Beware "Mont Blanc" Buyers : eBay Guides

I want to share my experience with other people searching for Mont Blanc pens on Ebay.  I had long wanted a "Starwalker" Ball point, and after watching many such auctions on Ebay, I found one which appeared to be totally genuine.  It had an apparently genuine guarantee and came in its original packaging - I even checked out that the place the pen was originally purchased from was a genuine Mont Blanc dealer, and that the pen had a serial number.  It was even backed up by a story about it being an unwanted gift from an ex-employer.  I bid on the pen, and won it for around £100 including packaging.  When it arrived, it seemed to stack up, however, I noted that the "floating star" in the lid was very slightly off centre, but put that down to the fact that it may have been a "second" and decided to accept it, after all, I got almost 1/3 off the price of a brand new one!  However, about 3 weeks later, the casing of the pen came apart.  No problem, I thought, I have a guarantee, I'll just take it to be repaired.  I took the pen into a registered Mont Blanc dealer, who informed me that the pen was fake.  I immediately emailed the Seller, asking for a refund, as the item was fake.  Unfortunately, the Seller responded with emails accusing me of having broken the pen, telling me that there was no way a well-respected international employer would be giving away fake Mont Blanc pens to their employees, and categorically denying that it was fake.  It was then that I noticed the same Seller had sold 3 "Mont Blanc Starwalker pens, an unwanted gift from an ex-employer" within the last month!

To cut a long saga short, I escalated this to resolution at Paypal, who, after requesting proof that the pen was indeed fake, decided in my favour, and I received a full refund.  I had to destroy the fake pen (a Paypal rule) and ended up buying the genuine article from a genuine dealership.  I have learned my lesson, and now only use ebay occassionally - but just wanted to make potential buyers aware, especially as the Seller is still listed on Ebay, and hasn't been struck off.