Also, I bought a DeWalt 5.0 AH battery off Amazon a year and a half ago, from a "authorized retailer." It held charge ok, but after 20 or so cycles, quickly fell on its face. Then I got an email from Amazon a few months later telling me they were aware it was a counterfit item, to destroy/dispose of it, and issued me a refund.

@username-mc7jw

4 ай бұрын

FYI: There are NO authorized Milwaukee sellers on Amazon. None. That doesn't mean you can't buy a genuine product there, it just means you'll have warranty issues if you ever need to go that route. Fortunately, Milwaukee tools are pretty indestructible. Having said that; I'm very cautious when I do opt to buy a Milwaukee product from an Amazon seller. I know there are reputable (not 'authorized') sellers on Amazon who have built a business buying big kits at a discount, breaking them up, and selling the individual 'bare' tools at a profit. I'm okay with that, but I still read the reviews very carefully anyway. In fact; I recently bought a 1/2" M18 drill on Amazon for under $50 to serve as my 'garage drill'.

@evictioncarpentry2628

4 ай бұрын

​@@username-mc7jwI've warrantied a dozen milwaukee tools at my local service shop and not once did they ask for a receipt or where I purchased. They just look at the serial number to see if it falls under the 3-5 year warranty

@182QKFTW

4 ай бұрын

You typically don't need a receipt for warranty unless you dispute when you purchased it. Milwaukee goes by the manufacture date for the warranty @@username-mc7jw

@akatyboy

5 күн бұрын

@@username-mc7jw

Project farm did a review on batteries, and it seems like the knock offs don’t have the same overload protection as the OG’s. Many of these garage fires you hear about are caused by these cheap batteries over heating and catching fire.

@M.TTT.

4 ай бұрын

these newer fakes are counterfeits though, they're slightly better fakes lol

@Manuel3525m

Ай бұрын

Haven’t heard of any garage fire cuz of the battery.

Thanks for bringing this type of information to the masses

Im glad I ran into this video. Thanks for sharing! I wondered why some batteries were so cheap on ebay and looked legit.

These particular fakes actually did pretty darn well. But who knows how many cycles you will get and how they will perform over the longer term. Often times they'll start to error out on the charger and not charge, for no apparent reason. Another thing you can try BTW is to shine a black light on the side and front labels of the battery. The genuine Milwaukee ones glow in a very particular manner, counterfeits do not look the same under black light.

That's really good info to know! Thanks for sharing that, because I am currently shopping around for the same Milwaukee batteries. Looking at that listing on eBay, pretty much everyone would expect them to be legitimate Milwaukee 6.0 HO batts. Usually when purchasing from eBay I try to keep it local or within US/Canada. You did say it was listed as a Los Angeles seller so they did a damn good job of tricking the smart people like us that check these things! Anyways hope you can get it returned or heavily discounted! Thanks again for the insight!

Thanks for the heads up Chris

I just dropped some pretty serious coin on a drill and impact combo kit that came with an extra free battery which was the one you tested. I also picked up the M18 Sawzall, spent just under $700 after taxes. That high output battery was listed at $199.99 in the store. I know I could have got everything cheaper online but I wanted to support my local Ace Hardware.

@bsmith2340

4 ай бұрын

Good for you brother. I wish I had that mentality but my money likes to stay in my wallet

@J.C...

3 ай бұрын

FYI Ace Hardware is an multi-billion dollar international company. They are *the largest* non-grocery retailer in the United States with over 5700 locations

@imleetsometimes

3 ай бұрын

@@J.C... True, and they employ local people to work at their stores.

@jed1947

Ай бұрын

1) you got genuine product for sure; 2) ACE is franchised so locals own most stores, especially in smaller communities. I buy there when I can, Lowes or Home Depot otherwise.

@imleetsometimes

Ай бұрын

@@jed1947 Yes sir!

That little black piece is a thermistor that keeps the battery from charging when overheated. Let eBay and PayPal know of your problem. One or the other should go to bat for you forcing the vendor to give you a proper shipping label (prepaid). I have had eBay issue me a refund and go after the vendor and PayPal do the same when eBay wouldn't due to their limited complaint period.

@sethdahlberg7136

4 ай бұрын

Not really. I got a knock off watch off ebay. Legally, shipping a knock off item isn't legal. So paypal wants you to break the law by sending it back to the seller to get your refund.

