Paypal dispute. likelihood of success? fake shoes. (GRRRRR!)

Ok so i was browsing ebay for a pair of shoes. found a sweet deal on some nike's...went to "buy it now" but ebay said there was an issue with the auction and i should contact the seller directly. so i do. i say i tried to bid on your auction: blah blah blah but said it wouldnt work. he apologizes for the mix up and sends me an invoice through paypal.

i pay him immediately. receive the shoes in the mail a few days later.

I open the box and at first im highly suspicious when i see dents and creases in shoe (smashed them into a box smaller than they should have been in obviously). Upon further review im 99% sure these are fakes. most of the details are accurate but the material is god awful. its really thin...putting on the shoe feels like im wearing a box on my foot...its so light and flimsy. not a characteristic of true nike shoes (at least not the ones i own).

i have to say they are pretty good fakes but i refuse to accept these flimsy ass AF1's.

on top of the fact i suspect they are fakes by the thin/flimsyness of the material...they at the very least were not completely new (dirt on the side of the shoe where it says "air" on the bottom) plus the dents/creases.

i opened a claim and the seller says he'll give me an exchange (yeah...another fake) but wont give me a refund.


whats the chances i can get my $$$ back? they are pretty good fakes so idk if i can convince anyone @ paypal they are not authentic. i'd like my cash back but idk how likely it is.


anyone have any info for the situation so i dont get stuck with really expensive fake shoes?

I bought fake perfume on eBay once, told it was genuine. Ms Kitty figured it out as soon as it arrived, she says "this shit is fake, it smells like gasoline". We reported it to eBay and PayPal and we received a refund in about 4 days. We didnt even have to ship the perfume back (We kept the bottle, why not!). But, also at this time, the seller's eBay feedback was declining, from all positive to "SOLD ME FAKE SHIT". If OTHERS think they are fake too, and have reported, I dont suspect you'll have any problems.

Usually, if eBay themselves close the auction, they also tell you that completing it is at your own risk. However, thats true for eBay, PayPal still offers you transactional purchase protection on top of eBay. But remember next time if eBay closed the auction, it was probably for a good reason.

lll second what RK said.

I'll third it!

AF1's come with a certificate of authenticity. If it is not there, they are fakes.

thanks for the advice but ebay didnt close the auction. it was open but as i tried to complete the transaction it said, "there is a problem processing your request. please contact the seller directly" it was basically trying to say something on the auction was setup incorrectly by the ebay seller. so i contacted them (the seller).

the particular seller i got it from is USA based so i figured it must be legit (they also have 100% positive feedback rating) however upon receiving these shoes and suspecting them as being fakes i poked around on ebay and found several accounts selling the same thing (these shoes) with the same location (city and state) some had 100%...some had less than that...some complained but most were happy.

if these shoes arrived without dents/creases in the shoes i may not have looked at them so closely but when you slide ur foot in the shoe you can feel its not authentic. it feels like you're wearing a box on your foot. its not as comforting as you'd expect an 80-100 dollar pair of shoes to be. while ive never owned this particular model im confident in saying they aren't authentic even though most of the details are on point from what ive seen comparing it to other pics of the shoe online and what others say to look for to spot it as fake or real.

fakes do get better and better as time goes on but the insert in the shoe helped me determine it was fake. 1st the insert was glued in like i was told it would be (according to others accounts of it being fake). i pulled it out of the shoe and sure enough the insert is flat as hell (no padding what so ever in the heel) it looks like a generic insert with the nike logo printed on. it just doesn't seem authentic to me so id rather not get stuck with a shoe that wears out in 2 weeks and then im out the money and the shoes lol.

im just wondering how difficult it will be to prove my case. i opened the dispute immediately within an hour of receiving the package.

TheChosen said:

AF1's come with a certificate of authenticity. If it is not there, they are fakes.

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Pffft. Please. I'll print you a certificate of authenticity. You dont think that if they learned how to make decently fake shoes that they cant operate a printer?

TheChosen said:

AF1's come with a certificate of authenticity. If it is not there, they are fakes.

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what else are tale tale sign?

mine does have the "stars" on the bottom towards the top and bottom of the shoe (supposed to be an authentic trait)

what first got me suspicious besides the flimsyness of the shoe was the shoe lace medallion at the bottom the shoe says "AF1 82" or something similar but no other markings on the shoe (nor the box) indicate its the 82' version other than the medallion and the paper inside the box that was wrapped around the shoes.

the insert in the shoe says "NIKE *nike logo* AIR" and "AIR FORCE I" underneath that logo.

the shoe has decent padding around the ankles and back of the heel but where the side of your feet goes theres no padding...just the inside of outter portion of the shoe. if that makes sense.

