The legal situation
Counterfeit records infringe the trademarks of the original label and the copyright in the recordings and artwork. Manufacturing and selling them is unlawful in the UK, the US and most other countries.
When a counterfeit is sold as genuine, additional laws apply. In the UK that includes consumer protection rules against misleading practices and the Consumer Rights Act, which entitles buyers to goods that match their description. Knowingly selling a fake as authentic can also constitute fraud.
Counterfeit versus bootleg
A counterfeit is a deliberate copy of an official release designed to deceive buyers into thinking it is genuine. That is the clearly illegal case and the one that harms collectors most.
A bootleg, by contrast, is an unofficial release of unreleased material such as a live recording, not pretending to be an official pressing. Bootlegs are still legally questionable because they infringe copyright, but they occupy a different, murkier category from outright counterfeits made to defraud.
Your rights as a buyer
If you have been sold a counterfeit as genuine, the law is on your side. Under the Consumer Rights Act in the UK, goods must be as described, and a fake plainly is not, giving you the right to a refund.
Marketplace and payment protections reinforce this. eBay, Discogs and PayPal all have processes for items that are not as described, and selling a counterfeit is a clear breach of their rules as well as the law.
- You are entitled to a refund for goods that are not as described
- Selling a fake as genuine can be fraud and a trademark offence
- Marketplace and payment-provider protections back up your legal rights
What to do if you were sold a fake
Act quickly and document everything. Photograph the tells, the wrong matrix, the incorrect label, the poor sleeve print, and keep the listing and all messages with the seller. Open a dispute through the marketplace and your payment provider citing 'not as described'.
For deliberate or repeated counterfeiting you can also report the seller to the platform and, in the UK, to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice. Authenticating before you buy remains the best protection: verify the record against a documented original, or run an instant scan, so a fake never reaches your shelf in the first place.