The marketplace sided with the seller. The claim was denied, the refund is gone, and the message reads like a final answer. It is not. A denied claim is a first draft, and the appeal is where most counterfeit refunds are actually won, because the first review is often done by a system that saw a delivery confirmation and nothing else.
The first decision was probably automated. A tracking number that shows delivered, a seller with a long history, a claim filed without photographs attached: the system sees a delivered item and closes the case. The appeal is read by a person, or at least by a process that looks at the evidence, and the evidence is what changes the outcome. The appeal is not a second complaint. It is the first time anyone has actually looked at the item.
Lead with the one fact that decides it: the item is counterfeit. Not damaged, not late, not the wrong color. Counterfeit. Then attach the evidence pack, in order: the listing as it appeared when you bought it, the photographs of the item against the listing's claims, the serial number or authentication markers that do not match, and the shipping label. Name the specific differences. The stitching count is wrong. The hardware is stamped, not engraved. The serial number format does not match the brand's format for that year. Vague claims lose. Specific differences win.
Cite the guarantee by name. Amazon's A-to-z Guarantee covers items that are not as described, and a counterfeit is not the item described. eBay's Money Back Guarantee covers items that are not authentic. Quote the listing's own words back at it: authentic, genuine, original, and then show the photographs that prove otherwise. The appeal is an argument, and the argument is that the listing lied.
File a chargeback with your bank, and attach the marketplace claim, the appeal, and the evidence pack. The bank is a second venue, and it does not defer to the marketplace's decision. A chargeback for a counterfeit item is strong, and the bank's standard is whether you received what you paid for, not whether the marketplace's system was satisfied. File it promptly, and keep every message. The paper trail is the case.
Report the seller as well, even now. A seller who wins a denied claim and keeps selling is a seller the platform has not looked at yet. The report is what gets the human review that the claim never had.
Keep reading: Chargebacks for Counterfeit Purchases: What Your Bank Actually Covers, Counterfeit Refund Timelines: How Long Each Marketplace Takes, and The Authorised Seller List: Checking Before You Buy cover the nearby cases in this series.
The first review is often automated. A tracking number that shows delivered, a seller with a long history, or a claim filed without photographs attached all read as a delivered item to the system. The appeal is where a person actually looks at the evidence.
Lead with the one fact that decides it: the item is counterfeit. Then the evidence pack in order: the listing, the photographs, the serial number or authentication markers that do not match, and the shipping label. Name the specific differences.
Amazon's A-to-z Guarantee covers items that are not as described, and a counterfeit is not the item described. eBay's Money Back Guarantee covers items that are not authentic. Cite the guarantee by name in the appeal.
File a chargeback with your bank, attaching the marketplace claim, the appeal, and the evidence pack. The bank's standard is whether you received what you paid for, not whether the marketplace's system was satisfied.