How to identify counterfeit beatles mono cd boxsets ?

Hello,
I just won an ebay auction on a beatles mono cd boxset for 55£.
But i am now some doubts regarding the item... Is there an easy way to spot counterfeits ?

The seller is from the UK and has 900 sales with 100 % positive feedback (900 positive and 2 neutral).

He does not have a lot of objects to sell, some home stuff, no additional records or cds.

I guess this is all good sign, but the fact that the item is sealed and that the auction started at 25£ makes me doubt...

 

Checking what else he sells is a good idea. If he has a lot of sealed, new CDs up for sale, that is never a good sign for a small seller. Feedback these days on eBay isn't a reliable indicator of anything. Most of the counterfeit sellers are willing to refund the purchase price immediately when someone confronts them on an item being a counterfeit, so their feedback largely remains intact.

 

I aksed him about my doubts and he refunded me !
So i guess it was indeed a fake.

 

It's likely you are right - as soon as it became clear that you are a buyer who knows about the counterfeits, he might have realized that the game was up and gave you your money back.

It's also possible, though, that he's not a scammer. It could be that he bought this item sealed and isn't sure if it's legit or not - larger-volume sellers will sometimes give refunds just to avoid the hassle. It's also possible he honestly acquired it, but then prompted by your email he looked into the issue and discovered that his might indeed be counterfeit. And it's also possible that he bought it honestly, then at some point realized it was counterfeit, and was hoping to pass off his mistake on an unsuspecting buyer - so in that case not a scammer per se, but still dishonest.

One thing that really complicates buying the Beatles Mono CD box is that legit copies have been sold for very low prices. A bunch of us got them a few months ago for $43 to $60US, because of a couple of tips from alert members here. But then at other times no legit copies seem to be available for less than $100 or $150US or more. You just have to be patient.

I do believe there are one or more web sites that show how the legit and counterfeit copies differ. But it's tough to tell until you open up the box. So I would recommend buying good-condition used with photos of the insides, or else buying new/sealed from a truly legit vendor with a convenient return/refund policy.

 

There used to be a U tube site with a video where a guy led you through all the ways to authenticate a mono box set. Used it to check mine when I got it.

 

Counterfeits do wind up by accident in legitimate sellers' stock and inventory. Unless someone bought the Beatles' box within the first year of release, it's virtually impossible these days differentiating between real and counterfeit sets.

 

I have two mono sets, they seem legit... however how would I know if they are fake? Everything seems in order but they are a slightly different color on the bottom then then the US albums. Artwork isn’t cheap looking for both sets, CDs labels are perfect.

But hearing that it’s impossible to tell bothers me.