Counterfeit stamps

[julie77777]

Bought counterfeit stamps and opened cases on ebay and PP.  The listing was taken down and not really sure I filed the case as I should have on ebay.  Both would refund if I return the stamps which I really don't want to do as the seller would probably use/resell them...would rather lose the money as it wasn't that much.  Would my credit card company have the same answer?  Don't want to open case if it's probably going to be the same reply.  Thanks!

[donsdetour]

you are not law enforcement:

return for refund.

Simple.

[simba6]

Return them for a refund. 

You did wonder why they were selling for such a good price?

[kathiec]

The thing about counterfeits is they crank them out as fast as they can sell them. Your returning these won't make one whit of difference in their ability to do business. Your not returning them will have the same impact. What does have an impact, albeit small, is their having to refund people. Open the case, return the stamps, and get your refund.

[lakefor94]

If you opened cases with both eBay AND PayPal,  you have probably taken eBay out of the picture and will now be dealing with PayPal. 

Leave your Credit Card company out of the picture for now unless PayPal fails.

[mudshark61369]

@julie77777,

You moved too fast if you opened cases on both ebay and Paypal. You open one on ebay for not as described and if they deny the claim, then you move on to PayPal.  Once you opened a dispute w/ PayPal you cancelled your ebay protections. The difference being that the seller has to pay the return shipping cost if you go through ebay. PayPal and likely your card provider, will require you to pay the return shipping cost.

 They all require return for refund, because they have no way of knowing if you received counterfeit items or not.

[julie77777]

Return them for a refund. 

You did wonder why they were selling for such a good price?

_____________________________________________________________

Have gotten better deals on legit forever stamps.  ebay is hard to figure out because while there are a lot of counterfeits there are also many people who don't want to use stamps now or used to collect and are trying to unload them.  I should probably stick to people selling non forever stamps as I don't feel those are being counterfeited...but probably won't and take the risk.  I know to avoid the sellers with very low feedback but this seller wasn't one of them.

Thanks to all who replied...appreciate the input.

[rewlife]

There are also those of us who try to sell legitimate stamps (verified at my local post office) that I purchased at a liquidation store. Someone on here(I am assuming another seller) reported my listing and eBay took it down and they won't even let me prove that they are valid and threatened to suspend my account if I relist. Customer service straight up told me there was an eBay community complaint. I was not undercutting anyone (My rolls were listed at $58, and others were as low as $50).

So basically, the few that make eBay way more than me can dictate who sells what. I am assuming that selling counterfeit USPS Postage stamps is illegal, so eBay literally accused me of committing a federal crime with zero proof and no way to prove my innocence.

I have several positive feedback on the stamps I have sold. and a 100% feedback rating over 650 times. Looks like I'll be doing more and more Amazon and other platforms.

[mudshark61369]

@rewlife,

You should have posted your own topic, since this one is about someone who did buy some fake stamps, and wanted to know what to do about it.  Piggy backing on another member's topic will likely get you fewer answers.

You should post this as a topic on the selling board as well, where experienced sellers may be able to help you.  https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/bd-p/selling-db

On that page use the start a conversation to create a title, Ex: Why did ebay pull my stamp listings? and fill in the rest by copy and pasting this reply.

[spark-chaser1]

It is the rare day I will buy stamps anywhere but the PO.

Its akin to getting money from some skeeze on the street instead of the bank.

[reallynicestamps]

many people who don't want to use stamps now or used to collect and are trying to unload them. I should probably stick to people selling non forever stamps as I don't feel those are being counterfeited..

One simple way is not to buy Forever stamps that are relatively new.

If the design is less than three years old, there is a good chance they are counterfeit.

Based on buying thousands of philatelic estates over 35 years as a stamp dealer, the widow will take an average of five years to sell off the accumulated postage stamps (as opposed to the actual collection) that the collector got from the Philatelic Fulfillment Centre.

It won't be the collector himself because: collectors collect.

Seriously, we have paid out thousands of dollars for postage  that was still in the original unopened packaging. We actually paid less for that because of all the work it took to remove and discard all the packaging.