My first purchase on eBay was a scarf for my mother's Christmas present. I couldn't afford the real thing so I thought naively I could get one on eBay that was used and therefore less expensive. Please don't tell me how foolish I am, I already know! The scarf arrived and it is lightweight, it feels nasty like polyester, the hems are machined and not even rolled, there is no detail in the print and it is printed in only 6 colors/shades. I emailed the seller who did not answer my email for 48 hours so I opened a paypal dispute, being very anxious to get my money back. The seller immediately replied, calling me names. I apologized and asked to mail the scarf back for a refund. No answer again for 48 hours. I sent another email saying that I wanted to avoid a paypal communication because it had upset her so much, but I would do so if I did not hear by 36 hours from my second message. Another immediate response, I was called more names and various conditions were set for the items return. I handed the matter over to a family member who is an attorney as the insults were beginning to upset me. The lawyer sent a firm, but polite email asking the seller to pay for the return shipping and refund the money. The seller accused me of not wanting to return the scarf (sooo untrue, it is hideous) and escalated to a paypal claim. Now, paypal wants me to provide a certificate showing inauthenticity. Aside from the imposibility of proving a negative, can any of you suggest who might be willing to state the obvious about this scarf on official letterhead? All suggestions gratefully received.
Ouch. Maybe you can bring it to a Hermes boutique...or somewhere that sells Hermes. Sorry i am not familiar with Hermes products.
Did you pay for the item with a credit card? If so, open a dispute with them if you are unable to get anywhere with a Hermes boutique. On a separate note, if the seller was verbally abusive toward you, notify eBay and forward the emails to them. I bet they will side with you for a refund after that. If you do send the scarf back, make sure to send it with some sort of signature confirmation so the seller can't say she didn't receive it.
There is a website All Thing Hermes with many Hermes scarf experts there. Just post a message on that board and ask someone to help - they are all very friendly, I remember one member on that board helped write a letter to eBay for another member and Paypal closed the case in the buyer's favor. Hope this helps and good luck! eBay is not all about fakes and scammers, as with any other market, it's a Buyer Beware thing and you just need to be more careful to avoid this sort of thing in future. Check out the seller's feedback, ask lots of questions, ask for more pics, or ask members here for help. You need to do your homework before buying online - anywhere - if you can't see or touch the items in person.
Thank you all for your kind advice. I paid by cc, but I don't want paypal to get ticked off at me if I cancel payment. Paypal has suggested that they will refund the cost of the item, but then I would get stuck with postage both ways which seems unfair as it is not my fault the item is a fake. I do very much agree that the burden should be on the seller to prove authenticity. I will check out the above Hermes website.
Most of the time you will not get postage back and forth back, even if the item is fake and it was not your fault at all. I think if you at least get the cost of the scarf back, you are doing well. Then chalk it up to a very hard learning experience. You are very lucky you paid thru Paypal. I bought an expensive item thru bankwire transfer and the seller turned out to be a crook too so I was out the money plus the postage. Another tough learning experience... but I will never do that again. Be very careful next time. EBay has turned very ugly and it is a shame as it used to be fun. You are lucky you found The Purse Forum. Fauve
Also, leave her a negative ASAP, saying that the scarf is obviously a poor fake and that the seller was unresponsive, then abusive and refused to refund postage. This will not only warn future buyers, it may also encourage her to refund you for the scarf and the postage, in the hope that you will remove the negative (which you shouldn't do, of course).
First of all, don't dispair since you were very smart to pay by credit card. The same thing happened to me on Ebay and here's how I resolved the matter satisfactorily: First I notified the seller I was returning the scarf because it was counterfeit and she obviously misrepresented it in her auction. I paid no attention to her nasty emails, but immediately called American Express, which being very familiar with ebay scams, ....halted payment, put the item in dispute, and resolved the matter with ebay and paypal in my favor. Take photos of the scarf before you return it and keep a copy of the return postage receipt (send it back registered, return receipt requested so you have confirmation the seller got the scarf back). You will need this kind of proof in case your credit card company requests it. Anyway, since I refuse to pay for counterfeit goods or their shipment, AMEX made sure I never paid the seller a penny for the scarf or the seller's shipping costs. However, there was no way to avoid my having to pay for the return shipping charges, but that was peanuts really.
