Returning a counterfeit item?

krisricey

Hi all,

I have purchased a two t-shirts on eBay from a seller in China. I was sceptical, but have trusted good faith and bought two t-shirts anyway at quite cheap prices. Anyway, the first one arrived today (after 2 weeks) and I am still waiting for the second one to arrive.

The one that came today is 100%, without doubt fake. I have a legitimate version of the t-shirt and it doesn't match at all (labels etc).

I raised a dispute after speaking to customer services, and the seller has issued me a full refund if I pay to send the item back to China. I paid £18 for the t-shirt with P&P, and Royal Mail will charge me a minimum of £17.90!

Am I really expected to gain 10p back to return this counterfeit item?! That doesn't seem fair when it is I who is the victim in the situation??


Cheers

Chris

ballisticbrian

With fake goods, I believe you can escalate to eBay in these circumstances.

krisricey

I escalated in the first instance to eBay by making the Dispute anyway. Now the seller has said they will refund as long as i return, so i'm trying to go through eBay Chat but its hard work!

barmonkey

I understand that it is unlawful to knowingly post counterfeit items through the british postal system, after receiving a fake tripod from china I tried to deal with the seller who wanted it returned, I rang Ebay and explained this, they refunded me straight away.

Strapped

barmonkey wrote: »

I understand that it is unlawful to knowingly post counterfeit items through the british postal system, after receiving a fake tripod from china I tried to deal with the seller who wanted it returned, I rang Ebay and explained this, they refunded me straight away.

Really? They made me return a fake item of jewellery last year. :-(

pinkshoes

Did you open the dispute in Ebay stating that it was a fake? I'm sure that the seller then has to prove it's genuine, otherwise you will be refunded without having to send it back.

Your other option would be to take it to trading standards then use that as proof for Ebay to refund.

Ultimately, you can't honestly say you expected a branded t-shirt from China to not be fake?!?!?!?!? Seriously?!?!

I went to a market in Turkey once, and the sales pitch called out by one of the sellers was "genuine cheap fake sh*t"!!!

RFW

It's slightly trickier with a Chinese seller but Ebay should just refund. You may have to prove it is a fake, so enquire with Trading Standards.

If it's a branded item and it's coming from a seller in China, there's a good chance it isn't genuine. Presumably the majority of buyers expect it to be.