eBay now removing ALL KO auctions from listings

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Rock on Hasbro! It’s about time.

Awww, I wanted that Mirage!

Shame I actually like collecting knockoffs that actually look like knockoffs. The clear tapes, and the 4 star seekers just as examples.

As long as it doesn't look like something Hasbro or Takara is releasing I'm fine with it.

But how are they going to differentiate between a KO and an original?

At the moment the majority of those KO auctions list themselves as "reissues".

Now i'm in favour of this, however i'm curious as to how it will be handled because it may force some of these sellers to try to start passing them off as legit genuine figures.

And what of a seller who actually does have a genuine MISB G1 Gnaw for sale? Will he be mistaken?

About #@%&ing time! :DANCE: I am tired of all the BS KO's on Ebay :-x . My prayers have been answered! :PRAY: ;)^

I don't know how I feel....

I've never bought any KO's off Ebay mainly cuz I didn't know the quality of the toy, but I have always been tempted to get KO Reissues of

Grimlock
Slag
Sludge
Swoop
Mirage
the Insecticons

I guess my choice was finally made for me.... oh well I strongly hope that they all find their way into the new Encore line, which is another reason I never bought any KO's. I missed out on the TFC Insecticons but I have no doubt they make it to Encore :grin:

If this means Hasbro are going to sell the stuff that people have been buying, great. But they claim that half the molds are no longer viable, so how are people going to get that Mirage/Swoop/whatever?

Also, does this mean Hasbro will sort their distribution out properly? I wouldn't be considering buying a KO Alt Prowl if the figure had got a proper release in the UK.

My only problem here is that the immediate removal would apply to knockoffs advertised as such. In those cases, there's at least honesty, even if I'm not happy that knockoffs have become expensive attempts at lookalikes rather than cheap novelties. The unwanted side effect will be more knockoffs passed as genuine. The people who do this are the ones who need to be stopped!

And on that note, I bought the last clear KO Mirage that I've been wanting for a while. I'll need that to do the clear Binaltech gallery at some point. :D

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-G1-Mir ... m153.l1262

[quote="Sledge":1lixqnef]If this means Hasbro are going to sell the stuff that people have been buying, great. But they claim that half the molds are no longer viable, so how are people going to get that Mirage/Swoop/whatever?

Also, does this mean Hasbro will sort their distribution out properly? I wouldn't be considering buying a KO Alt Prowl if the figure had got a proper release in the UK.[/quote:1lixqnef]

Why can't you just buy an official Binaltech or Alternator Prowl on eBay instead of a knock off?

This might actually still be a bad thing for us collectors, because the knockoffs will still be listed on ebay, but the sellers will have to pretend the items are original. At least when they said it was a knockoff they were being honest sellers and we could bid for them accordingly. Now they'll have to sell the knockoff Mirages and Swoops as original! How does that help us collectors?

In fact I see a lot of ebay knockoff sellers who still have Swoops, Sludge and Mirages for sale. They are listed as "reissues", not knockoffs.

Besides, I love the knockoffs where they make changes to the original items. Like the red and gold Mirage, or the recently released gold chrome Smallest Starscream. He's lovely and Hasbro never made one, see attached.

[quote="Scaleface":13pwk9mt]This might actually still be a bad thing for us collectors, because the knockoffs will still be listed on ebay, but the sellers will have to pretend the items are original. At least when they said it was a knockoff they were being honest sellers and we could bid for them accordingly. Now they'll have to see the knockoff Mirages and Swoops as original to stay on ebay. How does that help us collectors?

In fact I see a lot of ebay knockoff sellers who still have Swoops, Sludge and Mirages for sale. They are listed as "reissues", not knockoffs.[/quote:13pwk9mt]

My concerns exactly.

While I want to see KO's out of the market, I just feel it's going to force them to become more underhanded and people WILL be duped into thinking they're getting a genuine release.

I wonder how this will affect retailers? The Warehouse (NZ equivalent of Walmart, but not as big) has always stocked knockoffs. Right across from the Hasbro transformers a lot of the time.

