Let me start by saying I am not sure if this is the appropriate section to choose. I will now go into precise details on my situation.
I bought a Louis Vuitton speedy 30 monogram Bag about a year ago. The bag was never used and kept in pristine condition, air seal tight. I have the original packaging. including LV box, LV Shopping bag, LV leather ribbon that comes with box, The price tag, card and care booklet. I put it up for auction along with a LV catalog and LV envelope I added to the auction.
My listing was for 5 days with no returns (as I come to notice the no return policy is clearly a joke) and my auction clearly stated "Please ask questions prior to bidding"
A user wins my auction on DEC 20 and then after auction ends it starts like this...The user contacts me "can you add signature confirmation, I could pay extra if so" I then reply no worries I will handle it on my side as signature confirmation is not expensive at all. And the user won my auction at $705.00 +19.99 Shipping. (shipping and signature confirmation was a total of $44.00) for a box that was about 20x22 and 7 pounds via USPS priority 2 day mail.
I then ship the bag here is the USPS tracking info
Acceptance, December 21, 2011, 11:30 am, NEW YORK, NY 10034
After 2 days on DEC 22 while bag is already in shipping progress and will be arriving the next day to the buyer as seen here in tracking:
Arrival at Post Office, December 23, 2011, 3:22 am, KIRKLAND, WA 98033
The buyer contacts me " I know the bag is in transit right now and won't be here for a few days. I am hoping to give it as a gift but before I do, I want to get it checked out. So I have to pay a third party to authentic the bag. Please know, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the bag. Just to be able to give as a gift, I need have it checked so I have the piece of mind. The company reviewed the pics in the eBay add and were not able to get enough info. Can you pull in closer on the full bag layout pic so I can read the makers mark on the tag on the side of the bag? Also, the date stamp for the inside of the bag it not shown. Did you happen to capture that in one of your shots you could pull in closer on?"
I stop and think is this a joke? I don't even have the bag in my possession anymore & the tracking clearly states it will arrive in the next 20 hours or so. Now what I do is, I reply to the buyer:
"I can most certainly help you out by sending the original layout picture/s that are sized 640x480 in 49.9KB as I can assure you all the pics posted where all the pics I took. I would need an email to send to, if I could have added more pics I would have. As well you can see my listing had 10 pictures and a very detailed description to substantiate my bag is 100000% authentic. As I'm pretty much certain you saw all the other prior listings had 2 or 3 pictures and a little to no description or one based on a website review with no dc/serial listed. I can fully understand you want to endure a peace of mind as if me in your situation would too. But now my question is, why would you not ask me any questions prior to bidding? as stated in my auction..Why after the purchase? I just find it weird now as I'm sure you would too if you where me. As you can see I like to have great communication in order to avoid any mishaps. Regardless I am willing to help you out at any means. That is not a problem what so ever."
From here on I am already suspicious and know what is about to come, As simple as a deceiving buyer trying to get off on a free Louis vuitton bag. As I am fairly new to selling with 17 Feedbacks 100% from selling vuitton, chanel & tory burch..etc and buyer has about 80 feedback 100% as well....Now the buyer replies this:
"Hi there ~ Please don't think I have am questioning you. Your added was WONDERFUL and did show amazing photos. I had no worries on bidding. I wanted to own that beautiful bag! Now I have decided that I would like to give it to my daughter for birthday/ Christmas gift. For me to give it as a gift and really feel good about it, I did decide to get it authenticated by a 3rd party. So please know your add and communication have been amazing. The company I am using have requested additional photos. (the date stamp on the inside, markers mark on the zipper) I could have waited until the bag arrived, but thought I would reach out to you to see if you had additional photos I could use to help the process along. If so, that's great, I can finish getting it authenticated and wrap up a picture of it and put it under the Christmas tree. I appreciate your understanding. I truly hope I have not offended you in anyway.personal email: [email protected]"
I then proceeded to send the buyer the original up close detail pictures and reply this:
"I have sent the layout pictures in its original 640x480 size. As well if I'm not mistaken I think the bag should arrive tomorrow if not..the latest by Monday. But in all due reality we could have done all this before the auction ended, when I had the bag in my possession. That's why I explained everything the way I did to you before, after all communication is key & I strive on that main goal. No worries as I am not offended just more concerned because the last thing I want are any complications as I set goals to achieve the best ebay seller ratings as possible. Thank you & please feel free to contact me if any other questions or concerns"
By this message stated above the bag is already in her possession as I then checked tracking. This message is dec Dec-23-11 10:24:33 PM PST.
