Fake Xiaomi Mi3 from Ebay Seller - What to do now


ugolicious

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Jun 5, 2014
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First of all I greet you as a new member !

I bought a Xiaomi Mi3 from ebay. I received the phone and it smelled from the beginning but it is the first time i buy xiaomi so i do not have a point of comparison . But I opened case on ebay, the dealer never answered , so I escalated the issue. The item was protected by ebay moneyback guarantee. He replied saying that to get a refund you will need to proof that it is fake the latest by someone else third party and official . For this I'm here to upload photos and tell me your opinion . Also, there is nowhere authentic updater app as I think it should have been. In pictures please pay attention on serial number out of the box (which I did check but because they are in Chinese i did not get what it says , the only thing I know is that I bought it on 5/5/14 , and that I read say that they put fake serial numbers also ) and the serial number into the device .

Here i will show you what ebay ask from me and please tell me how to find an official document as i do not know what to do!
as stated on the previous email we sent you we need a written proof from that the item is fake.



The following are acceptable forms of documented proof:

·Proof of counterfeit from the manufacturer or one of their retail stores

·Proof of counterfeit and/or item seizure by law enforcement

·Proof from a credible third party expert



In addition, please ask for documentation from the manufacturer of the brand name item or qualified third party stating that item you bought is not authentic. They must clearly describe how the item you received differs from an authentic item and how the person evaluating the item determined that it isn't authentic. If possible, the statement should include a serial number. In addition, it must be made on letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the business. This allows us to contact them if we need more information.



Thank you for choosing eBay and have a great day!
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Thanks for understanding.
 
The real MI3 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (shown as Krait 400 in CPU architecture)

So it's definitely fake.

Serial number in my phone also shows something "real", not 0123456789ABCDEF.

The exterior looks almost like a real MI3 (i would say the border of the lense is a bit more "flaky" than the real one, although it's hard to say on pictures), seems copycats are getting better in making fakes :-(
 
Thanks for the reply my friend. I need a document to fax to ebay so i can proove that this phone is fake, as shown above, how can i get this?

Please someone that knows to help me.
 
Screenshots from my Mi3W. Yep, your S/N is bad. I have 8 alphanumeric length code.
 

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It will be hard to get such a document, because, eBay doesn't state WHO has to make this.

Anyway, I would make the comparison myself.

- (screenshots) of the real and the fake one (CPU-Z). Mark the Mi3 specs from the Xiaomi website, spot the difference with your screenshots, explain that they don't match the official specs

- They even seem to have copied a real MI3 IMEI number, you can check it on the main Xiaomi site: http://order.mi.com/service/imei. But the fact that the phone doesn't show the correct serial number I would definitely report this serial number and IMEI to Xiaomi. If they serial doesn't show up on the offical website, you have a bigger case to prove that you are right.

- Demand invoices from the seller, from Xiaomi. If he would have bought it from Xiaomi, he should have an invoice that states the IMEI number.

- Post a picture of the recovery modus of the phone. Probably it will differ from a real MI phone

- Explain the seller that you will make a formal complaint to the Chinese embassy and report the seller to Xiaomi.

Good luck, next time, buy from a reputable and known shop like ibuygou!
 
It's not Qualcomm version of the mi3, so you need tegra mi3 owners of the mi3 to help you identify.

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk
 
many fake xiaomi are coming from shenzhen china,be careful and choose a bigger company to buy

Sent from my POMP_C6S using Tapatalk
 
Hi guys

The biggest 'teller' for me that this is fake is the shrink seal plastic covering the entire back of the phone in one of the photos. Official phone does not have the entire back covered in a shrink plastic like this one.

Also the serial in about phone, definitely bad. This is 100% a fake.

Sorry for your bad luck OP.

Mark
 
Sorry to hear that you got a fake one ... your screenshots can clearly prove that hardware doesn't match original hardware.
Here is mine which is original ...

Good luck with resolving the issue through ebay.

mi3.jpg
 
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Sorry to hear that you got a fake one ... your screenshots can clearly prove that hardware doesn't match original hardware.
Here is mine which is original ...

Good luck with resolving the issue through ebay.

