Unhappy with ebay purchase (fake) what are my rights?

louisdog

Hiya

I just bought a Tiffany & Co bangle on Ebay, it arrived and is clearly not real Tiffany and Co nor real silver

The seller says no returns, I have contacted them through Ebay to ask for a return as it isn't as described.

Was that the right thing to do? If not what should I do instead?

Please can someone help, I have 120 feedbacks on Ebay, mostly from buying, and never had any problem before. Gutted as the bangle was £70 which I cannot afford to lose. Kicking myself as they have only 27 feedbacks. And three of them just appeared in the last couple of days, all for BNIB Tiffany and Co bangles!

Thanks so much for any advice you can give.

Cheers
Alex

vickypark3

Yes you have done the right thing by contacting the seller and giving them the chance to resolve

The majority of "Tiffany" items sold on ebay are fake.

If seller fails to resolve you could open a dispute, however paypal may require that you provide written confirmation that the item is fake. I believe that paypal give you 10 days in which to provide this info. As you have 45 days from completed payment in which to open a paypal dispute it may be advisable to try to get the proof first.

Another option is reporting the seller to trading standards...however they may confiscate the item and hopefully will give you proof to provide to paypal.

Do not forget to leave appropriate feedback so other potential bidders are not caught out

louisdog

Thanks for your reply Vicky. Plenty to think about.

I got complacent I guess, as I bought another Tiffany bangle a little while ago, which was used and which I am happy is real.

No more Ebay Tiffany for me now!

I am not sure how I'd prove that the bangle is fake, it doesn't feel like silver and the engraving is not very fine quality like on the real ones, but I am guessing I might need a proper assessment which could be expensive.

Wish I'd been content with just the one bangle now but I loved it so much I couldn't resist another! D'oh

Cheers
Alex

willa

Louisdog, your item has been misadvertised. You did not receive what was advertised and that is one of the cases where refunds are given by Paypal (provided you payed through them), so don't worry.
Fake silver is so common on Ebay. A lot of it is cheap c.rap from China, some even with dodgy 925/Tiffany/Pandora etc stamps on! Some sellers are honest and advertise the stuff as plated and some... aren't!

lewt

i had a phone that was fake from ebay which i could not get the nokia service centre to write me a letter for so i opened a not as described and said it had marks on it. not the most honest thing but better than having to keep a fake phone sold as nokia..

hermum

If you open a paypal dispute saying that you believe it to be fake, paypal will ask for written confirmation that it is indeed fake, within 10 days. I don't know how easy it will be or expensive to get a Tiffany expert to put this in writing. If it's supposed to be silver maybe it would be cheaper to get in writing from any jeweller that it isn't silver. I'd get the proof first before opening the dispute. They are obviously a business seller & so they cannot refuse returns.

willa

hermum wrote: »

If you open a paypal dispute saying that you believe it to be fake, paypal will ask for written confirmation that it is indeed fake, within 10 days. I don't know how easy it will be or expensive to get a Tiffany expert to put this in writing. If it's supposed to be silver maybe it would be cheaper to get in writing from any jeweller that it isn't silver. I'd get the proof first before opening the dispute. They are obviously a business seller & so they cannot refuse returns.

Do you have to go to those lengths? I think they might just refund if told it's fake.

louisdog

Thanks for the replies.

The seller has replied and sort of admitted (but not in so many words) that it is fake, and agreed to a return and refund. I don't know if he is willing to refund the £5 special delivery cost each way though, have written back to ask.

Regarding a Paypal dispute; the listing says that it's a Tiffany & Co bangle but does not actually say that it is real silver. But a Tiffany bangle would be realy silver. So would a jeweller's note that ilt's not real silver suffice does anyone know? Or doesn't that meet the "not as described" criteria as he didn't actually say it was silver?

Also, who pays the jeweller's fee? Would Paypal reimburse me? I have no idea how much it would cost!

Thanks
Alex

willa

louisdog wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

The seller has replied and sort of admitted (but not in so many words) that it is fake, and agreed to a return and refund. I don't know if he is willing to refund the £5 special delivery cost each way though, have written back to ask.

Regarding a Paypal dispute; the listing says that it's a Tiffany & Co bangle but does not actually say that it is real silver. But a Tiffany bangle would be realy silver. So would a jeweller's note that ilt's not real silver suffice does anyone know? Or doesn't that meet the "not as described" criteria as he didn't actually say it was silver?

Also, who pays the jeweller's fee? Would Paypal reimburse me? I have no idea how much it would cost!

Thanks
Alex

Can you provide a link to the item LD?
If Tiffany is usually solid silver and he's not said that it isn't while saying it's Tiffany then he has wrongly represented the item!

hermum

willa wrote: »

Do you have to go to those lengths? I think they might just refund if told it's fake.

Unfortunately Paypal want written proof that it's a fake, there's been several people in that situation on this thread & they only give 10 days to get it.
Tiffany may be a company who will jump on people selling fakes of their goods.

willa

I emailed a seller recently to ask if his '925 Pandora' bracelets were solid silver or plated.
2 messages over a week, no reply although he'd been giving customer feedback in the meantime.
I emailed him to say I took his non-replies as proof that he was misadvertising and trying to mislead people.
Looking at his stuff and the relatively low price, it's clear the stuff isn't solid but he really should not try to pass it off as '925' instead of making it clear that it's plated.
Ebay sellers in China are selling job lots of 'Pandora' bracelets that look verry much like the ones this seller is advertising.