Purchased fake item on eBay sold as genuine, have I got a leg to stand on?

j4vier

In February 2017, I purchased an expensive jacket on eBay sold as genuine.

Unfortunately, the item turned out to be fake. My fault was that I did not find out immediately but only in October when paypal and eBay fobbed me off by saying there was nothing they could do.

I paid via revolut/MasterCard and I initiated a charge back process in October. I waited 45 days to be told there was nothing they could do as the transaction was above 120 days old.

Is there anything else I could try? Would the small claims court be applicable for such case?

beechwood55

Where is the seller based?

ED E

You tried to chargeback Paypal? Risky bizzness.

percy212

Yes. Open a report on paypal that item is not as described. You will be refunded.

percy212

Oh sorry. February. That's a while back. Try calling ebay and see if you have any options.

j4vier

percy212 wrote:

Yes. Open a report on paypal that item is not as described. You will be refunded.

It's too late for that unfortunately

kathleen37

Sorry - I'm not aware of any options open to you after such a long time.

Have you contacted the seller?

How do you now know the jacket is fake?

j4vier

kathleen37 wrote: »

Sorry - I'm not aware of any options open to you after such a long time.

Have you contacted the seller?

How do you now know the jacket is fake?

Yes but the seller said there was nothing they could do, they didn't know it was fake (obviously).

The manufacturer's website has a tool on their website to check if a product is authentic based on a code inside the jacket and I contacted their customer support directly to verify

L1011

If the seller is in the EU, small claims may be possible. If they aren't there isn't really much else possible - if they are still selling branded items, pushing eBay to investigate the status of those could be useful to stop others getting bitten.

aLou991

Ebay money back guarantee is 30 days and PayPal is 6 months, neither will cover you at this stage unfortunately.

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j4vier

....... wrote: »

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Except I thought I bought an item of value, with the value being in the brand.

Now it is an item of 0 value, since if I was to sell it on, I'd be breaking the law

j4vier

L1011 wrote: »

If the seller is in the EU, small claims may be possible. If they aren't there isn't really much else possible - if they are still selling branded items, pushing eBay to investigate the status of those could be useful to stop others getting bitten.

The seller is based in the UK. I'm concerned anyway that if I was to proceed with a small claim against him, I might win the case but there would be very little hope of getting my money back anyway.

I emailed the CCPC about this, they might be able to advise.

kathleen37

Yes. Fake = illegal.

I'd contact the seller - tell them, and preferably, forward on when the brand owner said item was fake. Then tell them you will take to County Court - google and forward them regs regarding illegality of selling fake items. Tell them you will also be contacting Trading Standard - and do it.

Good luck.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

j4vier wrote: »

Except I thought I bought an item of value, with the value being in the brand.

Now it is an item of 0 value, since if I was to sell it on, I'd be breaking the law

You place the value on a piece of clothing by what you can sell it on for? Really?

L1011

Ronin Whining Rattlesnake wrote: »

You place the value on a piece of clothing by what you can sell it on for? Really?

For luxury brands of clothing / leather goods / watches it is a very valid concern. Non fashion line products from certain brands can hold value (a % of it anyway) for years, some stuff actually appreciates.

Now, I don't buy anything dearer than Superdry so its not something I do myself, but its entirely valid. Its not legal to even sell it as a fake.

j4vier

Ronin Whining Rattlesnake wrote: »

You place the value on a piece of clothing by what you can sell it on for? Really?

The value is in the brand. Same as would be for a watch or a piece of tech.

ravima

buyer beware???

if it was not an expensive item, chalk it down as a lesson learned.

jsd1004

....... wrote: »

If you believed it was genuine, wore it for months thinking it was genuine, and now think it isn't because of a code inside it, could you not just continue to wear and enjoy it and forget about using that tool?

I mean, it's the same jacket. Had you not used the website tool you'd be none the wiser.[/QUOT

So you paid a lot for a jacket that was only for the brand name..that some else could copy without you noticing. You were happy to wear it for a year thinking you had the real thing..you only realised it was a fake when the original brand confirmed it..you bought it from a third party site..so many ironies..

j4vier

jsd1004 wrote: »

....... wrote: »

If you believed it was genuine, wore it for months thinking it was genuine, and now think it isn't because of a code inside it, could you not just continue to wear and enjoy it and forget about using that tool?

