The Wildwood Tarot is an extremely attractive Tarot deck, thanks to Will Worthington's artwork and the creative forces of Mark Ryan and John Matthews providing the narrative structure for the cards. As a result, the deck continues to be in the best-sellers lists on Amazon* and it's hardly surprising that the Wildwood (and many other beautiful decks!) has caught the eye of the counterfeiting trade.
I manage the Wildwood Tarot website contact form and I have lost track of the number of requests I have received for copies of the deck's companion book - mostly because the person contacting me has been sold a fake Wildwood Tarot.
Hopefully the video above will help people make an informed choice when thinking about buying a new Tarot deck. I'll make a new video to show what the newly published Wildwood looks like (new publisher details etc).
If you love a Tarot deck - not just the Wildwood, but ANY deck - the best way to support its creators is to buy a legitimate copy of that deck. Even if that means saving up for a few weeks. When people buy counterfeit decks, the money goes straight into the pocket of a criminal and counterfeiting is rarely a crime committed on its own; folks will be unwittingly supporting all kinds of crime.
Get clued up on what the legitimate deck is like - check out the publisher or creator's website. Double check what options there are for the deck you want to buy - the deck sizes, box designs, box content etc.
I would also point out that the counterfeiters are pulling up their prices to further try to catch people out; so even if a deck is being sold at the RRP, please check to make sure that it's legit. Message the seller and ask whether the paperback book is included - if it's not, well, you know that the deck is pirated.
If what you see on a selling platform doesn't match, then it's a counterfeit.
Today I notified Amazon of 15 counterfeit products.
And tomorrow I will no doubt do the same.
Please support the Tarot creatives that you love and don't buy fakes.
*as of today's date, the deck is the 3rd best-seller in the occult shamanism category of Amazon UK, the 12th best-seller in shamanism and in the 90th best-selling Tarot deck)
It's such a shame that you've had to make a post like this! But glad to see your lovely deck is doing so well.
ReplyDeleteI know, it is a pity that we had to do this - but hopefully it will help many other tarot deck creators who find themselves in the same boat.
DeleteJust accidentally purchased an apparent counterfeit deck at a street market.... good news is that I'll be purchasing a genuine one to replace it since I'm not keen on reading with a wonky deck!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Hope you managed to get a legit copy now, Sarah! :)
ReplyDelete