The bag arrived at:
Your item was delivered at 12:13 pm on December 23, 2011 (Signed by the buyer)
It is now 7 days later since the bag arrived and 9 days since the auction ended. Today the user messages me "Hello - I have just received word that the Speedy 30 bag is NOT authentic. It has been determined that the leather used is not correct nor is the font used in the embossing. I used the service " My Poupette Services" for authentication. I am more than happy to pass along the emails from their customer service dept. I would like to give you a chance to set this correct. How should we proceed? Can I request a refund on this item since it is not a genuine Louis Vuitton bag?"
I did not even get to reply as 5 minutes passed after the message stared above and buyer filed a claim and stated I did not answer the message. I mean seriously? I did not even have time to answer. That message just made it look like I was trying to avoid her/him. So I did what any person in their right state of mind would do to such a deceiving person. I escalated the case. I mean seriously I am in new york city. I even stated in my auction if the winning bidder is local they have the choice to meet me at the louis vuitton store, YES the louis vuitton store itself. I also like to add the buyer chose to get font and leather authenticated. But if so, why not the most important thing...THE DATE CODE STAMP? PRICE TAG? WHICH CLEARY SHOWS A BAR CODE THAT CAN BE TRACED TO THE STAMP CODE. But instead a font? This is beyond cleary a scam. Seriously they can determain leather over a picture? In that case every single FAKE hermes "TOGO" leather bag would be authentic. This user is clearly trying to pull a fast one.
Now this is what I am not going to risk by any means as I feel as if the buyer is going to send back a fake, keep the authentic and get paypal to refund her as I am 100% certain the buyer got a replica to get "picture authenticated" I cleared my PayPal account and left it in $0 balance knowing this transaction was suspicious from when the questions started after the auction not while the auction was live. Now my Paypal is in -$724.99.
I personally called ebay and explain the situation. They later then emailed me asking me for a receipt or proof of authenticity and it's not like I bought the bag last week. Long story short I don't have the receipt and I don't want the buyer to get away with this.
I bought a Louis Vuitton speedy 30 monogram Bag about a year ago. The bag was never used and kept in pristine condition, air seal tight. I have the original packaging. including LV box, LV Shopping bag, LV leather ribbon that comes with box, The price tag, card and care booklet. I put it up for auction along with a LV catalog and LV envelope I added to the auction.
My listing was for 5 days with no returns (as I come to notice the no return policy is clearly a joke) and my auction clearly stated "Please ask questions prior to bidding"
A user wins my auction on DEC 20 and then after auction ends it starts like this...The user contacts me "can you add signature confirmation, I could pay extra if so" I then reply no worries I will handle it on my side as signature confirmation is not expensive at all. And the user won my auction at $705.00 +19.99 Shipping. (shipping and signature confirmation was a total of $44.00) for a box that was about 20x22 and 7 pounds via USPS priority 2 day mail.
I then ship the bag here is the USPS tracking info
Acceptance, December 21, 2011, 11:30 am, NEW YORK, NY 10034
After 2 days on DEC 22 while bag is already in shipping progress and will be arriving the next day to the buyer as seen here in tracking:
Arrival at Post Office, December 23, 2011, 3:22 am, KIRKLAND, WA 98033
The buyer contacts me " I know the bag is in transit right now and won't be here for a few days. I am hoping to give it as a gift but before I do, I want to get it checked out. So I have to pay a third party to authentic the bag. Please know, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the bag. Just to be able to give as a gift, I need have it checked so I have the piece of mind. The company reviewed the pics in the eBay add and were not able to get enough info. Can you pull in closer on the full bag layout pic so I can read the makers mark on the tag on the side of the bag? Also, the date stamp for the inside of the bag it not shown. Did you happen to capture that in one of your shots you could pull in closer on?"
