topic Re: counterfit HDD & SSD in Buying

counterfit HDD & SSD

ebiz911 — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 23:53:04 GMT

I am amazed at the number of "branded" counterfeit items eBay allows to be listed. Twice I've received branded items that were bluntly counterfeits. The last item was a Toshiba-branded 2.5" external HDD listed as "Toshiba Mechanics Drive". The item arrived in what appeared to be a genuine Toshiba case but what was inside was shocking! It contained an unbranded memory stick and a steel bolt as a weight to camouflage the scam. I took pictures and reported the scam to eBay, eBay refunded me but TOOK NO ACTION AGAINST THE SELLER! The seller is still listing their counterfeit Toshiba HDD drives as well as newly listed Samsung HDD drives that are also counterfeit. In fact I found at least a dozen other sellers listing these Toshiba & Samsung fake HDD. It appears that eBay does not care. I'm waiting for Toshiba & Samsung to sue the pants out of eBay for allowing these scams to continue. As said, I reported the counterfeit (with pictures) to eBay but the seller is still listing and scamming. DISGRACEFUL, SHAME ON YOU eBAY!

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

sandypebbles — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 00:03:31 GMT

Not eBay here, other members

Stop buying from dodgy sellers in China and then complaining they are still selling the items you as a buyer are supporting

Easy

The last seller you left feedback for

Registered in Hong Kong

Worse than bad feedback

A lot of feedback warning they sell fake cards

You bought from them anyway

Seller after seller who has left feedback for you

Hong Kong/ China

ALL with horrid feedback

YOU are 100% responsible for your own buying choices

Buyers like you are allowing these scams to continue by making the choice to support them as a matter of habit

If you don't care enough to look who you are buying from in the first place that is on you

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

padi*0409 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 00:06:12 GMT

Can I respectfully suggest you do some due diligence BEFORE you buy online ?

1. Check seller's feedback and if they have less than 99.5% avoid them if they are a high-volume seller.

2. On the feedback page look at where they are registered, if it's China and you are buying electronics/electrical item, then consider buying from a B&M store.

3. Your feedback left suggests you are not doing that.

Edit. G'day Sandy - snap............

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

sugar249 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 01:18:56 GMT

Ebay gives you the tools to sus out sellers.

From your feedback history, you appear to enjoy buying from sellers with Baddddddd feedback.

At the end of the day, Ebay can't go and inspect every item sellers have for sale, they give you the tools use them.

PS. How do you know the other sellers are selling the same so called fake HDD's, unless you buy them you don't know. They most likely are, but you can't make statements of that nature without proof.

Its buyers who ignore a sellers feedback who keep them in business,

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

springyzone — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 02:52:30 GMT

Ebay will take no action if the seller is in China.

There is a lot of fake stuff coming out of China.

Unless Toshiba itself or Samsung took on ebay, I would not expect to see any change.

That's the reality.

So as a buyer, you have to treat ebay as a slightly shifty site where you might very well come across sellers pushing fake items. Most of the time, those sellers will be from China.

Before you buy, check out the seller's feedback and where the seller is registered.

Some Chinese sellers are fine but when it comes to anything electronic, you really need to treat China as a no go zone on ebay.

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

ebiz911 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:10:46 GMT

Are you for real?? If the seller uses a genuine trademark and even describes the product with wordings copied from the manufacturer's own description of the product you expect the buyer to know it is fake??? WAKE-UP!! It is eBay's responsibility to weed out dishonest sellers! I go to eBay in good faith because they claim to cut off any seller with frequent negative feedback. In other words... it is eBay's job to monitor feedback and take action on sellers reported to sell poor quality or products infringing IP. You are promoting scams with your writing, wake up to yourself! The facilitator of fraud is equally guilty as the seller!

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

imastawka — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:19:42 GMT

What people here are pointing out is that if you read the seller's feedback, there are plenty that say 'fake item'.

It is up to you to decide if you want to take the chance on getting a genuine item under those circumstances.

You are buying from sellers who have atrocious feedback in that department.

Eba.au can't/won't do anything against Chinese sellers except report them to ebay China, who in turn do nothing.

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

ebiz911 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:27:27 GMT

Yes, eBay cannot be expected to inspect every item, however, they are indeed expected to take action whenever an item is reported as breaching IP rights. The facilitator of fraud is equally guilty as the seller!

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

sugar249 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:42:48 GMT

@ebiz911 wrote:
Yes, eBay cannot be expected to inspect every item, however, they are indeed expected to take action whenever an item is reported as breaching IP rights. The facilitator of fraud is equally guilty as the seller!

But they are only taking your word against the sellers word. It is so easy for buyers to manipulate the truth.

Ebay is a selling platform and it is up to the seller to accurately describe their items.