[quote="Menbailee":3mpjb5sp]My only problem here is that the immediate removal would apply to knockoffs advertised as such. In those cases, there's at least honesty, even if I'm not happy that knockoffs have become expensive attempts at lookalikes rather than cheap novelties. The unwanted side effect will be more knockoffs passed as genuine. The people who do this are the ones who need to be stopped![/quote:3mpjb5sp]

Quite right!

Only the honest sellers are being punished. There's no way for Ebay to know if something is real or not, and the buyer will know even less than before, on account of sellers using creative word play to avoid the ban.

For those of us lucky enough to have a fleamarket nearby, we can still get our knockoff kick. I feel bad for those that don't though.

I like this news.

I don't care if KOs are sold, I just hate seeing them sold with the same name and price as something vintage or reissue.

A great part of me is :-P in this, but part of me is :-( . I picked up ghost versions of WST Thundercracker, Skywarp...well all of them save Starscream and Thrust and I love 'em. Well, Thundercracker's nosecone doesn't stay up in robot mode but their great! There are some KOs I will miss and there some that I would love to see DIE DIE DIE!! The really bad KOs to be specific. And your right the KOs who try pass themselves off as reissues are bad news.

[quote="Scaleface":8igoputr]
Besides, I love the knockoffs where they make changes to the original items. Like the red and gold Mirage, or the recently released gold chrome Smallest Starscream. He's lovely and Hasbro never made one, see attached.[/quote:8igoputr]

Lovely! :shock: I want one!

I wouldn't know where else to look but ebay. :-(

Okay, here's a guide, if the toy looks like this, it's probably a knockoff.

[img:259d7yvr]http://i23.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/ef/64/b265_1_sbl.JPG[/img:259d7yvr]

I rather like knock offs, like the mini seekers or those WST Seekers.

This bites. I will have to look elsewhere to find those cool things that hasbro never does.

Screw you hasbro. Half the KOs out there are never going to reissued. There goes trying to get a mirage or sixshot now. I understand the figures that are still in production but removing the ones that either had their mold "lost" or just cant be reissued is retarded.

I have an idea for the sellers. List them as gobots.

[quote="Seibertron":2xziphm3]And on that note, I bought the last clear KO Mirage that I've been wanting for a while. I'll need that to do the clear Binaltech gallery at some point. :D

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-G1-Mir ... m153.l1262[/quote:2xziphm3]


Wow! You overpaid. I paid $55 shipped. I really should have picked up the 5 piece set Spirit of Cybertron was selling, they wanted about $250 for the 5 piece set. Now I regret not getting the clear black/smoke and red diaclone versions of Mirage too(the quality isn't bad for mine at least.).

As far as I know ebay is about capitalism as much as the people selling on there. The listings for the most part list them as KO
so I don't see the problem of them being sold. Hasbro does have the right to protect their intellectual properties though, so I can see
to a degree why [u:2xziphm3]they[/u:2xziphm3] would want to eliminate the ones in
G1 styled boxes. But, I don't get why they would care so much about
about some of the KO like the combiners like liokaiser on the
single card. I'm pretty confident that it may slow the KO producers down, but they may just move on to another sales/auction site.

in light of htis, I just went and quickly bought that KO mini Seeker Starscream I was wanting. It was Marked Knock Off and no shipping and for 15 bucks. SO, that's pretty good. really sucks since well, its because some of the figures are cute.

[quote="Megatron_Wolf":360c58gv]Screw you hasbro. Half the KOs out there are never going to reissued. There goes trying to get a mirage or sixshot now. I understand the figures that are still in production but removing the ones that either had their mold "lost" or just cant be reissued is retarded.

I have an idea for the sellers. List them as gobots.[/quote:360c58gv]

KO's have been selling for years. If you haven't got what you want by now thats your own fault.

well that's a bit harsh as some of the more recent reproductions or knock offs are not of things made way back when, ie the mini-seekers. Not WST but the ones between them and the big guys

[quote="Sunstar":2yytf3fm]in light of htis, I just went and quickly bought that KO mini Seeker Starscream I was wanting. It was Marked Knock Off and no shipping and for 15 bucks. SO, that's pretty good. really sucks since well, its because some of the figures are cute.[/quote:2yytf3fm]

Very good idea! I may follow your advise tonight!