the holes in the top of the shoe (forget what its called) seem accurate from the pics and real af1s ive seen. the pattern/number of holes seem ok. the stitching doesn't seem too bad at all (usually its the easy way to tell) but these didnt have many errors. i found maybe 2 errors total. but i assume thats more than enough errors for nikes as the 1's i own (not af1's) have ZERO stitching errors

what really has my bullshit detector going off is the part where the shoe is connected to the bottom (top where your toes are to where the bottom of the shoe is and it says "AIR" on the back left/right side of the shoe.) if you look closely you can see a slight shinyness like when snails leave trails all along the part where the top/upper sides of the shoe are connected to the bottom rim where the "AIR" is written on the bottom left/right of the shoe.

maybe pics would help but idk how that will help you tell as the errors r very subtle and if i wore them walking down the street im sure many people would never know the difference (dont worry i refuse to rock fake shoes...lol)

how about the comfort of the AF'1s? correct me if im wrong but aren't they of above average durability?

^^^ The paragraph you just wrote post #8 is what you want to tell PayPal.

researchkitty said:

Pffft. Please. I'll print you a certificate of authenticity. You dont think that if they learned how to make decently fake shoes that they cant operate a printer?

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i didnt get a certificate of authenticity.

i only went through with the transaction because it was through paypal. i was skeptical from the jump but since paypal offers buyer protection im assuming they will be more on my side than the sellers (thats been my experience when ive been on the seller side of paypal disputes)

Bring it to a shoe store that's knowledgeable and have them write a statement. Personally I would suggest you wait till paypal contacts you. They'll let you know what they need and how to proceed.

if anyone can take pics of the inside of their AF1's and insert (pic of the insert and the inside of the shoe without it in there) it would help me? or any detailed pics of authentic AF1's so i can double check to make sure its fake?

im almost certain its fake or these were used and cleaned up someone how or something...something just doesn't seem right.

Gastanker said:

Bring it to a shoe store that's knowledgeable and have them write a statement. Personally I would suggest you wait till paypal contacts you. They'll let you know what they need and how to proceed.

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thanks thats a good tip as well. i gotta admit though...i'll be kind of embarrassed to go into a shoe store and ask if my shoes are real...especially if they are not. lol

themanwiththeplan said:

thanks thats a good tip as well. i gotta admit though...i'll be kind of embarrassed to go into a shoe store and ask if my shoes are real...especially if they are not. lol

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Shouldn't be embarrassed for being the possible victim of a scam... Just tell them the circumstances and they should understand. I'm not big into shoes but I always get the impression that it's almost a way of life for some of those guys; I have a feeling they would be very empathetic.

Gastanker said:

Shouldn't be embarrassed for being the possible victim of a scam... Just tell them the circumstances and they should understand. I'm not big into shoes but I always get the impression that it's almost a way of life for some of those guys; I have a feeling they would be very empathetic.

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ok thanks. ill try to swing by a footlocker or something on my way to work today.

in the meantime if anyone has detailed pics of authentic AF1's (especially the low version) then id be more than happy to see them.

ill try and get pics of the shoes so you guys can see for yourselves

researchkitty said:

Pffft. Please. I'll print you a certificate of authenticity. You dont think that if they learned how to make decently fake shoes that they cant operate a printer?

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That's not the point, if it didn't come with the certificate then they are fakes. I'm not saying that a knock-off shoe company can't produce the certificates, but they're not on normal paper so it's not as if you're going to laserjet that shit.

Either way he said he didn't get one, fakes.

TheChosen said:

That's not the point, if it didn't come with the certificate then they are fakes. I'm not saying that a knock-off shoe company can't produce the certificates, but they're not on normal paper so it's not as if you're going to laserjet that shit.

Either way he said he didn't get one, fakes.

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figured. i gotta admit though...if the guy wasn't so cheap on mailing them in box that was wayy too small for the shoe box (you could tell there was something big stuffed in the middle of an oddly narrow box) i might not have caught on so quickly. they came with dents and creases in the shoe...if they came looking 100% solid i might have actually not noticed till it was too late.

ive seen some fakes and you can tell very quickly they are fake but others (like this pair) were given lots of detail. all the holes in the shoe are dead on accurate...the zig zaging holes the laces go through is 100% on point...the nike logos are pretty damn good as well. has the "swoosh" on BOTH sides of the shoe, etc. the big give away was the quality of materials used. if they would have used something a lil more durable then it would probably fool a lot of people.



I wont stop using ebay for shoes and either should anyone else...i mean they do have paypal so as long as you're willing to take the time to look into the shoe's authenticity (like i did/am doing) then you can't really get screwed.

Here's my rules for shopping on ebay.

1. buy from top rated sellers only
2. Buy it Now only.

Use those filters, then go shopping. Never never buy from a regular seller, always make sure they are top rated because they have a reputation on the line that they must maintain so I know they will not fuck me around. And Buy It Now gives clarity that the seller is comfortable with his own price and ready to sell the product instead of dodgy auctioners.

lol my own brother sold me a pair of fake air forces but after like 2 weeks of wearing them they start to fal apart

Did you murk that trick?