Trading standards advice

[jimmy1969]

after waiting over 6 weeks for trading standards to get back to me about the jewelery that i was selling on carboot sale (counterfeit) but i didnt know, finally the trading standards officer phoned me the other day and said he wanted me to go in for a formal interview next week!! he said it will be straight forward questions like :- where did i buy the jewelry, and what checks did i do to find out if the jewelry was fake or not???, to be honest the only checks i did was cos i bought them through ebay, i just checked feedback and they were power sellers, and i thought ebay covered against fakes? i didnt do any other checks cos i didnt know about fakes i just bought the jewelery cheap and sold it cheap!, what i need to know is what is the best way to handle the interview, what checks can i tell them i did, how can i convince them that i am telling the truth about not knowing they were fakes? i will give them my suppliers names etc.
I would appreciate some advice from someone who might of been in this position before and tell me what to expect at interview and what likely outcome would be please?
thanks

[EDDIE51]

Just tell them the truth , you bought them in good faith from a well established ebay seller. I can not see this going further than a verbal warning.

[Everhelpful]

Do as Eddie says,otherwise you might dig yourself into a deeper bit of trouble.

[rowanwitch]

Its the sellers they really want...

[JimmyCooper]

Just give them the details, the worst thing that will happen is you will get a trading standards caution. If I remember rightly you hadn't sold the goods on ebay so they havent got an audit trail. Just say you bought them in good faith off a powerseller on ebay and that you had only been selling them on the day you got caught.

I would be amazed if you got a fine so dont worry about it

[jimmy1969]

they already know i had sold them for 3 sundays before xmas and 3 sundays after xmas at carboot sale, in the letter they sent me says bring any reciepts you have and paperwork, would it be better for me to give them addresses of my suppliers etc?, also it says on 1st april they made a test purchase from me, then they visited my stall the same day, i dont remember them saying they made a test purchase from me, as far as i know they were just browsing round the carboot sale and saw me, showed me ther id and seized my goods

[jimmy1969]

sorry also it says i will be under caution at the interview(doesnt say nothing about police being there)and if i wan a solicitor there i can (do you think i should get a solicitor?)

[furrypusscat]

I would imagine Trading Standards are like Dept of Works & Pensions, doesn't have to be a police matter to be interviewed under caution. They will be able to prosecute if sufficient evidence. I would hope it wouldn't come to that and you just receive a caution at most. Re solicitor, not sure what I would do. It may be a good idea to have someone with you that knows the law. You could have a word with Citizens Advice.

[JimmyCooper]

No need for a solicitor just tell them you had bought them in good faith, you are really really sorry and you wont do it again.

If it was serious they would have had you straight in. The police wont get involved

[EcclesCake]

Without wanting to pour cold water on this....

Can you explain how you went about searching for jewellery you wanted to sell?

If you can't convincingly answer this question you could find yourself in trouble.

[jimmy1969]

my partner and i made our own beaded jewelry , e'g. Beaded watches, necklaces, bracelets etc etc then people started asking for watches for boys e.g toy story, ben 10 etc and asking for little girls watches e.g. betty boop, hello kitty etc so i looked on ebay and saw some and bought them, then we looked on ebay to see what other jewelry they had to put a bit of variety on our stall and saw some of the pandora , tiffany,links etc etc and they were like £5.99 each so we bought some of each and sold them for £7.99 each and the sold ok but cos we had more variety of jewelry on our stall more people came round for a look and bought more of our handmade beaded jewelry so we bought more why it was cheap and sold it cheap

[themas]

You may well be asked what you knew about the true cost of this jewellery (I know nothing about it, but assume that if it was genuine it would have a much higher price). You say it was cheap so presumably you had a pretty good idea of the real price. The next question could be, if you had that pretty good idea why did you think this stuff was genuine?

I think you might well find this is not all that easy - a solicitor might be a good idea, despite the cost.

[furrypusscat]

I believe if you go to Citizens Advice, they will put you in touch with a solicitor who will give half an hours free legal advice. It may well be worth considering.

[jimmy1969]

hi, just to add here is a seller that used to be on ebay then got their own website and i purchased stuff from them in good faith, check it out www.angel2028.com please have a look and tell me if it is any good giving this web address to trading standards its just 1 of many!, also t.s are asking for reciepts of the stuff i bought, i never kept them cos i wasnt a proper stall holder etc it was just a carboot sale

[hc4361]

If you buy to sell (whether fake or not); or make to sell you are trading - makes no difference to the outlet being a carboot, a shop or the internet. You should have informed the Inland Revenue and kept proper paperwork.

I have looked at that link. Alarm bells ring very loudly when I can see no address, not even a phone number. It is obvious those goods are all fake. Where did they come from - the UK?

[hc4361]

I just found the 'about' button and it is all in Chinese, so they are obviously sent direct from China.

[JimmyCooper]

Take no notice from people who don't know what they are on about. You are worrying unnecessarily this isn't the crime of the century.

Go along to TS say your sorry (not having any previous record will be a bonus here). The worst you will get is a TS caution which will disappear from their records after 3 years and does not show anywhere else. You may get a fine but this may not happen as TS will find it hard to establish the exact amount that you sold.

I sold counterfeit items on Ebay got dawn raided by TS and the Police, the police weren't bothered and TS fined me £920 although they new that over £6000 had gone through my paypal account. Ebay took no action against me and because my feedback for the items i sold was all positive Ebay made me a pwerseller!

Just say you bought them off a powerseller on Ebay (give TS their details) as say that because they were a trusted seller on ebay you thought they were okay and you won't be doing it again and have learnt your lesson.

Ignore the advice for a solicitor - it will look better for you if you don't take one and as for the CAB I wouldn't bother. It takes 6 weeks to get an appointment with them where I live.

[EDDIE51]

This in NOT going to get a prosecution , as I have said the very worst will be a warning. Ebay power sellers are supposed to be very safe and checked for countrefiet goods.

[themas]

JimmyCooper - what you have said sounds to me rather like an admission that you knew all along the goods were fakes. If so, isn't it getting quite near the boundary of fraudulent trading?

EDDIE - JimmyCooper's post seems to indicate the e-Bay system - whatever it is - isn't working properly.

You may both be perfectly correct & jimmy1969 will just get rapped over the knuckles. However, if it is investigated in detail he may well - as my previous post indicates - have some difficult questions to answer & is likely to be put in a position where he has to admit he knew the goods were fakes when he sold them. If he doesn't get any legal advice I think the very least he must do is to co-operate fully & give all the information about the people he bought from etc.

[ojread2]

Oh please, anyone who buys from a web site selling Pandora bracelets for £3.99 and Dior sunnies for £8.99 knows they are fakes, and to say otherwise is foolhardy at best

It's not just TS I'd worry about, HMRC will want to know as well - buying to sell is running a business, so I imagine you broke more laws there too.

[jimmy1969]

hi, i was wondering if someone could do me a big favor and look on ebay etc and tell me some names and addresses of some power sellers that sell fake jewlery e.g. pandora, thomas sabo, tiffany, gift boxes, glass beads stamped pandora, snake chains stamped pandora or even ready made bracelets stamped, i am having problems finding the info i had on the power sellers i purchased my items from!!, and i have to goto formal interview with t.s on wednesday, the sellers could be uk or foreign doesnt matter... please help me please thanks