EBAY help (re: fraud)

[sleepyhead]

Has anyone in here had any experience with Ebay's "Fraud Protection Program"? How complicated is the process? I just recently (and i am embarrassed to say) bid and won a "guaranteed authentic or your money back" LV bag from one seller and bag turned out to be a fake. I paid $400 for it and am hoping to recover at least part of price paid.

Also, the seller sent me a forged LV store receipt. Can the seller get sued for that???

[Showtime]

Ask passwird, he's, among other things, the ebay expert here.

good luck,

-jel:halo:

[irwin]

What the heck? No I'm not. I'm the one who got scammed out of $60 remember? :P

[brain]

What payment method did you use? If you used a credit card, you should be able to dispute the charges. However, you must ship the item back to the seller with signature required. Otherwise, they'll deny your claim. LV is actually pretty good on weeding out counterfeit products. But apparently, this counterfeit was just that good that LV couldn't tell it was fake. At any rate, contact the seller initially to let him/her know what's going on. Hopefully it'll get resolved. As for eBay's fraud program, that will only protect you up to $200.

[sleepyhead]

UNfortunately i was stupid enough to pay with money order - the seller did not accept paypal. I emailed the seller at least 10 times already, with no reply. Other ebayers who purchased from her didn't get a response either. I've given LV all the info, including the bag, to send to headquarters in nyc for investigation. I asked the LV store manager if she knew what headquarters does with the stuff. she didn't know (or maybe she couldn't tell me). Oh well, we'll see what happens. thanks brain.

[brain]

Originally posted by sleepyhead
UNfortunately i was stupid enough to pay with money order - the seller did not accept paypal. I emailed the seller at least 10 times already, with no reply. Other ebayers who purchased from her didn't get a response either. I've given LV all the info, including the bag, to send to headquarters in nyc for investigation. I asked the LV store manager if she knew what headquarters does with the stuff. she didn't know (or maybe she couldn't tell me). Oh well, we'll see what happens. thanks brain.

Dang... So LV confiscated the bag? That's horrible. Maybe you'll get really lucky and LV will feel bad for you and provide you with a replacement. Just wishful thinking... But for future eBay auctions, try to stay away from sellers that accept money order/cashier's check only. This is especially true if they have low feedback.

[sleepyhead]

thank you for your replies.

LV store manager asked if headquarters can borrow the bag for investigation. She said I'll have it back in a week, not that that's important anyway because i have no use for it.

yep, I am keeping my fingers crossed that LV will give me a replacement.. haha.. i highly doubt it.

i think LV is more concerned about the forged receipt than the fake bag. the receipt looked VERY real...

[brain]

Hopefully eBay Fraud Protection will be able to help out a little bit. Their maximum coverage is $200 (Minus a $25 deductible). I suppose that is better than nothing.

[coleslaw]

Pardon the ignorance, but what is LV? :hmm:

[sleepyhead]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=951031717&rd=1

several of "us" left her positive feedback, too... we finally realized what fools we were... sigh...

[Pinkgirl36]

that sucks, one of dopeys co workers has the same thing happen on a hat but from a different person, I really don't think that there is much that you can do...

[brain]

Geez. That bag looks freaking real. Definitely not like one of those $30 knockoffs available at your local swap meet.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

even though its a counterfeit, LV has no right to confiscate your bag. its not illegal to own or buy counterfeit stuff, its illegal to sell or make it. chances are that you will get your bag back or if LV wants it for something, you will be compensated for it.

[gear02]

How did you figure out it was a fake?

Can you scan the receipt for us? I'm just curious how good this forgery is.

[sleepyhead]

i don't have a scanner to scan the receipt (LV has the fake original, i have a copy), but it pretty much looks the same except the paper is slightly smoother (LV receipt paper is similar to bond paper) and the fonts and ink color are diff. (the forged version is printed in blue ink, lv uses black)

When I first brought the bag to LV, the asst mgr told me it was real... then two weeks later, I started getting emails from several other ebayers who purchased from the same seller... I decided to bring the bag back to LV for a second authentication. This time the manager looked at it and told me it was an imitation.

ideally, i wish LV would just keep the bag and compensate me for it... :D

[CynJon]

Did you see the idiot seller's response to the negative feedback left by ssaw?

Response by lenow35 - i think the LV is too luxury for you, if you are not ready don't bid!!!

Yeah, good comeback...:pfft:

edit: Damn DF, you beat me to it...

[CynJon]

Originally posted by DarkFury
I also noticed that she's listed all of her auctions as "private"... so that people can't look back and see what other folks bought or what folks had bid....

This is a TRULY SNEAKY seller... :2far:

All the classic signs...(in hindsight of course...:( )

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! WARNING!

[hang10wannabe]

yea dude that sucks... its just one of the occasions where u wish u knew were those people lived so u could go and whoop their asses like in "jay and silent bob strike back"... o that would be sweet... :rolleyes:

[brainsmile]

you should be able to get some of it back

[Tse How]

About a year ago, I was frauded out of $750 for a digital camcorder I bought on ebay. The merchandise never came, despite multiple promises. Thing is, it looked good. Guy had good feedback, accepted paypal, personal checks, and money order. I naturally, paid through paypal with my credit card. This guy even called me multiple times to explain things to me. Basically, his 3rd party supplier has been "a little slow." Anyways, I get an mass email sent to me by some guy one day, and it had a list of about 80 people. Apparantly all 80 of them were waiting on their merchandise. Some people filed joint lawsuits against this guy, even though this guy was being courteous, he refused to own up to it just cause he didn't think it was his responsbility, and his supplier's instead. Anyways, another guy reported it to FOX who's branch in texas or something was right next to his house. Those who paid by CC through paypal were fortunate (me), others....well, I don't know how that faired but there were several court dates designated. In the end, as a result of the fox story, the 3rd party supplier was arrested. I don't know whats up with our seller though.

Basically, if you want to know what to do, file with ebay, get that part of your money back. Then file a lawsuit or hire a personal investigator (as cheap as 50 bucks to get a name exact location and contact info). It all depends on how serious this is to you. For most people, its just the money issue. For a few that i've corresponded with in my situation, they don't care about the $1000 they dropped--they're willing to drop $500 more just to put the dickhead behind bars.