How to deal with a counterfeit purchase?

[almel777]

I bought a woodworking tool and it is a very low quality fake.

I raised a dispute in PayPal and received a message from the seller asking me to send back the item.

I am worried that, after I do this, I will have paid for the item and postage both ways. Last time I did this for another item, I never got a refund.

If the seller refuses to refund my money, will PayPal cover the cost?

Thanks,

Al

[chrisco62]

It should be in paypals hands now and they may ask you to return by trackable means but if it is a fake i am pretty sure it is illegall to post and should be destroyed. you may need to prove that it is a fake.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Paypal will need to see written proof that it is a fake. Then you will get a refund from them through a claim, and you won't have to send it back.

Do not send it back unless Paypal tells you to, and only by trackable means if you do. I would only communicate with the seller through the Paypal claim, so it is all on file.

It can be difficult getting the required proof, but if you can get someone who knows the brand/type of tool, to verify it's not genuine, they'll have to give you that information in writing on a letterhead for Paypal.

If you can't get this, and the seller has said they'll refund you, Paypal will refund your original payment (that's the item cost and shipping to you). You would be out of pocket the return shipping.

So best to get proof it's counterfeit if you can.

If the seller wants to, they can of course reimburse the cost of shipping back to them, but they don't have to, that's up to them.

[almel777]

It is very clearly a fake but I don't know how I can get written confirmation.

I called the manufacturer and they will not get involved if the item was purchased on eBay.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Yeah, that's the trouble...could you try a hardware store? They might be more amenable. Just has to be an expert on a letterhead.

You know, like if Myer stocked a designer item, Myer would be able to say it's a fake...

that kind of thing.

[phorum_junkie*]

It may be worth telling the seller that you want a refund and the only people you will return the item to are the owners of the brand or to the police after you report them to the auction fraud report site run by QLD police. They are not to know the manufacturer isn't interested in protecting their reputation so it may work.

If not then no proof from an independant 3rd party means you will probably have to return it to get a refund, only return it to the address given to you by Paypal and you must use a fully trackable method, click & send or signature on delivery.

[almel777]

This has finally been resolved. I raised a case with PayPal resolution center. They told me to return the counterfeit item to the seller at my own expense and the seller refunded the purchase price minus shipping. PayPal closed the case.

I have now been ripped off five times by ebay sellers. EBay and PayPal have not done anything in any of these cases.

Is PayPal "Buyer Protection" just a scam or is it a matter of knowing how to make successful claims?

[amber-eyed-girl]

Unfortunately, Paypal does require official proof an item is fake, before releasing funds and not needing the return.

So does a bank for a chargeback.

Even if the item is just not as described, returns are at the buyer's expense unless you can argue it is prohibitively expensive to do so.

Sorry you lost the return shipping, but at least you were reimbursed the initial costs.

It's the regulations they need to follow, you see.

I am not purchasing too much from overseas anymore, but I do bear in mind that if there is an issue, it is likely to cost me the return shipping unless the seller is amenable to covering it.

Many brand owners refuse to sign anything related to fakes for eBay or any other non-official platform, in my opinion this just encourages fakes to flourish.

[vvinn]

You are the lucky one because the seller stepback, i'm still the badluck one.

You've got same point of view as mine. There is allways milion of under $10 items on eBay.

How many people are ready to spend lot of effort, time, go all the way to claim $10. For you and me perharp

$0.20 is nothing but a big organisation might calculate like this :

countless people X countless time X $0.20 = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ countless

[*crikey*mate*]

I think it would be good if everyone read the terms and conditions of eBay and PayPal every now and then to refresh their memories as to what eBay and PayPal actually are and what they do...

I see so many think that they offer services which they have never professed to offer, and then they get all cross cos they think that it is these entities doing the wrong thing.

so folks, check out the user agreement, the usage policies etc, cruise around the site map a bit....