Ebay are pretty garbage on counterfeit!

tightauldgit

So I bought a Nike football shirt on ebay and a few days later it turns up and it's obviously a counterfeit. Query it with the seller and he wants me to return it, presumably so he can sell it to some other victim. I look at the return options and there is no way to flag it up as a fake item so I go with 'not as described' to see if it gives me a 'fake' option but it doesn't and then I can't back out of the return in any way without cancelling it entirely so I'm trapped in the system. 

I query with ebay chat what the process is and it's honestly like talking to a poor AI - they keep telling me that I have to return it because I didn't flag it up as counterfeit, even though there was no option to do that! I try to explain that I don't really want to return it as it's a fake but I'm talking to the wall. Finally manage to make a breakthrough and the human-AI tells me that if I want to flag it as fake I can submit 'the documents' to ebay after a few days. Which it transpires means they expect me to get it authenticated by someone...

Ask to talk to a manager and just get a condescending **** to talk to. Who tells me I can either return it or get it authenticated and cuts off the chat. 

So i try Nike and they are honestly not much better. They don't really seem interested in the matter and won't clearly say it's a fake even though the product code on the label relates to an entirely different shirt. 

I've reluctantly returned the shirt now and expect a refund but it's little wonder Ebay is used by so many fraudsters when they make it so easy for them and go out of their way to protect them while customers are asked to jump through impossible hoops for the sake of a few quid. Even to make a complaint I have to write a paper letter and send it to Ireland! 

Not quite sure what response I'm expecting with this, just wanted to have a bit of a rant about how **** Ebay customer service is! 

Spoonie_Turtle

Weird, I had an item from eBay a while ago that was a clearly a Chinese knockoff and managed to return it under the category of 'doesn't seem authentic'.  I can't remember how I found it though, it was several months ago now.

tightauldgit

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Weird, I had an item from eBay a while ago that was a clearly a Chinese knockoff and managed to return it under the category of 'doesn't seem authentic'.  I can't remember how I found it though, it was several months ago now.

It might well have been in there but part of the problem is once you go down the tree to select a reason you can't then back out and try again without cancelling the entire refund and it warns you that you won't be able to refund it again!

Not only that but you shouldn't be returning counterfeit items. They should be destroyed. I think it's illegal to send counterfeit items in the post, so Ebay are asking people to break the law. It was only when I pointed this out that Ebay started telling me that I need to get it authenticated as fake - the problem is that there is no practical way to do this for a low value item like a football shirt. Even when it's obvious. 

So all that will happen is the seller will sell it to someone else. They lost a few quid on postage but that's no big deal. 

Spoonie_Turtle

tightauldgit said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Weird, I had an item from eBay a while ago that was a clearly a Chinese knockoff and managed to return it under the category of 'doesn't seem authentic'.  I can't remember how I found it though, it was several months ago now.

It might well have been in there but part of the problem is once you go down the tree to select a reason you can't then back out and try again without cancelling the entire refund and it warns you that you won't be able to refund it again!

Not only that but you shouldn't be returning counterfeit items. They should be destroyed. I think it's illegal to send counterfeit items in the post, so Ebay are asking people to break the law. It was only when I pointed this out that Ebay started telling me that I need to get it authenticated as fake - the problem is that there is no practical way to do this for a low value item like a football shirt. Even when it's obvious. 

So all that will happen is the seller will sell it to someone else. They lost a few quid on postage but that's no big deal. 

As far as I can see that's only for money, stamps, etc. 

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/96/~/prohibited-and-restricted-items---advice-for-personal-customers

Counterfeit currency, bank notes and postage stamps (except copies of old denominations, which are now obsolete and worthless except for collectable value and cannot be passed as tender)

Including any false instrument, or copy of a false instrument (within the meaning of section 5 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981)

• International  - Not allowed in the mail
• UK - Not allowed in the mail

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/45/section/5

I understand your point and your frustration though.  Sadly we can only do what's in our own power, the rest of it is out of our own hands.

martindow

Ebay has a problem though, doesn't it?  They cannot take a buyer's word for it that something is fake or it would be open to abuse, but getting written confirmation from a shop is going to come at a price.  

At least forcing a return as SNAD means that the seller is out of pocket for the outward and return postage.  If enough people did this ...

tightauldgit

martindow said:

Ebay has a problem though, doesn't it?  They cannot take a buyer's word for it that something is fake or it would be open to abuse, but getting written confirmation from a shop is going to come at a price.  

At least forcing a return as SNAD means that the seller is out of pocket for the outward and return postage.  If enough people did this ...

Open to abuse works both ways though - if sellers are selling fakes and Ebay is putting unreasonable demands on the buyers to prove it's fake then that's also open to abuse. 

And it's not necessarily about 'taking a buyer's word for it' but about when a buyer can clearly show the item is fake Ebay still aren't interested without an authentication. And honestly, who is going to authenticate a £20 football shirt? 

MalMonroe

Hi, this what eBay says -

"Concerned about a fraudulent listing? At the bottom of every listing you will find a link saying "Report this item". That takes you to a form you need to fill in to tell us why you are reporting. This includes counterfeit or stolen items, or other suspected fraud."

That's all you have to do. I think you have really done your best though and not a lot of people would have taken such trouble. Sorry that it was such a struggle. 

i_love_it

On the flip side, I recently had a buyer claim an item I sold them was both counterfeit and defective. It was neither, but I had to accept the return at my own expense, cost of the postage both ways, so it is already being abused. 

I just re listed it and sold within days, without issue. 

Buyer obviously decided against the item for another reason but the listing was “returns not accepted” as a private seller,  so they obviously used the counterfeit and defective claim to get around it at no cost to themselves. 

Annoying for sure, but I’d have been far more annoyed had eBay told them to destroy it and still refund, imagine where that loop hole would lead.

Pollycat

MalMonroe said:

Hi, this what eBay says -

"Concerned about a fraudulent listing? At the bottom of every listing you will find a link saying "Report this item". That takes you to a form you need to fill in to tell us why you are reporting. This includes counterfeit or stolen items, or other suspected fraud."

That's all you have to do. I think you have really done your best though and not a lot of people would have taken such trouble. Sorry that it was such a struggle. 

That may work before a purchase by getting a counterfeit item removed but it doesn't help the OP who has actually bought a counterfeit item.

prowla

Return the item as SNAD - describing an item as Nike when it isn't is pretty much significant, I'd say.

In ebay's favour:

1. I don't think there is the capacity to absolutely police whether items listed are genuine or not.
2. I think they do need to have proof that it is counterfeit because they need facts rather than just taking the buyers' word.

Hopefully it will get sorted.

martindow

I'm quite surprised that some brands don't seem too concerned about fake versions of their products being freely sold.  Wouldn't be in the interests of Nike for instance to set up a system for verification, via high street shops perhaps, to weed out fakes.  Or be part of Vero and stop Ebay allowing sales of their products at all.