View attachment 7969

That's basically perfect proof. There are only 2 versions of the Mi3. There's the tegra 4 version which is only sold in China. And then there's the snapdragon 801/snapdragon 800 version. The cpu speed should be 2.3 ghz. Your cpu seems to only go up to 1.8ghz.

The other big indicator is the gpu which seems to be a mali-400 in your phone. Those GPUs are only found in Ti OMAP phones (which aren't really around anymore), Mediatek chips (which are cheap as hell and often used on fakes) and Samsung's "Exynos" chipsets. The Mi3 should have the Adreno 330 found in all Snapdragon 800/801 devices.
 
Where are you standing with eBay refund? I got my fake version today and it is really sofisticated attempt to replicate mi3. Mine is MediaTek chipset, wrong resolution display and with a code that intercept Antutu benchmark to imitate correct performance. Thank you to developers of Antutu that drastically changed interface in new versions so it is absolutely obvious. Name of the seller freedom345 with more then 4000 positive reviews! I reported fake product and submitted complain to eBay. I will call them in 3 days as I do not think seller going to respond. Let me know if you need help to support your case.
Good luck.
 
I got a fake mi3 from eBay. Battery is 1390mah. My battery life is around 6 hours. I dont know what to do. My charger is broken. Cable is not working. CPU is snapdragon and clocked to 1.2 ghz, I guess its snapdragon 200 which is used in moto g. How to go on with it?
 
Sorry for your bad experience. Q1: how you now actual capacity of battery? In mi3 and in a fake ones battery is not assessable. Q2: why you think you have Snapdragon CPU? I am very sceptical on that. Did you try to run CPU-Z?
In most cases fake mi3 are MediaTek based simply due to cost factor. Mine was MT6582 which is 1.3 GHz. Q3:what is your screen resolution reported by CPU-Z?
My advice is report item as counterfeit on eBay and submit case to resolution center for item that does not match description. What was actual description? I hope you payed with PayPal. If you did check who issued you invoice and what email and physical address were used. All that is awalible at your PayPal history. And do not panic - you will get your money back. Get latest CPU-Z apk and installed on your fake phone. Run it and make screenshots of the report. Post it here - we will help to interpret them. Do not agree to ship item back at your cost - your seller should pay for it. Keep us informed. People on that forum are very helpful and sympathetic to your problem. Xiaomi MI3 is great phone and it is shame someone trying to make money by fooling people and selling cheap fakes.
 
I have installed some battery doctor apps which showed the battery capacity as 1390 mah.
CPU detect app shows that its a quad core Qualcomm 200 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz.

But CPU z app shows its snapdragon 800 clocked at 2.3 ghz
If I check the hardware info, there's no serial number information. Is this enough for eBayto prove it?

And imei of phone and on the box ddoesn't match.
 

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You managed to confuse me completely. What is that software you attached screen shot from? Please give screenshots from CPU-Z all tabs please including SoC , System, battery and Sensors. There is NO software that can instantly report battery capacity unless battery has special internal chip to report it. It is available in notebook's batteries (some but by far not in all) and I do not know any phone battery that can do it. You would also need more then 3 pins to do it. What is reported it's current voltage on battery in mV and (in most cases not very precisely) current power consumption of the phone. There is software that can constantly monitor that consumption overtime from complete charge to complete discharge and can give you estimation of effective capacity of your battery. You need to do multiple charge-discharge cycles to get more or less precise number and you are lucky if accuracy is about 15%. Anyway, it has nothing to do with rated original capacity of battery. More over, battery capacity is going done substantially over time even if it is not used but stored in hot climatic condition. So forget for a moment about you battery status and concentrate on to main indicators: SoC (CPU+GPU) and screen resolution.
CPU-Z can check both of them. Put you screenshots here and let us think what we see. Fake MI3 also have not so many sensors compare to real one. So check that if you wish too. And open case with eBay. I received Ok for complete refund from seller in few hours after submitting official complain.
Good luck.
 
