Counterfeit Fragrance & Ebay Refunds

aliaslotte

I wanted to buy a bottle of One Million for my partner, as he adores it and had recently run out. The idea of grabbing a bargain got the better of me, and the seller had positive feedback, so I bought a bottle off Ebay.

I have since compared it to a bottle from a high street retailer and realised there are various differences. The Ebay bottle also matches various "tell tale" signs on the internet for telling if your bottle is a fake.

I have opened a case with Ebay, requesting a full refund as the product is counterfeit. Never been in this situation before - I should have noticed that something was dodgy as the seller has specified "no returns" [doesn't that go against the distance seller/buyer rules?].

Does anyone have any experience of it? I cannot afford to go and buy another bottle of the fragrance until a refund comes through, so I am anxious that it is dealt with quickly. Are Ebay normally good in these situations?

pikachu_bumface

I bought some Benefit highlighter that was a blatant fake, opened a SNAD dispute. Seller didn't deny it was fake, asked me to return it at my expense. Escalated the case to ebay and they entirely me a postage label to return it to the seller, who refunded me. I think they should have gone further and taken down their listings.

Don't worry about "no returns" in the listing, you are covered by ebay buyer protection and will get your money back. If in doubt call ebay customer services, they will sort it out quickly.

FattyBettyBoo

I opened a paypal dispute for some fake headphones. PayPal found in my favour but I had to pay return postage. Look like I Should have opened an eBay dispute, but I thought PayPal was always better??

George1090

I always use ebay, out of the 2 cases I have had (A pack of 5 screen protectors, when I only received three, and a bell for my bike, that had been dented and broken due to bad packaging), ebay have ruled in my favour and let me keep the items!

pinkshoes

OMG!! PLEASE please please do not buy any form of cosmetics or skin products from unauthorised retailers.

The chances of fakes are so high, and given some of the vile chemicals they use in fakes, it is never worth the risk. Skin is delicate!

pikachu_bumface

Yeah I would never buy any make-up from ebay again - in the old days you could get a few bargains, but nowadays it's just full of fakes. What worried me is that the seller had several positive feedback from the same item so others fell for it. Although I think others reported him around the same time and the seller later got banned.

earthstorm

pinkshoes wrote: »

OMG!! PLEASE please please do not buy any form of cosmetics or skin products from unauthorised retailers.

The chances of fakes are so high, and given some of the vile chemicals they use in fakes, it is never worth the risk. Skin is delicate!

No matter how much this is pushed the amount of threads on here and other forums about problems after cosmetics etc. that were purchased from eBay seems to have increased.

aliaslotte

pinkshoes wrote: »

OMG!! PLEASE please please do not buy any form of cosmetics or skin products from unauthorised retailers.

The chances of fakes are so high, and given some of the vile chemicals they use in fakes, it is never worth the risk. Skin is delicate!

Don't worry, I have already learned my lesson and I haven't even used the product. The price was good, but not so incredibly good as to make me immediately suspicious. Some sellers are listing it for like £18 - apparently new and sealed. No way they can be genuine. But, mine wasn't that cheap. Makes it all the more frustrating really.

The seller has until Oct 17th to respond, then I can escalate it. Just want it sorted asap now.

earthstorm

depends what your paid for it, but just checked one of the largest fragrance wholesalers and the cheapest is
One Million by Paco Rabanne for Men After Shave Lotion 3.3 oz $33 (£20.68) then the retailer would need to add their profit.

aliaslotte

I have been researching the matter a little further and have just realised that there are limits on sending fragrances through the mail, with the Royal Mail. Curious as to how the sender sent it to me that way, but it makes me nervous about returning it that way... That said, the seller hasn't actually replied yet. They still have 7 days to do so though, so maybe they will in time.

aliaslotte

Seller has finally responded, claiming that they are aware that the goods are counterfeit but had bought them in good faith - they claim to be taking it up with their own supplier.

They have promised that I will be refunded but haven't actually processed that yet. At least they haven't requested the product back [given Royal Mail restrictions] - they have requested that the product be destroyed. Given the state of it, with the front falling off the bottle etc [and the complete lack of confidence I have in how safe the liquid is], that is the best thing to happen to it...

Lesson definitely learned on buying fragrance off Ebay. Think I'll be sticking to the high street names from now on!