I’ve just been browsing the new which is linked from the eBay home page. The no counterfeits on eBay message is supported by Remy from the Disney Pixar movie Ratatouille talking about fake DVDs.
eBay’s message is pretty clear – trust in eBay is undermined by the presence of counterfeits, it’s illegal, buying a counterfeit is a bad consumer experience and that honest sellers face lower average selling prices.
The good news is that eBay removed 2.2 million fakes from the site in 2007, suspended 50,000 sellers and blocked 40,000 previously suspended sellers from returning to the site. The majority of counterfeit listings are removed within 4 hours of them being reported.
There is . eBay advise opening a SNAD (Significantly Not As Described) dispute and communicating with the seller. That’s unlikely to be fruitful with a hardened counterfeiter, although escalating it to Trust and Safety will at least flag the seller to eBay for investigation.
Counterfeits are a strange area. I’ve met many buyers who are more than happy (and in fact actively look for) fakes to purchase. They want the brand without paying the price. The message is clear though, and reinforced by publicity surrounding the recent LVMH and Tiffany court cases. Counterfeit products are not welcome on eBay.
15 Responses
How many of those 2.2 million have been removed wrongly??
eBay is good at talking garbage
I have just has 300 items (all the same trademark) lost by eBay because of suspension because ebay say 1 item was a breach of copyright ????
If you buy a fake item, what happens to it, do paypal ask you to return it for a refund? send it to paypal? or tell the police? just curious ….
This happened to me recently, as per the Tamebay forums. I’m sorry to say that PayPal insisted I returned the goods to the seller, whose eBay account was not visibly affected. They are now happily selling the same DVD’s on a secondary eBay account.
Have to be honest Whirly and say I’ve never bought a fake (or if I have it was so good I couldn’t tell the difference 😯 )
However this thread in the TameBay forum suggests PayPal insist you return the goods to the seller which is bizaare. Why send them back so that they can relist and resell the fakes?
Amazon on the other hand simply refund and don’t insist on you returning counterfeit goods.
Thats quiet bizzare, given that most counterfitting rings are mob/mafia related I had wrongly assumed that you would have to inform the police as the goods you have in your possesion are illegal, further to that eBay/Paypal would surely have an obligation under the law to pass the sellers details to the police
I would also imagine that if you are aware that you are in possesion of illegal goods you may also be on the wrong side of the law by putting them in the post and sending them back.
I wonder what eBay/Paypals opinion of this are? Actually I don’t wonder I can guess. **just a venue**
if prices of some brands were more sensible folk would buy the real thing and not even consider buying a fake
This is a subject that comes up on MoneySavingExpert forums quite regularly – they tend to buy a lot of stuff that is “too good to be true” – then seem surprised it’s fake…!
What is regularly reported however is that if the goods are taken to Trading Standards, they will retain them and issue a notification of impoundment that can then be sent to Paypal who will issue a refund on that basis. It is also apprantly a criminal act to sent counterfeit goods through the postal system, so Paypal really should not be encouraging this if there is any doubt over authenticity.
Northumbrian, you have missed the point, at least as far as luxury jewellery, clothing and leathergoods are concerned. The exorbitant price is the whole point! You can buy perfectly wonderful quality leather handbags for far less than the price of a Louis Vuitton bag. But the sellers of the less prominent brands don’t give them to Celebs to carry around so the bags turn up in Hello magazine, don’t spend a fortune making sure everyone recognises that you have an exclusive bag and don’t change the styles 4 times a year so that you have to keep buying or you are not in the vanguard of fashion.
You and I think that falling for this strategy is stupid (well, I do and I assume you do), but lots of people are foolish enough to walk straight into the trap!
if I went poncing around in an Amarni suit, it would take some convincing folk it was kosher, even if it were
well, if it said “Amarni” on the label, folk would be right!!! 😉
I dont wear my suits inside out,
I would also make certain they had a spellchecker at the tailors 😀
#11 reversed ribs are all the rage Norf.
great as a dedicated follower of fashion , I think I will dangle my gonads on the outside too
lmao
I need to dissagree with part of your statement. You say, “I’ve met many buyers who are more than happy (and in fact actively look for) fakes to purchase. They want the brand without paying the price.”
If someone purchases a fake, they aren’t getting the brand. They are getting a fake. I constantly find items for sale on eBay which claim to be from the company I work for, Scalamandre, but are misrepresented. Selling a fake, counterfeit, knockoff, etc. does nothing more that ruin not only the sellers reputation but that of the authentic manufacturer as well.