I'm making this page in hopes of diverting people from buying stolen art on AliExpress/Amazon. Lately, Etsy is also getting filled up with AliExpress knockoff items being resold as "vintage" or "original art" by various shops. I've linked the official stores for artists I've been able to track down. Many of the people below sell stationery, and very nice prints and clothes. I've added some pictures of the official products of each artist.
Mizucats Store here. Stolen art is typically seen on AliExpress, usually in sticker packs with other artists or on journals, notebooks, and other paper stationery. Mizucats sells both stickers and stationery, along with shirts and other items.
The Crystal Unicorn Tarot Etsy shop here. The creator and artist do not sell this deck anywhere but this Etsy shop. This isn't a mass manufactured deck. It should never be "cheap". This is what started my little journey on making this page.
Re° Pixiv account here. Updates on sales are announced on Pixiv usually. Common to see in sticker packs on AliExpress. A favorite artist of mine. Doesn't frequently sell items. You'll have to keep tabs on that.
Pointless Brand/anniecelric Linktree here. Art is commonly placed in sticker packs with other art I presume is stolen. Seen on Amazon and AliExpress. The real artist sells on Etsy, typically posters, clothing, and stickers.
Spriscillart/Stephanie Priscilla Art Etsy shop here,
Twitter here. Typically art is slapped on stickers in packs, often with Pointless Brand's stuff. Stephanie sells a lot of items on Etsy.
Meyoco Linktree here. Definitely seen on AliExpress and Amazon, typically in a pack of her art bundled together as stickers. Meyoco sells prints, sticker packs, clothes, and other items across multiple shops. All can be found on the linktree, and all much higher quality items than the knockoffs.
Namu13/tree13 Linktree here. Commonly stolen and seen in AliExpress/Amazon sticker packs. I often see these pieces on notebooks and diaries too. This artist sells goods in multiple shops.
Aleksovana Store here. Stolen art frequently put in sticker packs and on notepads on AliExpress, often with a mix of other artists' works.
Britt's Third Eye Tarot Instagram.
Tumblr.
Buy deck here. Saw this initially on Amazon way too cheap for an indie tarot deck in way too many shops, then all over AliExpress and Etsy. The deck is actually a POD deck and sold via a custom playing card making service. I'm seeing fakes of both indie and "big" publisher decks like US Games & Llewellyn being made. A dead giveaway with these is having a QR code to download the LWB. Pretty much
only fake decks do this. Decks from big publishers
absolutely will never do this. Fakes will always have near paper thin stock as well, and boxes that don't match with the original releases. This decks fakes come in 2 versions, a "special edition" one with gold foil on the side that comes in a tin and a "normal" edition that comes in a tuckbox, both with no LWB, typically both editions costing around $17-20 on Amazon and Etsy and around $8-15 on AliExpress. The real deck is currently $50 if you have a single copy printed with a tuckbox design with no LWB (physical or digital). As it comes from a POD service, the cost is dependent on the number of copies printed. Full preview of the deck
here.
The Spacious Tarot Buy deck here. Another deck with fakes on Amazon, Etsy, and AliExpress. The ones I've seen on Etsy even advertise themselves as "replications of the original". This deck started off as a Kickstarter deck and has 2 editions (explained
here), the first deck having some printing errors that needed to be fixed. So hilariously, they're technically advertising their version should have the spelling errors and unfixed line art on it. Currently, only the 2nd edition is available for purchase, for obvious reasons. The fakes have a QR code to download the "guidebook". The real thing comes with its own guidebook. Again, if you see a QR code, RUN AWAY. It's almost guaranteed to be a fake! The fakes come in a tuckbox, the real deck have a very different and much sturdier box.
