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

[hc4361]

Go to My Ebay, Purchases, Purchase history and there will be at least 3 years of your buying history to print off.

[jimmy1969]

thanks i will do that now

[ojread2]

I would think it does matter what TRS seller you bought them from. You can't just choose a random seller and blame them, you need the seller you used - check your feedback to find them

TS will already know about sellers on eBay, believe me

[ojread2]

In purchase history you'll need to click archive

[jimmy1969]

hi, i have done that but most of the sellers i bought from no longer have accounts!! please someone help me with some power sellers or some sellers in uk please

[EvianBaby]

I don't buy that you had no idea they were fake. And now you're trying to worm your way out of it by reporting people that you have had no dealings with.

Why don't you just be honest in your interview?

[hc4361]

Giving TS names of random power sellers won't help. They need to know who you bought from.

[furrypusscat]

Can't you print off a copy of the relevant purchases made on ebay. Doesn't it give you their names etc. Surely this is your proof of purchase. Don't do 'ebay' so don't really know whether this would be useful to take to your hearing or maybe I am completely wrong.

[hc4361]

And take proof of your purchase from that Chinese website too

[jimmy1969]

i am not a liar and i didnt know they were fake, i never expected any of this what happened and didnt know i was doing anything wrong, i never kept reciepts etc cos i didnt think i ever neede to, it wasnt a business, it was 1 day every other week selling jewelery cos i had no job, and me and my partner made beaded jewelry as a hobbie then decided to sell it, we only sold the other stuff cos it was cheap and it brought more people round to our stall, sometimes i didnt make any money at all on the other jewelery sometimes i made maybe 50p per item, sometimes i took a loss, i have cocked up yes not keeping info etc and thats why i am asking for help!

[themas]

You've already been told what to do. Print out the list of your purchases from your e-bay account & take that with you to the interview. Do not try to compound your mistakes by attempting to blame other e-bay sellers that you haven't bought from.

You are far more likely to get into deeper trouble if you try to lie your way out than if you tell the truth.

[JimmyCooper]

All I know is that the police couldn't give a toss, neither could ebay and as for HMRC getting involved keep taking the tablets.

I got dawn raided and the house searched for 2 hours and the police or trading standards didn't report it to revenue and customs. They honestly cannot be bothered.

Stop panicking, take your ebay purchase history with you, say your sorry and you wont to it again.

I bet you don't even get fined.

[hc4361]

This gives an idea of the penalties - some of these cases are for selling fake jewellery:
http://www.tradingsta...S-pros.htm#Community4

http://www.northyorks....aspx?articleid=11143

http://www.royalgreen...eceives_real_sentence

[furrypusscat]

How did you get on yesterday. Are their enquiries still ongoing or has it reached a conclusion.

[jimmy1969]

i went for formal interview , i think it went well i was honest , gave them names of some suppliers, showed them i only made a quid or so on each item, they said they have to let their boss listen to the recorded interview and he will decide and let me know, the guys who interviewed me were alright, they said they are going to recommend i get a simple caution but dont know whats going to happen yet

[furrypusscat]

Sounds though it went okay. Fingers crossed then. It always pays to be as honest as you can be. You have to have a good memory if you start telling porkies and try pulling wool over their eyes.

[JimmyCooper]

Ignore HC's scaremongering.

You will get a trading standards caution which will probably will be for 3 years and then gets lost. There is no record of it on a CRB.

They have much bigger fish to fry