Buyer falsely claims item is fake to force a return
Buyers sometimes falsely claim items are not genuine to force a return out of buyer's remorse, leaving sellers struggling to get platforms to acknowledge they acted in good faith. Conversely, buyers dealing with bad transactions face terrifying situations like being provided fraudulent customs forms and low valuation labels for expensive custom items, risking heavy fines and prosecution for customs fraud if they return the product.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1retesting the item to prove authenticityDid this help you?
- 2Bypassing Etsy to do a credit card chargebackDid this help you?
- 3Keeping the item without shipping it back if Etsy already issued a refundDid this help you?
- 4Gather supporting documentation from the manufacturer and prepare for a potential chargebackDid this help you?
- 5Accept the return, deduct shipping costs and a restock fee, and block the customerDid this help you?
- 6Accept the return and refund to avoid a chargeback, then block the customerDid this help you?
- 7Refusing to participate or stopping work for the clientDid this help you?
- 8Finding a new jobDid this help you?
- 9Playing dumb and following direct instructionsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Bought a custom ring, ring arrives way late and it's objectively terrible. Seller refuses to honor their refund policy, Etsy steps in and rules in my favor. They provide a return shipping label to another country with the dollar amount as $100 and tariff code for imitation jewelry. It was listed for $3600, I paid $2,173. If I ship this back to them, I get fined and possibly prosecuted for customs fraud. WTF is happening?”source ↗
“The owner wants me to code personal things such as personal subscriptions as meals and entertainment deduction.”source ↗
“They had me code their pelaton subscription as a transportation so they can deduct that.”source ↗
“They told me if I couldn’t figure out anything just code it in something where we can fully deduct.”source ↗
“A first time customer is requesting a return on an item because they’re claiming I sold them a fake item (which cannot be true since I received it directly from the incumbent company).”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Seller refusing refund for AI-generated item not disclosed in listing
- 2How to know if an energy auditor is wrong
- 9Competitors filing false copyright claims to remove my listings
- 3How to stop fake orders on cheap digital products
- 5Seller gave me a fake tracking number with a thank you card
- 4Why is my passport flagged as stolen?