I have recently purchased some minifigs from Ebay at a low price thinking they were legitimate LEGO but they were counterfeit.

Ebay now wants me to send the figs back but I've read that this is counterfeit in the USA (which I've read it is).

Should I send them back, keep them ($15 spent total), or what else?

Thanks to those who help! :)

It's a fine line... If you're unhappy with your purchase and eBay will back you up, then get your money back and return them. The bigger question is if they're actually counterfeit. Were they explicitly advertised as Lego brand minifigs? Do they say Lego on them, but clearly are not? Most of the knockoff minifig sellers (generally out of Hong Kong or China direct) are very careful not to mention the actual character names or say that they're Lego (but some times go as far as to say they're "like" Lego or Lego-compatible).

Even if they're unlicensed reproductions of licensed characters, they're not (in my non-lawyer opinion) counterfeit enough (what an odd thing to say) to make it any kind of issue with you returning them, especially with a value of $15.

If they're good enough to give you some value and that plus a lesson learned is worth $15, then keep 'em and save your time with the return hassle. :)

If it is a low price, you probably aren't buying real lego. The reverse is true too.

But the above poster is right. They are careful about using the word lego because they know the repercussions.

Edited November 25, 201410 yr by TheLegoDr

I would return them and get a refund. I would also 110% leave a negative feedback that the seller is selling fake items which are duplicates of LEGO products. Just because they omit the LEGO brand, they have copied the design and LEGO brand IP.

If they are made in China, there are really no repercussions the manufacturer needs to worry about and nothing we can do about it here. These types of products should be stopped by customs departments in given countries, but no way they can catch all of this.

To summarize... I present you a great video from the BBC TV series Top Gear...

How many figures did you get for your $15?

Doesn't eBay's return policy state that you would have to pay to return the goods?

It might not be worth the effort and expense returning them in the end. I own quite a collection of bootleg minifigs and rather than being cheap knock-offs, the quality is comparable to the Lego CMF range - if you are happy with the quality of the figures, keep them. Then have a read of this thread where all the bootleg lovers hang out .

For me the question would be what the figures were and how they were listed.

If they were 'bootleg' were they listed in the Lego section? Were they clones of existing Lego figures or just minifigures of a different theme such as SWAT etc?

Ultimately it's down to how much it's going to cost for you to return them against how much you paid.

If they were listed as Lego and you didn't get what you actually paid for then it's really a shame that you'll be even a penny out of pocket in returning them.

They were three Guardians of the Galaxy minifigs, Drax, Ronan, and Gamora. They all cost $2.50 with $2.50 shipping.

Anyways, after calling Ebay a few times, I found an employee who sympathized with me and gave me a full refund (he collects Bandai, cool!) so now I am stuck with three figures that I want to destroy.

How should I dispose of them? (Please as graphic as possible)

Thank you all for your replies!

Put them in the bin? Give them to a child who likes Lego but maybe can't afford the sets?

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How should I dispose of them? (Please as graphic as possible)

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I'm glad to hear you had a veritable happy ending to your less than ideal transaction.. as for the aforementioned question, I'd say let 'em go out in a blaze of glory;

drench them in lighter fluid or whatever you have handy and light 'em up. tis how I used to dispose of Mega Bloks on droll summer days during my teenage years, heh.

|Tarfful, who would just like to say, fire is the only acceptable way to purge the grotesque Canadian plastic that is MB ;b [imho]

Edited November 27, 201410 yr by Tarfful

I hope you gave the seller some negative feedback. They are indeed illegal even if they do not claim to be lego. They do not have the copyrights to sell the figures.

Give them to a kid. You might be able to make someone very happy.