I wanted to post that on my regular eBay searches that not as many of those damn KO Mirages are showing up. VERY PLEASED TO HEAR THAT HASBRO HAS DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!

Transformers fans are defending KOs? What the hell guys?

I cannot believe some people are actually upset about this, the KO sales clog up ebay so badly, and most KOs are crap.

If this is handled correctly and I don't have to sift through hundreds of 5 dollar devastator "reissues" I will be thrilled.

If you think that a KO sixshot or a KO mirage is a valuable addition to your Transformer collection, and because of that you want the KO market to continue to prosper, I can only hope that your opinion is totally ignored by your fellow collectors and more importantly, ebay and hasbro.

KOs stain the secondary collectors market so badly it saps a lot of the joy out of gen 1 collecting. If any of you defending KOs can tell me that it wouldn't be nice to type G1 into an ebay search engine and not be bombarded with crappy superion and seaspray KOs then you must have your head partially up your own ass.

Some of us want REAL dinobots, I dont think I should have to swim through a flood of KOs to find the real thing.

[quote="Megatron_Wolf":122eagmn]Screw you hasbro. Half the KOs out there are never going to reissued. There goes trying to get a mirage or sixshot now. I understand the figures that are still in production but removing the ones that either had their mold "lost" or just cant be reissued is retarded.

I have an idea for the sellers. List them as gobots.[/quote:122eagmn]

"Screw you Hasbro"?

C'mon man. This is Hasbro's intellectual property. They have every right to have this stuff removed. They also have every right to never make another reproduction Transformer ever again as well.

This action was extremely welcomed. I think it's awesome that they've finally done this. :)

KO's are really bad, they devalue the TF market and make some buyers like myself very cautious of all auctions. Are you getting a vintage figure from the 80's ? or is it a KO cleverly disguised by misleading wording and or pictures ?

Yes, I do plenty of research on the figures I buy as I try to make them 100% complete...there are plenty of sites to do that on so you know if the figure is accurate or not.

When I first started collecting I thought I'd never have an authentic Devastator so I bought a KO set and a few of them broke in one transformation...a few years later an unscrupulous seller used a phony picture of a complete Abominus and tried to sell me a KO set of the figures but painted them to look more G1 in person...he painted them with a regular brush it was so freaking bad of a job you could clearly see the brush strokes all over...the figures still wreaked of fresh paint to it wa an absolute joke but I got all of my money back.

We just need to be more cautious of what we are buying somehow.

It IS about time something was done about this!!!


Granted, some of the KOs out there are neat looking, and some of the sellers are honest about the status of their products....but not all sellers are that way and pass off KOs as "reissues". It is these unscrupulous dealers that devalue the real TFs for the collectors and drive prices through the roof...or make it harder for people to buy, sell and trade the real deals in open market. Copyright laws and all the legalese that comes with it is there for a purpose, and auction sites and other sellers need to respect these laws when you do business.

I never have, nor will I ever, buy a KO...no matter how frikkin awesome some look...*coughs*WSTStarscream*coughs* ;)

[quote="Sid Burn":3gmfutwq] If any of you defending KOs can tell me that it wouldn't be nice to type G1 into an ebay search engine and not be bombarded with crappy superion and seaspray KOs then you must have your head partially up your own ass. [/quote:3gmfutwq]

I get fed up of typing Starscream into ebay search engine and getting DJ Starscream or slipnot.

I think the Knockoff sellers should simply relist them as "reproductions". I know in the Antique Market reproductions crop of fairly often and you need to know your slag to figure out what is what.

I am simply in favour of the reproduction types that are of good quality. The WST figures for example are quite nice. I do like them a lot and I have 4 of those.

Would this affect Diclone? The worse KO I have is an oversided LOC which I have for giggles.

[quote="Sid Burn":vap1u02y]Transformers fans are defending KOs? What the hell guys?

I cannot believe some people are actually upset about this, the KO sales clog up ebay so badly, and most KOs are crap.

If this is handled correctly and I don't have to sift through hundreds of 5 dollar devastator "reissues" I will be thrilled.

