Received counterfeit item, next steps?

[eluder79]

I recently received a fake/counterfeit item that I purchased on eBay using PayPal. The item arrived yesterday and upon opening the package, it was clear that what I received is fake and not the original product. I already filed to return the item, but from my understanding counterfeit items aren’t to be sent back according to eBay policy, unless I’m wrong here.

My question here is around what the next steps would be as I’m going to assume the seller isn’t going to respond to my request. Do I go through eBay or PayPal to get my money back, should the seller not refund me.

It’s the first time I’ve had to deal with this sort of issue on eBay since I haven’t really bought anything (more pricey) in several years.

Thanks for providing feedback.

[pjcdn2005]

Ebay and PayPal May sometimes not ask you to return a counterfeit item but in most cases you will have to return it unless the seller decides to refund you without a return.  Hopefully you opened the case through eBay as then the seller will be required to pay for return shipping.  If they are outside of Canada they will have to send you the shipping money BEFORE you ship it back.  If they are in Canada they should be able to email you a return label.

If the seller doesnt respond you can you can ask ebay to step in. If they respond but don’t send you the return shipping funds or label, contact eBay.

[eluder79]

I opened the case via the eBay mobile site (I believe) what other way is there to do so? As mentioned, I’ve never had to deal with a bad product like this before on eBay.

The seller is in the US so I guess they will have to send the shipping money first.

If they don’t respond, how do I go about reaching out to eBay to step in? Do I need to notify my credit card company at all about this to dispute anything? And when do I post feedback on this? I guess after the matter is resolved?

Thanks for the help. Lots of new territory for me on eBay with this bad experience.

[eluder79]

Looking for some help. Seller hasn't provided a means to ship back the counterfeit item and I've asked eBay to step in. They've put the case requesting more information, but they haven't contacted me for any additional information so I'm not sure what is going on. This has become a very frustrating situation.

Can someone provide some guidance on how I can contact eBay to get this resolved, or if there are other steps I can employ to resolve my matter? Thanks.

[femmefan1946]

It's the weekend, but you'd think the robots would be working.

The seller could send you a Canada Post label through Shippo, which can make labels for either country. He does have to sign up for the service.
Or he could use Paypal's Send Money service, although you might have to help him out by figuring the cost of TRACKED return.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

BUT - if he doesn't send the label, the question about putting counterfeits in the mail is moot.

AND - if he doesn't either demand the return or send the label, you will be refunded.

Basically, at this point it's up to the seller. If he doesn't refund voluntarily, you win the Dispute and are refunded.

He gets a Defect on his seller account. (This is a Very Bad Thing.)

The seller has (I believe) five days to respond. Which is annoying, but in a "he said/she said", eBay allows lots of time for the situation to be resolved by the participants. The information they are seeking is probably from the seller (proof of authenticity? proof of shipping label sent?)

[eluder79]

Thanks for the info. I actually was able to get a hold of eBay customer service today and they confirmed they are waiting on the seller to respond to their request about the return shipping.
We’ll see what happens in a few days since the seller did go silent on me when I reached out to confirm how they were going to provide the return label. Thanks again for the feedback.

[eluder79]

So the seller is looking to send me the return shipping money via PayPal as I went and got a quote to send it back.
They are asking for my PayPal email; wondering what the best way to do this is from the seller's viewpoint and mine? Don't want to somehow get a chargeback or something similar.

Also, I have two PayPal accounts (one for Canadian credit card, one for US credit card). Do I have to use the same PayPal account to receive the return shipment funds since I'll be using my Canadian card to ship it back, but the original transaction went through my US card/PayPal account.

Thanks.

[pjcdn2005]

It can be difficult to send an email address through the eBay message system so the easiest is probably to use the same PayPal email that you originally used as the seller can see your original email in PayPal.  If they don’t know how to see it, tell them to go to that transaction in PP and click on refund. They don’t have to refund you at that moment but it will bring up the email address that you used to pay.  Or.....when you paid they received an email from PP and I think that it will show your email there although it’s possible they have changed that. 

They can only contest  the postage money they sent you if you don’t use it for postage to send the item back. Make sure that you upload the tracking number in the return request 

[eluder79]

Thanks for the quick response. I guess providing them my Canadian PayPal email won’t work through eBay messaging then?

[pjcdn2005]

You can give it a try but eBay may block it.  If they lookup your original email address they could send you an actual email  (rather than an eBay message) and you could give them your other email address.  Keep in mind that the seller might be uncomfortable sending the money to an email with an account not associated to the transaction but they may not be.

[eluder79]

Good point, guess I'll just have a refund on my US account instead. Hoping I can pull that money from PayPal to my US account w/o any fees. All this is new to me! Thanks again.

[patricstoroshenk-0]

EBay is a joke you can send them all the evidence supporting the counterfeit item and Evan have the seller saying to other buyers there selling fakes and they still won’t do anything other then ask you to commit a felony by mailing counterfeit goods across country borders in hopes of not getting cought or your items thrown out by customs eBay needs to seriously do better . If they don’t have. A local spot to drop off counterfeit goods they should not ask a buyer after being taken advantage of to commit a felony. ..

[john_koenig99]

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@patricstoroshenk-0 wrote:
EBay is a joke you can send them all the evidence supporting the counterfeit item and Evan have the seller saying to other buyers there selling fakes and they still won’t do anything other then ask you to commit a felony by mailing counterfeit goods across country borders in hopes of not getting cought or your items thrown out by customs eBay needs to seriously do better . If they don’t have. A local spot to drop off counterfeit goods they should not ask a buyer after being taken advantage of to commit a felony. ..

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You're replying to a thread from 2019. 

[fh991586]

Zombie thread

[brettjet38]

Out-dated ZOMBIE thread from 07-11-2019

[reallynicestamps]

@patricstoroshenk-0 

Just to be clear   you mean that you Opened a Claim for Not As Described, right?
Because if you just notified the seller*, it is possible nothing will happen.

If you opened a Claim, the sellers can:

->send a Return Shipping Label (or return shipping)

And then you use it, because neither you nor eBay is able to confirm that the item is counterfeit. (This is the out for having the return) and you are refunded.

-> refuse or ignore the instruction to send a Return Shipping Label.

In which case, eBay can send the Label, you return the (possibly) counterfeit item, and you are refunded.

-> abandon the item and you are refunded.

Your belief that the item is counterfeit is no more than that- your belief.

While technically, counterfeit items may not be mailed, there is nothing except your belief to show that the item is counterfeit.

BTW- crooks will often abandon the fake rather than fight.

* Which is good manners, but not actually required by eBay.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

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

Thanks for your understanding!