The item has to be a replica, It does not have to be from China, but it has to be a replica item.
It's pretty easy to find a replica, the price will be considerably cheaper than the real item, and will be from locations such as Manchester, London, Birmingham, Taiwan. They will also use stock images rather than images they have taken themselves.
Popular replica item and brands are:
Mitchell and Ness Snapback
Boy London Sweatshirt
Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt
Trukfit Snapback
Obviously there are tons more, just use your common sense to work out if its replica or not.
When you have found the item you want, simply buy it. I always use PayPal as it is considerably easy to get your money back.
Then wait until the package arrives. I buy replicas from UK (my country) as it only takes a couple of days to arrive.
Once you receive it, politely message the seller saying that you think the item you received is counterfeit after comparing it to one you purchased from a shop, and you are going to get it evaluated from a specialist. Also suggest they check their stock to see if the rest are authentic.
They will reply with ''Sorry, must be a problem with supplier, send it back and we will refund you''.
You then reply with, I have sent it off to a specialist to get it evaluated, I will message you when I know if it is definitely counterfeit.
Then simply wait a day or two, and message them back.
''I have got the item back and it is in fact counterfeit, I would have a word with your supplier''
This is where you Google the differences between real and fake versions of the item you just purchased, and then point these out to the seller.
For example a Mitchell and Ness snapback.
''The inner stitching is not the colour of a authentic snapback, the T is not sitting above the I, and the labels have wrong information, did you know they were fake when you purchased them?''
Again, they will reply ''So sorry, we didn't know they were fake, please send back and we will refund you''.
Now you just reply with, ''I can't send them back, it is illegal to ship counterfeit goods they are meant to be destroyed, and I don't want to break the law, You can pick it up yourself, but I do not want to ship it, otherwise I can destroy it myself.''
They should now issue you a refund, and you keep the item.
If they don't issue you a refund, which has never happened to me, I have a 100% success rate.
Just make up some bullshit about taking it to the police. Or just open a PayPal case, item not as described/fake.
eBay/PayPal will ask you to send it back at first, then the buyer will have to prove it is authentic, or you will have to prove its fake.
Again, never happened to me, but just go into a shop and let them write a letter that is is fake, or just write one yourself, or photoshop one.
Don't threaten the seller though, sympathize with him, most of them will shit themselves anyway, they care too much about keeping their eBay account, or risking getting banned.