If you think that a KO sixshot or a KO mirage is a valuable addition to your Transformer collection, and because of that you want the KO market to continue to prosper, I can only hope that your opinion is totally ignored by your fellow collectors and more importantly, ebay and hasbro.

KOs stain the secondary collectors market so badly it saps a lot of the joy out of gen 1 collecting. If any of you defending KOs can tell me that it wouldn't be nice to type G1 into an ebay search engine and not be bombarded with crappy superion and seaspray KOs then you must have your head partially up your own ass.

Some of us want REAL dinobots, I dont think I should have to swim through a flood of KOs to find the real thing.[/quote:vap1u02y]

Problem is this will NOT stop knockoffs from being sold on ebay. It will just stop people from properly labeling them as knockoffs in the titles. So this has made the problem WORSE.

I love the inovative knockoffs. The double sizes, the pint sized, the unconventional combiners, the colorful copies. Many of these toys Hasbro has no intention to ever make again anyways. I think Hasbro would have the brains to look at the market and see that a knockoff Dinobot or clear Mirage is selling for $80. Perhaps a hint that they would sell to collectors if reproduced officially and sold on HTS for $30?

If ebay would let knockoffs sell as long as they said "knockoff" in the title, then you could just put "-knockoff" in an ebay search. Sadly now this can't happen. Thanks Hasblow!

I so agree with you Scaleface. More clear labeling, that's what will help reserve the KO market only for those who want them.
The word Knockoff shouldn't be banned, it should be encouraged, or even required.

Guaranteed, the knockoffs themselves won't be going anywhere, they'll just be hiding behind different, more deceptive auction titles and discriptions.

[quote="Scaleface":2afw49eg]Okay, here's a guide, if the toy looks like this, it's probably a knockoff.

[img:2afw49eg]http://i23.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/ef/64/b265_1_sbl.JPG[/img:2afw49eg][/quote:2afw49eg]

LOL :P

( kiking my self ) cant belive i wated to long to get mirage #-o

First off, congrats to First Gen for another quick news scoop, you are getting better and better at being on top of this stuff.

This conversation really breaks down into 2 things.

Issue # 1 (Should KO's exist at all?) - A lot of people really seem to enjoy them but my issue is that it's hard to know true quality and authenticity. If you're buyiong a knock off Devsatator for $5-$10 with the figures made in all different colors, and you buy that set basically just for some quick fun, that's one thing. But a lot of people either buy KO's because a) they don't want to pony up the money for the real thing or b) unfortunately because they think they are buying the real thing. Biggest "first glance" difference on many of the knock offs isn't the figures themselves but the outside packaging. So it's pretty easy for someone to pop open a KO and later sell it off as the real thing, especially in a big lot. It could go from seller to seller that way and someone buying it down the line might think a seller with good intentions is trying to scam him/her when really that person was the one who originally was scammed.

Issue #2 (Is removing the listings from ebay the best way to prevent their distribution?) - I think the shame here is that action wasn't taken much earlier because these KO's have really saturated the market. The other point is that verifying authenticity on each and every piece is very very very hard for Ebay and/or Habsro to do. I think maybe Hasbro should allow some kind of contact e-mail for people to report anyone who continually tries selling Ko's as originals and threaten legal action (which they have every right in the world to do.)

There are still some on ebay selling as "remakes", and I give it a week before there are tons of them on there again.

Heck, they are still there is you look hard enough:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZperfect-worlder

[quote="capellamusic":19ngp94e][quote="Scaleface":19ngp94e]Okay, here's a guide, if the toy looks like this, it's probably a knockoff.

[img:19ngp94e]http://i23.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/ef/64/b265_1_sbl.JPG[/img:19ngp94e][/quote:19ngp94e]

LOL :P[/quote:19ngp94e]
FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!
Brawn is even upside down #-o

I did a quick search and one thing completely completely removed from ebay are all the knockoff metrotitans. There were dozens on there, and now NONE! I'm sure they will be back though.

