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eBay To Combat Counterfeiters With Professional Authenticators That Inspect High-End Goods
To many, eBay serves as a convenient conduit for shifting unwanted goods and buying items at a fraction of their MSRP. But the online shopping emporium has long been a popular platform for fake products, with luxury goods such as fashion accessories and jewelry high on eBay counterfeiters' agenda. eBay is attempting to fix that. From a report: To counter this, eBay has revealed plans to introduce a new authentication program later this year, with a broad focus on "high-end" goods and launching initially as a trial with fashion items such as handbags. Dubbed eBay Authenticate, the new service will be powered by a "network of professional authenticators," and is ultimately designed to encourage buyers to part with cash on expensive items, safe in the knowledge that the merchandise is legitimate.
Nobody cares if it's real 'designer' crap.
If it fools their friends, it's good.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Now, if you're buying it for its 'collectability' shouldn't you feel some responsibility in vetting the vendor's credentials and/or enter in to terms by which you can return the item if you determine its fake?
Well, here's my experience as a non-collector with fraudulent merchandise.
Order DVD set. Price is actually pretty steep but less than some other sellers. Seller guarantees it's "not counterfeit" on their page, of course.
DVD set arrives. Nice box, good silkscreening.
Play first DVD. First episode subtitle translations are obviously bad fansubs (I've seen the same on online downloads). Second episode actually has scan lines where it was copied from analogue->digital
Report counterfeit merchandise to eBay.
Ebay says I must get the item certified as a counterfeit by an industry professional, despite the obvious signs, and within a fairly short time frame. As I was living in a shithole town at the time, this was a no-go, so I was out about $60-80 for a cheap piece of garbage which I could just as well have downloaded online.
So even if you're knowledgeable enough to vet something as authentic or otherwise, eBay pretty much makes it as hard as possible to get a return on counterfeit goods (or at least they did last time I dealt with them).
Same deal with fake USB/SD storage devices. Tons of counterfeit, and eBay seems to not give a flying f*** about it.
Electronics compare poorly with women's purses in the subject of counterfeiting. How many fake Gucci handbags didn't impress friends with the owner's level of chic is harder to measure than how many 1TB thumb drives don't actually hold 1TB.
Are you buying these cartridges for their 'collectability' or 'playability'.
Well if you're paying $700 for the original instead of $20 for a report, chances are you're going for collectability.