eBay is being flooded with dangerous counterfeit OTC drugs - the weight loss drug Alli in particular

[brettglass]

I recently tried to buy a bottle of the weight loss drug Alli, an enzyme inhibitor which inactivates the enzymes that digest fat. I searched for "Alli 170" to find the most economical size and bought a bottle. When it arrived, I discovered that there were misspellings on the (fake) product box; that there was no package insert; that the manufacturer's authenticity seals on the box and the bottle were absent; and that the capsules themselves were not marked as the manufacturer said genuine capsules would be. I tried again; the second bottle I ordered was fake as well. Both sellers had faked their locations, claiming to be in dramatically different locations than those from which the packages were shipped. I managed to get refunds, but then MORE fakes appeared on the site, some obvious just from the listing (the fake packages, which are being mass-produced, have the wrong proportions). At this moment there are at least a dozen bogus listings for the counterfeit products, many sharing the same photos.

This is not the only fake drug for sale on eBay, but is perhaps the most dangerous. According to the FDA, there was a rash of fake Alli for sale on eBay and other auction sites back in 2010 - see http://www.cbsnews.com/news/see-the-fdas-photo-gallery-of-alli-diet-drug-fakes-its-triple-trouble-fo... - and due to a recent price increase it is happening again. But I have found NO way to contact eBay and have it look into this problem. (eBay's social media staff on Twitter acknowledged my report but did absolutly nothing.) The fake capsules (I did not dare to take one) are likely filled with a dangerous stimulant that can sometimes cause people to lose weight but also causes heart problems. Does eBay care? Is it worried about getting sued? (It should be.) How to reach someone who can do something?

[soh.maryl]

The fact that there are sellers listing and selling OTC drugs on eBay is regrettable, but not surprising.

ANY buyer who receives ANY item that is not as described, like counterfeit, is free to open an NAD case with eBay.  eBay has no process to evaluate any listing in terms of its honesty. 

[mudshark61369]

@brettglass,

ebay cannot possibly vet each of the millions of new listings posted daily on the site. Therefore it is up to buyers to do some due diligence  When buying OTC meds online, one needs to get as much info about the product as possible before shopping. That includes looking at a maker's packaging and quantity options, to help you  spot fake items.  For many items you can do online searches for How do I tell if XYZ is real or counterfeit?

All you need to do is go to your purchase history click on the More Actions box, then on Return the item button and select the best reason for the return.  Once you have filed a dispute, it will show on your My ebay Summary page, just above the Purchase History.  The seller will have 3 days to either send you a return shipping label, or authorize a refund. If they do neither or try to get you to accept a partial refund, use the Ask ebay to step in button on the 4th day.

Didn't you check the seller's feedback profile before buying from them? They had about a 94% feedback rating, with several comments about counterfeit pills posted before your feedback. These days you Have to check each seller's profiles, before buying from them, and never go by one's percentage alone.

After looking at the seller's profile, I would say they will not be around much longer.

[brettglass]

Ironically, I find that in this case the seller's profile and feedback score don't seem to reflect upon whether the product is authentic or counterfeit. This is because many buyers don't ever recognize the counterfeit, and because many of the sellers of fakes carefully groom their accounts, accumulating positive feedback before starting to sell the fake items. The sellers often post pictures taken from other eBay listings or from Amazon, rather than photos of the actual product packages they will ship, to prevent buyers from detecting counterfeits.

Yes, you can usually get a refund if the product is a fake. But eBay won't let you post negative feedback for a week (by which time the seller can sell a lot of fake product), and there's a long delay before you get your money back -- especially if the seller doesn't issue a refund and you have to ask eBay to step in and help. And of course, if it kills you (which it might if you have a heart condition), you won't be in any kind of shape to issue a report or ask for a refund.

So, both for the benefit of knowledgeable consumers and to protect unknowledgeable ones, eBay should not ignore reports of listings of obvious fakes (which I have tried to submit; eBay does nothing) and immediately terminate the accounts of sellers who try to foist dangerous counterfeit drugs on unsuspecting customers (they don't now). It would also be useful for eBay to place information about how to verify the authenticity of commonly counterfeited products on the listing pages. For example, for Alli, there are quite a few things to look for: The orange and black seals on the box; a lack of misspellings on the box (many of the fakes have typos and misspellings); the presence of a package insert (required by the FDA); the shape and size of the bottle; the imprinted seal on the bottle; the blue band and lettering on the capsules. When the FDA takes the time to issue warnings about fraud, eBay should help consumers to detect it and remove sellers who practice it.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay is losing its share of mass market new items including OTC drugs.

