I was trailing through Ebay for a vintage pair of Levis 501s. The size I was after was rare so I decided to look at mens jeans and found these.
Even by looking at the photo available, I sensed they were fake. The waist was too narrow. For some reason I threw caution to the wind and sent an offer through for £8.50. I figured that even if the jeans were fake, they were so cheap I wouldn't care. That was pretty dumb logic.
My offer was accepted almost straight away and it sent alarm bells ringing. No one would agree to sell genuine Levis for cheaper than the already cheap asking price. I was expecting the seller to at least haggle but no. They must have been fake. I had buyers remorse but paid for the jeans anyway. After doing some research on fake Levis 501s, I sent a message to the seller who denied the jeans were fake.
I knew he was lying but until the jeans arrived, I had no evidence. A few days later I saw them in real life. The seller's comment: "the jeans have too much detail to be fake" couldn't be more laughable. The jeans had plenty of clear signs that they were counterfeit.
Firstly the back label was wrong. Stiff and cardboard-like. You can see the stitching on the label is wonky and there is no imprint of the sizing of the waist and leg. You can see bits of frayed denim of the undersides of the belt loop and top pocket corners.
The button embossed with what should have been the Levi Strauss name was not even legible. I have compared with a genuine garment at the front.
The quality of the stitching and finish is shoddy. Uneven, wide stitched with hanging threads. The stitching on the genuine pair is superb with uniform stitching. Again the genuine article is at the front.
A close up of the loose threads and uneven stitching. Note that one of the seams isn't even straight. These jeans would not have made it past Levis quality control.
And if all those signs weren't damning enough, this was the inside label. Marked size "size 28" but you can't tell in the picture because the label was sewn on creased!
Seeing how badly these jeans were made, I was extremely annoyed with the seller who bold faced lied about the authenticity of the jeans. I only sunk £13.50 on the entire cost but decided to take action. I wrote to the seller and sent pictures, demanding a full refund. I didn't wait for a response and raised a dispute on the purchase through Ebay.
The seller showed no remorse. Only offered a £5 partial refund which I refused. I made a point to say that counterfeit items aren't permitted for sale on Ebay. A day later he approved a full refund "via eCheque" however it was as no surprise when weeks later I got a notification from Paypal to say the refund failed. Again I got Ebay involved and within 48 hours, Ebay Customer Support made a final decision in my favour. They refunded my £13.50 and I donated the jeans to charity.
