Ebay - Paypal Counterfeit memory cards are being sold on ebay and they wont do anything about it even when multiple people report it to them ripoff Internet
I purchased a 4gb sony pro duo memory card off ebay paying with paypal off the seller: ememoryliquidator. The memory card was a counterfeit bootleg. I have confirmed this both by going through the steps described on how to tell if it's fake and also by calling Sony tech support and having them tell me the serial number is counterfeit.
I have brought this to both Ebay and Paypal's attention. Neither of them did anything to stop the seller, he is still selling counterfeit goods. Looking at the sellers feedback you can clearly see I am not the only one who he has sold fake memory to. He has at least 10 negative feedbacks that directly state he sells fakes, and i'm sure the he would have allot more if people were informed enough to spot when they get a fake (most people do not know about the high number of counterfeit memory on ebay and just assume the real memory works as badly as what they receive)
This seller sells over 1000 items a month, it seems as though they would rather people get fake goods than lose all the illegal money they make of their percent from him. Selling counterfeit goods is a felony! Making a cut of the profit of counterfeit goods is also a felony!! Ebay, Paypal, and the seller are all breaking the law! You could say that ebay cant be held responsible for every fake good sold on their site, however once it has been brought to their attention and they still do nothing about it even after getting message after message about it for months, it is safe to say they are aware that the law is being broken and dont care.
Ebay has a mentality that it is above the law. Steps need to be taken to insure these counterfeit memory card rackets are shut down, but they wont make an effort.
Pete
Wood-Ridge, New Jersey
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Anonymous
San Jose,California,
U.S.A.
eBay Employee responds
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, September 03, 2007
Hi Pete,
eBay actually removes memory cards if the VeRO report is filed by the company that owns the trademark. When eBay members report it for infringement, it has to have enough criteria in which to remove it, otherwise the VeRO member has to report it. If you want to speed up the process you can actually contact the VeRO member and save them the footwork of looking for it. You may have actually done this by contacting Sony about it.
If you want to avoid buying a counterfeit:
Always make sure that the photo is of the item being sold, check the other sellers items to see if they have reused the photo.
Check against a local retail store price for items of the same capacity. Counterfeits, as far as we know are either compressed or modified in a old process known as remarking. A compressed memory card is rubbish, as the data people store on cards, photos, mp3s and such are already compressed and will not compress further.
Excessive shipping (EMS), Sellers from China can be identified since they always sell things EMS. Not all Chinese sellers are bad, but the fact that they won't give you the option of a slower cheaper mailing option is a red flag.
If the seller reuses the same photo and is selling the item for half the retail price or below the shipping price, it is more than likely fake, and all the authentication guides written by eBay members mention the same thing.
If you have paid by PayPal, you should be able to claim an Item Significantly Not As Described, you will likely have to send the item to PayPal for them to payout on it. Just make sure you went through the Checkout and didn't pay them directly. The seller will be advised that they will be chargedback, and since they are already suspended, it is likely that that no funds are available to be recovered.
I can not garantee that Paypal will payout if the seller has been suspended. Once a seller is suspended for non-performance it is usually too late and the money is gone. This is a bigger problem with out of country sellers so this is why the cross border trade policy limits selling to between only certain countries.
As an important tip, when paying by paypal, make sure that the seller you are buying from actually shows the 'paypal protection', sellers with less than 98% feedback are only covered up to 400 dollars.
Phoneguy955
Brooklyn,New York,
U.S.A.
fake memory
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, August 29, 2007
I would be willing to bet that 90% of the 'OEM' memory on eBay is counterfeit.
Edward
Miami,Florida,
U.S.A.
That seller is "No longer a registered user"
#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, August 15, 2007
I checked out the sellers ID and it now says
No longer a registered user
So I guess that means Ebay kicked him out