Ebay Misadventure: Louis Vuitton Fakes

I have been an Ebay member since January of 2001 and maintained my 100% rating. At first it was fun bidding on little items like handmade jewelry, books, CDs, etc. Then the white and brown Murakami Theda GM came into vogue(at this point I have not been to Asia for almost 3 years and didn’t know that knock-offs abound in the markets!). The handbags up for bid had a guarantee that they were authentic LVs complete with pictures(which I found later out the photos were also stolen). The handbags were not for my personal consumption but I thought that it was a good idea at that time to buy from Ebay and sell it to people that I knew because these bags are normally $2,400 in the LV stores. So I made a bid on a brown one and a white one(there were at least 10 of us bidding on each item) that’s why I thought that I was getting the real thing. The sellers even had a rating of 95% and above. When the packages arrived, I saw the contents were fakes! They weren’t even made of leather nor canvas! I was livid! I contacted the sellers and threatened to report them to Ebay.

Ebay Policy regarding counterfeit items. One seller refunded the cost of item plus shipping as soon as I sent the package back. I used FedEx with signature just to make sure that it didn’t mysteriously get lost. The other seller however refused to refund me $350! She insisted that even if the bag was fake, it looks like the real thing. I didn’t want the junk bag! I told her that she advertised AUTHENTIC LV and that’s what I expected in the mail. I sent her emails and Ebay messages and she just ignored me. I reported her to Ebay after trying to contact her for a month. I opened a dispute and she lied in all her responses. At this point I printed out everything from the ad to the exchange of emails. I contacted Paypal(they weren’t bought buy Ebay yet, I was able to find their deeply hidden phone number) but when I was able to reach them after 30 minutes on hold, they told me that it’s now a process between me and my credit card company! I called American Express and opened a dispute. It took almost 4 months and a whole lot of paperwork(remember the print outs? they were my evidence) for my refund. But at least I was able to return the fake stuff and get my $350 back! My negative feedback and complaint against the seller made Ebay suspend her account. I also reported the seller to Federal Trade Commission for Internet fraud. Oh I darn was serious!

I am still an Ebay fan but I have learned my lesson. There are good well meaning people out there who make Ebay a wonderful ‘place’ to get deals but there are also unscrupulous characaters who pollute it.

Things you should know before going Ebay:

1. Know your rights as a consumer, Ebay member, of your bank or your credit card company.
2. Look at the seller’s rating, I only go for 98% and above. I can tolerate 97% if the seller has sold like 2,000 items.
3. Use Paypal, even if I didn’t like the customer service I received at least I had a paper trail instead of just sending payment through Western Union, personal check or money order and my credit card company helped me facilitate to get my money back.