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Protections against counterfeits?
What are the protections against counterfeits when purchasing? I recently made a purchase on something I thought was a great deal, and in looking into the seller's feedback more I am realizing I may have been duped. There are several recent feedbacks complaining of counterfeit and fake items being delivered. The seller's listing says "Located in United States" but I received shipping information from overseas. The seller is communicating, and swears the item is real so we will see, but I am nervous. The listing says no returns. What is the recourse if the item arrives and is indeed fake?
3 comments
eburtonlab
Mentor7 months ago@a76marine
eBay has a money back guarantee for items that are not received or not as described; eBay's money back guarantee overrides a seller's personal "no return" policy, which typically only applies to "remorse" returns.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210
If you receive an item that does not match the description, you have thirty days to file a "not as described" return with eBay. The seller will then be required to provide for tracked return shipping and refund upon return (or else refund outright). If the seller does not cooperate, after three business days, the buyer can ask eBay to step in and force a refund. If you run into any problems or have any questions, post a follow-up here for further details.
That having been said, you may be better off vetting your sellers before committing to a purchase rather than relying on the money back guarantee to bail you out afterwards. It is much easier to avoid an issue in the first place rather than having to go to great lengths to get a refund afterwards.
In general, you can avoid a lot of headaches by choosing to purchase only from established sellers that have recent and past positive feedback as a seller for selling items in the same category that you intend to buy. If someone is selling a dozen apple watches, but has no feedback, or only has feedback as a buyer, or only has feedback for selling dress patterns or fishing lures (actual examples I have seen), perhaps wait until they have a track record of positive feedback for selling electronics before you buy from them.
You might miss out on a good deal from a new seller once in a while, and nothing can guarantee that you won't still run into an issue anyway, but you can avoid a lot of potential problems by choosing to do business with established sellers. Anyone can put together a listing that looks nice -- it is not hard at all to simply copy an existing listing -- but it is much harder to create a history of consistent sales and positive feedback.
For more experienced sellers, you can learn a lot about the sort of seller you are dealing with by checking the seller's feedback page to see where the seller is registered and to notice if the seller has any negative feedback. If you see negatives indicated in the table of recent feedback, you can choose to exclusively see each type of comment by clicking on the numbers shown in the table. Reading negative or neutral comments can often tell you if a seller has a pattern of problems with items not matching the descriptions, canceled orders, late deliveries or item location misrepresentation.
If a seller has a pattern of too many serious negatives -- or just not enough positive history -- it is often better to find another seller with a better track record to do business with.
a76marine
OP7 months agoUnderstood, thank you for the reply.
eburtonlab
Mentor7 months agoYou are most welcome -- good luck!
Follow up if you run into any trouble getting the item or getting a refund.