It's been quite a while since I last wrote about fake Hello Kitty items.  Now, I'm not too sure whether what I started off was right or not anymore.  Because what I see now is that a lot of sellers add "Genuine Sanrio" to their Hello Kitty listings whether they're really genuine Sanrio items or not.  People are so quick to react!  They must have read my guides.  I only saw one seller who has the conscience of implying what they're selling are imitations.

I wrote these guides out of good conscience, hoping that they'll bring out the issue and buyers will be aware of fake items.  Ironically, it seems that sellers selling fakes have somehow made use of them to further fool buyers into buying fakes.  I really wish I could write a comprehensive guide on how to tell whether an item is genuine or not but it's quite impossible given the vast number of items being released everyday in so many different countries.  Just remember genuine Sanrio Hello Kitty items always have this "copyright" line on their items © 1976, 2008 Sanrio Co., Ltd.  It might also be in an abbreviated form like © '76, '08 Sanrio.  The first year is always 1976 for Hello Kitty.  The second year is the year the product is made.  No matter how small the item is, it still has this copyright line somewhere, either on the product itself (mostly at the back), or on its packing/tag that comes with it.  I have some 1cm tall Hello Kitty phone straps and ceramic figurines which also have this info in abbreviated form on the back.  For things like stickers, this info can be on the sticker sheet, or on just "one" of the stickers, or at the back of the packing.  It has to be there somewhere.  Most counterfeit items don't have this copyright info.  Hope this helps :)

P.S.  Please don't ask me for verification of whether an item is genuine or not.  It's quite impossible for me to answer an influx of these e-mails.  Hope you'll understand.