Schleich Chinese copies... I'm confused!

Hi everyone. I was going on eBay, searching toy animals. But then, most of the listings were actually... They're sold from China, and are made of plastic. But the most ridiculous thing is that they are the exact same design as Schleich models. As an example, the Schleich Gnu is retired, and rarely found on eBay, but when I search ''toy gnu'' I can find a lot of wildebeest models that resemble the Schleich Gnu entirely. I'm not sure if those are copied models. Now, the question is... Is it legal to purchase these models?

You can find not only Schleich copies but also from many other brands. Even Mojö Fun knockoffs are available.
It is not illegal that you purchase these models. It is just not recommended once while buying, we are supporting that kind of market.
However, I have myself a few of them, namely the Schleich fox and kit knockoffs once it was interesting to my fox collection. Another point is that while acquiring these figures, you are not taking the exact collectible and its collectability is almost nule.

Gosh, yes, look : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Roger is so right. It is not a good idea to spend money on these, - and they aren't even cheap

I found Schleich and Safari copies in a large discounter, the black Netto. And a other large shop in a lot of cities sold CollectA knock off horses.

Sometimes i could imagine that the molds of retired figures are sold in China, the country what also produced the most of the figures.

I also found Chinese copies of some CollectA cats in a German shop called Kik:D

They are not cheaper than the real ones. But I don't know if the quality is on the same level.

Well, thank you for explaining! I've just found out recently that those bootlegs are being sold in stores... But the worst thing is that, instead of licensing brands within the US, stores import thousands of bootlegs from China, wasting the store chain's money...

Overall, I think you're all right. It's better to buy original figures. Bootlegs, as I noticed, have bad quality.

widukind wrote:

Sometimes i could imagine that the molds of retired figures are sold in China, the country what also produced the most of the figures.

You are rigt . Often it is just the paintwork ( and perhaps mould lines) that make the difference.
But I wonder if it is not sometimes cheaper for them to copy the model for a mould, - modern technology has made it so much cheaper

A few weeks ago I went to the shop "Action" (in France) and saw that they sells some fake Schleich. A box with 3 animals in it (two adults, one baby) for less than 4€.
I saw rhino, crocodiles, zebras, leopards, bears and maybe others I forgot...
I took the "leopards" out of curiousity. I have to say they are some of the best fakes I've seen so far

I can post pictures of it if someone is interested.

Neptune wrote:

A few weeks ago I went to the shop "Action" (in France) and saw that they sells some fake Schleich. A box with 3 animals in it (two adults, one baby) for less than 4€.
I saw rhino, crocodiles, zebras, leopards, bears and maybe others I forgot...
I took the "leopards" out of curiousity. I have to say they are some of the best fakes I've seen so far

I can post pictures of it if someone is interested.

Yes, please ! I would love to see pictures

Here's the "family"

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They looks more brownish and don't have detailed paint job and of course the gobal quality of Schleich isn't here but overall the paint is nicer than most copies and the plastic feels like the real ones.

The "dad" is based on the 14359 jaguar (no little spots insides and the claws are badly paint)
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The "mom" is based on the 14360 leopard (the nicest of the 3 I think)
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And the baby is based on 14399 leopard cub (no blue eyes and the nose is too dark and big)
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The mold are the exact same as the real ones (as well as the size and the weight), no big creases in the plastic like some fakes I've seen before in this shop, and no marking on the belly
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Thankyou very much for the quick ansver, and the lovely and informative photos !!!

Yes, they surely look nice, even if people ought to not make copies

Thanks [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], it is really interesting and with great pictures!
That is really curious that they used a jaguar mould to make a leopard, the mould is really good for a jaguar. If they used the mould of the Papo jaguar it would work better for a leopard.
I am also very impressed with the quality of some knock-offs, namely the dense pvc they use that is quite similar to the real thing, I only don't know if chemically it is the same. To be honest, I don't know if I was able of avoiding these figures if they used the moulds of the rarest Lineol IV generation figures to make pvc copies. I wonder how would look the giant sable, the eland, the moose, the elephants or any other of the masterpieces of that series.

Roger wrote:

.........To be honest, I don't know if I was able of avoiding these figures if they used the moulds of the rarest Lineol IV generation figures to make pvc copies. I wonder how would look the giant sable, the eland, the moose, the elephants or any other of the masterpieces of that series.

What an interesting idea !!!

A few months ago I found a plastic toy horse half-buried in sand on the beach. I took it home, and it turns out it's a bootleg copy of my retired Schleich liver bay thoroughbred gelding (who is ironically named Seahorse!)

That is wonderful

Imagine the probablity of you finding a model horse in the sand on the beach + that it is a copy of a model you already have + that your first model's name is Seahorse

I have completely forgotten how to calculate probabilities, but I would say it is near impossible
But fortunately impossible things do sometimes happen, - isn't life wonderful ?

What a coincidence!!
That must surely be a bootleg copy that is special!

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here is Seahorse and his long-lost cousin

I'm glad Seahorse has now been reunited!

The sand-horse seems to have managed well during his ordeal

But I think he is a very far-away cousin, isn't he ?

Well the knockoff horse is one I've seen before - I don't think he was washed up from another countrg. Some kid probably left him behind

This topic is very interesting and I've been thinking about it for a bit- are these Chinese copies made illegally by other companies? How do they do it, are the figures as close a copy as they can get or do they use the same mold? If it's the same mold- how have they acquired it? There are many many dogs that I have seen made as Schleich/ Papo copies and I'm not sure whether you would recommend I get them? It could be interesting as Roger said with his foxes, to complete a collection if you only collect one animal, but then I don't want to support this kind of business if they are doing it illegally...
As always I would be so grateful for any answers to these questions!

If they were doing it illegally many major brands would be very, very rich due to them suing the knock-off manufactures after they copy their figurines.

I think these knock-off companies buy in many different Schleich, Papo, CollectA etc and use the figures to make a mould and then just make thousands of copies with a cheaper material and sell them off on websites like eBay and in certain toy shops like The Entertainer

Good point Adam, thank you!
And yes I guess that's what they do, buy the models themselves and then make copies, thank you!

I'd like to know more about this too. I wonder whether the knock-offs sometimes even come from the same factories. The sculpts are often virtually identical, they are often copies of discontinued models and both the knock-offs and originals are made in China. I wonder whether companies such as Schleich even agree this with their factories.