Suspect my new purchase may be fake!

[HerefordBullyun]

1 minute ago, kerrste said:

Looks like Elvis has left the building...Hope you get it sorted without too much hassle

ouch......

[Ben999]

If he's done one does that mean I'll struggle to get me money back?

That's a bit worrying.

[kerrste]

No - I don't think it affects your ebay guarantee. He may even have have had his account suspended / terminated by ebay. 

[Ben999]

I've taken screenshots of the purchase, so gives me some evidence to supply to ebay.

 

[HerefordBullyun]

6 minutes ago, Ben999 said:

If he's done one does that mean I'll struggle to get me money back?

That's a bit worrying.

Id be contacting your credit card company asap, as you probably been subkect to fraud and potentially on 2 counts. 

1. if he has your credit card details, but presumably you went through pay pal... if he does have your CC details or you suspect let them know and you may need to get your card changed for cloning purposes.

2. your purchase should be insured by virtue of the CC - but again it depends on your CC terms and conditions.

Id contact your credit card company 1st asap  and then paypal they should refund you if you used them. 

[Ben999]

I'll give my CC company a heads up just in case. Hopefully ebay will rectify the situation. 

If nothing else it's been a learning curve. 

Assumimg I get my money refunded then It also means I have a free silver plated bar to compare other purchases against. 

 

[HerefordBullyun]

I have and wont buy PMs or expensive articles from ebay, some people do here - but for me its far too much heart ache and hassle and this story indicates me more that Im right not to do so.

To me its madness and heartache a headache

[HerefordBullyun]

And to go as far to say I would rather ram a jam jar of angry wasps up my bottom than chance buying PM's from ebay!

[Darr3nG]

1 minute ago, HerefordBullyun said:

ram a jam

Ooooh! (Black) Betty!  

[pooley]

Sorry to hear that Ben, I also do not buy anything expensive from fleabay, hope you do get your money back..  

[TommyTwoShots]

45 minutes ago, HerefordBullyun said:

Id be contacting your credit card company asap, as you probably been subkect to fraud and potentially on 2 counts. 

1. if he has your credit card details, but presumably you went through pay pal... if he does have your CC details or you suspect let them know and you may need to get your card changed for cloning purposes.

2. your purchase should be insured by virtue of the CC - but again it depends on your CC terms and conditions.

Id contact your credit card company 1st asap  and then paypal they should refund you if you used them. 

Section 75 is only above 100 pounds sadly 😔

[HerefordBullyun]

2 minutes ago, TommyTwoShots said:

Section 75 is only above 100 pounds sadly 😔

that is a right bummer then!

[Fifer]

4 hours ago, dicker said:

Just to add - most of the best purchases I have made have come from the forum.

(Best = well described, well photographed, well priced).  Never had a problem with any of the purchases on TSF.

Best

Dicker

Agreed! Well informed and friendly community as well! Every days a school day here! Love it 

[KPW82]

You'll get your money back through Ebay buyer protection. You also won't need to return it as it's counterfeit goods, they will probably ask you to destroy it (up to you what you do with it) 

[Ben999]

I'll just have to sit tight for now as I can't take it any further until the 22nd.

If nothing else I've learned how to spot fake silver, so every cloud has a silver lining, as did the my purchase 

I'll probably just keep it as a momento. 

[HerefordBullyun]

30 minutes ago, Ben999 said:

I'll just have to sit tight for now as I can't take it any further until the 22nd.

If nothing else I've learned how to spot fake silver, so every cloud has a silver lining, as did the my purchase 

I'll probably just keep it as a momento. 

fair one make a nice doorstop if you grind the end into a wedge  - Hope you get sorted mate!

[Pete]

Ebay buyer protection will refund you in full and as other have said they will likely not require you to return the fake item.
If you keep it, it would be interesting for you to measure the dimensions of the bar and compare to a real silver bar of the identical brand.
Chances are it will be thicker but can you see any difference ?
This would be useful information to share.
Also you never want to get it mixed up with genuine bars and forget it is fake, so why not drill a hole in a corner and see what colour of metal is inside and also share this for others to learn.

[LawrenceChard]

21 hours ago, Ben999 said:

I know I'm new to collecting silver but I think this may be a fake 🤔

I've had a niggling feeling ever since I hit buy. I bought it from a very well known auction site!

Time to try and get my money back!

 

 

When I first glanced at your post, and saw "I bought it from a very well known auction site!", my reaction was "if you bought it on ebay, then it will be a fake".

Of course, that would be wrong, as it might have been from a different auction site, and of course, people do sell some genuine items on ebay, but...

I do not trust ebay itself. It is full of grandiose statements such as

"Keeping eBay safe and building trust
Trust and safety are at the heart of all successful relationships and transactions, and are principles that we hold dear. The eBay Money Back Guarantee  and eBay Premium Service programmes have been designed to create an environment where people can shop with confidence. Alongside this we've put in place processes for dealing with counterfeits whilst working in close partnership with law enforcement agencies and the Industry Trust."

But if you spend just a few minutes browsing almost any category, you will find multiple examples which  are likely frauds, and many more with misleading descriptions.

