Interesting article about refunds due from Ebay for Fake Items

See it here;
https://shopping.yahoo.com/news/duped-ebay-buyers-due-millions-in-counterfeit-product-refunds-204207498.html

This jumps out to me the most;

“If a buyer actually discovers they purchased a counterfeit, eBay directs the buyer to return the counterfeit item to the seller for a refund — a violation of US Postal Regulations and Federal Law. Counterfeit products are easily recycled and resold by the seller, and generate eBay transaction fees.”

They go not to claim that if a buyer challenges eBay’s return demand, eBay refuses the refund, allowing just 3-5 days to obtain a manufacturer’s written confirmation. If provided, there is an eBay demand for a destruction of the counterfeit item declaration.

“However, destroying evidence is a crime.”

The Counterfeit Report has a list of suggestions for consumers to follow if they receive a counterfeit item on eBay.

Never return the counterfeit item. It is a violation of US Postal Regulations, Federal Law, and the only evidence for your dispute.
Notify eBay immediately at (866) 540-3229, and open a refund claim under eBay’s Money Back Guarantee.
If eBay doesn’t satisfy your claim, dispute the credit card charge. You have the counterfeit product as proof of your claim and to support the negative feedback you leave for the seller to protect other consumers.

Think of all the items sold now with the Branding “Cree” on the side, when the product does not have genuine Cree inside it.
Maybe this concentration of lawsuits against Ebay and Paypal for this was a big part in them separating the 2 companies?

Anyway, it’s a good read. My money says Ebay will not even acknowledge the Lattice Bright emitter as being fake Cree.
I mean, how would you prove it to them, we know what they are supposed to like and act like but it’s not like the emitter has either name on it.
Cree themselves could testify to the fact, but don’t know where that leaves the end user.

Later,
Keith

I have sellers admitting that the “Blocklite” 9volt flashlights they are claiming to sell, are not actually Blocklites, is this selling counterfeits?

Very interesting read Muto…This would explain what I am seeing lately on ebay.

Sellers from China, France, Poland and some other countries who have not ‘traded’ for more than one year have set up incredible deals on android tv boxes. EACH and EVERY day you see them. I am more than certain they are either
i) Fake
ii) items will never get shipped.

I even intended to ‘try my luck’ at one given the incredible price thinking that ebay got me covered. WRONG! Pretty sneaky tactic as I would never ship back something. Way too expensive really.

EDIT: I have twice communicated to those sellers about whether their items were genuine and never got any answer….

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4K-M8S-S812-Quad-Core-Android-4-4-Smart-TV-Box-2GB-8GB-XBMC-KODI-Fully-Loaded-/252088464636?hash=item3ab1a4b4fc
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MX-2-KODI-XBMC-Dual-Core-Android-4-2-Smart-TV-Box-Media-Player-1080P-Wifi-HDMI-/161822842416?hash=item25ad649e30
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Android-4-4-Smart-TV-BOX-XBMC-Fully-Loaded-Quad-Core-32GB-WIFI-1080P-HDMI-Media-/131601165924?hash=item1ea40a6e64

Interesting read, Thanks for the link.

What about if I bought a flashlight with Cree on everything but with an LED clearly marked as Latticebright?

Nice find Muto. Thanks for posting.

E-bay is certainly not what it used to be. They used to actually care about legitimate US sellers but their current policies are anything but US friendly. As a US seller you are at a disadvantage each and every time as compared with one from China. It’s a double standard that is turning e-bay into nothing more than an on-line outlet store for China and as such you take the good with the bad. They will take care of you as a buyer if you complain loudly enough and often enough. However as a US seller you have zero protection against fraud from buyers (yes there is a ton of fraud from buyers). They have also given perks and protections to sellers from China no matter if they are honest or not. This is creating a situation where the better sellers have left or are on their way out. It encourages fraud and discourages honest sellers from the US or from anywhere for that matter. Until e-bay starts to care more about honest sellers than it does dishonest ones I will find other ways to do business if at all possible. Too bad really.

I got sick of Ebay’s $#!+ long ago. I won’t buy there any more unless it’s the last resort or a giveaway price. Paypal ain’t as bad but since they are part of Ebay’s holdings, the same thing now goes for them- only when I have no other choice.

With the huge rise in Chinese fake everything, they won’t be able to sustain the ‘destroy-not-return’ policy for long. My guess is that they will soon change to having it shipped to them registered and insured by special Gov’t permission for them to verify and destroy. By then it won’t be worth the cost on cheaper stuff, and who’s to say how well they will judge that? Legally, “Latticebright” can use the “Cree” name, so they might not think it the fake it really is!

I don’t even think about returns going to to China, way too costly with a high risk of ‘loss in transit’. That’s what trash cans are made for.

Live and learn, then stand by your principles.

Phil

To be honest, I don’t think buying things on ebay are that bad, even if they are from China. You just need to have correct expectations. Yes, there are a lot of items that are not real once. If you want them to be real, you should expect to pay for more. Of course, such practices are morally in correct. I don’t understand why “Legally, “Latticebright” can use the “Cree” name, so they might not think it the fake it really is!” If it is indeed true, the sellers are even not at fault. Can we still complaint about that in such cases? After all, the rule is still: you get what you pay for.
A few things I won’t by from Ebay are “large capacity” USB drives and high capacity Li-Ion rechargeable batteries.
Shipping from Ebay is very reliable and fast to me lately. In rare occasions I didn’t receiver product. It was always very quickly resolved either by directly contacting the seller or through ebay. So far my experience with GB is much much worse. If only from shipping point of view, I am 10 times more confident about Ebay than GB, from my experience.