ALWAYS Read the description
 

Let me say upfront I am not disparaging any person or company. What happened is ENTIRELY MY OWN FAULT.

I went looking on EBay for an unmounted Lovely as a Tree stamp set from Stampin’Up! I had not been paying attention in recent years and didn’t realize they had released it that way. I was hoping it was a clear set, not just cling rubber.

Low and behold I found a reasonably priced CLEAR set with a matching set of dies, and as a bonus a small three die set of whimsical pine trees that would coordinate with another set I have.

The title of the auction read: “ LOVELY AS A TREE Framelits Dies + stamps + handmade card + BONUS fir tree dies.”
There was a picture of all items, it was a Buy It Now so I clicked without reading further.

When it arrived I could tell as soon as I started to remove the stamps from the acetate they were not good quality photopolymer. They were too light weight and too “squishy”.
The dies looked good, and I expected those to be off brand as I had read a few years ago of someone in the US who was making dies for older SU sets. Normally I don’t buy off brand stuff but this is a much loved old set and I thought it would be fun to have dies.

I went back to the auction listing to investigate the details. Sure enough, had I scrolled down it clearly states “UNBRANDED”, and acrylic stamps.

if I’d read that I would not have purchased. I’ve been stamping long enough to know photo polymer is what you want, not acrylic. The images are not as nice as the original. The pine tree in the SU set as exquisite detail to the branches but this off brand set does not.

The dies do fit the SU images of my old wood block red rubber set so they are usable and will maybe bring new life to my use of such an old set.
Basically, including shipping and tax I paid $31.00 for two sets of dies. The Lovely as a Tree knockoffs and the three bonus tree dies and I am very happy with those purchases.The stamp set is unusable in my opinion and I will probably throw it away.
ALWAYS READ THE DESCRIPTION!!

Aw shucks. Sorry but at least the dies are useful.

Good tip, especially for beginning stampers who aren't aware of the off-branded versions of stamps and dies. I, myself, wasn't aware of all the knock offs out there, and I've been stamping for years. My daughter has ended up buying stamp sets (in regular craft stores, not online knock offs) that are of such poor quality that even my grandkids won't use them..argh!
Thanks for the reminder to read the fine print.
I wonder though, if someone could still use those acrylic stamps,if they are aware that the detail and quality are less than the original? It pains me to think of stamps being tossed.
Karen

One day at a big crop at my LSS an fellow scrapper said in a loud voice for all to hear: Look through the Stampin' Up! catalog then buy the same set from Wish. The top of my head blew off and I quietly said to this person that he was taking away demos livelihoods and telling his friends to waste their money on cheap knockoffs. Ebay has always been a "buyer beware" place to shop and even more so now with so many counterfeit stamps and dies.
Mary Beth

Same can be said for Amazon........I had one pop up during a search for foliage sets and was shocked to see a current Stampin' Up stamps set and dies show up. Looked through the listing and the stamps were acrylic.

Totally agree on being careful on Amazon too. I've definitely seen knock-off Penny Black stamps there, and unbranded Chinese dies that I recognised as originally being Impression Obsession. It means spending a lot of time searching to be sure that things aren't knock-offs :-(, and I find it easier to stick to companies I know rather than spend my time doing that. I have a set of 4 birds from Amazon that I haven't seen anywhere else, but I wish I was 100% sure.

Mary, I went to eBay and took a look. If it is the same seller, they are throwing around the "Stampin' Up" name an awful lot. They even mention Dave's Dies by name, then go on to say they are not Dave's Dies. Weird thing is, they have a fabulous seller rating.

A disappointment for sure, but not your fault. Had I not know what I was looking for I could have read the entire description and still thought it was a SU set plus another manufacturer die set.

To be honest, I don't think I could tell a photopolymer from acrylic unless I had them side by side and was shown how to tell the difference. I did a cursory search on YouTube but only came up with a bunch of SU demos explaining the difference between wood mount rubber, photopolymer and clear mount rubber. If anyone knows of such an educational video, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Excellent information about buying on the "bay."

Years ago I asked my husband to look for the Stampinup set "Aloha!".
It is a set of 7 stamps with one stamp being ALOHA where the "O" is a pineapple.
He found a listing and asked me if that was it.
I looked at the picture and it was only 6 stamps without the ALOHA stamp.
We did find one which was complete.
So always look carefully and read the fine print.

Melissa59, you can definitely tell a difference if they're new. Photopolymer stamps emit a certain odor, especially when you open a new set, that acrylic stamps don't have.

You can tell by stamping; the primary function of photopolymer is to transfer ink. You can tell by the feel: acrylic stamps are squishy; photopolymer stamps are slightly heavier, have less stretch, and are more deeply etched.

I think if you're holding them side by side, that you would definitely be able to tell the difference. This used to be a major topic, but I was amazed by the lack of information I found online. I think this is due to the evolution of savvy stampers and reputable stamp companies.

wow - great information crafters ! I have bought from Ali, and was only disappointed a few times with the quality of the items. All dies seem fine, but the stamps not so much. Now that I have been shopping on line nearly a year (pandemic) I have learned to check things out more thoroughly. I only recently discovered WISH, and just started using Ebay and Amazon. Thank you for posting this valuable info !

I had a customer continue to do this during my classes! I stopped inviting her. I couldn't believe that she didn't understand that she was hurting my business and trying to sell inferior products to others but suggesting a company who is currently in ligation for breaking copyright laws!