Zakumi, the mascot for the 2010 World Cup, is striking a chord with shoppers in the capital but buyers are being warned to defend against imitators as substitutes come into play online.

At one NICI outlet - the authorized seller of Zakumi products in North China - a sales assistant said they can sell as many as 10,000 Zakumi products a day and they are selling better than other toys in the shop.

But, in addition to the official channels, about 78 sellers located in Beijing are hawking Zakumi products online via the Taobao website, the biggest online retail trading platform in China. All of the online sellers claim their goods are certified products but many are not.

One online seller said he had sold 212 Zakumis at 32 yuan each during the past month.

Another online seller claimed her products did not have laser anti-fake labels because they were from the same manufacturer but made to be sold directly online. She claimed they were a "simplified" version.

"The products in the shops have anti-fake labels but the price of the smallest one is more than 100 yuan," she said. "My goods are cheaper but the quality is the same."

However, she said the smallest Zakumi toy she carries was 25 cm tall, a size not sold in the official NICI shops.

Some other websites, including Joyo Amazon, also have many different types of Zakumi products for sale.

The prices of Zakumi selling online ranged from about 15 yuan to more than 300 yuan.

Liu Ruimin, manager of the NICI shop in Joy City in Xidan Street, said the official store has more than 20 types of Zakumi and prices range from 48 yuan to 360 yuan.

Liu said the cheapest Zakumi product was a keyring priced at 48 yuan and that products whose price was lower than 48 yuan were likely to be fakes.

"At least, it is impossible to get the products at that price from our company," Liu said.

Liu said there are two ways to tell the fakes from the genuine articles - fakes will not have a laser anti-fake label with a unique number and fake products are crudely made and inferior in quality. The genuine toys are smooth to touch but the fakes are rough.

The Zakumi character is based on a cheetah and has a green mane, which represents the green football field.

Genuine Zakumi products are available at 12 NICI outlets in the city.