Fake Items on Ebay

[richardpalmer1234]

Brought a Dyson Airstrait on ebay, had to send off to be repaired a couple of months later.
Turned out to be counterfeit. Ebay seller obviously won't reply. Contacted ebay who said try seller again, give it 48 hours and if no response, we will refund. Gave it 4 days, contacted ebay again who now refused to refund the item, and told me the original agent had got it wrong. They also refused to supply details of the seller, so I could take my own court action.

Therefore just a helpful warning:

1) Don't trust Ebay agents, they lie.
2) Don't buy anything expensive on Ebay. Especially Dyson items. Many are counterfeit. I'm sure this applies to other items too.
3) You can't rely on Ebay to support you when it goes wrong.
4) Ebay won't help you chase the seller - they will protect them and hide their identity.

5) The Ebay protection won't help you - it only lasts for 30 days, and if you don't realise you have a problem after that, all they will do is tell you to contact citizen's advice, and refuse to provide any details of the seller. 

[papso22]

If you bought from a business account there will be contact details on all their listings. 

[richardpalmer1234]

Sadly it's not a business account.

I did ask Ebay to provide the seller's details, but they refused.

They have an obligation under the  Consumer Rights Act 2015 to provide user-user transaction details ; so I will have to chase them through their legal department.

I did ask for the address of their legal department, but they just emailed me the details of the financial ombudsman!

They really don't want to take any responsibility for anything they sell on their platform.

[john1297576]

Just proves that buying from a private seller on ebay even if an unregistered business, is very unwise.

You have been a member if ebay for nearly 20 years and should be aware that ebay sells nothing and only offers a 30 day money back guarantee, whatever an agent tells you. Their objective is just to get you off the line, and will tell you what you want to hear. Ebay needs better training for their agents.

[richardpalmer1234]

For sure.  I now think buying anything of any value from Ebay , private or otherwise, is very unwise. Just don't do it.

The buyer protection is useless - like a lot of things nowadays, its presented to you as something of real value, but when you try to use it, it means nothing.

I'm not really interested if the agent just wants to get me off the line (I agree), but when a company tells you they will do something, then later go back on what they have agreed, that is called lying.

That means you can no longer trust the company at all.

So I guess it you aren't bothered if an item is fake or not, go ahead and purchase it.  But don't spend any money you aren't willing to loose on rubbish from Ebay.

[tressygirl]

Any ' Brand' item bought especially from a Private seller should be checked  on receipt, for authenticity,  then you have 30 days if proven to be fake,  to open a claim and to guarantee a full refund.  Price is usually a good indicator too!

If enough of these claims / cases are brought against a seller eBay investigate,  removing item and or seller permanently from their site.

eBay's Guarantees for items do work but they have a timeframe to claim,  and to remember to escalate a case if there's no refund within 3 days.

[papso22]

Unless your seller was a business trading on a private ebay account, then the Consumer Rights Act doesn't apply.

If they were, then that's just another hurdle for you to get over as ebay will only provide a private account details when asked by a solicitor.

[richardpalmer1234]

Unfortunately this is just not good enough, or practical. By nature of a fake, it is difficult or impossible to know if it is real or not when you receive it.We only knew when it went for repair 3 months after receiving it. Dyson informed us. Therefore 30 days is not useful for most people. It would have taken nothing for ebay to process the refund, but they refused, despite already agreeing that they should. I think the fact they lied and went back on thier word is now more annoying than the original problem. Sent from my Galaxy

[richardpalmer1234]

We'll see what happens when my solicitor speaks with them. Sent from my Galaxy

[tobiasd4]

Remember you are buying from seller using eBay to advertise on, NOT ebay themselves. 

If UK business seller, you are covered by consumer rights, but ebay won't get involved with those.

[richardpalmer1234]

Perhaps.

But it is Ebay's platform, and as far as I am concerned, they are
responsible for what they allow for sale on their platform.

It is against Ebay policy , and illegal, to sell counterfeit items.

Ebay should have processes in place to stop this.  But they don't.

For example, they could insist *any* seller is identified before
posting. Passport approval etc. That way if anyone does sell anything
fake, or otherwise, their details could be sent to the police.

This would be easy , by Ebay don't do it. Why? because they are quite
happy to earn the commission from selling fake items. In fact, as they
take a commission, you could argue they *are* part of the selling party
and are liable.

In any case, the fact they will not support and refund buyers just means
those buyers will no longer use their platform.  So in the end Ebay lose.

In my case, I'm not really interested in 'Ebay' policy, or how they
wriggle out of UK law ; as far as I am concerned I brought an item
through their platform, and they are in some way responsible for what is
on there.

I might not be able to prosecute Ebay legally, but I can highlight the
issue to others, and not use Ebay again. There are many other, better
options.

[tobiasd4]

Your points may be valid.

But, when opening ebay account you accepted their T&Cs.

[tressygirl]

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@richardpalmer1234 wrote:
Unfortunately this is just not good enough, or practical. By nature of a fa...

Correct I agree for the untrained eye yours and mine on receipt of an item it's not possible to check if it's a fake , apologies,  I didn't fully explain to check,  meaning take it to a Brand owner / seller of the item,  they'd soon tell you if the item was a fake or not,  do it within 30 days,  and you're guaranteed that refund through eBay's 30 day MBG

@richardpalmer1234

@richardpalmer1234

[*vyolla*]

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@richardpalmer1234 wrote:
Unfortunately this is just not good enough, or practical. By nature of a fake, it is difficult or impossible to know if it is real or not when you receive it.We only knew when it went for repair 3 months after receiving it. 

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If you paid with a debit or credit card you have 120 days to issue a not as described chargeback to get a full refund.

[arkwebus]

Please post an update when your solicitor has spoken to them. 

There is probably another way to deal with this which is to contact your payment provider [Paypal, Credit Card and so on]. If I recall that works for up to 6 months?

@richardpalmer1234 

[*vyolla*]

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@arkwebus wrote:

Please post an update when your solicitor has spoken to them. 

There is probably another way to deal with this which is to contact your payment provider [Paypal, Credit Card and so on]. If I recall that works for up to 6 months?

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PayPal = 30 days

Credit card = 120 days

[richardpalmer1234]

I'm going to try payment provider first, but it may be outside of the
120 days.

Let's see. But I'm not sure how the payment process works, is it
directly from me to seller, or is it me -> ebay -> seller ?

[papso22]

It's you to ebay, so the dispute is against ebay.  However they pass the risk to the seller and seller's never win item not as described payment disputes.

[red_magpie]

I now think buying anything of any value from Ebay , private or otherwise, is very unwise.

I keep on encourging buyers to read at least section 2 of the user agreement to discover the risks of buying here.

To be fair to eBay, they do specifically warn buyers that that  they don't guarantee the quality of items sold here, or that that they will be truthfully described, safe or even legal. 

Who would buy from a shop that stated this? eBay is a jungle. True, eBay does offer its own money back guarantee for most items sold here, but this only lasts for 30 days. After this they will have no interest. Many buyers dont seem to realise this either.