I just rechecked the Durpeon plush. The pokedoll tag is missing the one very small detail that o didn't notice before: the small shadow under the Poke Doll tag. That's one difinitive signal I wasn't aware of.

As far as the prices go though, in looking g at the Pokemon Center store and comparing, their prices are almost exactly what I sell mine for, and the prices I buy them at are definitely appropriate wholesale prices. The slightly larger Flareon they have is absolutely identical to the one I had at Megacon, and I was selling it for the exact same price on the website.

For the price point, I mark up based on how much I pay for something. I usually sell for right around or just under normal retail for the item. I can sell for cheap because I dont have the overhead that big ass stores do, and I only have to pay for myself and my own expenses. Selling a Leafeon at $8 doesn't mean that I make $7 profit, it's usually more like $1 after all the expenses are paid.

What puzzles me most is that according to your explanation (and correct me if I misread it) then nearly every Pokemon plush sold in the US is bootleg, and me and every other of the hundred or so vendors at the big convention had nothing but bootlegs.

Or maybe I'm just over thinking all this anyways. The Pokemon plushies are a very small part of the stuff that I sell. I usually work with Lego mini figures and random collectibles, which, holy shit are Lego bootlegs everywhere right now. A lot of the companies that produce these Lego "compatible" figures do hold legit rights to make the Marvel and DC characters, but they've begun to copy the exact designs and specifications of existing Lego figures. Most of the time you can easily tell, and if you pull off the head of the figure, the Lego brand stamp isn't up there on the neck. Lately though, one company has started to make China, Ninjago and The Lego Movie characters in the "compatible" form, which they absolutely don't hold the rights to. I get the other compatible figures in, but I dont touch the Lego original characters in the compatible form. Every time I see these being produced I just think "do you want to get sued? Because this is how you get sued."