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finglonger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 18, 2007
6
0
Hi all,

Infrequent poster, so apologies, but I thought this would be the best place to ask. I recently bought a Milanese band off of an eBay seller that he said was 100% genuine Apple original in his advert. I paid around £80. The seller had 100% feedback at the time, was UK-based, had sold other Apple stuff (magic mice) and the photos looked legit and the price about right for a 2nd-hand band, so it seemed like a fair deal.

It took 2 weeks to arrive even though the ad stated 3 days, and in that time he also started selling Chinese knock-offs and his seller rating for other items plummeted, so that set the alarm bells started ringing.

When the item arrived, it came loose in an envelope with no box and looked not just used but fairly worn. Then I noticed at the end where the strap joins the metal 'tag' it was attached wonkily. I'm 99% sure Apple wouldn't ever sell something this poorly finished, but I've never seen a real Milanese loop in the wild so don't have any comparison to the rest of the strap. Could a Milanese loop owner let me know if anything else here (size of links, colour etc) looks like a dead giveaway it's a fake?

I've already opened a return case with eBay stating the item is defective because of the poorly attached end section and submitted photos (more alarm bells - the seller hasn't responded at all after a week), but if I could bolster this by saying I've checked against a real one and it looks like it's a counterfeit for other reasons too, that would help my case no end.

Thanks!
 

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maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
If the watch is not to what was described and it sounds like it isn't. Then raise a dispute with eBay. By their rules, buyers have a lot more leverage then sellers so you should get your monte back.

As you mention you have that process on going, so I don't think you got ripped off as per your thread title.
 
Last edited:

finglonger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 18, 2007
6
0
OK, maybe the title should be "Has this guy tried to rip me off?", but you get the gist. :)
 

Brian Y

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2012
3,776
1,064
You're correct, that's not a genuine milanese loop strap. It's a bad chinese clone which is probably worth about $25 from alibaba.
 

broadbean

macrumors 6502a
Jun 10, 2007
780
327
I don't think any of the copies have the same number of strands across. If you looked up reviews with clear close-up shots of the original Milanese Loop, compare the number with yours. I think you'll find the copies have two or three fewer.

Your photos do seem to support your suspicion it doesn't look like Apple quality.
 

superpopsss

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2014
104
25
Do you see made in china and 42mm engraved on the adapters that slide into the watch?

Like so :

84443e52c4492e732b9b6e81aaf2327a.jpg


61a5eb49a93e94f0edfc80409722eb31.jpg
 

finglonger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 18, 2007
6
0
No I don't have those, so a *definite* fake - thanks very much, this will be very useful!
 
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