@Drewzer154

4 ай бұрын

I looked at that seller's feedback and there are others that have reported them to eBay and eBay seems to not care.

@anonymousnoname

4 ай бұрын

EBay only cares about money

Home Depot probably had the same packaging as the ebay one because someone bought the more expensive one from Home Depot and returned the eBay version.

@jed1947

Ай бұрын

Yeah, you do sadly see this. I never, never buy an open sealed package from a big box retailer.

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. It will save a lot of people some headaches because knockoff batteries are just not worth the money. Honestly you have made the best video on youtube showing this issue. 🏆

The circuit board was the real give away, but how many people will check inside? Seems like an incident waiting to happen!

Bruh, anything sold as OEM with a too-good-to-be-true price on eBay is a Chinese fraud. I got some "OEM" Motorcraft plugs and coils awhile back and something about them didn't seem right...after some research, WOW. Eye opening. So much is counterfit these days...

If you look at the bottom of the batteries, all of them are made in different places, one was professionally made in China for Milwaukee, one made in Korea then finished in China, one made in Mexico.

@justinritter7925

3 ай бұрын

Ok so what does all that mean??

And... Milwaukee will not warranty any of their products purchased from the jungle store or FleeBay. That's why I spent extra to get their tools from Home Depot.

@TheOtherBill

4 ай бұрын

Sounds like they know there are counterfeits for sale there and probably can't stop it.

@pete_lind

4 ай бұрын

@@TheOtherBill Extended warranty system always tell if its legit seller , next is package , harder because different markets have different package and labels . Like Makita Japan , white boxes , nothing fancy , Europe package , colored package with product pick on it .

@thetechgenie7374

3 ай бұрын

You also get better details at ACE hardware, or Home Depot. I purchased a Milwaukee kit Gen 4 kit with hammer drill and impact driver with two 5.0 Ah batteries to upgrade my on it last leg first generation of the fuel and they give you a free 8.0 Ah battery, also bought two 5.0 Ah with chargers for full price and received free m18 tools both also brushless reciprocal, saw and angle grinder free.

@gungnir722

2 ай бұрын

they will warranty the tools, just tell them you lost the receipt and they will go off the manufacturing date on the side

@undividedattention

21 күн бұрын

Not sure about fakes. But real products are still able to be warrantied. I know from experience. Just got two tools and two batteries back today that I purchased off ebay.

I imagine that one of the biggest differences in the real vs fake, the fake won't have over charge protection. Or any short circuit protect like the real one.

@andrewchristiansen8311

4 ай бұрын

Yes it did I saw the fuse plates in the traces they all do or they wont allow them through customs lol.

Hope you're back is feeling better Chris. No more Evel Knieval tricks on scooters for you old man! 😂

@nnkhmisc

5 ай бұрын

Thanks and yea for sure!

I've reported e-bay sellers before. I don't think they do anything.

@thetechgenie7374

3 ай бұрын

He still selling and using the exact same pictures.

i know you saw project farm he does all kinds of testing on products maybe mention your video to him he may do an extensive video of not just those three but many more. he drills in would with auger bits and see's how many they can d n a row. etc

Literally just bought 2 of the amazon ones you put the link in bio for about 35 minutes before I found your video, hope mine work for awhile using it to power my M18 15mm Polisher

the red writing most likely is from the reconditioning center the Amazon batteries, where, from in my experience, most discounted items on Amazon are reconditioned items from returns take a closer look at fine print in listing it may say somewhere if they are

Coming from a classic gaming repair background, counterfeiters always have trouble getting labels perfect, printing will be different, blurrier, or the wrong color, and likely not aligned properly. The insides are always the giveaway, though, most people won't take it apart so they only put effort in on the outside.

Fascinating. Excellent video.

great review, thankyou .

Great review & interesting to see that, I bought 2 6.0 Dewalt batteries from eBay, then I saw a year later a vid talking about the same issue about fraud, so I had to check mine, fortunately both of them are legit after checking with Samsung cells in them, btw even the home depot has some issues with some of their batteries specially the m12, since I opened one because it stopped working and saw some markers and tape covering the board, after taking it off saw some poor soldering where the area was brown, I am not sure what was the reason, maybe they refurbished some batteries or whatever the case but due to the poor soldering one wire had been desoldered so I had to solder it again then it worked fine, then checked another battery which is from home depot as well, but it was great with no problems whatsoever. Now I am in doubt in each battery I get from anywhere 🤷🏻‍♂️

I bought knockoff Ryobi 14.4 big batteries and they work great at a little less than 1/2 the price

Thanks for the info.

