Counterfeit DVD's

DizzytheEgg

Hi all, I purchased a set of season box sets on Ebay that were described as brand new and sealed. Upon receiving them they have turned out to be counterfeit. The seller originally said he would refund me through paypal and that I should keep/destroy the DVD's but he then failed to respond for the next few days so I opened a case. Ebay are saying that I can get a refund but pay the return postage (over £15) or provide them with proof that the DVD's are counterfeit and they will refund me and I can destroy the counterfeit items.

I called citizens advice who said to get authentication from either my local police station or a store such as HMV. My local police station said they won't do it and HMV have said the same adding that they do not do this for fear of legal recourse from sellers. I am at a bit of a loss as to who to turn to next? Any advice would be gratefully received.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

eBay says:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/buyer-protection.html

If a buyer suspects that an item is counterfeit and there are strong indicators that the item is counterfeit, the buyer isn’t required to return the item to the seller. The buyer agrees to cooperate with us to ensure the proper disposal of the item. In such cases, we refund the buyer for the full cost of the item and original postage, and the seller reimburses us for the refund. The buyer may not sell the item on eBay or elsewhere.

What's the sellers ID? Many negs/neuts for counterfeits?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Just to add the likes of Collect+ might be a cheaper alternative for returning if it comes to that.

19lottie82

over £15 to post some DVDs ? box sets or not, that seems steep.
try collect plus, they offer a courier service for £4.69, I think, which will take up to 2kg.

otherwise request the seller pays your postage, on the condition that you will not leave negative feedback.

DizzytheEgg

I am unable to contact the seller now as the case was automatically escalated due to his lack of response and I have already left feedback for him.

I worked out return postage thinking of royal mail recorded delivery, I never thought about using a courier service but I would like to avoid any cost to myself as these DVD's are clearly fake. The box and disc art is noticably faded and the colours look wrong and some of episodes appear to have been recorded directly from the TV.

Ebay are being quite vague when I am speaking to them and seem to be sending me to places that cannot help, one person sent me to an anti fraud website who said they will not help and someone else said go to the police even after I explained the police would not help.

RFW

CAB should have diverted you to your local Trading Standards. They should be able to confirm fakes for you that would satisfy Ebay. They'd also investigate the seller.

Ralph-y

MP might be interested that the police have no interest in illegal activity!

Some times they just need a nudge........

Ralph:cool:

RFW

Ralph-y wrote: »

MP might be interested that the police have no interest in illegal activity!

Some times they just need a nudge........

Ralph:cool:

It's not necessarily a police matter, although in my experience if they can get out of investigating something trivial they will. Trading standards have powers to investigate and prosecute.

paddyrg

How do you know they're counterfeit? Can you take photos of the things that made you suspect (eg poor spelling, green discs, etc) and send that to ebay along with the email from the seller saying they accepted they were snides and that you should destroy them for a refund - all the evidence points one way...

DizzytheEgg

I was asked to go to the police by citizens advice to have the DVD's authenticated as fakes not for any criminal proceedings, the first police station I went to said they don't deal with these things and the second one said they don't have the equipment to authenticate them.

I know they are fake due to the faded and poor quality printing on the box art and disc art and some episodes appear to have been recorded straight from TV. Ebay are saying that they will only accept proof that they are counterfeit in the form of a letter.from trading standards or a retailer.

campdave

DizzytheEgg wrote: »

a letter.from trading standards

That's what you need to do then.