We understand your concern about the possibility of receiving a counterfeit book from your seller. We are here to assist you in resolving this issue.
As a arbitrage seller, it is important to avoid and prevent counterfeit goods within the industry. By actively participating in the efforts to combat counterfeit goods, we contribute to maintaining the authenticity and value of the books keeping the prices intact. Additionally, a firm stance against counterfeit books helps protect all of our client reputations and that of the broader book arbitrage community, fostering a trustworthy and reliable marketplace for both buyers and sellers.
Therefore is essential that we all advocate for the authenticity and quality of the products, thereby safeguarding all of our interests and the integrity of the industry as a whole.
This is why EasyBookPrep advocates and will eventually require all of our clients to adopt and implement the Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices, which are designed to eliminate counterfeit textbooks from the marketplace. More information can be found by clicking here.
We are currently training and creating a culture that recognizes “counterfeit textbooks” through out our Book Prep organization and adding the appropriate steps and processes to help our clients easily implement Anti-Counterfeiting Best Practices. We are moving as quickly as we can and we are already flagging items as we are able to identify them. We are working with the forces at be and are moving to accomplish this as quickly as we can, but the Publishers do not move as fast as we would like.
First and foremost, we recommend that you start reading the "Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices" and learn how the publishers want us to proceed and you need to decide how you want to handle these items. There are still some unanswered questions but will get them answered while we implement these Best Practices into our process.
We want everyone to follow these guidelines, as we find it is the best and really only option for our clients and our prep Center to protect all of our interests moving forward.
No matter how you choose to handle the possible counterfeit, either as per the recommended guidelines, send to the Publisher for review (normally taking between 5-14 days upon receipt of the book) or through a normal quality return you should document your process!
Document the Process: Keep records of all communication with the seller, the publisher, and any relevant documentation related to the purchase, shipment of the book, refund requests, and any claims or chargeback filings.
How we determine that items are potentially a counterfeit?
To start we take the identification of counterfeit items very seriously and are very detailed with our review. We take a lot of factors into consideration to determine if the item is authentic or potentially not. Including:
Scanning artifacts, print quality, quality of the book, print methodology, Type of print tech, hinges, binding, bleed, and other Technical and comparative reviews to determine if the item is probably a counterfeit. We also, when possible, compare to an exemplar item from the publishers.
We are working directly with the Publishers and implementing a anticounterfeiting culture & practices and will soon be finishing our training with the Publishers anticounterfeiting professionals to continue our detection of possible counterfeits.
But keep in mind that Only the Publishers can confirm if the item is a counterfeit or not, and some people even question their ability to do so.
Contacting the Seller/Marketplace about these items
Think about how you want to communicate with the seller of this item, they may be just like you trying to sell books to make some money and they do not know that they have sent a possible counterfeit.
If you sent potential counterfeits for Publisher review I recommend that you wait until it is confirmed that it is a counterfeit or not. (Just note that it is currently taking a long time to get the publishers to respond.)
So we do NOT recommend you to say "you sent us a counterfeit book", for a couple of reasons, it puts them on the defensive and the marketplace bots could automatically cancel their selling rights, close their accounts, etc... and we would not want anyone to do this to our account.
Please craft a message where you do raise concerns about the source/validity of the item and ask them or tell them how you would want them to help you resolve your concern/issue. The message will also change depending if you are going to direct us to sent it to the publisher for Review or just get rid of the potential problem item and get a refund.
Do not be reckless to just get this item taken care of, a book might be counterfeit or not, but your message may be a trigger to shutdown another sellers business. This is why we are so cautious, because if we let one of these through it might be your account that gets a counterfeit claim and we do not want this either.
Be sure to request a refund if your getting near the end of the seller refund period to lockin the refund process if necessary.
Tell the Prep Center what you want us to do with your Item.
Send to Publisher for Verification
the process will depend on how each publisher wants to deal with the particular situation. All Publishers will require all of the purchase information if the item has been determined a counterfeit. We will do our best to keep you up-to-date through the process.
The publisher may request you to send the physical item to them, we are looking for ways to reduce this event and lower the costs as much as possible as they expect you to bear this expense.
Once the counterfeit has been verified or you decided to just return the item, Get your money Back!
Request a Refund: If the seller may offer a full or partial refund to resolve the issue.
if your unable to get Refund, File a Claim with the Marketplace: Many marketplaces have buyer protection policies in place to address such issues.
Consider a Chargeback: If the above steps do not result in a satisfactory resolution, you may consider filing a chargeback with your credit card issuer.
Return to Source
Same process as any return, you provide the Pre-Paid label we ship the book.
In addition to addressing the current issue, we also want to help you avoid similar situations in the future. Here are some tips to consider when purchasing used books:
Research the Seller: Before making a purchase, take the time to research the seller’s reputation and reviews from other buyers. Look for sellers with a history of positive feedback and reliable customer service.
Look for signs in the Condition Description. Things that say "This is actually a new book, but It is being sold as Used." and other things that are too good to be true
Send a message to the sellers stating that your expecting the exact items described, any alternate editions or knock-offs or copies will be identified, returned and if necessary reported. Bad actors or any one that does not trust their sourcing should cancel the order.
We hope that these steps and recommendations will help you address the current situation and make informed decisions when purchasing books in the future.
As we fully define and implement the "Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices" we will provide you with more detailed information.
If your ready to adopt and implement these Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices, Contact us. and we will get you started!
If you require further assistance or have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks,
Easy Book Prep
