IF you have bought "genuine" designer goods online but they turned out to be fake, don't write them off as money down the drain.
You can get your money back even if you are the one who made the bad judgement call by ordering from a shonky website.
Websites that sell counterfeit goods are often impossible to contact once they've secured your cash, so getting a refund from the seller can be difficult.
But Internet Fraud Watchdog chairman Ken Gamble said customers can get their lost money back from their bank or from the service that processed the payment.
Customers can dispute their transaction with the bank under credit card regulations regarding counterfeit products.
"A customer can file a dispute over a payment and some of the banks will actually refund money once it's investigated - if it's found the consumer genuinely has lost their money because of something that was out of their control," Mr Gamble said.
"The Commonwealth Bank is one of them."
Mr Gamble said the police and the Department of Fair Trading can't do much to help consumers who have bought fake goods from overseas.
"It certainly will get investigated but as soon as they find out it's an overseas website there's really nothing they can do," he said.
Michaela Bryan bought a pair of what she thought were Christian Louboutin shoes online after first emailing the seller to check they were real.
"From my perspective it seemed like it was genuine," Ms Bryan said.
But when the shoes arrived they were obviously fake.
"There were crap quality, they smelled funny and the [Christian Louboutin signature] red sole looked like it was painted on."
She asked for a refund and when the site would not give it to her she was able to file a dispute resolution claim with Paypal – the service she used to pay for the shoes.
The process "took a while" and she had to send photos and destroy the shoes, but she was given a full refund.
"I think it's quite generous [for Paypal] to actually assist with that. If you look at it logically there's a reason why it's cheap – it's not real," Ms Bryan said.
Paypal spokesman Adrian Christie said if shoppers receive items that are "significantly not as described" by the seller they can get money back from PayPal.
"And that stretches across to counterfeit goods," Mr Christie said.
"It always depends on the item and sometimes we will ask for documentation from qualified third party to confirm its fake.
"Sometimes we ask you to destroy the item and provide evidence, because it might be illegal to possess the item and selling is illegal so we want to take the buyer out of that equation."
Customers have 45 days from the day of purchase to lodge a claim with Paypal, Mr Christie said. If the dispute is resolved in their favour, Paypal will reimburse the customer before chasing the seller of counterfeit goods for the money.
"It helps us clean up and make sure our payments network is very healthy, and gives customers knowledge that you'll be secure in your purchase should something go wrong in the transaction," he said.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said it investigates all claims made by customers against transactions processed to their credit cards under regulations issued by MasterCard, Visa and American Express.
"While we follow the above codes and regulations, when a claim is initiated we ask the customer a series of questions about the claim and may in certain circumstances require documentation to support the claim such as receipts, emails from the merchant or copies of any agreement entered into with the merchant," he said.