If you do light work, the knockoffs can be perfectly fine. But the cheaper and shittier cells used inside cant do the amps of the genuine and you find that out with certain tools. And the lack of over discharge ability and whatnot.

Great Info Here ! 👍

I've gone through a ton of these fake ones for people. Easiest way to tell fake on the 18v: power indicator lights have to be viewed directly above. Unlike the real ones you can view at nearly 90°. That 6hr pack will only have about 3 to 4 amp hour capacity. Most of the fake ones people have sent me came from Amazon.

@nnkhmisc

4 ай бұрын

This one seems to have the same amp hours based on my test with the leaf blower. And as far as I can tell the Amazon one is legit. It was a third party seller. I'm sure there's plenty of counterfeits on there as well though

@sixtyfiveford

4 ай бұрын

@@nnkhmisc The other dead giveaway is when you take it apart: the red power level indicator button is fake. This is the same fake circuit board you can buy when you're building your own packs. Just had a 8 amp hour high output that a subscriber sent me because it failed. Of course he called Milwaukee and they said it was fake so he sent it to me. Ended up being just a failed solder joint. But in capacity testing it only put out about 3900 milliamps versus the 8000 it's supposed to. The aftermarket cells are just so bad. They're okay if you use it in low drain tools like a flashlight, but if you put it in an impact or angle grinder, it'll short them out.

@mikethetoolman8776

4 ай бұрын

scale will find the fake ones also weight is low

Good info.....i gave up on ebay years ago

@Rob-tn8to

4 ай бұрын

I'm in Canada and recently made an Ebay purchase from USA. Shipping was through ebay international. The product sat in an Illinois distribution center for a week according to tracking. I'm done with ebay as well.

@jaywelker5566

4 ай бұрын

@@Rob-tn8to then that's not actually an eBay inherent issue. That's a shipping/logistics issue and eBay is not a shipping company. UPS, Fedex, USPS, etc, etc are and if something gets stuck then the distribution facility probably way behind or had other issues....or the fact that it's a package that has to move to another country they probably queue up a bunch of orders to all get into the same shipment (which leads to lower prices overall, at the expense of speed) I've had one product get stuck/temporarily lost due to power outages from a major wind storm, but I didn't throw shitfits at eBay or Amazon or Home Depot or even the shipping company. Because shit happens.

It's bad to charge lithiums when they're hot so if you're not in a hurry it's a good idea to let them cool down before throwing them on a charger

@ilyaanry

4 ай бұрын

They warm up themselves while charging. Guess, it is what Chris measured, but not a temperature after being used in a blower.

There was an extra chip on the amazon one. Could be made in different factories all for Milwaukee. When you are holding them side by side at the top right the amazon has an extra chip on the board.

The photo at the end is genuine packaging it's the same as the Amazon batteries with the dimples around the outside , do they photographed genuine and sent something else

A good way to tell if your "aftermarket" battery is fake: weigh it, then compare it with the original. If it's fake it will weigh less because of cheaper cells inside.

I've heard sometimes these counterfeit batteries use used or junk cells in the battery pack. Also not having that thermistor almost makes the batteries dangerous because if you charge the battery while it's hot, it could potentially catch fire. Lithium batteries are some of the most advanced batteries but also can be the most dangerous batteries if you don't use care.

That been happening for a while on eBay. The seller states USA location but they just import from china then drop ship to you.

So many font and feel differences. Makes me feel better about some of the Makitas that I have that I wasn't 100% sure about (just things that came bundled on ebay, stuff like that). Now I think they're real because I really couldn't spot any differences side by side with known genuine ones. I do have one Sony FZ100 (camera battery) that is definitely fake, that was a pretty easy spot for the same reasons (fonts, sticker, etc) but surprisingly it works pretty well. I just don't trust it for fire reasons, not going to risk an expensive camera to save $25.

Thank you very wellknow .👍👍👍👍

Very interesting great video Chris!! I have some knockoff makita batteries and they are trash compared to real ones

I live in hawaii where amazon will not ship any power tool brand batteries. Lot of people buy from E-bay and get knockoffs because homedepot in hawaii charges ridiculous prices for batteries.

