EBay’s continuing failure to respond to fraud information
This post is about an obvious failure of eBay’s continuing failure to address the selling of counterfeit items.
About 10 days ago, I developed strong suspicions of the authenticity of very expensive sweaters being sold by a Seller. I, myself, bought one of these sweaters before my suspicions were aroused. After a little tussle with the Seller regarding shipping, I finally received the sweater late.
Once I had the sweater in hand, my post-purchase suspicions were greatly enhanced so I did some footwork. I found two irrefutable facts: (1) the manufacturer of the sweater - Brunello Cucinelli - informed me that the SKU tag attached to the sweater did not correspond to any adult item of clothing that the line had ever sold; instead, it was the SKU number from a kid’s item of clothing, and (2) Sak’s Fifth Avenue informed me that the stock number on the sales tag attached to the sweater does not correspond to any item that Saks has ever sold. I have copies of correspondence from both Bruno Cucinelli and Sak’s to substantiate these two points.
I had made a fraud complaint to eBay before I received the sweater based on a few other indicators of the Seller selling counterfeit items. That was about 10 days ago and I have not heard a peep from eBay since that time.
When the sweater had not arrived by the originally scheduled arrival date and the Seller would not respond to my messages, I opened a case regarding the item. (This was before the fraud complaint.) Once I had evidence of the fraud, I immediately contacted the Seller to inform him. His response was (1) to accuse me of lying and (2) to send me a return label for the sweater which was a non-returnable item.
I have not yet shipped back the sweater because this guy is continuing to rake in thousands of dollars selling counterfeit sweater and I want him stopped. I am under the impression that if I simply print out his return label and send the sweater back to him that I will get a refund, but that my case will be closed by eBay. Consequently, this Seller will just continue to defraud buyers like me. (He got me for $426.00)
Is it true that accepting his offer of return will close the case? What do I do to get eBay to pay attention to this ongoing fraud of its Buyers?
Thanks.
albertabrightalberta
·3 years agoFor the record, it's Brunello Cucinelli and I've never seen fakes in the brand. (This isn't to say it's not but it's not a brand that's well known enough that faking it would be profitable.)
ed8108
·3 years agoSubmission to ebay of the correspondence that you received would appear to be sufficient for concern & investigation.
bonjourami
·3 years agoKeep in mind too, that one complaint from you is not enough to shut this seller down. If that were the case, just imagine all the sellers trying to take down their competition,. Only the mgfr joining VERO could do that..or many items not as described cases would do it too..
kathiec
·3 years agoI know it's easy to say "oh, eBay just ignores it for the money". But think of it this way: There are approximately 1.7 billion listings on eBay on any given day. Obviously eBay can't employ experts in all those items. If eBay started removing listings and/or sellers based on just member reports how long do you think it would take before sellers figured out that all they had to do to eliminate their competition was to report their listings as fakes? So eBay really can't take sides. Yes, if there are a lot of reports from different members, eBay will investigate. And if a VeRO member asks that a listing be removed, it's gone, no questions asked.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoIf eBay started removing listings and/or sellers based on just member reports, how many of those reports do you estimate would have been generated by other sellers who would see this as a great way to eliminate the competition?
bonjourami
·3 years agoYour best bet is to report this seller to the Brunello Cucinelli mgfr. As was mentioned, they could easily join the VERO program here, and shut this seller down. When they report him to Ebay for selling fakes, Ebay will immediately remove his listings.
stesuga_0
OP3 years agoThe Seller has already been reported to Bruno Cucinelli and to Sak’s Fifth Avenue. I have to say, however, that I’m flabbergasted that eBay makes no effort to shut this kind of activity down.
I guess it bears at least mentioning that permitting known fraudulent Sellers to continue to sell is in eBay’s financial interest. That’s not my opinion; it’s just a simple fact.
lamber9347
·3 years agoYou are jumping to your own conclusions by saying that because you didn't receive a direct reply to your claim of fraud. There are simply too many individual listings for eBay to respond directly to every fraud claim. You have no idea how they are handling this behind the scenes. You've already reported the seller to eBay and you've apparently reported them to the other corporations. Leave your feedback you feel you need to and set this aside. Best of luck to you....
chris13
·3 years agoI use 'report this item' from the listing page, selecting 'Copyright & Trademark' then 'Counterfeit Item' with a brief description of why I think its fake
For major violations (like offsite links for sending money) I use the 'Report Seller' function that is sometimes hard to locate.
Online Customer Service - Report a seller for a policy violation (ebay.com)
You wont hear back either way, but the options are available.
Best wishes in making a difference.
kathiec
·3 years agoDid you indicate the item was not as described when you opened the return case? If so, and the seller provides a return shipping label through the case, then yes, once the seller receives the return and you're refunded the case will be closed. And the opened case will be recorded in the seller's metrics.
As for reporting the seller as a fraud, eBay will do nothing. Because eBay can't employ experts in every item they sell they don't get involved in the he said/she said of reporting something as fake. You say it's fake, the seller says it's not. The absolute only entity that could successfully have listings and possibly the seller removed is the rights holder, in this case Brunello Cucinelli. If they're a member of eBay's VeRO program all they have to do is ask eBay to remove a listing.
stesuga_0
OP3 years agoNo, the case was opened as a case about the item not arriving on time. At the time I opened the case, the counterfeit operation this guys was running was not clear to me.
This really burns me. Just the day before yesterday, this guy completed a dozen or so auctions where he netted multiple thousands of dollars selling fake merchandise. He even sold another copy of the exact same counterfeit sweater I had bought previously. Somehow, it seems that ebay should be accountable if the fraud is proved to them.
So, how do I frame my customer review? How honestly can I relay my experiences with this Sellee without the review being deleted?
mtgraves7984
·3 years agoNo, the case was opened as a case about the item not arriving on time.
@stesuga_0
If you opened an ^^^ Item Not Received (INR) claim... it will be closed with the seller's 'Delivered' scan. What you need to do is to open a Return claim, citing 'Item Not Authentic' (or whatever the verbiage). The seller has the option of issuing a return mail label to you through the case... the seller will refund you fully when it's back to the seller. If you don't get a return label, escalate the case to eBay when the case timeline allows... you'll be fully refunded without having to mail it back. Start at your Purchase History, press the big, blue 'Return this item' button and follow the prompts. It's all automated. Good luck to you.
If you haven't read the Money Back Guarantee, you really should. >> eBay Money Back Guarantee policy
stesuga_0
OP3 years agoI have learned my lesson for sure. The problem, though, is that I did not receive the item on time so I opened up the case that way. Having initiated the case in that manner, I can’t add the additional reason of “item not described†once I finally receive the item.
At least so far as I can tell.
mtgraves7984
·3 years ago@stesuga_0
An INR claim and a Return claim are two different animals entirely. Since you received the item... close the INR case (if eBay hasn't already) and open a NAD Return. You're out $426... take action and make yourself whole.
The Money Back Guarantee is iron-clad for buyers when used properly. >> eBay Money Back Guarantee policy
soh.maryl
·3 years agoAs mentioned previously, it would be impractical for eBay to employ experts in every single field to check the authenticity of every item sold here.
That's one of the reasons that they offer the Money Back Guarantee for buyers. When a buyer receives an item that's not as described, the buyer opens an item not as described case. Seller is required to send a prepaid return label if he wants the item back and to refund in full once he receives it.
In terms of solving the problem, this is all that can happen.
You can leave a negative FB stating the simple facts. It does not seem that many of the FBs left for sellers are removed. Or you could leave none at all, your choice.