I mean, it's the same jacket. Had you not used the website tool you'd be none the wiser.[/QUOT

So you paid a lot for a jacket that was only for the brand name..that some else could copy without you noticing. You were happy to wear it for a year thinking you had the real thing..you only realised it was a fake when the original brand confirmed it..you bought it from a third party site..so many ironies..

I entered a contract with every reason to believe that it was a genuine item. Turned out it wasn't. Only problem was that I did not verify this straight away. You could say that was negligent on my part but all your other assumptions are irrelevant and have nothing to do with the fact that at the end of the day, I was sold a fake.

dudara

Was the seller a private individual or someone who sells goods for a living?

j4vier

dudara wrote:

Was the seller a private individual or someone who sells goods for a living?

He is a private individual

ELM327

Caveat emptor so.

Axwell

If the jacket was so expensive and a big brand of value why did you wait so long to check if it was fake or not? It seems odd to wait 8 months and then all of a sudden decide to check and find out its not and now look for a refund.

There are laws and rules there to protect you but not when you decide to wait months before it becomes a concern or issue. You will have to bite the bullet on this one and put it down to experience.

Speedwell

I reported a seller on ebay.com several years ago for selling fake goods. You can report a seller without requesting a refund (it is too late for that honestly). But it is not too late to take a picture of the evidence, a link to the manufacturer's "how to tell" site, and a full list of what happened to eBay and ask for an investigation. I didn't get my money back, but the seller was found to be a repeat offender and they were shut down. You can report anyone if you have told them the goods are fake and they refuse to remove them from sale. You DO have to make an effort to tell them first and give them a chance to respond/comply.

_Brian

j4vier wrote: »

Except I thought I bought an item of value, with the value being in the brand.

Now it is an item of 0 value, since if I was to sell it on, I'd be breaking the law

Two lessons here.
1. Act quickly or you have no options.
2. Brands have no actual value only what we attribute to them, you loved the coat until you found out it was fake, now you associate less value to it, even though it hasn’t changed. I think for many this is the real lesson.

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dudara

j4vier wrote: »

He is a private individual

Then unfortunately you have no grounds for comeback. Private sales are not subject to the same rules as consumer sales. It falls under the concept of "caveat emptor"

j4vier

Speedwell wrote: »

I reported a seller on ebay.com several years ago for selling fake goods. You can report a seller without requesting a refund (it is too late for that honestly). But it is not too late to take a picture of the evidence, a link to the manufacturer's "how to tell" site, and a full list of what happened to eBay and ask for an investigation. I didn't get my money back, but the seller was found to be a repeat offender and they were shut down. You can report anyone if you have told them the goods are fake and they refuse to remove them from sale. You DO have to make an effort to tell them first and give them a chance to respond/comply.

I did report them to ebay of course, they mentioned that they will keep an eye on the seller so that is something but does not of course bring me satisfaction.

Unfortunately, ebay's advice has been after initial automated replies to contact consumer agencies for advice which I did. Nothing more, nothing less.

I did check the seller's activity myself recently and there was a polo shirt for sale of the same brand that was withdrawn within a matter of days.

Unfortunately, among his feedback, there were also other buyers that left him a positive feedback for items of the same brand who maybe like me, were so convinced that the item looked genuine that did not bother with verifying the authenticity

j4vier

_Brian wrote: »

Two lessons here.
1. Act quickly or you have no options.
2. Brands have no actual value only what we attribute to them, you loved the coat until you found out it was fake, now you associate less value to it, even though it hasn’t changed. I think for many this is the real lesson.

I agree with point 1

Point 2 I disagree, I did pay a price which I thought would be in the region of what originally merchandise would go for, obviously with a discount. That's why people use ebay after all.

If the price was 80% below what it generally sells for, then I would be expecting it to be a knock off.

I did learn a good lesson anyway so that's some value out of this experience