topic Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades in Buying

Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

sproutvirtual — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 03:39:51 GMT

Hi All,

I've only just come back to eBay from a long hiatus. I purchased what I thought was a Takara Tomy branded Beyblade for my son who is a Beyblade fanatic. When it arrived it was clear that it was NOT a genuine Takara Tomy brand, but rather a fake copycat Chinese brand called 'Flame'.

I have an issue with this because in the product title the description is 'B163 Takara Tomy Beyblade Burst SuperKing Booster B-163 Brave Valkyrie.Ev' 2A'. This is a clear reference to the brand Takara Tomy. In the product description under Features, point number two the description says '2. Genuine Product 'TAKARA TOMY's Korean Version'. They are clearly saying the product is genuine.

Upon receiving the item, I thought I may have just bought from an untrustworthy buyer, so I searched for the same product and I can see that approx 80-90% of the listings are for the fake 'Flame' brand trying to pass itself off as Takara Tomy. They all have the same product title as above and the same genuine product feature as above.

I confronted a couple of the sellers and some without even any thought to who I was said they would refund between $4-$8 from the purchase. Others said that in their description down the bottom under specifications it says 'Brand: Unbranded'. This is a complete contradiction to the product title and the claim that they are genuine Takara Tomy in the product features.

It is clear these sellers are only using these descriptions to trick people into buying the product. The knockoff 'Flame' brand has even copied the box of Takara Tomy, albeit with their Flame logo at the top right rather than the genuine product.

Why does eBay allow this to happen? Many people would not even know they are getting the fake product. You were hard pressed to find this sort of thing happening back in the day when I was heavy into eBay. Seems like now anybody can sell anything passing it off as something it is not. I am aware that you can report a listing, which I did for a few of them, but judging by the amount of listings on there, would almost be a full time job. Feel really disappointed for the people that are not getting the product they think they are getting, my son included.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

katistrophik — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 04:24:07 GMT

eBay don't really ALLOW it to happen, they can hardly proof read every listing, but they do rely on members reporting these sellers.

But to do that, you need to be very certain they are fakes, or you could find yourself on the wrong side of a claim yourself.

You also mentioned they were branded as 'Flame' if that was in the listing then that is the disclaimer the seller needs.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

sproutvirtual — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 04:48:50 GMT

Yep I get that eBay cannot review every listing but in this case it's not just one listing it's a whole bunch of listings.

Yep 100% certain they are flame brand trying to pass themselves off as the genuine Takara Tomy products. As per email below they say their product is genuine Takara Tomy. It's not, it's the copycat 'flame' brand. The genuine description is what I based my son's purchase on. I don't think it's too much to ask that the product is genuine.

There is no mention of Flame brand in the listing content. Some it would seem, including the one I purchased, even removed the logo on the packaging images so that you cannot see it is flame brand. It's not until you scroll across a few images before you can pick it up. It's tiny and it's subtle and it's sneaky. Wouldn't be picked up by anybody who didn't know anything about these products. And to be perfectly honest, I hadn't even heard of this copycat brand before we received the goods so it wouldn't have rung any alarms bells anyway. They all use exactly the same content in there listings too.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be selling these things. I'm saying they should NOT include another brand name in their title and description and claim it to be a genuine product when it's clearly not..

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

sproutvirtual — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 04:52:32 GMT

I should have also said, thanks for your input katistrophik. Appreciate it. Just a little bit frustrated with the situation and just needed to vent.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

katistrophik — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 04:54:05 GMT

You are right, they are manipulating the listing to 'suggest' it is the genuine item and a lot do it.

You can report the seller, but I just don't know if eBay would/could do much, given the name Flame is mentioned and I doubt you could open INAD for the same reason.

Leave a negative feedback, but don't use the work FAKE as they are not, they are a cheap representation of the genuine brand.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

sproutvirtual — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 05:05:34 GMT

Yep I have reported the seller and eBay themselves refunded me in full.

The name flame is NOT mentioned in the written content anywhere. The only spot you can find reference to it is on one of the package images.

I use the word fake, not in reference to the product but in reference to the listing/s. The definition of fake is 'not genuine; imitation or counterfeit.' - the listing is trying to pass them off as genuine.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

katistrophik — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 06:21:21 GMT

Good, so glad you got your money back, if enough people do this I hope it makes this seller use a more 'honest' and transparent listing process in future.

Re: Fake Takara Tomy Beyblades

springyzone — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 22:38:31 GMT

@sproutvirtual wrote:
Yep I have reported the seller and eBay themselves refunded me in full.

The name flame is NOT mentioned in the written content anywhere. The only spot you can find reference to it is on one of the package images.

I use the word fake, not in reference to the product but in reference to the listing/s. The definition of fake is 'not genuine; imitation or counterfeit.' - the listing is trying to pass them off as genuine.

So glad to hear this.
I totally agree with you, it sounds as if the ad was trying to pass itself off as a genuine article and even if they do mention flame somewhere almost out of sight, that's not the point. The point is, a genuine brand name was given prominent position in title etc and from what you've said, the listing was such that it is reasonable to suppose that a lot of buyers would have been intentionally misled.

I was going to say, if ever anything like that happened to me, I would always make a claim for item not as described. I don't care if the word flame was mentioned somewhere. If the overall ad was misleading in some way, always make a claim and state your case.

The worst that can happen is you lose the case but in that respect, you'd be no worse off, would you?

And as you've seen here, you could just as easily win and be much better off.

And if an ebay claim didn't work, I'd next be trying Paypal. I personally know of some cases where buyers have been refunded by paypal within 24 hours even when they clearly have not been in the right, so in your case, you'd stand a good chance of winning a refund there too.

I'd be giving the seller negative feedback too but be careful how you word it.