FAKE GOODS ON EBAY

robnye

i suspect your brother has been caught out by a scam.

the old nigeria scam uses western union for payments to be sent, but then found to be fraudulent.

did he pay via credit card? if so he could try contacting the ccard company, re the over £100 rule

if he paid by cash, then i dnot fancy his chances of a refund.

has he checked via ebay for the contact details of the seller?

soolin

robnye wrote:

i suspect your brother has been caught out by a scam.

the old nigeria scam uses western union for payments to be sent, but then found to be fraudulent.

did he pay via credit card? if so he could try contacting the ccard company, re the over £100 rule

if he paid by cash, then i dnot fancy his chances of a refund.

has he checked via ebay for the contact details of the seller?

I would be very surprised if ebay had confirmed that Western Union are as safe as paypal! The ebay second chance e mails state quite categorically "Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.''

Your brother has almost certainly been scammed. If the trasaction was concluded properly through the ebay second chance offer then it might be worth persuing a claim through ebay, although I am not sure that ever really works. If it was an off ebay transaction then I think he is stuck.

If he used his credit card to fund a Western Unoin payment it would be worth persuing them as far as possible.

Soo

Party_Animal

You'll see a lot of shirts from the far east which claim to be genuine. I bough a couple of " Ralf Lauren" shirts on the street in Hong Kong many years ago. They are very well made and still like new. I was listening to an interview the other day. This guy explained that a lot of designer shirts are made in the far east and a lot of the workers will run extra ones off for their brother's market stall, so what you're getting is the same quality but not authentic.

austmanic

He said all the emails from the owner came through ebay & he emailed the one regarding Western union to ebay for confirmation, but i'll double check with him. I dont suppose it would be that difficult to send an email that LOOKS like its coming from them though if you know what your doing.

soolin

austmanic wrote:

He said all the emails from the owner came through ebay & he emailed the one regarding Western union to ebay for confirmation, but i'll double check with him. I dont suppose it would be that difficult to send an email that LOOKS like its coming from them though if you know what your doing.

All genuine 'contact other users' type emails via the ebay system carry the warning about Western Union. I can think of 2 possible scenarios,, firstly that your brother received a fake e mail as you have suggested, however, that wouldn't explain why he says ebay told him Western Union was safe? The second scenario is that he received a genuine email via ebay and he 'sent' this to ebay by clicking 'reply' This would have sent the email back to the person who sent it, *not* to ebay.

What kind of feedback did the seller have and had he sold large ticket items previously?

Soo

austmanic

The contact details ebay had for the woner where fraudulant apparently.

The sellers feedback was at 99.6% & had sold to nearly 300 people. The bad feedback was from over a year ago as well but i dont know if i would have still gone ahead with anyone less than 100% personally (even though sometime you have to give people the benefit of the doubt). The other items he was selling were all £1-£5 but i dont think my brother looked at any old sales in particular.

Could someone explain the £100 cc rule for me so i can let him know please?

Thanks for your replies.

chillipepper_3

You say the seller has good feedback and has sold to 300 people, therefore there maybe a slight chance that if you look at recent activity on feedback and contact the buyers or sellers (nicely of course) they may have contact details for the seller, especially if anyone has paid by cheque or alternatively has sold to the seller. Include a link to this thread in your emails, it may help anyone who is suspicious of your contact to help you with your enquiries.
I hope it all works out in the end.


Also going back to the original thread content, if anyone is thinking of buying golf equipment from ebay, especially Odyssey two ball putters then I suggest you buy this months edition of Todays Golfer as it has a good example of a forgery, mentions what to look out for, mentions possibility of "cabbage" goods as i have previously suggested and overall some good tips.

theloft

Since I started this thread I have given up on the idea of buying a genuine Odyssey Putter on E-Bay and found one for sale in Manchester on FreeAds. https://www.freeads.co.uk The seller immediately gave me the serial No. and it was pukka. Althought it was 2nd-hand it was the real article and at a lower cost than the fakes were getting on the auction. I have sent e-mails to EBay sellers on other items and usually you don't receive a reply, if you do, they are sometimes vague such as "Well I think its genuine, as I bought it from a local shop that was going bust" etc. All sorts of ingenious covering stories. BUT I have purchased some real bargains as well, so Buyer Beware is the motto. Personally I think it is best to buy from the UK and if they have transactions in the 100's with over 97% positive feedback, then you should be OK.

Chillipepper. Yes, I read the article in Todays Golfer but had already realised about the fakes.

ROBDOLPHIN66

I would just like to go back to the original thread:
DO NOT BUY FAKE OR OTHER ILLEGALLY COPIED ITEMS ON EBAY
The problem exists largely because people knowingly and happily buy illegal items. If people did not buy them there would be a massive reduction in them appearing on ebay.
Ebay do not care - they get their money regardless of an item's authenticity.
Scammers, drug dealers, organised crime gangs, terrorists all fund and expand their activities through the production of counterfeit goods.

Contains_Mild_Peril

TechnoNerd wrote:

3. Has the seller previously been selling and buying small items/cheap items and then suddenly are offering a designer LV bag at £40 - you know they retail at £1000 plus for the real thing so what does this tell you.

Interesting you should mention LV bags... I searched for a thread like this because I just had a listing pulled, and this was the explanation given:

Thank you for your recent auction-style listing on eBay. Unfortunately, we
removed the following item(s) for breaching our Trademark Misuse policy:

6836830005 - Louis Vuitton generously sized monogram handbag GC N/R


The following information may help explain the reason for your listing(s)
removal:

Misuse of brand names, trade marks, and logos is both illegal and against eBay
policy. This includes inappropriate comparisons to a branded item, selling
counterfeit or replica items, and keyword spamming.eBay prohibits members from
denying knowledge of, or responsibility for, the authenticity or legality of the
items they offer. Members should take steps to ensure that their items are
authentic before listing them on eBay. If a member cannot verify the
authenticity of an item, it is not permitted on eBay.Your eBay fees for this
item have been credited to your account. All bidders on this item have been
notified of its cancellation.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Repeated violations of this or other eBay policies may result
in the suspension of your account.

eBay understands that it can be frustrating to have a listing removed. If you
have further questions, you can take the following steps:

Take eBays brief tutorial on Intellectual Property Policies and VeRO
Read the ended listings FAQ at
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/listing-ended.html
Ask a question using the link on any of the above help pages

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety

The thing I'm curious about is why my listing specifically was pulled when, at any one time, there are several similar listings for "Louis Vuitton" bags of unknown provenance (mine was bought from a charity shop). Is it just random, is it based on keywords, or does someone from Louis Vuitton actually look through the ads for styles which they don't actually make or what? Also, does anyone know how to tell the real thing? Since I've never owned a Louis Vuitton bag before, I'm not sure what to look for. It is secondhand so doesn't come with a certicificate or anything.