I stop and think is this a joke? I don't even have the bag in my possession anymore & the tracking clearly states it will arrive in the next 20 hours or so. Now what I do is, I reply to the buyer:
"I can most certainly help you out by sending the original layout picture/s that are sized 640x480 in 49.9KB as I can assure you all the pics posted where all the pics I took. I would need an email to send to, if I could have added more pics I would have. As well you can see my listing had 10 pictures and a very detailed description to substantiate my bag is 100000% authentic. As I'm pretty much certain you saw all the other prior listings had 2 or 3 pictures and a little to no description or one based on a website review with no dc/serial listed. I can fully understand you want to endure a peace of mind as if me in your situation would too. But now my question is, why would you not ask me any questions prior to bidding? as stated in my auction..Why after the purchase? I just find it weird now as I'm sure you would too if you where me. As you can see I like to have great communication in order to avoid any mishaps. Regardless I am willing to help you out at any means. That is not a problem what so ever."
From here on I am already suspicious and know what is about to come, As simple as a deceiving buyer trying to get off on a free Louis vuitton bag. As I am fairly new to selling with 17 Feedbacks 100% from selling vuitton, chanel & tory burch..etc and buyer has about 80 feedback 100% as well....Now the buyer replies this:
"Hi there ~ Please don't think I have am questioning you. Your added was WONDERFUL and did show amazing photos. I had no worries on bidding. I wanted to own that beautiful bag! Now I have decided that I would like to give it to my daughter for birthday/ Christmas gift. For me to give it as a gift and really feel good about it, I did decide to get it authenticated by a 3rd party. So please know your add and communication have been amazing. The company I am using have requested additional photos. (the date stamp on the inside, markers mark on the zipper) I could have waited until the bag arrived, but thought I would reach out to you to see if you had additional photos I could use to help the process along. If so, that's great, I can finish getting it authenticated and wrap up a picture of it and put it under the Christmas tree. I appreciate your understanding. I truly hope I have not offended you in anyway.personal email: [email protected]"
I then proceeded to send the buyer the original up close detail pictures and reply this:
"I have sent the layout pictures in its original 640x480 size. As well if I'm not mistaken I think the bag should arrive tomorrow if not..the latest by Monday. But in all due reality we could have done all this before the auction ended, when I had the bag in my possession. That's why I explained everything the way I did to you before, after all communication is key & I strive on that main goal. No worries as I am not offended just more concerned because the last thing I want are any complications as I set goals to achieve the best ebay seller ratings as possible. Thank you & please feel free to contact me if any other questions or concerns"
By this message stated above the bag is already in her possession as I then checked tracking. This message is dec Dec-23-11 10:24:33 PM PST.
The bag arrived at:
Your item was delivered at 12:13 pm on December 23, 2011 (Signed by the buyer)
It is now 7 days later since the bag arrived and 9 days since the auction ended. Today the user messages me "Hello - I have just received word that the Speedy 30 bag is NOT authentic. It has been determined that the leather used is not correct nor is the font used in the embossing. I used the service " My Poupette Services" for authentication. I am more than happy to pass along the emails from their customer service dept. I would like to give you a chance to set this correct. How should we proceed? Can I request a refund on this item since it is not a genuine Louis Vuitton bag?"
I did not even get to reply as 5 minutes passed after the message stared above and buyer filed a claim and stated I did not answer the message. I mean seriously? I did not even have time to answer. That message just made it look like I was trying to avoid her/him. So I did what any person in their right state of mind would do to such a deceiving person. I escalated the case. I mean seriously I am in new york city. I even stated in my auction if the winning bidder is local they have the choice to meet me at the louis vuitton store, YES the louis vuitton store itself. I also like to add the buyer chose to get font and leather authenticated. But if so, why not the most important thing...THE DATE CODE STAMP? PRICE TAG? WHICH CLEARY SHOWS A BAR CODE THAT CAN BE TRACED TO THE STAMP CODE. But instead a font? This is beyond cleary a scam. Seriously they can determain leather over a picture? In that case every single FAKE hermes "TOGO" leather bag would be authentic. This user is clearly trying to pull a fast one.
Now this is what I am not going to risk by any means as I feel as if the buyer is going to send back a fake, keep the authentic and get paypal to refund her as I am 100% certain the buyer got a replica to get "picture authenticated" I cleared my PayPal account and left it in $0 balance knowing this transaction was suspicious from when the questions started after the auction not while the auction was live. Now my Paypal is in -$724.99.
I personally called ebay and explain the situation. They later then emailed me asking me for a receipt or proof of authenticity and it's not like I bought the bag last week. Long story short I don't have the receipt and I don't want the buyer to get away with this.