There’s nothing more disappointing as an artist to see other people making a profit from your hard work and creativity. I have been involved in the art community for a long time, and every time I saw this happen, it really broke the artist’s spirit. It’s hard enough for artists to make money from their creations, so for someone else to be blatantly stealing the material and putting it out there really hits hard.
Moving into the Tarot world, I haven’t encountered this personally until now. Last week I bought a deck and when I received it, I could see that it clearly was a fake. It took me straight back to the art world and the pain those artists felt. I was bummed at first, and then I thought I’m the perfect person to write about this. So here I am bringing up the subject of counterfeit cards. I’ve had a look around and there are a lot of fake Wild Unknown decks out there, so buyers... beware.
If I had only just taken my time I would have never pressed that accept offer to purchase the Wild Unknown Tarot deck, from our national auction site Trade Me. Now that I look back at the auction it was wrong on so many levels. I’m putting this in the “lesson learned” basket, and staying away from buying second-hand cards (for a while anyway!). Call me crazy but I do love a second hand deck.
What do you need to look out for when buying cards?
1. First things first check to see is if all of the information is congruent. Make sure the title goes with the picture. I thought I was buying the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit Oracle deck but when I looked at the photo it was the Wild Unknown Tarot deck.
2. Look at the picture. When you read tarot seeing all the cards upside down is a massive red flag in its own right. Why didn’t I take that into consideration, you ask?!
3. Has the seller got a good account? Always make sure the person you are buying off has a well established account. Only 7 people had bought from “codythewarrior” before.
4. Trust your gut. When the offer came through I went to the page it said that the auction had been won by another person... ding, ding, ding! In the description it said “Opened and used a couple of times. Having a clear out. CHECK OUT MY OTHER TAROT CARD LISTINGS :) Good condition, cards only, no box or book included.” So why had someone else bought them? I knew then that it wasn’t right.
So why did I not listen to myself? Everything I have told you I let wash over me. I did email the seller before I bought the cards to ask if it was all good, and they said “YES”. I obviously trusted the buyer and didn’t put the effort into making sure what I was buying was what I was buying.
The person behind the account was happy to refund my purchase but I couldn’t send them back, someone else will end up buying them and I want to stop this from happening. I’ve checked the account and they don’t have any cards for sale but there are other accounts with similar listings.
Sure you can still use these cards, they work perfectly and are much cheaper than the real thing, but the deck is tiny, the colour isn’t right, and the titles of the cards are badly pixelated. Nothing compared with Kim’s deck, her quality is delicious... the cards are buttery and such a joy to use.
I did contact Trade Me to ask them what advice they had and they replied by saying “We want to make sure Trade Me stays a great place to trade, so if you come across anything that you think breaches any of our terms and conditions, feel free to report it to us using the Community Watch feature at the bottom of each live listing so that we’re alerted right away”. So please, if you do encounter fake cards, push that Community Watch button.
So now my Tarot collection has its first fake and only fake added to it. Will I use it? Not for readings but I might stick them in a book or around the house, who knows what life they will end up living? Am I upset? No way, life is way too short to worry about spending money on something that didn’t work out. What advice would I give you? Make sure the people you are buying your spiritual tools off are legit.
If you have experienced buying a counterfeit deck I'd love to hear what happened, I'd also like to know of other decks we need to be aware of.
How far can you go using The Wild Unknown artwork? CLICK HERE to check out the agreement on her website.
You can buy the real deck just CLICK HERE.
If you have no clue as to what deck I’m talking about, CLICK HERE to see a review by Benebell Wen
If you own this deck and want to go a little deeper CLICK HERE to check out Carrie Mallon’s unofficial meanings of the cards