Hello there,

I am an honest eBay seller and have been selling for several years now.
All my products are sure to be authentic as they were purchased from the designers boutiques, department stores, and the US outlets.

Recently, one of my customer told me that my business was named selling fakes here in the Purse Forum by a TPFer. (The same TPFer has also authenticated my products previously.) I am not sure how he/she comes up with the comment.

This hurts my business and it is libel.

Should I ask him/her directly for reasons and proofs? What should I do now?

Any advices, comments, suggestions are fully appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by Love_Couture

Hello there, I am an honest eBay seller and have been selling for several years now. All my products are sure to be authentic as they were purchased from the designers boutiques, department stores, and the US outlets. Recently, one of my customer told me that my business was named selling fakes here in the Purse Forum by a TPFer. (The same TPFer has also authenticated my products previously.) I am not sure how he/she comes up with the comment. This hurts my business and it is libel. Should I ask him/her directly for reasons and proofs? What should I do now? Any advices, comments, suggestions are fully appreciated. Thanks in advance!

If you dont believe the authentication, then pay for another opinion. It's not libel; it's an opinion. YOU are hurting your own business by posting this in several places that have a common denominator: the authenticators you are attempting to malign. You are only drawing attention to the fact that someone felt the bag was not authentic.

But, what if that person was correct?

Originally Posted by Phred

If you dont believe the authentication, then pay for another opinion. It's not libel; it's an opinion. YOU are hurting your own business by posting this in several places that have a common denominator: the authenticators you are attempting to malign. You are only drawing attention to the fact that someone felt the bag was not authentic. But, what if that person was correct?

Thank you very much for your reply.

As far as I know, the person never states my products are fakes but somehow he/she commented "They have definitely sold fakes previously..." I have no ideas what, when, why, and how?

What should I do?

Originally Posted by Love_Couture

Thank you very much for your reply. As far as I know, the person never states my products are fakes but somehow he/she commented "They have definitely sold fakes previously..." I have no ideas what, when, why, and how? What should I do?

Maybe PM the person that made that comment and ask them why they stated that. I think keeping this private between the 2 of you might be best for now.

I would definitely contact the person and want to know what exactly was the item

and why she thought it was not authentic...

And do agree, that this is between the two of you...

Originally Posted by MarneeB

Maybe PM the person that made that comment and ask them why they stated that. I think keeping this private between the 2 of you might be best for now.

I agree. Either you were mistaken on authenticity or perhaps they have you confused with someone else.

Either way, a knock-out, drag out online isn't productive---> most people here genuinely want to help keep fakes off. If you can pinpoint if & when there was a questionable, it would be very helpful for you.

I can see why you are upset as it must be very frustrating to have someone slander your business ethics (directly or indirectly) and items without specific proof supplied for the basis for the accusation, especially since you say you run your business honestly and have only bought from certified department stores/outlets.

I agree that at this stage it may be counter-productive to make this too public, it also makes you look over-defensive, but I would PM the person as another poster suggested and ask that if any future statements are made publicly about the authenticity of your items they are referred to specifically (rather than an ambiguous 'this seller has previously sold fakes') and a reason is given as to why they are not believed to be genuine. You can then take appropriate action if you feel that the claim is not valid.

A blanket statement such as the one this person has made is extremely damaging and is bound to put potential buyers off, so you definitely need to get to the bottom of what this person is claiming.

Originally Posted by Onebagtoomany

I can see why you are upset as it must be very frustrating to have someone slander your business ethics (directly or indirectly) and items without specific proof supplied for the basis for the accusation, especially since you say you run your business honestly and have only bought from certified department stores/outlets. I agree that at this stage it may be counter-productive to make this too public, it also makes you look over-defensive, but I would PM the person as another poster suggested and ask that if any future statements are made publicly about the authenticity of your items they are referred to specifically (rather than an ambiguous 'this seller has previously sold fakes') and a reason is given as to why they are not believed to be genuine. You can then take appropriate action if you feel that the claim is not valid. A blanket statement such as the one this person has made is extremely damaging and is bound to put potential buyers off, so you definitely need to get to the bottom of what this person is claiming.

Thank you all for very supportive comments. I am now drafting a PM to this person. I will be as objective as I can. It is somehow difficult as this is not referring to a specific item.

I have no idea of either party concerned, but I would definitely ask them in the PM to
BE specific, so that you can fairly address the issue. It is hard to defend nefarious "something sometime" claims. I wish you good luck.

I found this thread to be very informative.
I have personally found fakes o the shelf at two major dept. stores. Customers had returned them as the real thing and uneducated sales people put them back on the floor.
Handling this by PM would probably be best.

Originally Posted by Love_Couture

Hello there, I am an honest eBay seller and have been selling for several years now. All my products are sure to be authentic as they were purchased from the designers boutiques, department stores, and the US outlets. Recently, one of my customer told me that my business was named selling fakes here in the Purse Forum by a TPFer. (The same TPFer has also authenticated my products previously.) I am not sure how he/she comes up with the comment. This hurts my business and it is libel. Should I ask him/her directly for reasons and proofs? What should I do now? Any advices, comments, suggestions are fully appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Perhaps she's just talking about when you did an authentication request where you yourself said that your buyer was saying your item was a fake." She may have just been repeating that she saw that. That's not really libel. Technically, she was correct, except that you were the one who said it. When you said that your buyer said your item was fake - that is the same thing as that you business was named as selling a fake. She's just repeating what you said.

I seriously do not want to get into more details about this and would like to take appropriate actions and move on.

Again, she never says any of my items are fake. It is the board comment "They have definitely sold fakes previously..." that is questionable.

Originally Posted by Murphy47

I found this thread to be very informative. I have personally found fakes o the shelf at two major dept. stores. Customers had returned them as the real thing and uneducated sales people put them back on the floor. Handling this by PM would probably be best.

This is actually an interesting and educational topic, maybe we can start another thread for this.

I am very careful when purchasing high end designers items at department stores that have loose return policy. I only purchase items from my known experienced SA and would ask them about the history of an item. I usually do not purchase a returned item. But if I really need to, I would ask my SA details about the previous buyer. If anything sounds suspicious, I will not buy.

Any other thoughts on this?

Originally Posted by Love_Couture

This is actually an interesting and educational topic, maybe we can start another thread for this. I am very careful when purchasing high end designers items at department stores that have loose return policy. I only purchase items from my known experienced SA and would ask them about the history of an item. I usually do not purchase a returned item. But if I really need to, I would ask my SA details about the previous buyer. If anything sounds suspicious, I will not buy. Any other thoughts on this?

There are actually a few other threads with this, some having to do with specific stores, if you want to do some searching through this forum. Though I think the instances of this happening are relatively rare (esp. compared to the number of goods sold overall).

Originally Posted by Love_Couture

This is actually an interesting and educational topic, maybe we can start another thread for this. I am very careful when purchasing high end designers items at department stores that have loose return policy. I only purchase items from my known experienced SA and would ask them about the history of an item. I usually do not purchase a returned item. But if I really need to, I would ask my SA details about the previous buyer. If anything sounds suspicious, I will not buy. Any other thoughts on this?

In my experience, SAs are there to sell, not authenticate. Nor would they know a real vs a fake if it bit them. I've heard many stories of fakes being purchased at high end stores because the person receiving the return just takes the item without question. Receipts can be faked, tags can be faked.

As always, it's buyer beware EVERYWHERE.