how do you know if its a fake banknote?

hello everyone!! i have recently entered in the world of collecting banknotes, and a friend of mien recommended to collect Albanian banknotes. The problem is that, I've searched eBay a lot, and sometimes the sellers say that the banknotes, more specifically the 1976 period, are from china, which is well known for making and selling fake banknotes. since the 1976 banknotes don't have a authentication mark (as far as i know ) , how can you tell if somebody is selling you some fake china rip-offs???

Actually,the albanian banknotes were printed in shanghi and exported to the government

To identify a fake, you need to look at the micro printing and see it is is correct

The Bank Note Museum might be a useful starting point.

http://www.banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/EUR/ALB/ALB.htm

Perhaps followed by a small purchase from The Banknote Book:

https://banknotebook.contentshelf.com/shop#!cs/store=S12121100000000A&action=product&product=I130102000000431

I used both when I started collecting DPR Korea banknotes.

Great advice (above). Get to know the banknote's security features by going to this or the banknote museum site (suggested). Even the cheapest banknotes have some type of security feature (beginning with micro-text). You can never be too vigilant in this hobby.

& since you're using eBay to buy, check the sellers' feedback ratings (see what others say about them).

You might also want to try some of the sellers suggested by Numista Members on "Best eBay Sellers" (in Free Discussion) as well.

Good luck!

That’s why I’ve been hesitant of buying notes but I would recommend these sites for genuine notes.

https://www.thebanknotestore.com/
https://www.banknoteworld.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpYrAw_Gw8AIVVYBQBh0WOwFzEAAYASAAEgJtt_D_BwE
https://www.jeromecollection.com/

Btw my advice for checking that a note is genuine is firstly buy form reputable sellers/websites. For the note itself look for security features such as UV markings, watermarks and other related to the text of the note.

Thank you guys for the suggestions, but I was hoping for something more concrete. For example, for the 1 LEK 1976, you cant do much research if its genuine or not, because it doesn't have a watermark, it doesn't have a UV mark, or any other mark that would make it distinguish from someone who just prints fake ones using the same paper. My suspicion of some of the eBay sellers grew when I saw people selling UNC ones and in large quantities, like in packs on 20, and when i asked them where did they get them or how do they know if those aren't fake ones, the sellers always responded with generic Reponses like: we buy these from trusted people, we don't sell fake ones, etc. Keep in mind, these banknotes are from 45-60 years ago, and not many Albanians had these laying around. Thank you for the responses!!

Measure it to see if it is the correct dimensions of a genuine note also I would agree to avoid bulk of those notes unless there is proof such as original bank-strap I would even go far (and extreme) as the smell test if it smells like it has been printed recently when clearly it is over 40 years old where it would be very unlikely that it would smell new (the oldest note that smells new is from 1989).