Fake MTG Card

[waterspotter]

Early April I bought an expensive MTG card from a seller. The seller lied to me twice about having sent it, and then finally sent it a day before I could've claimed a refund for Item Not Sent. In the end the card turned out to be a fake and I had to go through ebay to get my money back as the seller didn't want to pay to have his fake card sent back to him.

Is Sellers waiting until a day before the estimated arrival date to ship an item a common tactic to help use up some of the buyer's return-item time in the hopes that the 30-day window will pass before the buyer notices that  the item they bought is not authentic?

[retroman_studios]

Not sure. It's pretty stupid though as you can still file a PayPal dispute (if you timed out for eBay) and I have heard evidence that in the case of counterfeit items you may be eligible to not send the item back as sending counterfeit items by mail in Canada is illegal. (I'm sure it's illegal in many places)

The trouble of course is proving it's fake. 

The sad truth is that many popular items in high risk categories are fake. For items like that, I'd be wary of buying online. Did the seller have any feedback for selling items or was it mostly purchase feedback?

[femmefan1946]

You have 30 days from DELIVERY (not shipping) to open a Not As Described dispute through eBay.

The Resolution Centre is at the bottom of this page.

Given the seller's behaviour, ignore the suggestion that you contact the seller.

Ask eBay to step in and escalate to a Claim.

The seller will be required to send you return shipping, with tracking.

If he does not, you will be refunded.

If he does, when you show the proof of delivery (not shipping) you will be refunded.

Which is exactly what happened.

In the end the card turned out to be a fake and I had to go through ebay to get my money back as the seller didn't want to pay to have his fake card sent back to him.

Is .. waiting ...to ship an item a common tactic to help use up some of the buyer's return-item time...

No. The shipping date is irrelevant to the Dispute process.

The important dates are the actual delivery, or the last estimated date for delivery, both of which are based on the actual shipping date.

A seller who ships late will be penalized in other ways. Late Shipping is a Defect which hurts the seller's selling account.

A buyer who wins a Dispute can leave appropriate feedback, which has not effect on his status with eBay but will affect future buyers. (Who are the only ones to read it, so keep in calm and factual. Hysterics work against you.)

Buyers are also asked if the item arrived on time or late. EBay tracks those 'late arrivals'.

BTW- tracking is a Seller Protection. If a seller does not track his shipment, he cannot prove delivery. Many naive sellers have learned this to their dismay.

[pjcdn2005]

---

@retroman_studios wrote:

 The trouble of course is proving it's fake. 

---

There are very few cases when a buyer is required to prove that something is fake. Generally if the buyer files a not as described case the seller is required to either accept a return and then refund or just refund without a return.

[reallynicestamps]

If eBay doesn't accept your Dispute, you can go to your Paypal account and Dispute there.

You have 180 days from Payment (not purchase, not delivery) for this.

The PP Resolution Centre is at the top of your PP account page under Tools.

Again the Dispute is Not As Described.

Again you are encouraged, but not required, to contact the seller.

If the seller refuses the refund, Paypal will refund you and go after him for their money.

If the seller demands the item be returned, PP will require you to return it, with tracking, and pay* for the return shipping.

When the return shows delivered (not shipped) you will be refunded.

And if you back your PP account with a credit card, you can also claim through the card's chargeback program. We don't talk about that because it will vary from card to card.

So you are covered three different ways.

*EBay has a shorter dispute period, but generally requires the seller to pay for the return.

[waterspotter]

Thanks. Mostly purchase feedback. I did meet with a Level 1 MTG Judge, plus a couple of other experienced players, to have the card examined. They came to the same conclusion, and said that it was even fairly easy to tell right away that the card is not authentic.

[cardfandom]

In recent years eBay has been cracking down more on fraudulent sellers. If you look at the TOS it's pretty black and white no off brand or fake products. In the event someone issues a claim for a counterfeit, eBay requires they to provide a return tracking label. If not responded in X days to they'll just issue a refund without having to send back. On TCGPlayer and other card sites they send a return label to their warehouse to verify the card in question disposing of the card if needed and refunding.

[reallynicestamps]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 2018

The problem with reanimating zombie threads is that the advice may be out of date and inaccurate.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.