I recently purchases 3 ghd straightners at a outlet flea market in the town I live in and they were a good deal and came in orginal boxes with manuals , dvd and pouches...

Some people have said ways to spot fakes but those are not always correct: 20ways are not all true below:

1.  Real GHD stylers have one hole on the cord where it meets the body of the iron.

       *  One of the fakes I bought had three holes and one didn't have any... so make sure to look!   All 3-of my ghd had not holes and all were real and authentic.

2.  Real GHD stylers (applies to Hot Pink only) have a solid pink cord, the cord does NOT have a black ring where it meets the back of the styler. All 3 did not have black ring

3.  When I contacted GHD of North America, I was told that North American GHD's do NOT have hollograms at all!  (Does not apply to the Pure or Dark GHD's since they are not available in the US yet). All 3 had holograms on cord and inside tongs

4.  Real GHD stylers are made in KOREA!  Not China! Dont know does not say MADE in Korea

5.  Real GHD stylers will NOT have a hook on the cord to hang up your styler. No hook on cords

6.  Real GHD stylers have domed screws, not flat headed screws. All 3 have flat head screw you can see inside the near plates

7.  The GHD styler DVD should have a number code and barcode on the back (compare it to the back of a DVD movie you own, they should look the same on the back).  The fake GHD DVD's say DVD R really small on the back of the DVD towards the center, sometimes it is very hard to spot. None of the DVDs are number coded but are not burns either they are highly printed DVDs the same color as each flat iron

8.  The booklets that come with the GHD styler should have colored pictures.  Some fake GHD stylers have black and white pictures. All 3 have 2 books each with all color pics in them and registration cards for almost every country

9.  FOR THE HOT PINK GHD STYLER:  The female snap on the bag should have little stars, the fake ones DO NOT.  The fake ones have a Chinese company name. The pink one has a pink roll bag with 3 magnets on each side to secure it together they click together to hold it the white one has a kind of hard black case with white design on it with a white tassel on zipper

10.  If you open up your styler (if all else fails!), a real GHD styler will have two microchips, one on each side by each flat iron plate.  The fake ones only have one (if it even works!). Dont want to risk tearing them up...(void the warranty)

11.  Real GHD stylers have very strong, thick boxes.  Fake GHD stylers boxes often come beat up and are slightly smaller. The boxes seemed big enough for the box and straightner to fit into with plenty of room

12.  Fake GHD stylers often come with black scuffs on the body of the styler.  They are not taken care of very well like a genuine GHD styler. All 3 were in box and BRAND NEW condition still had protective strips on plates

13.  Real GHD stylers come with two booklets, some fake stylers only have one. All 3 had 2 books and all color pics and registration for every country

14.  CHECK THE BOX AND TAGS!  One of the fake GHD stylers that I received had misspellings on the tag!  Apparently they don't use spell check. All 3 had good tags with no spelling errors

15.  Real GHD stylers have a date code on the inside of the body of the styler.  It should have the year, month, then day. All had the dates and serials in side tongs with hologram

16. LOOK AT THE BOX:  One of the fake GHD stylers that I received (a hot pink one) had two different shades of hot pink on the top of the box. Perfect boxes on all 3

17.  HOT PINK GHD STYLERS should come with a card inside of the wrap and roll bag that says "Thou shalt surrender to pink".  A fake GHD won't come with that.

18.  Fake GHD stylers often come with the seal loose on the inside of the box.  A real GHD should be sealed from the outside.  (Does not apply to Dark or Pure since they have not been released in the US yet).

19.  Hot pink GHD's should have black writing, not white writing. Pink had black, white had black and black had gold writing

20.  Real GHD's sensor lights are clear but will flash red when ready to use and make a funny beep.  Fake GHD's sometimes do not flash red or are solid red, not clear. The light itself (cover is clear on all 3 of them but about 1sec after you turn them on they all turn on to red and a little bleep sound comes out when they are on. They all will auto shut off after 15-30mins with out use.