You managed to confuse me completely. What is that software you attached screen shot from? Please give screenshots from CPU-Z all tabs please including SoC , System, battery and Sensors. There is NO software that can instantly report battery capacity unless battery has special internal chip to report it. It is available in notebook's batteries (some but by far not in all) and I do not know any phone battery that can do it. You would also need more then 3 pins to do it. What is reported it's current voltage on battery in mV and (in most cases not very precisely) current power consumption of the phone. There is software that can constantly monitor that consumption overtime from complete charge to complete discharge and can give you estimation of effective capacity of your battery. You need to do multiple charge-discharge cycles to get more or less precise number and you are lucky if accuracy is about 15%. Anyway, it has nothing to do with rated original capacity of battery. More over, battery capacity is going done substantially over time even if it is not used but stored in hot climatic condition. So forget for a moment about you battery status and concentrate on to main indicators: SoC (CPU+GPU) and screen resolution.
CPU-Z can check both of them. Put you screenshots here and let us think what we see. Fake MI3 also have not so many sensors compare to real one. So check that if you wish too. And open case with eBay. I received Ok for complete refund from seller in few hours after submitting official complain.
Good luck.
I am attaching cpuz screenshots. Everythg looks proper, but battery won't last a day. And how did eBay accept that its fake?IMG_20140706_213547332-1.jpgIMG_20140706_213558995-1.jpgIMG_20140706_213610638-1.jpgIMG_20140706_213618487-1.jpg
 
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Well, I have bad news for you. Your Sensors screen does not look OK. Check
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at about 5:34 and compare with your screen. You have way too little.
As soon as you submit case to eBay Resolution Center even without human intervention plenty of thing happened. If your item covered by eBay protection ( most are) they put aside amount equal to complete refund from sellers PayPal account and send email to seller strongly encourage him to find solution that will be acceptable for you. In case of counterfeit or fraud they also send you special invitation to call them and MAY suspend ALL activities for that seller also effectively freezing his access to his PayPal account. For serious professional seller it is what can kill his business.
SoC screens look OK. Battery screen ... Nothing special, but try to fully charge under ambient temperature of about 20C if possible, reach 100% and make screenshot. Sensors screen is NOT ok to me.
 
First of all I greet you as a new member !

I bought a Xiaomi Mi3 from ebay. I received the phone and it smelled from the beginning but it is the first time i buy xiaomi so i do not have a point of comparison . But I opened case on ebay, the dealer never answered , so I escalated the issue. The item was protected by ebay moneyback guarantee. He replied saying that to get a refund you will need to proof that it is fake the latest by someone else third party and official . For this I'm here to upload photos and tell me your opinion . Also, there is nowhere authentic updater app as I think it should have been. In pictures please pay attention on serial number out of the box (which I did check but because they are in Chinese i did not get what it says , the only thing I know is that I bought it on 5/5/14 , and that I read say that they put fake serial numbers also ) and the serial number into the device .

Hey Did you get the refund? What document did you produce? As I am in the same situation and ebay needs a written document on a letter head faxed to them. Please help me?
 
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I have a fake MI3 i guess so, anyways hello people, i am stuck into a problem, as it had networking problem due to buying from other country (china), i thought of rooting and flashing indian version rom of MI3, as i was seeing MI3's official thread, i rooted the phone with a chinese pc software successfully, but then i checked the updater app, menu option isn't available, i was not able to select installation package, so i thought of installing CWM.img manually by some flasher, i flashed but then i restarted and i saw NO SERVICE!!!, after deeply checking i found, it was some efs problem, INVALID IMEI!!!, then i followed steps for MI3 official Imei repair, i was taking wrong turns, Recovery(Dead),IMEI Invalid, Then again i flashed a recovery again, Now The INTERNAL Storage Partition is dead, I am really frustrated, After some doubts i installed CPU-Z for processor info, Its showed MT6582, i was shocked, 1gb ram, Resolution 540X960, 240dpi. i searched Google, on official thread i found this phone is Fake!!
So now i started seaching threads for this fake phone, i found flashing technique by Sp flash tools (MTK only), i downloaded all required files for it (from need rom threads), as it said for flashing, remove battery, which is not possible, Please if someone has found some useful information, plz help me, whatever s**t i have buyed for real cost, i have to use it anyway!!! :(
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