!! because I just reviewed a whole set of macarons and the QR code was legit but the labubus are most definitely lafufus and don’t have a QR code on their tags

Just to verify if the tag on the labubu itself goes to the m-gss.popmart.com site and comes back as first time verification then without a doubt it's real?

weird stitching/looks understuffed, its hard to explain but when you see bootlegs in person its very noticeable. also suction cups. im not aware of any official plushies using one however, but im less knowledgable on mario stuff compared to sonic/pokemon

I made this video last year with some tips to spot bootleg plush: https://youtu.be/w0eNwIx3a70?si=EYruJmNCiqTqDbN4

Overtime youll notice patterns within official plushes that, when u don't see them in a plush, or notice that they're very off, you'll know its a bootleg. It's hard to pinpoint what makes someone instantly know it's bootleg without having the knowledge of what already exists out there.
Depends alot on the character you're talking about too, "Sanei" is the most popular mario plush producers, and so bootlegs usually have that label, trying to pass off as a product from that company, try searching youtube for reviews/unboxing of a certain plush and see if they mention it's official, and if no one in the comments sais otherwise.
A common tag used is a white background with a "Super Mario" logo, it was used by Sanei in the japanese release of their plushies, but very common amongst bootlegs; most plushies nowadays dont have printed on/sticker materials either

fake

Real Reprint

Found theses guys on TikTok the shop is Lexxyy I got from them only took 2 weeks good quality and pretty affordable they are underrated for sure

^amazon is not legit merch unless it’s Amazon.co.jp !! If you’re looking for legit merch that’s not illegally made, then go to

https://en.animate-onlineshop.jp

https://www.amiami.com/eng/

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=ナルトシャツ&ref=nb_sb_noss (You’re able to order from Amazon jp by changing the language to English and selecting shipping to America. You’ll need to either use a proxy service to pay in Japanese yen tho idk if they have PayPal, or buy a Japanese Amazon gift card from playasia. I’ve bought 3 Amazon Japan Amazon gift cards from playasia and one Japanese iTunes card and I can guarantee that they’re safe to order from. Shipping is super quick and it arrives within a week most of the time! My family friends always use Amazon jp and we’re always surprised how fast the shipping is)

Edit: I totally forgot Amazon jp has currency conversions so you’re able to use your credit card. I’ve only pre ordered from here so far and pre orders don’t accept this. If it’s not a pre order you can do currency conversions!

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/ut-graphic-tees

(Uniqlo is a Japanese fashion company and they collaborate with animes pretty often. I have so many of their Pokémon collab shirts and they’re very very good quality and they still look brand new after like 7 years. )

These are the best places to look for new anime T-shirts or merchandise for Naruto. Except for Uniqlo, the rest are a bit pricey because they are official merch made from collaborations with the official studio that made the Naruto anime so they ship from Japan. Uniqlo is cheaper because they have stores in America now. If your son like Demon Slayer as well my advice is to go snag some of the Uniqlo T-shirts right now because they’re doing a final sale which means that it’s currently at the cheapest price and after this sells out they won’t be making it again.

Moving on to legit merchandises that are available in the US, I recommend

https://store.crunchyroll.com/collections/shop?q=naruto+shirts

Crunchy roll is an official company that has permission from Japanese anime studios to post their newest anime episodes on their app. It’s like a Netflix for anime, except you are able to use the app to watch free anime although you’ll have to watch like 3 ads per episode. For episodes without ads, you pay a subscription.

Any shirt or merchandise that is sold in crunchy roll store all has permission from the Japanese animating studios, and they’re legit merch. I’m guessing they’re good quality too. I’ve never ordered from them since I’m Japanese and my grandparents buy me Japanese t shirts of my favorite animes. Crunchy roll has a wide selection of Naruto T-shirts and long sleeved shirts and probably even sweatshirts, since it’s an American company and knows that American people like Naruto (the faze kinda died in Japan sadly although there are a ton of Naruto lovers.) so they have lots of Naruto shirts on the website right now. And I took a look at it and all the designs are amazing!

https://www.hottopic.com/search?q=Naruto

Although the hot topic shirt designs are kind of simple compared to the crunchy roll ones, hot topic also has permission from Japanese studios to sell certain anime merchandise. They’re around the same price as the crunchy roll shirts!

Anyways, the most cheapest and best quality is from Uniqlo but unfortunately Uniqlo doesn’t have any Naruto collabs going on rn and idk when they had one last time. Japan doesn’t have any new recent Naruto shirts so the best to look at right now is crunchy roll store and hot topic! For more expensive options, Amazon jp.

https://www.anime-hood.store/ they dont have many but they have rly nice designs

In

I usually go with CDJapan for my stuff. They've been around for quite a bit and have an awesome range of merch and books that are tough to find elsewhere. They also offer this proxy service which is a lifesaver when you want something from Japan that's not listed or already sold out. The only minor hassle is that it takes about a week longer to get your order, but that's about it. Super legit!