3rd Gen Getting legit 3rd gen games?

[Lucario]

I've just bought a copy of ruby from ebay, and I quickly found it to be an obvious fake (made by "Nintondo"?) I then went on to find my WHOLE collection of GBA pokemon games where fake!
Is there anywhere where you can still buy real pokemon carts?

 

[OuterTsuchinoko]

I put a couple links to articles so you can tell what to look for when you buy online. Right before ORAS released I bought Ruby and Sapphire online from Amazon and did a lot of research to make sure I wasn't buying any fakes. I contacted the seller and asked for additional pictures to what he had already posted. I made sure to ask for very specific ones making sure the bottom of the board where the contacts show was clearly visible and I could also tell with some other signs that they were real so I went ahead and bought them. I was not about to spend 80 bucks on some fakes. Just educate yourself on what to look for and then when you buy make sure the seller is willing to show you pictures you ask for so you can clearly see whether they are fake or not. If they are real and want your money they will most likley have no problem providing you with what you ask for.

https://caggames.weebly.com/how-to-spot-a-fake-pokemon-gba-game.html
https://theoldschoolgamevault.com/blog/articles/744-how-to-spot-fake-pokemon-games

 

[Sydian]

If you have any local game shops (not GameStop, but some retro video game stores or mom and pop type shops), I would check those out. We have one here that is very thorough in checking the games that come in, especially Pokemon games since they're often faked. That's usually a better bet than having to deal with online, but if you have to go online, then I would just do the homework, ask the seller for more pictures, etc. If they're hesitant to give you more pictures, then that's a big red flag.