The Children of Litha Tarot Buy deck
here or
here. Yet another indie tarot deck that is frequently conterfeited. Most of these counterfeits are on Etsy, but there are some on AliExpress and Amazon too. Creator's price is slightly hiked on Etsy to compensate for Etsy fees. I would recommend buying directly from the creator. Fakes, like all these fake tarot decks, will come with a QR code to download a LWB. The real deck comes with a full color printed LWB inside the deck box. Some fakes come with a bag for this deck with a pentagram on it, because the real deck comes with a velvet bag with the symbol on the back of the deck embroidered on it. Clearly another tactic to trick the buyer. Another note, on top of the seller's price being cheaper on her website, she also offers decks marked down ~$10 for decks that came with dings and other minor manufacturing errors on the boxes (no errors on the actual card), and you still get the embroidered velvet bag+free sticker. There's images on the site of what the "worst" possible error could be, most boxes will be less dinged up. If you're tight on cash, you'd be better off saving up and getting the slightly damaged box over resorting to the fakes. Fakes will have terrible cardstock and terrible boxes. You're really not getting a deal at all when you buy these cheapos. Always get the real thing. They cost more for a reason. Good cardstock and quality printing are not cheap, especially when not mass manufactured!
Alice in Luna's Tarot Buy deck
here. Amazon recommended me this deck at an insanely cheap price, around $13 or so. Even ten years ago, for a mass manufactured deck that would be a little too cheap. So, that already pinged off alarm bells for me. I did a quick search and discovered this deck is by Luna Factory and is a POD deck that normally costs +$50, which is pretty standard for POD decks currently. A little more searching, and I've found the cheap version of this at several Amazon stores. Luna Factory seems to specialize in cutesy, more Instagram-y decks with very superficial symbolism. Which makes these types of decks quite popular for making fakes to take some "aesthetic" photos/videos with. This brand seems more popular in Asian countries than in the West.
Dreaming Cat Tarot Buy deck
here. Another deck by Luna Factory. I had a hunch the first store I encounted the knockoff Alice deck would have other fakes. I'm sure all the decks they sell are fakes, but right off the bat I was able to find three decks by Luna factory. This is another very cutesy deck, though I'd say look a bit more readable-looking to me. Probably would be good for a small child in addition to a proper LWB or tarot book. The price may seem steep, but this is a POD deck. LWBs in these tend to be not great in general, but Luna Factory's are particularly meh. But that has been my experience with LWBs from Asian decks in general (along with a lot of older decks having the laziest pips in existence, a trend that seems to be dying in Asian decks, thankfully). Just putting that info out there, if you were interested in gifting a newbie a deck like this.
Ideal Soulmale Tarot Buy deck
here. Yes, that's not a typo. The name seems to be a play on soulmate and the fact that the deck features solely males. (Not men, mind you, as some of the figures in the deck are clearly children and most look like teenagers). LOL, this is not the
Everyman Tarot Bear Edition or anything like that, if that's something you'd be interested in. This deck seems more aimed at teen girls wanting to self-insert into scenarios with pretty boys. This, combined with the cutesy artsy makes it another easy target for these kinds of fakes. With tarot, new age, paganism, and witchy stuff still being somewhat trendy and more overtly feminine focused than the last go around back in the 90s-early 00s (though that still leaned feminine back then, this current wave of it is ultra girly), I presume this trend will continue with these fakes. In my experience, a lot of fakes seem to fall into "overtly girly" or very "photogenic" and good for "Instagram". Xia Hunt's The Children of Litha is quite common to see in online tarot/pagan/witchy spaces, but typically only the "safe" cards, and not the ones with blood and guts, boobs out, or interestingly, most of the POC cards, LOL. You sure will see the Lovers a lot though. I presume a lot of these decks are being made as fakes nearly exclusively for influencers to buy and take pics/videos of, TBH, much like the cheap sticker packs all over AliExpress that I see everywhere in the bujos and techos of planner influencers. These cute decks are certainly not for me, but if you do like that, please actually buy from the creators. Never shop for tarot decks from AliExpress, and honestly at this point, not from Amazon either. Even if it's a US Games deck, just go to their official site instead. With Etsy, make sure the shop is the official store of the creator by verifying that link through one of their accounts. Etsy really is becoming just as bad as Amazon when it comes to having AliExpress garbage.