to refuse an eBay seller's request for me to send them item back

[CoolToned]

because the postage should be shouldered by the seller (as per eBay rules)?

I am returning an item because it does not seem authentic. Seller swears its authentic. In hindsight, yes, there is no way the item will be authentic at the price I got but I just thought it was one of those unbelievable bargains.

A word or warning about paypal disputes for fake goods- you will probably have to have the goods authenticated as fake by the manufacturer. I'm not sure if ebay require this- probably not, but it worth bearing in mind because you can only do one or the other, you can't open a dispute on ebay and then go to paypal or vice versa.

im an ebay shop owner - just open up a return and when it asks for reason, you select not as described. Ebay will deduct the postage cost from the sellers account when you post the item. Plus it's fully tracked so they can't deny they have received :)

Ah, cross posted, sorry. Good news about the label.
She has to refund your whole original payment, by law if she's a business seller. That's true in almost all cases regardless of the reason for the return.

I had an argument with eBay once about a counterfeit item I purchased. The seller wanted me to send it back, I refused as it's illegal to knowingly send counterfeit goods, I ended up getting a call from eBay and discussing it with them, that the seller had broken the law and I wasn't willing to do so too. They agreed and gave me a full refund immediately and told me to dispose of the item.

Definitely worth actually speaking to eBay. The seller will want the goods back to sell on again to someone who won't notice, at your cost.

Rarely is it a good idea to report an item as counterfeit on eBay because the onus is always on you to prove it.
eBay will require written proof on headed paper and manufacturers don't really want to do that because you bought from eBay and not them.
The only up side to gaining this information is that eBay will not insist on the fake item being returned.

If you have this issue in future it's best to claim for an 'item not as described'. A fake isn't as described, but saves you jumping the hoops of gaining proof. This way the seller is obliged to provide a return label.

I can see it from both sides. Unscrupulous buyers could claim the £180 Ugg boots they just purchased were fake so as so get a refund. If eBay simply took the buyer at their word it would be chaos.

if its done through ebay you will get the full amount back. Some people do take advantage though - i get the odd return where they say the item is damaged and when it comes back it's fine, they just didn't want to pay for the postage!

Have you opened an actual case? If not you will need to do this to get the option to print off a free returns label. If there isn't the option to do this then contact eBay who will provide one, but you have to open a bit as described case.

Rarely is it a good idea to report an item as counterfeit on eBay because the onus is always on you to prove it.
eBay will require written proof on headed paper and manufacturers don't really want to do that because you bought from eBay and not them.

I don't know how often eBay do this anymore - I got 8 fake items recently, in the same order from the same seller, but had to raise separate claims for all of them. I wrote the reasons I believed they were fake, and that I didn't want to return them via the post as it is illegal to post fakes. I did ask the brand if they'd provide proof of them being fake - they asked me to email photos. eBay got the seller to refund and didn't request proof. I didn't have to refund them - although the seller did leave a "No matter what eBay says you better return these" message.

It makes things a lot easier for buyers, but it does mean they can claim something is fake based on gut feeling and keep both the item and their refund. Sellers could lose out badly.

I'd say that I'm interested in seeing how it plays out, but I'm unlikely to buy much from eBay again - they dealt with it well but getting fakes is frustrating.

sisters you don't need proof when opening a case and requesting a refund upon return.

However IF you provide proof, then you usually won't have to return. eBay will just instruct you to destroy the counterfeit item.

Threaten them with negative feedback.
I usually find that makes them bend over backwards as nobody wants bad feedback.

don't threaten feedback they can report you for it.

Just open a case, say it's not as described and wait for a response.

You should get your refund including postage.

The seller probably has a case but EBay won't see it like that as they are 99% pro-buyer and 1% pro-seller in my experience. I've lost track of the number of times over the years I've had to reimburse a buyer for the cost of returning an item when there was nothing wrong with it.