I also sell these batteries on eBay, but I have the original ones from Milwaukee. This really pisses me off because i have to compete with these fake ones to make anything. They drive the prices down and leave a bad reputation for all of us. Just to be clear, Amazon is not an authorized Milwaukee dealer. So keep that in mind as well.

@M.TTT.

4 ай бұрын

there's a few smart people who will look for the ones priced a little higher, as they're more likely to be genuine - as well as look at seller ratings. Many of the counterfeiters have lower than 98.5% ratings.

@PFab

4 ай бұрын

@M.TTT. I hope you are right. I have been noticing a lot of people consider eBay as low class like temu or Ali express.

@M.TTT.

4 ай бұрын

@PFab yeahh people never really learned how to shop on eBay or could be bothered making a paypal. Feel like it's a dying platform or will be - people aren't getting any smarter lol. Now we have a dozen different apps all doing the same thing, pita.

@PFab

4 ай бұрын

@M.TTT. I believe eBay will outlast those sites. I have been a member since 2007. And not even Amazon compares. The tools eBay provides are way better and easier to navigate with. Then you got the customer service, which, in my opinion, is top notch. For both sellers and buyers. You just have to keep your eyes open for the fakes. On Amazon, it's not easy to filter out the junk. Those other sites I don't use and have no idea how they operate. But I did sell on Mercari and was doing really well until a couple of months ago. I was hit with a huge shipping error and made nothing. I lost over $300, and the customer service was straight poopoo. After that, I immediately dropped them. Never again.

@M.TTT.

4 ай бұрын

@PFab true, but people and apps are getting dumbed down, but it may be too big to fail for a good while and there's enough people left who know how to use it left to keep it alive a while

That little missing piece on the ebay one... That's the temp sensor! Very important especially on a aftermarket product which prob did not go through safety checks. I highly recommend no on ever use those.

lol I’d almost prefer the fitment to be tighter, but no way I’d pay $70 for a counterfeit product, should be $10

Thank you for making this video. I'm a licensed plumber amd unfortunately I fell for the ebay scam. I just bought a 12.0 battery amd it looked official. Right in.the description it said to "not fall for fakes" and it was fake. It came fully charged, which I thought was weird, but I used it. I drilled 2 holes and then there was no bars. I put it in my super charger and got the blinking light of death. I got a very similar message. They asked me for my PayPal too.

I ordered a 10 pack of Makita batteries on Amazon and they were all counterfeit. They looked really good at first but the LEDs for the batteries looked off. They didn't fit the tools or charger well. I issued a return on Amazon and they told me to keep the batteries after I said they were fake and I got my money back. Then I bought a 10 pack on eBay but I had the seller send me pictures first. Those were actually genuine.

This is Milwaukees problem. Had no idea it was counterfeit from Amazon and did a warranty return and they will not replace since it’s fake. Great company and great experience!

We need a toolbox tour

Thank you

Real battery’s are never charged facts.

Home Depot has “special buys of the day” and they put Milwaukee batteries on there. You need to check every day. They have two 6.0 high outputs and two 8.0 high outputs for $275. They offer this every couple weeks.

THANKS! 👍👍

I had a similar problem with a car cd player that I bought from a USA seller and was sold as “free returns “ it turns out that the cd player only worked in my wife’s car and not mine so I wanted to return it and they sent me a bogus return address so I actually called eBay and I ended up getting a full refund and was able to keep the item anyway.

Excellent dissection of the details eBay should be embarrassed and give you a full refund

I got a fake M18 High Output XC 6.0 from Amazon yesterday it was harder to put the battery on a tool, the letters and fonts were off, all leds are dim and light off all at once instead of in a sequence, i took it apart and it looks exactly like the fake one off of ebay in this video.

At 5:49 look at bottom line of cautions, top is professionally made in China for Milwaukee, bottom says made in Korea with further processing in China. Maybe why lower one looks and feels different. Good review. Thanks.

you can do a chargeback with your bank or with paypal if you payed with paypal

Thank you for doing this.

@nnkhmisc

4 ай бұрын

My pleasure!

