eBay ‘rat’s nest of fake goods’
p2pnet news | Crime:- eBay is a “rat’s nest” of fake goods, says Tiffany, the world’s second-biggest luxury jeweler.
“In the same way file sharing programs like [corporate P2P application] KaZaA provided a market for copyright infringers, Tiffany claims eBay is an online flea market infested with thousands of counterfeit items,” says The Age.
So it’s suing eBay in a US court, “claiming it has turned a blind eye to reports of counterfeit items being sold on the site,” says the story.
“The judge hearing the case, Richard Sullivan, is expected to give a ruling shortly – a loss for eBay could force a dramatic change to its business model, as the auction site could be lumbered with the burden of screening the millions of goods sold there to ensure they are not counterfeit.”
But, “eBay argues that it always removes unlawful goods brought to its attention and that Tiffany should make more effort to protect its brand.,” says Guardian Unlimited, going on:
“EBay says that only $14m (£6.8m) of Tiffany’s $11bn sales over five years has gone towards an anti-counterfeit operation.”
However, Tiffany argues eBay is liable, “because it continued to offer services to customers when it knew that abuse was rife.,” says the story, adding:
“It says that its glitzy reputation, encapsulated in the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has been ‘diluted and tarnished’ by the fakes.”
It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else decides to climb on a similar bandwaggon.
Also See:
The Age – eBay slammed over its ‘rat’s nest’ of fakes, December 12, 2007
Guardian Unlimited – EBay accused of being a ‘rat’s nest’ of fakes, December 12, 2007
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December 12th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
there was a case – brought to judge judy – a few years ago where a scumbag and her boyfriend (who didn’t show up in court) were sued for the return of a bidder’s money.
the bidder bought a phone for $400 and all she got was a photocopy of the picture of phone on ebay!
the scumbag’s defence was that her website said the bidding was for “the picture ONLY” and that the customer got exactly what she paid for.
who do you think won the case?
apparently the scumbag couple had been making a lot of money this way by selling pictures of items, and at that time were being sued by others and investigated by ebay and other district attorneys for wire fraud and other crimes.
i know this case is some years old, but judge juday is only up to early 2002 where i live.
why anyone would buy something on ebay escapes me.
ebay is a scam in itself, but they allow criminals and fraudsters to control their website.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
@catflap:
eBay is a scam in itself? Wow. Someone got burnt on eBay for Christmas!
There are plenty of “real” items for sale on eBay. That someone could sell a picture of a phone for $400 only tells me that there are a bunch of gullible suckers out there in the world. The auction probably read just like every other “photo” or “url” auction I have looked at. Something like “You are bidding on a picture of a QTC y503 Dilda-phone.” Then the description of this wonderful thing that would change your life, a picture of a real one (O Noes!) and the auction terms. But “a picture of” usually always figures into the text somewhere.
Sure, the person selling it is an a$$, but it it was clearly posted as to what it was, and it wasn’t a prohibited item, then it meets all tests for sale on eBay. The irrational frenzy that drives bidders to place huge bids without reading the details is no excuse. Wire fraud is a different story, but has no bearing on eBay unless it involved eBay. Personally, while I feel for the person that lost the money, I’ve been burnt way too many times by idiot buyers that didn’t read the 72-point red type on an auction page. “THIS ITEM IS BROKEN AND WILL NOT PLAY DVDs. THE DVD FUNCTION DOES NOT WORK!” read one of mine. The person that bought it complained that it did not play DVDs and he was going to get a refund. That didn’t work, as you can well imagine, especially when I pointed out the big type and his own email asking if it worked. (I replied that it did not work. Yes, he actually emailed me asking if it worked. You’d think 4 tags and a would be enough.)
As to why would someone buy something from eBay? It’s the world’s largest flea market (or boot sale, if you prefer.) There are lots of things for sale. It’s a great place to pick up items as collectibles, items that may not normally be sold in your state/region/country, items that may be last year’s model but work better for your purpose, or just a place to pick up that “thing” you’ve always wanted. I personally have affection for the small LCD games of the 80s. eBay is full of them, with varying prices that range from good to WTF? There are a lot of overpriced (and new but cheaper elsewhere w/shipping) items for sale, but like everything – if the price isn’t right, don’t buy it!
The fact that you are unable to make a determination if an item for sale is real, a photograph, or simply a bad deal is of no consequence to those of us that like to browse the back aisles of the electronic bazaar known as eBay.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Errata above:
Please ignore the double it. One of those should be an ‘if.’
“You’d think that 4 big tags and a font color=red would be enough.” is how the second paragraph, last sentence should read.
eBay is actually pretty decent about removing items called to their attention. For example, before Disney’s “The Lion King” was being sold on DVD in the USA, Asian VCDs of this movie would sometimes show up of this movie. These were real, licensed by Disney copies. And, they often got pulled as being in violation of the VERO program. I’m guessing this was because some Disney drone reported it as fake.
It’s not eBay’s job to continually look for items, especially when there is no real way to tell if it’s fake or real. If there is something that is obviously fake for sale, they will usually pull it in short order. Just try putting the words “This is a DVD-R” in an auction for a movie that you’re selling and see how quick THAT gets pulled. (A: Pretty durn quick!) If a company is worried about products they make being copied, then they should be the ones to point out which are fakes and which are real, and to stop it at the source. Shooting the guy on the corner that’s selling it makes no difference – another one will be along tomorrow. eBay has a compliance program. Tiffany should use it instead of complaining that their overpriced goods are being copied.