Please help - likely being conned by a knock off product

[josh-lond]

Bought an item - (funko pop toy) as a christmas present for a family member. Was cheap thought at the time was cheap but was looking for presents so bought. It arrived promptly - stand broken, with poor paintwork chips, competley misprinted basketball lines that werent straight...oh dear. The item did not say shipping from china when bought however the ebayers name is clearly a asian type name (however posting is tim??).

Straight away I thought this is fake and i want my money back. Emailed the seller which he said all fine expect a refund soon. Nothing happened for 2 - 3 days then i emailed again for which he replies in broken english hello, friend i cant refund i have tried this is a paypal issue please contact paypal. Which my paypal is fine and im pretty sure his is too as he is continuing to sell after the 3rd time i thought this is enough i need to go to the resolution center. I have only had to use this 2x in the past and both went fine however now i can see it has been completley automated which is 0 help. 

The only option i have after clicking item arrived not as expected is to refund. A few different points here, i shouldnt have to return fake merchandise, the buyer has previously already stated hed give me a refund without returning, the item was completley broken what does the seller want with a broken knock off. 

However, (please dont sigh) i cannot reven return as i trusted the seller once they said refund no issue and so i proceeded to throw the item and my common sense in the bin. I figured its broke, they havent asked me to reutrn it and so im now fine. 

My only options now are ebay prompting me to return an item i dont have, which is fake, which a seller who is clearly tagging me along (they dont know i dont still have the item, but I DO have pictures of it broken) from what i sent on the original message. I was under the impression i could actually have the case reviewed by someone on ebay as previous so it would be sorted but i think due to my foolish trust  and haste i am going to be conned out of 11 quid. Its not the end of the world but it is a tad annoying as a tenners a tenner. 

Is there anything else i can possibly do to get my money back knowing this is clearly a fake item and that i shouldnt be having to return counterfeit goods anyway. Or do i not have a leg to stand on, the return request ends on 22nd jan. 

Many thanks, 

Josh

[m25jet · Accepted solution]

First of all, contact eBay Customer Services and explain what has gone wrong.  To be honest if you'd opened an Item Not As Described case you would probably have had a total refund by now, even if you'd had to escalate the matter to eBay in order to force the refund.  The best time to contact eBay Customer Services is in the morning, as that way you've got a far better chance of getting a telephone call from an eBay representative who speaks English as his/her first language.  Therefore, contact eBay Customer Services tomorrrow morning from 8:00am onwards using the Call Me Back option.

Once you get a call back from eBay explain what has gone wrong and ask if they can switch the case to Item Not As Described.  In most cases eBay do not entertain the option of opening a second case in relation to the same item, although they do this with Item Not Received cases if the item subsequently turns up but is not as described in the listing.  Therefore, if you explain what has gone wrong and ask them to help you they may switch the case to Item Not As Described for you.  However, given that you said you no longer have the item that could prove to be problematic, especially if the seller asks you to return the item first of all prior to a refund being issued.  If, however, the seller becomes obstructive and refuses to respond to any of your messages, or if he/she doesn't come up with a satisfactory solution to the problem, escalate the case to eBay as soon as you get the chance to do so.  That way they'll force a refund on your behalf even if the seller is resistant to the idea of returning your payment, in which case you ought to get your money back.

In the event that eBay are of no use log into your PayPal account and open a case against the seller there.  Unlike eBay, who only give buyers thirty days from the latest estimated date of delivery to open a case, PayPal give buyers a maximum period of one hundred and eighty days during which to open a case against a seller.  Another thing worth remembering is that PayPal tend to look at cases far more closely than eBay do, which should work to your advantage; however, if the seller requests a return of the item in order to secure a refund then this will more than likely cause problems if you've already disposed of the item and have nothing to return to the seller for a refund.

Should it become necessary to go down the PayPal route to secure a refund then escalate the case to PayPal after two days but before the twenty day cut-off point.  So long as the seller doesn't ask for the item to be returned in order to facilitate a refund you should be OK - if the seller refuses to respond to your e-mails via the case then once you ask PayPal to step in they'll just force a total refund of the money that you paid for the item.

Finally, should you ever purchase anything else on eBay and the item doesn't match the description in the listing open an Item Not As Described case via the eBay Resolution Centre to start with, as this will make it a damned site easier to secure a refund, and without all the aggravation that you've currently had with this case.  If for some reason (unlikely, but possible) eBay decide in the seller's favour then you can use the PayPal case as a back-up option to secure a refund in relation to the item in question.  However, if you were to open a PayPal case first of all but it went against you then you would not be able to open an eBay case in relation to the same transaction.