[quote="Scaleface":3p4aec0l]I did a quick search and one thing completely completely removed from ebay are all the knockoff metrotitans. There were dozens on there, and now NONE! I'm sure they will be back though.[/quote:3p4aec0l]

That's awesome because it shows that they are actually making an effort and not just pulling anything thst says "KO" or "Knock Off"

The Metrotitans I saw on Ebay were pretty deceiving description wise as to what they actually were.

I'll add here that knockoffs are great to mess with to make fan characters. It sort of nice to get a cheap figure to paint up, rather than that of an original. with that said, I painted up a G2 Starscream as my fan char.

[quote="Sunstar":176bz74p]I'll add here that knockoffs are great to mess with to make fan characters. It sort of nice to get a cheap figure to paint up, rather than that of an original. with that said, I painted up a G2 Starscream as my fan char.[/quote:176bz74p]

Yeah, I agree with that, they can be great for customs.

[quote="Delicon":wat4nft9][quote="Scaleface":wat4nft9]I did a quick search and one thing completely completely removed from ebay are all the knockoff metrotitans. There were dozens on there, and now NONE! I'm sure they will be back though.[/quote:wat4nft9]

That's awesome because it shows that they are actually making an effort and not just pulling anything thst says "KO" or "Knock Off"

The Metrotitans I saw on Ebay were pretty deceiving description wise as to what they actually were.[/quote:wat4nft9]

I don't think that's accurate, looking at ebay's history of Metrotitans, 9 of the 10 knockoffs say "KO" in the title, and the one that doesn't mentions it's from China in the text of the description.

http://search-completed.ebay.com/search ... 26fsoo%3D2

[quote="Seibertron":1og5l34r][quote="Megatron_Wolf":1og5l34r]Screw you hasbro. Half the KOs out there are never going to reissued. There goes trying to get a mirage or sixshot now. I understand the figures that are still in production but removing the ones that either had their mold "lost" or just cant be reissued is retarded.

I have an idea for the sellers. List them as gobots.[/quote:1og5l34r]

"Screw you Hasbro"?

C'mon man. This is Hasbro's intellectual property. They have every right to have this stuff removed. They also have every right to never make another reproduction Transformer ever again as well.

This action was extremely welcomed. I think it's awesome that they've finally done this. :)[/quote:1og5l34r]


I have always been suspicious that some of the lost molds are actually stolen and are being used to make the KO that are on eBay.

I really hope that this lasts for a while and eBay continues to eliminate the KO on eBay. KO really damage the hobby in so many ways. I think this is step in the right direction toward ending piracy. I think the next suitable step would be for Hasbro to start using trustworthy factories and workers.

does this mean that they will get all the ones sold at places like biglots and walgreens?

[quote="Scaleface":2rpfj3bd][quote="Sid Burn":2rpfj3bd]Transformers fans are defending KOs? What the hell guys?

I cannot believe some people are actually upset about this, the KO sales clog up ebay so badly, and most KOs are crap.

If this is handled correctly and I don't have to sift through hundreds of 5 dollar devastator "reissues" I will be thrilled.
[/quote:2rpfj3bd]

Problem is this will NOT stop knockoffs from being sold on ebay.
Thanks Hasblow![/quote:2rpfj3bd]

I think this falls under the 'if' I stated above. IF this is handled properly and isn't just a strainer that weeds out sellers who put KO in the title, it could be great.

IF the idea is to actually weed out KO sellers in addition to products with KO in the headline, I am all for it.

Oh and on a side note, "Hasblow" gives you the hobby you cherish enough to join an internet forum like Seibertron, MAYBE that should generate a little appreciation for the company that kept TF alive for over 2 decades. Defending KOs is like defending someone who steals from you, bashing Hasbro for trying to take back ownership of their intellectual property is just plain stupid.

If someone else owning a knockoff damages you, you must be doing something wrong.

I have a KO G1 Superion almost identical to the origianl I know exactly what he is knew that the day I got him So I dont have a problem having a KO but I wont treat it as the real thing I will use a KO for what it is a look-a-like to the original and only good for stand in purposes when you cant afford the original

I think it was a one-time remove, a guy named funexpo2007 still has the typical KOs up (selling them as "80s version" - not declaring them as KOs)

I'm looking forward to how this pans out.