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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."
...but how many of those items were NOT counterfeits, but merely real items that the trademark owner wants to illegitimately prevent from being legitimately resold? Like that GAP promotional CD a while back.
I used to work at an electronics retailer and we'd sell our returns on ebay(those that were functional, we had a lax return policy).
Despite being authorized distributers of the products we put on there, we had our accounts suspended several times by VeRO when one of the many third party watchdog services reported us erroneously. We usually had to track down somebody at the manufacturer and get them to fax "yes they can sell our stuff" to ebay.
And then a few weeks later, it'd happen again. Those watchdog services must get paid by # of items removed.
It's not just Tiffany or designer products. EBay is full of counterfeit stuff for everyday goods as well. 90% of the razor blades on EBay are fakes. If you buy Gillette Fusion refills there, you're likely to get something that looks nearly identical but will tear off half your face when you try to use them. I got ripped off for $70 -- and getting refunds through Paypal / EBay for counterfeit items is a joke when they want you to return the items with tracking to China where they'll just be used again to scam another consumer.
Too bad eBay doesn't put as much effort in to shutting down scammers of all kinds, not just those selling fake name brand goods.
Site policy has zero tolerance for sellers who list counterfeit items, and will also suspend any seller who lists a counterfeit item more than one time. Sharpe reports that...30,000 sellers [were] suspended.
One of the major reasons that eBay has so many fraudulent listings is that scam artists exploit a flaw in eBay's user database. And I'm not even talking about listening bootlegged or forged items. I'm talking about listing items that don't even exist.
The scam artists find eBay accounts and break into them, specifically accounts that have high feedback numbers (or transactions recorded) but have little activity in the last year. They basically dig through the user database for inactive accounts and then try to hijack them, taking over the account, and then changing the billing information before listing the fake items. Because the hijacked account already has positive feedback with it people are far more likely to trust the account and auction, not being critical enough to suspect they are being scammed for money or being sold knockoff items.
Another scam I've seen is where people purchase tons of electronics, like say they purchase dozens of video game consoles. They take pictures of the consoles to prove that they have them in hand. They then sell them to friends, family, or strangers for cash in person, while keeping the receipts for the original product. They then list the consoles on eBay and sell them to people taking the money from PayPal. But, because they've already sold the item off for cash, they tell the person who sent them money over PayPal that they will get a refund. They then call the cops, say that they have been robbed and someone stole several dozen expensive electronic components from them and then they recover whatever homeowners or rental insurance covers stolen property.
I purchase tons of expensive electronics on eBay. Multi-thousand dollar synthesizers, hardware video editing consoles, and vinyl record components. Some items seem to be half scams and half real and eBay doesn't do a damn thing to stop people from listing fake items. They rely on users to constantly scream at eBay to take the fake listings down. I have to persist often to get eBay to take down the endless fake auctions for Pioneer DJ components that are listed day after day and eBay still can't figure out a filter for this problem.
At the end of the day eBay is still great (minus the shipping charges).
I see hundreds of MMO (ok, WoW) gold listings every day, and if ebay claims 100% vero compliance that probably accounts for a lion's share of their statistics. Blizzard aggressively has these taken down, I know because when I auctioned my account they had that taken down even though I was including the game with it (first sale doctrine gives me the right to sell my cds, and I am equally free to expose my account information as I please).
I would have filed a counterclaim, except that by the time ebay removed my auction, it had already closed and the deal was done -- but to comply with vero, they deleted the auction anyway and *refunded my fees* accordingly. So, uh, thanks to Blizzard and ebay!
Regardless of my opinion on the matter at hand, after 11 years of buying and selling on eBay, it is impossible not to feel satisfaction when they lose a lot of money.
And regardless of the outcome of this, they're losing money right now, or at least not making it hand over fist.
I'm very satisfied. F them!
I was selling some Monavie Active on ebay. Monavie Active is basically a health juice drink that is sold exclusively by Monavie Inc. so it is in Monavie's interest to stop people from selling Monaive active on ebay because they have a monopoly over the product. So they report every listing they find on ebay as Infringing on their copyright and ebay automatically takes it down. Now this wouldn't be so bad if ebay had good support but ebay in my opinion is lacking in that area. You can do the whole live chat thing but the reps on that have no influence over the VERO program. You have to reach them by a hidden form on their site and then you get an email address (rswebhelp@ebay.com) All you'll get from talking to them is that you have to contact the company that filed the infringement (Monavie) to resolve it. Now remember Monavie has a monopoly over their product and so their is no way they'll resolve this with me peacefully. Now I admit that ebay is just trying to play nice with everybody but they should really do more to support the little guy when he starts getting squished by the big Corps.
It is very difficult for a purchaser to effectively file a counterfeit item report with Ebay. Realistically, they must get the assistance of the manufacturer to do so. I got stung when I purchased what was listed as an OEM part that had been out-of-production for a couple of years. The manufacturer was not interested in pursuing the matter. I would have had to pay for a qualified expert witness to examine the item and report on the item. The seller had admitted to me that they were having the items manufactured in China but labeled as being made by a reputable multinational firm in Japan. Even with my status of being a licensed PI and having some "Expertise" in the field of this part, Ebay refused to take substantive action. Paypal reversed the charges but that was it. Pursuing the matter with Customs and USPS is difficult without the assistance of the legitimate manufacturer. But they weren't interested in working a part that has been out-of-production for a couple of years. The Ebay power seller is still in operation. A close examination of his feedback shows that some others have been unhappy with the quality of his items, but "Happy" because he did refund the money when they complained and returned the item. I didn't want to ship contraband back to him as it is illegal to do so. I still hold the item and plan to sue him in civil court.
You gotta laugh.
"A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist" - Sir Humphrey Appleby