They're a damn good imitation. They lasted the exact same length of time. Honestly it's probably just made in a different region

send them to the torque test channel and they can test and report on a much larger scale

What the heck eBay! Glad your Amazon pack was legit. I have a video about one I bought from a seller on Amazon and it was a good clone, but was indeed fake. Yours does look legit though. The seller mentioned that they did not know it, maybe so they did refund very quickly so kudos for that! Thanks for sharing!

Open up a fake items dispute. Ebay had reimbursed me before a couple of times. I also bought knowingly after-market 8ah batteries before, but they failed my 8ah test big time. I contacted the seller, and he took it back. received a full refund and he paid to ship it back to him.

Good luck getting ebay to do anything for you. They used to be great to customers now they always side with sellers. Please give updates on what ebay did. I know everyone will want to know how they handle counterfeit items & returns of them.

I bought a very good deep-fake M18 12AH from Amazon last year, and then the seller Southern Supplies closed their account. When the battery started acting up I sent it into Milwaukee for warranty service and they denied it saying it wasn't Milwaukee. That was a nightmare to prove and get refunded, but Amazon did finally pull through.

Milwaukee doesnt have a battery manufacturing facility. They go to battery manufacturing plants and ask if they can produce batteries that meet their standards. They make some for quality control testing, and if it meets the standards, they sign a contract and there they go. Not every facility has the same exact equipment to make battery packs, theyre gona be slightly different.

I opened my 6ah I got from eBay due to learning this. Everything looks very legit within it has a rev z board so some components are a little different than yours but whatever.

I do use a knockoff Makita ( I knew I was buying it) but its only used for occasional light work, never put on a charger in the house. I will be buying a genuine battery soon, they are 54.00.

Tighter the better brother❤

Unless I am looking for some old collectible I do not shop at ebay anymore. It is almost always a scam and I am so over it.

20 seconds difference between fake and real seems way to close for me. Would love to see them tested side be side on torque test channel so maybe it is possible to do it if you still have them on hand. Runtime is one thing but discharge of those cells and voltage sag is different story.

I have heard that Milwaukee will not warranty any tool purchased from Amazon. No personal experience.

@nnkhmisc

5 ай бұрын

I heard that too, but then in one of my recent videos where I compared some Amazon tools, a bunch of people commented that they had no problem warranting the tools they bought from Amazon.

@hajjman99

5 ай бұрын

@@nnkhmisc So it comes down to if the serial number is out of warranty date but if u bought it within the 5 year period. An Example is you get a drill from amazon and its been sitting for 2 years on a shelf the warranty will only be 3 years because they will ask for proof of purchase after 3 years. If this happened at a authorized dealer u can bring Your proof of purchase and they will have no issue giving you a warranty if you got it within the 5 years, even if the serial number is out of date. if the serial number is in date they wont even ask for proof of purchase in my experience. also all of the tools I've ever gotten of amazon have been manufactured within the year I bought them. I have always walked right in the Milwaukee store on west Chester pike right outside philly with broken tools and no paper work and they flip it over and read the number and tell me if they can fix it or give me a new one.

@burrritoprince

5 ай бұрын

​@@nnkhmiscMilwaukee will warranty any genuine product in it's warranty window. The only difference is if bought from an authorized outlet, your warranty starts at date of purchase; if obtained secondhand or from an unauthorized outlet, the warranty is based on the production date of the tool/item.

Ive had two milwaukee hand both switches didn't last a week. They refuse warranty work. All other tools seem great but circular saws don't last

Bought m12 of eBay really cheap new 2years now no problems

So did you get your refund?

That blower has a locking trigger

I wouldn't trust Amazon either. You can get fake batteries there too

Such a scam! Thanks for confirming what I’ve been seeing. We use the M18 on a buffer and two knock off batteries failed within 4 months and on the same day! The Milwaukee batteries are still going strong. However, the M12 batteries seem to be less reliable/equally reliable to the knockoffs. I’ve gone through 6 of those and it’s been 50/50 with OG vs knockoff.

You have to be careful with those counterfeit batteries they don't have the shut off in there when they overheat so they just catch fire and burn your garage and house down

Had a similar experience with ebay seller misrepresenting chainsaw blades. I received a full refund, but the seller is still listing the items on ebay.

