I can't believe all the fake stuff still on ebay!! I mean, hasn't every brainless wonder who wants a sign for his garage already bought one?? How can there still be such a market for this stuff?

I agree I dont even look anymore.

Totally agree, they should change their name to hobby lobby.

95% of the listings I see for Mobil and Marathon are new and/or reproduction items. (The few genuine items are generally listed at crazy prices by uniformed sellers!) I can usually roll through a days worth of "new" listings in less than 5 minutes. The saddest part is seeing what people are paying for this junk.....anymore I just shake my head and move on. I've done my part by listing known repros here on OG, but some are so obviously fantasy signs I shouldn't have to list those. Interestingly, those are the ones selling for the most money on Feebay, I just don't get it.
Darin

Are people really buying this stuff, or is there a whole lot of shill bidding going on. I've been suspicious of it for quite a while.

It will as I have said for years ruin and contaminate the market in the future.

The market is already ruined. So much fake stuff out there it’s hard to tell the difference anymore. I stick to local auctions where I can touch the actual item. If you’re buying online these days you’re just asking for trouble.

I agree with all the comments...however...I will say that I have still found some needles that were still present in the proverbial haystack. For example...I found this Willard Batteries Sign some time back at a decent price. The problem was that it was a flange sign that had been straightened flat. I was able to carefully bend it back to its regular form. So although I agree with the comments I think there are some legitimate finds still to be had.

Check out all the fakes in this link: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/petroliana/overview/auctions

Wow!!! That is sad!!!! It's one thing today to sift through the fakes as many today have great skills in spotting them. But in the future? Forget about it!!! Hobby will be junk except to an elite few.

My original point to this post wasn't even about the fake so much as the fantasy stuff. I mean how big can that market be? I search Sunoco on ebay every day because you just never know what might show up. And there is just TONS of fantasy ***** out there!!! I just can't imagine who's buying it all.

The market for fake signs is apparently quite lucrative. There is a dealer oldjunque74 on ebay that is making a killing selling those fantasy signs. Some of that junk is going for 500 dollars a (re)pop.

I was about to watch this video about this guys machine gun, and lo and behold, he's one of the culprits buying all this face cr@p!! LOL!!!

How funny, here's a little write up about the guy in the picture

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Bernstein#Career

I know oldjunque74. He shows up to large advertising auctions when they have them in my area. He will literally buy up everything. He used to just sprinkle in a few fantasy pieces here and there with the original stuff he’d buy at the auctions, but ever since covid he hasn’t been able to go to auctions and now literally everything he lists is fantasy. He gets crazy money for them too. That’s his wife in all the photos holding the signs.

Where are all of these fake/repop/fantasy pieces being produced? There seems to be no limit on the quantity being made these days...India?

Country of Fakaramma and the county of Toodabank.

That's the reason I never jumped on the band wagon of emailing buyers, sellers, and Ebay ranting on about fakes. You're trying to save people that don't want rescued and trying to get a company that's making crazy amounts of money off of it to care.

It's a futile endeavor to stop it. I still believe quality originals will hold their value.

I've been noticing the same 3-5 bidders usually seem to be bidding up his auctions in every auction.Then when one "newcomer" bids,they all stop bidding.
Look at all the Negative and Neutral feedback he has also. https://www.ebay.com/fdbk/feedback_profile/oldjunque74?filter=feedback_page:RECEIVED_AS_SELLER&_trksid=p2047675.l2560

His feedback is horrendous and I am glad people are calling him out on it. I’ve been in the collecting/resale business for years and he used to have another account. It got banned. I’m not sure why but you’re probably right, shill bidding. I actually despise the dude and when eBay booted him back in 2015 I was happy as hell. Then he shows up again with another account. To be honest, I can’t stand to see his face. He’s a disgrace to the hobby and people like him need to be put out of business.