I would like to know the process of quality control and the authentication processes of goods sold

[mrsmaker]

Who does the processes of quality control and authentication for Ebay?

For example, a brand new Apple Iphone 5s smartphone, unlockecd in a sealed box is found to be a cheap Chinese fake copy of an Iphone with a camera that does not work.

Who checks on the quality and authenticity of these goods advertised and sold on Ebay?

[kopenhagen5]

No one does. Where did you get the idea that things advertised were checked by the advertising medium ?

It is up to the buyer to do the research before buying and if in doubt, don't.

eBay is more or less an advertising site for others to use.

You don't buy from eBay but other sellers.

Just like buying from the old Trading Post newspaper, you don't expect the newspaper to check the items people advertise.

However, electronics is something you just don't buy online.

Go to a proper B&M store to get a proper item and warranty.

I know that's a little blunt but it's the reality.

[countessalmirena]

@mrsmaker,

As kopenhagen has said, you aren't purchasing from eBay. eBay is not the seller; it is the platform. That means it is up to you as the buyer to check the seller and determine whether or not the seller is trustworthy.

The old saying "If it's too good to be true" is one of the most valid things to remember when buying on eBay. You won't find incredible bargains for iPhones, etc., because the price of an iPhone is the price of an iPhone is the price of an iPhone. The maximum discount you can possibly get is something you can gauge by checking legitimate authorised resellers (Kogan, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, etc) or from the Apple Store. If the price is lower than that, with a big story about "we cut out the middleman" etc., etc., you know you're being sold a pup.

Virtually all Chinese sellers on eBay, who purport to sell quality brand electronic items, are selling fakes. eBay.com.au cannot and will not touch those sellers, because they're registered on eBay.cn (eBay China), and eBay.cn has different rules or enforces rules differently since it functions under Chinese law. China and intellectual property rights/copyright/trademark rights are a nightmare for companies that are not Chinese. Simply put, China does not respect international IP, and they have convoluted and very one-sided arrangements for foreign companies wishing to operate in China. In this environment, fraud and fakery flourishes, and Chinese sellers proffering fraudulent items can operata from within China with impunity.

Not all Chinese sellers behave in this way, but far too many on eBay do for me to be willing to take the risk of buying a high-end or brand-name or electric/electronic item from a Chinese eBay seller.

You can check the seller's location by looking at their feedback profile page. Find this by clicking onto the feedback score of the eBay member in question. You'll see something like:

Member since: [date when the person joined eBay] in [country in which the member operates]

(Mine, for instance, says "Member since: 31-May-05 in Australia")

Sometimes the location information is misleading. The seller could have been living in Australia at the time of joining eBay, but is shipping items from China. If you have doubts about a seller, still on that feedback profile page, under Recent feedback ratings, you can click onto their negative feedback for the last 12 months, as it's a link that collates all of the negative feedback for that member over the last 12 months. If you see feedback comments that mention that the item came from China, or that it took a lot longer to arrive than it should have, these are clues that you should heed.

Bottom line: don't buy something like an iPhone from a Chinese seller on eBay. Just don't. To be absolutely sure that it's a genuine item, buy either directly from Apple or from an authorised reseller with an ABN. Remember too that anything that an eBay seller says about warranty isn't worth so much as a scrap of recycled toilet paper. To be covered under Australian consumer law, buy from a genuine Australian seller.