eBay seller fined £7,170 for selling fake Halloween costumes

Recently, the Waltham Forest district in London issued a warning to parents: Never buy counterfeit or shoddy goods that may pose safety risks for your children on Halloween.

The reason is that a London seller was fined 7,170 pounds for selling counterfeit and unsafe children's makeup costumes through the eBay platform. The seller's name is Shahid Shabir. In January 2019, he bought a variety of superhero costumes such as "Transformers", "Thor", "Batgirl", "Ant-Man", "Spider-Man", and "Batman" for 1.5 pounds .

London's Trading Standards team raided a warehouse at Unit 14 Forest Business Park following a tip-off and found more than 1,200 items of counterfeit children's clothing on the premises . Shahid Shabbir was selling them on eBay for £4 to £5.

According to the commission 's investigation, which began in May 2019, the garments did not comply with essential safety requirements of the General Product Safety Regulation , had not passed adequate safety regulations checks and could pose a risk of harm to children if worn .

In addition, all the superhero kits sold by Shahid Shabir on eBay were not authorized by Warner Bros. and were in serious copyright infringement. When questioned by local authorities, Shabir revealed that he did not take any action to ensure that the goods were authentic and further claimed that if he had known that the goods were unauthorized, he would not have sold them online.

On September 13 this year , Shahid Shabir pleaded guilty to all offences at Thames Magistrates Court. The court fined Mr Shahid Shabir £ 7,170 and directed the company to pay a £170 surcharge and £1,501.42 costs to the victim.

In the face of the upcoming festivals, the committee warned shoppers not to buy pirated costumes . Clyde Locks, deputy leader of trading standards at Waltham Forest, said : " Although these cheap Halloween costumes look very tempting, they may pose a series of potential risks such as flammability, choking, fuel poisoning, etc. because they have not been inspected. Consumers must be cautious when shopping. "

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