Looking for your seller, who I note is "no longer registered", I tried a search for "silver bar", and found this listing:

It is the same make as yours, and probably came from the same Chinese fakes factory, and you can probably buy them direct from China for about £1 to £2 each.

The listing shows the seller had at least 145, and they are priced at £8.18 each for 4 or more. The same seller also lists similar fake Johnson Matthey bars at the same price.

You might think this listing is Ok because the seller says "plated", so his listing is not fraudulent or misleading, but:

The bars are counterfeits, and as such it is almost certainly illegal to sell or advertise them for sale, in the UK or most other countries, yet ebay are happy for them to be listed on their site.

If you reported them to ebay as counterfeits, I bet that ebay would send you its typical canned response that... "it takes trust and safety very seriously"... "for confidentiality reasons, it cannot tell you what action it takes, or the outcome, etc", and if you look in a week or so, you will find the same seller, selling the same c**p, and paying ebay the same fees.

If ebay actually policed its site proactively for fakes and fraudsters, it would probably lose half its listings, and half its income instantly. It is simply not in ebay's interest to clean up its site, so it is not likely to happen any time soon.

Of course, when it has to issued refunds (and you have to follow the exact procedure", then it is likely to close the seller's account, but I am sure many sellers simply open another account in a different name.

Getting back to your case, I hope you do get your refund, please update your post with your experience, as I think everyone will be interested.

A few members have already commented asking if it was ebay, and the listing number. I also wonder how much you paid for it, and what the listing said, so a screenshot would have been interesting, and I would always recommend including as much detail as possible in any forum posting.

I was going to look for one of our company's pages about fakes on ebay, but I started by doing a Google search for "fakes on ebay" (without the commas). I thoroughly recommend trying it. It might keep you entertained for hours. The very first result, as Google snippet reads:

What is the policy? Counterfeit products are illegal and not allowed on eBay. Examples include: Fakes, copies, or replicas of brand name items (for example, a shoe with the Nike name or logo that wasn't made by Nike).

Which is a prime example of ebay propaganda.

You will find about 4 million results, including some like "How to sell fakes on eBay and get away with it".

 

 

[Ben999]

Hi,

I ended up paying £29 plus postage for the item, so it wasn't a price that was too good to be true.

Not sure why but I had a gut feeling something wasn't right after I'd won it.

The item description can be found on the attachment.

I'll happily measure it, but don't have anything more advance than an old fashioned a ruler I'm afraid. 

I will also drill a hole in it to see what's inside, as I would like to know as well. 

Curiously it's not magnetic on the surfaces just on the edges.

More information to follow......

 

 

 

[Wampum]

This chap has been having a field day,and probably not the only listings he has. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scottsdale-2X1-Oz-Silver-Bullion-Bar-Coin-Ingot-/384058277870?hash=item596ba83fee%3Ag%3AZ0gAAOSwi9Zf38Ii&nma=true&si=V82fh33Pzk8oc699Lofmu6%2BbBo8%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ebay should cover you as your Bar is fake ,

however not sure if you are covered with CC for transactions as monies are transferred to PayPal first,

then to seller so Paypal is actually classed as the Agency so you are not then covered under Section 75, no matter how much the transaction is worth.

This might need further research, however if you use Paypal for any part at all they are then part of the payment chain, and the transaction from buyer to seller has been broke, and won't be covered.

THIS is just from what I understand so will need a little more investigating. 

            

[MickB]

22 minutes ago, Wampum said:

This chap has been having a field day,and probably not the only listings he has. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scottsdale-2X1-Oz-Silver-Bullion-Bar-Coin-Ingot-/384058277870?hash=item596ba83fee%3Ag%3AZ0gAAOSwi9Zf38Ii&nma=true&si=V82fh33Pzk8oc699Lofmu6%2BbBo8%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ebay should cover you as your Bar is fake ,

however not sure if you are covered with CC for transactions as monies are transferred to PayPal first,

then to seller so Paypal is actually classed as the Agency so you are not then covered under Section 75, no matter how much the transaction is worth.

This might need further research, however if you use Paypal for any part at all they are then part of the payment chain, and the transaction from buyer to seller has been broke, and won't be covered.

THIS is just from what I understand so will need a little more investigating. 

            

These are not English sterling silver but American .999 plate silver. Sold as such.

With a feedback of only 26 and adds the above line in there to cover himself, this should stand out a mile. I bet ebay won't refund the buyer their £67 plus postage

Also, looking at the sellers feedback for previous items, they've pulled this stunt a few times.

[dicker]

A reminder of this site - I have linked directly to this type of counterfeit.

Best

Dicker

https://www.fakebullion.com/index.php/component/k2/item/9-pan-american-1-ounce-silver-bar

[TutoredSoup232]

18 hours ago, MickB said:

These are not English sterling silver but American .999 plate silver. Sold as such.

With a feedback of only 26 and adds the above line in there to cover himself, this should stand out a mile. I bet ebay won't refund the buyer their £67 plus postage

Also, looking at the sellers feedback for previous items, they've pulled this stunt a few times.

They might do, i know ebay doesn't take too kindly to misleading listings. And its very clear from his post that he's deliberately trying to mislead, even put in the description some nonsense about silver prices on the rise. I reckon this person could get a refund