It's easy to blame Ebay, but you are just a complicit by not reading the feedback from others, what happened to personal responsibility, it is easy to blame others, but not to look at yourself.

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

ebiz911 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:48:26 GMT

Oh Man. eBay.au is most definitely in a position to stop the fraud. All they need to do is stop listing the seller on eBay.au. In the majority of cases, an AU buyer does not even know the seller is from China so this is 100% Ebay.au fault. The listing is presented to the buyer as a local seller with a local address... are you saying eBay is not participating in scamming the buyer, surely eBay know it is a Chinese seller but is cooperating by hiding this fact from the buyer.

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

ebiz911 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:49:07 GMT

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

padi*0409 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 04:29:51 GMT

@ebiz911 wrote:

In the majority of cases, an AU buyer does not even know the seller is from China so this is 100% Ebay.au fault.

And that is because the majority of buyers don't take the time (like yourself) to read the seller's feedback where they can clearly see where the seller is registered and how many negs they have.

As said before eBay Australia will do nothing about Chinese sellers - they simply don't have the power to do that.

If you're not prepared to take other members advice, then I suggest you stop buying on-line.

Caveat Emptor......................

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

sandypebbles — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 04:40:23 GMT

Why does the buyer not know the seller is in China (or any other country) ?

The information is right there, one of the very first things at the top of the feedback page

It is not hidden or hard to find, or a secret or anything else

It is 100% up to the buyer if they choose to look or not

And even if the seller *is* in Australia , it does not mean they are a decent, honest seller selling all legit goods

eBay is not hiding anything, the buyer has all the information (as does anyone who looks at the site) IF they choose to look

If you don't choose to look, don't blame eBay and then claim 'they are hiding' anything

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

imastawka — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 04:53:43 GMT

@ebiz911 wrote:
Oh Man. eBay.au is most definitely in a position to stop the fraud. All they need to do is stop listing the seller on eBay.au. In the majority of cases, an AU buyer does not even know the seller is from China so this is 100% Ebay.au fault. The listing is presented to the buyer as a local seller with a local address... are you saying eBay is not participating in scamming the buyer, surely eBay know it is a Chinese seller but is cooperating by hiding this fact from the buyer.

Each and every listing on ebay carries this information, right under description/ postage -

Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.

Ebay au has no jurisdiction over overseas sellers

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

sandypebbles — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 05:03:12 GMT

So just the last seller you left feedback for

How is this presented as a local seller with a local address, and how is where the seller located hidden?

And, even if it was a seller in Australia, with feedback at 93.4% (beyond bad) that in itself would be enough reason not to buy

Re: counterfit HDD & SSD

springyzone — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:40:46 GMT

@ebiz911 wrote:
Oh Man. eBay.au is most definitely in a position to stop the fraud. All they need to do is stop listing the seller on eBay.au. In the majority of cases, an AU buyer does not even know the seller is from China so this is 100% Ebay.au fault. The listing is presented to the buyer as a local seller with a local address... are you saying eBay is not participating in scamming the buyer, surely eBay know it is a Chinese seller but is cooperating by hiding this fact from the buyer.

I agree with you that some buyers don't realise a seller is located overseas. That is because that information isn't in the actual ad that you first open up. It will show item location and I think most buyers just assume the seller is located there too.

That pretty much was the case about 15 years ago but these days, you really do have to do an extra bit of checking.

In the ad that you open, you will see seller name and feedback score. If you click on eg feedback score, it will open another page where you can thn click on 'see all feedback' and check out any negs. It will also show you where the seller is registered.

The information is definitely not hidden by ebay but it does take an extra click or two to see it. I would like to see seller location also listed in the body of the ad but as it isn't, you do need to do that extra bit of checking to protect yourself. Well worth it.

Ebay can't do much about the chinese sellers because over there, it doesn't seem to be illegal to sell counterfeit copies. So the sellers there are not breaking any local law.

A seller located in Australia would be subject to different laws.

The problem with buying anything electrical etc direct from China is it has not had to pass any Australian standards. Imported items in shops, yes, they have to pass the standards test. Things slipping in via direct purchase, whether on ebay or elsewhere, you may not be getting something safe.

Ebay doesn't check out most ads, it doesn't take one person's word for it that something is counterfeit, but it does tend to take the buyer's side in a dispute and the buyer can usually get a refund if they open a claim.

Ebay isn't in the business of trying to dissuade you from buying. There are a heap of high volume sellers on ebay with feedback scores under the 99% mark (which is what a lot of boardies here classify as supporting bad sellers) and when you read the spiel about them, ebay itself often says " one of the most reputable sellers on ebay, delivers outstanding service' blah blah blah.

Unless that seller is doing something clearly illegal ebay won't do much.

I wouldn't say ebay is in the business of participating in scamming buyers, but you do need to take care, take those extra steps to check seller location and feedback before you commit to buy. Look after your own interests.