Just because you order one from Amazon does not mean it is not fake. Many sellers on Amazon sell counterfeit items. I ordered two Milwaukee batteries from Amazon and they were very cheap copies and did not hold a charge even half as long as some of my old batteries. The seller's store on Amazon was even listed as "Milwaukee Store".

that Amazon one looks like it could be a refurbished battery

lol wholesale the lithium batteries in these modules cost ~10$ for regular ones, about double that for highcap. confused why theyre so expensive

@martinkesler5999

Ай бұрын

could it be GREED.....................?

How the heck did you get "he wants me to go get the label" from "let me know the logistics cost and I will pay you." To me that says, tell me how much shipping is and I'll send you the money. You don't have to purchase a shipping label for that. 🤦🤦🤦 I swear people have zero sense these days.

I have over 800 eBay purchases but very few over the last couple years. They side with the sellers instead of consumers. This is due to their struggles to to compete with amazon If the battery has more than 1 bar lit out of the package it’s a fake. I’ve gotten a couple from eBay but shipped them back Make sure if you buy from eBay it’s a local seller.

The number of fake items I have seen in person from both Amazon and eBay. Car parts and tools. Is staggering.

It might perform ok and charge fast now but there’s no telling how soon your charger will refuse to charge it.

ebay does not kick these sellers off. I’ve gone to great lengths to prove a seller was selling counterfeits and report them but ebay ended up removing the negative feedback I left on the sellers page and the seller is doing it to plenty of ebay users for months now

You know you can lock the trigger on the leaf blower right?

@nnkhmisc

4 ай бұрын

I do now. Thanks. It was a recent purchase

Yeah Chris I get what you're saying I would definitely check with Milwaukee though to verify those look like older batteries is all but but Amazon and eBay are both gateways to China being able to sell products and Circumventing logistics as well as being able to sell in a global market that's why it turns into a problem. Great video And I do agree

@nnkhmisc

5 ай бұрын

I thought maybe they were older at first but the fact that it was fully charged and only took a minute to get the green light on the charger means it couldn't be that old. They lose charge when they sit around.

@theone2be33

5 ай бұрын

And in reality batteries should NEVER be fully charged when being shipped.

@CPthetooladdict

4 ай бұрын

​@@nnkhmiscI'm curious what Milwaukee has to say about it nonetheless I think that would be pretty cool...I will say Milwaukee seems to be the biggest one knocked off it is extremely tough to tell the difference so alot of consumers are getting bamboozled. It's good that you did this video to bring awareness nonetheless so I hope it helps people!!😊

I have an American Express Card and it's set up to pay with PayPal. I've had 3 issues with purchases, PayPal did nothing. My American Express credited me back all the money I spent and got to keep one of the items, although broken, for free. I fixed that item and use it still ...

@ksavage681

4 ай бұрын

Be careful, Paypal and Ebay will ban you for doing a chargeback instead of using their processes.

When I first got into the milwaukee line, I bought quite a few batteries on ebay that looking at them now, I believe most if not all are fake. I mean they work, but I don't think they're "genuine"

Dude same thing happened to me with the same seller! I sent them the batteries back like it said to that cali address, they supposed to give me a full refund but the a*hole only sent me back half of what I pay for it not including the shipping label from fedex that came out of my pocket 😂😂 Soo lesson learned 😂

I just Ryobi 40 volt cheaper then home Depot hope works

The battery from Ebay is a dead giveaway with its full charge. Every battery I have purchased from Homedepot has 1 bar of charge

eBay got me with a Tecumseh manual. This guy sold reproductions, but had a picture of the real thing. Real manuals have glossy thick pages almost as thick as a playing card & say Litho in USA. The one I was sent had pages like a newspaper & broke from the spine when I first opened it. He acted like it was no big deal & "Listen to yourself so mad over a book". When he showed pix of the real one, & sold a fake. I got my money back then got a real one.

Good look see. 😊

I had the same issue and I had to get eBay involved because I wasn't giving my PayPal info or purchasing a label to ship to China! Image is real but carded batteries are fake

I bought a m12 6ah on ebay. Reported it as fake to ebay and ebay gave me a full refund.

@nnkhmisc

4 ай бұрын

I ended up getting a full refund on this one. Just took a couple weeks

open a not as described case, let ebay provide a return label.

The seller is responsible for paying return shipping. If they don't send you a shipping label. Ebay will refund you without sending it back. I've had that happen a few times for items that were not what they said they were and were listed as being from the US. And I wouldn't trust that he would refund you the cost of the return shipping and shipping is very costly going from the US to China.