[josh-lond · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the extensive comment - i have read fully and understand. To clarify i did open the item not as described within the 30 days but the only option for that was to return it.

As i opted for this as it was the only option - hoping i could then escalate after a period of time this is where we are. As of now the seller has accepted the return with a prepaid label and so unfortunately i do think im in schtick as now its up to me to return it given they've paid for the label to be used.

I think my only other shot would be to talk about the possibility of it being fake merchandise which from what i;ve read on forums is a difficult task and in all honesty one that might not be worth all the bother for a tenner.

I cant believe ive been foolish enough to bin and firstly to buy a product i thought was too cheap in the first place. I suppose in the many years of using ebay youll always get one sting.

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

If you have no item to return you cannot get a refund.

Ebay don't get involved in whether an item is real or not.

[josh-lond]

Thank you for your comment I think this is probably the most pragmatic. I haven't got it and they've accepted a return request so now im presented with a prepaid label - for which i cant use.

[yorkshire61]

I have just had the self and same problem with ebay and counterfeit goods....please see my recent post on here.

Its the first time i have experienced counterfeit purchases...in my case 'Superdry' clothing. but left astounded how ebay have just turned a blind eye to it. They simply dont care. Having reported my issues to trading standards they went on to tell me that ebay is the biggest source of fake items there is unlike your local car boot sale as is the common belief. Its a massive headache to them and trading standards are blocked or delayed at every point by them. The revenues for ebay losing sales on fake goods must run into millions is why.

[arkwebus]

"Not as described" covers all sorts of things from "fake"  , "poor quality" to simply "broken" [you ordered something perfect and got a broken one".  It may seem silly but for the reasons stated you would have had to return the "bits"

@josh-lond 

[john1297576]

Just one point that I cannot see mentioned. If you are able to open a Paypal case, while they will look into cases more than ebay, they still would normally expect item to be returned to the seller. If not it would invite all sorts of phoney claims. The thing I wanted to point out, Paypal would not have any access to messages that have passed between you, so would have no idea of what had been said by the seller.

[josh-lond]

Thank you John for your response. I suspect this is just a suck it and move on case. Thank you anyway for our input, i appreciate the reason items needed to be refunded, just wondered if theres any variation if the item is fake

[rusticrye]

No, there is nothing you can do, because you (bizarrely) chucked the defective item in the bin, despite not having received the promised refund. I can't understand why on earth you did that.

To receive a refund anywhere, not just on Ebay, you need to first return the item, otherwise every buyer would be able to get their money back simply by making false claims. Photos and videos can't be taken into account because they could be of anything (not of the actual item sent), and can easily be faked. Check out consumer law for yourself by doing a general web search, or by going to the CAB's or the government's website.

All you can do is give yourself a good kicking, and be glad you learned this lesson before buying anything more valuable. And make sure you read Ebay's Money Back Guarantee, so you know what you're doing in future. It's on every listing, in various other places across the site, and on your order confirmation.  Ebay can't help you unless you use the tools they provide, and use them as instructed.

@josh-lond 

[red_magpie]

What a pity you never bothered to read up on eBay'e money back guarantee. There's a link to it in every one of the 150+ listings that you've either bought or sold.

If you haven't yet opened a case through the resolution centre, and if still within the 30 day time limit, do it now.

The seller may be in China, but where did the listing state the item was located? If in the UK (many sellers in China have a UK distribution base) eBay will even require them to send a prepaid return label if they want the item back.

If it was imported direct from China, you will probably have to return it to China at your own expense, if worthwhile.

If you've already opened an ordinary eBay return request, none of the above will apply and you can't change it for a money back guarantee case now. However, you can still file a dispute under Paypal's longer, 180 day buyer protection policy, see: https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-if-i-didn%27t-receive-my-item-or-it%27s-not-as-adve...

You may be able to avoid paying the return postage if you first register for their (free) "Return shipping on us" service, see: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

[josh-lond]

Thank you for your comment, i did open a case within 30 days, their distribution is in the UK, my main problem is the assumption of the refund hence binning the fake broken product. I am only presented with the option of returning to the prepaid label, which the seller accepted. So now...i suppose just a good old dose of realising what a plonker ive been and chewing the tenner.

I dont think getting into a this is fake is it not is a resourceful route to go down as this is now the only thing i can say.