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eBay Describes the Scale of Its Counterfeit Goods Problem
Ian Lamont writes "As the Tiffany vs. eBay lawsuit winds its way through a federal appeals court, eBay has trotted out some numbers that show how many sellers attempt to sell fake goods on the auction site. Millions of auctions were delisted last year, and tens of thousands of accounts were suspended after reports were made to eBay's Verified Rights Owner program, which lets trademark owners notify eBay of fake goods being sold on the site. eBay says 100% of reported listings were removed from the site last year, most within 12 hours, and the company uses sellers' background information to make sure that they don't create new accounts to sell delisted items. Tiffany brought the suit against eBay in 2004, alleging that eBay was turning a blind eye to counterfeit luxury goods and demanding that eBay police its listings for bogus goods. Tiffany lost the case last July and will shortly present its arguments to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. A similar case in France cost eBay $61 million."
Because they know that x of the labels or jeans that the labels are sewn to are going to be imperfect, and it's more cost effective to ship an extra percentage point of raw materials the first time, than have to deal with shipping another small batch if the shop couldn't meet their quota.
The figures aren't going to be as exaggerated as in GP (100 spare per 500), but if a factory makes 10,000 pairs of jeans, it's natural that there will be spare stuff laying around.
>>>how many of those items were NOT counterfeits, but merely real items that the trademark owner wants to illegitimately prevent from being legitimately resold?
That happened to me one time when I was trying to sell a store-bought DVD of a movie. Ebay told me who complained, and it was some lawfirm in California that is tasked by the Hollywood corporations to take-down ebay sales. I called and asked why they took down my auction, but they refused to say anything except that if I relist it, I'd be taken to court.
I ignored them and relisted the item anyway. The second time it sold, but it was still frustrating because the second auction did not go as high as the first auction. Stupid fucking lawyers. They shouldn't be able to randomly take down legitimate sales.
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