It is high risk to purchase such products on Ebay and the great majority of potential buyers know that and do not.

There is no way that Ebay can adequately police the site to avoid these fakes given the large number of fakes which attempt to sell here. Short of the pre-authorization of branded products used by Amazon and others the number of fakes cannot be controlled and even Amazon and Walmart have some fakes.

If consumers do not help themselves by avoiding high risk sites, they will never be safe.

[brettglass]

That eBay might not catch 100% percent of the fakes is no justification for doing nothing at all to detect or prevent them. I've already mentioned, above, a few things that eBay can do to prevent people from being harmed or even killed by them. eBay should implement them.

[soh.maryl]

You may be missing a point here.

eBay has no way of knowing that anything is counterfeit or not because no one employed by eBay sees or examines anything that's listed here.

When/if ANY buyer receives ANY item that's not as described, that buy has the MBG.

eBay is unlikely to randomly remove any listing based  on a report or even several reports.  How can they be certain the reporter isn't just a competitor?

[janet9988]

I avoid the possibility of fake OTC drugs all together.

 I do not buy any type of this product online. Period.

Buyers should read the FDA warnings.

[kensgiftshop]

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@brettglass wrote:

Ironically, I find that in this case the seller's profile and feedback score don't seem to reflect upon whether the product is authentic or counterfeit.

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If you had checked their feedback, you would have seen the 7 negative feedback saying the items were fake.

[bennotbill]

As said I would never buy any sort of drugs online.

Anyone that does is taking a big risk with their health.

It's not worth it just to save a few cents.

[soh.maryl]

Again, since eBay has no way to evaluate any item before it's listed, what are the "few things that eBay can do to prevent people from being harmed or even killed by them", maybe you'd like to share that information with eBay.

[soh.maryl]

The only time a buyer has to wait a week before posting negative FB is when the seller is a TRS.

And, do you really believe that eBay will add warnings to any listing that describe how a potential buyer can determine whether or not that particular listing is counterfeit? 

[brettglass]

There seem to be a lot of eBay fanboys here who seem to believe that eBay should do nothing. They're just asking for eBay to be sued when someone dies. And to hurt buyers' trust in the platform.

eBay absolutely SHOULD provide warnings on listings of commonly counterfeited items, just as Amazon warns that certain items are frequently returned.

 
As for looking at feedback: Again, it's long delayed. By the time buyers receive the item, detect fraud (and it may take awhile for a knowledgeable one to notice), get past the time when they can't post negative reviews, and finally post, thousands of fakes can be sold and the seller can move on to a new handle. Feedback just isn't sufficient, and eBay makes matters worse by introducing a delay. Verifiable reports (and it's easy to verify reports of fakes in cases such as this one) shouldn't be ignored.

[janet9988]

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@brettglass wrote:

There seem to be a lot of eBay fanboys here who seem to believe that eBay should do nothing. They're just asking for eBay to be sued when someone dies. And to hurt buyers' trust in the platform.

eBay absolutely SHOULD provide warnings on listings of commonly counterfeited items, just as Amazon warns that certain items are frequently returned.

 
As for looking at feedback: Again, it's long delayed. By the time buyers receive the item, detect fraud (and it may take awhile for a knowledgeable one to notice), get past the time when they can't post negative reviews, and finally post, thousands of fakes can be sold and the seller can move on to a new handle. Feedback just isn't sufficient, and eBay makes matters worse by introducing a delay. Verifiable reports (and it's easy to verify reports of fakes in cases such as this one) shouldn't be ignored.

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Buyers KNOW what they are agreeing to when they become  member and buy a product on the ebay site.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259

[tobaccocardyahoo]

You assume that Ebay is doing nothing because they are not acting on your reports.

That is not what leads to Ebay actions. MBG claims might. When Ebay acts it does not tell anyone other than the target seller that they are acting, And the target seller may get a limited description of why Ebay acts.

You are not hearing from Ebay fanboys. I would never by anything in the Health or Beauty related categories on Ebay. I buy things on Ebay that I am going to know more than the seller about. I probably know more than most sellers about Health related products and won't buy here.

When I buy online, I buy products on Amazon, brands I know from manufacturers I know, and Amazon has many manufacturers who products they sell directly or are using FBA to fulfill. If Ebay has Health or Drug manufacturers on its site, which are well known, they should consider advertising that they do and who they are.