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eBay Launches Authentication Service To Combat Counterfeit High-End Goods (venturebeat.com)
Ecommerce giant eBay has launched a previously announced service designed to combat the scourge of fake goods on the platform. From a report: eBay has proven popular with fake goods' sellers for some time, with fashion accessories and jewelry featuring highly on counterfeiters' agenda. The company announced eBay Authenticate way back in January with a broad focus on giving "high-end" goods an official stamp of approval prior to sale. Ultimately designed to encourage buyers to part with cash on expensive items, it uses a network of professional authenticators who take physical receipt of a seller's products, validates them, and then photographs, lists, and ships the goods to the successful buyer. For today's launch of eBay Authenticate, the service is only available for luxury handbags from 12 brands, including Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Valentino, though the program will be expanded to cover other luxury goods and brands from next year. "With tens-of-thousands of high-end handbags currently available, eBay is primed to boost customer confidence in selling and shopping for an amazing selection of designer merchandise," noted Laura Chambers, vice president of consumer selling at eBay. "We also believe our sellers will love this service, as it provides them with a white-glove service when selling luxury handbags."
we'll be hearing how some manufacturers are using this system to block sale of used goods.
Because eBay probably doesn't just sell to those who are skilled in detecting knock-offs. Honestly, I don't know how they could tell. We recently purchased a knock-off Cisco kit from Amazon, that was Prime.
It blew my mind when Cisco told me this part was fake, it looked identical to the original. I wonder how eBay will validate the authenticity since the knock-offs are getting pretty darn close.
Nothing like getting screwed at every possibility.
I wonder how eBay will validate the authenticity since the knock-offs are getting pretty darn close.
Two things.
First, Luxury handbags are usually made by hand by expert artisans. Not so easy to reproduce exactly as a machined item.
Second. They are probably counting on sellers of counterfeits not to use the "Authenticate" process, out of caution. So buyers can more or less trust a seller that is willing to "Authenticate", just by the fact of it.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Anything useful is cloned, yet another useless protection for things that SHOULD be cloned to get lower prices.
Who gives a shit if your bag is fake? But who doesn't if we're talking electronic, meds, etc.
Who knew? Not me.
I am amazed at the amount of money people are willing to part with for a handbag that probably cost pennies on the dollar for some kid in china to sew together some leather pieces and slap a logo on it. You want to talk about a racket, talk about paying those prices for something like Gucci or whatever.
If, by providing a sufficiently convincing level of 'expertise' (pronounced:BULL-shit), they can convince large-income spenders to plop down more cash, then it's a worthwhile investment.
Same story as with the housing financial meltdown a few years back: Folks just need to see that 'AAA' with enough expertise present in their investment news feeds to feel they'd be missing out on a 'great opportunity', and they'll wait in line plop down a pile of cash.
Here's the thing - it will start out as fully legitimate verification, as advertised for the most part. Then, folks will learn exactly how eBay considers it, in terms of a low-expense advertising element, and find all the cracks in that logical armor.
And they'll play with terms, conditions, and actions on both sides of the 'pure fraud' barrier, until they find the recipe that works - and then find out how to either split out separate organizations to flog off scams, or 'legitimize' (think empty boxes instead of actual product) their misleading claims to rake in rich fools.
The more radically free the market, the more filled with abject lies it's going to be, including the tools used to verify truth.
This is a result of all manufacturing being moved to China. It used to be that originals were bought from the country of origin and then copied in China. Those were easy to detect. Now the fakes are being made in the same factory as the originals, either by third shift or just selling the units that don't pass quality-control.
It's great that we can now validate the authenticity of these high end handbags. Now you'll never need to wonder whether you are getting ripped off or just legitimately fleeced
A lot of goods are stolen by hijacked accounts in a quick hijack and pump scheme. Find an account with 99.9% feedback, hack into the account and start listing really nice goods just cheap enough to be an amazing bargain but still somewhat plausible a price.
This is pretty common, I've never been stung by one, but 2factor should be everywhere now, with apps like authy and google authenticator, sms etc - cmon?...
The high quality knockoff handbags are now all handmade as well as the money for quality fakes is huge. It takes a trained eye to be able to spot the fakes. In Bali my wife was in one of the handbag shops and even when I told her they were fakes she was unable to spot any real signs of it on 2 of the chanel bags. (FYI the reason you can tell they are fakes is they were selling at 25% of actual retail price, before bartering)
For the millions of buyers who want to buy new, genuine Louis Vuitton bags on fucking eBay.
. Now the fakes are being made in the same factory as the originals, either by third shift or just selling the units that don't pass quality-control.
That is actually a bit of an old wives tale, told by the producers of the fakes to try and add some authenticity and value to the fakes.
I'm sorry, but I have to chuckle at the thought that there's really such a thing as "luxury handbags."
And the only thing stupider than a bag capable of being luxurious (what, it has a secret compartment for your weed?), is that it could possibly be counterfeit. "Sorry, this bag isn't redeemable; we don't have its serial number on file. You'll just have to use it as a bag, I guess."
eBay is just playing catch up.
Forget handbags, there are high-end electronics accessories being cloned that I would not think would be cloned. The problem is, they do not work as well. Three examples I was personally burned by:
Logitech R800 presentation remote. Problems in the fake: the green laser failed and became faded in some weeks time, ditto detached internally as it was fixed in a small drop of glue, and the radio was unreliable (missed clicks in some rooms).
Canon TC80-N3 camera remote. Problem in the fake: the battery life was 1/15th of the Canon item. I.e., the same coin battery lasted a few months in the fake while it lasted about 10 years in the brand item.
Canon battery charger LC-E6. Problem in the fake: charged slowly, several hours instead of under an hour in the brand item. That one I returned immediately.
In all cases, the fake cost just as outrageously much as the brand item, was labeled as the brand item, and came in meticulously copied brand packaging with manual and all. It was actually impossible to tell the difference... until it developed problems. In two of the three cases, the malfunction was detected beyond the 2-month ebay money back warranty. I managed to return two items to the seller, trashed another. One item was bought on amazon marketplace, two on ebay. For this very reason, I'm now going to reputable dealers only (such as B&H Photo-Video) for any brand name electronics and computer accessory, no matter how small.
17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
FYI the reason you can tell they are fakes is they were selling at 25% of actual retail price
And that's the only difference.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
not the only difference. It is the only difference a non trained eye can spot, usually most of the differences can be found in the more obscure parts of the bag or on the internals. Some people still believe the myth that they are made by the same people that make the real ones no matter how many times it is debunked, but as far as look and feel it is a perfect item to buy as no one is likely to spot you have a fake, but its resale value is only a fraction of the price you paid whereas the authentic ones actually hold their value.
Something tells me that the sort of person who is likely to be shopping for "high end" goods on eBay are likely to care more about the price than the authenticity.
I should be free to sell whatever hand bag I choose and slap whatever label I want on it
...and right here is where you're arguing that fraud should be legal.
A few years ago while traveling in Asia I was in a shop that sold cheap knockoffs. The owner was showing them to me when I said they didn't look good. He shrugged and walked away, even though I was with a friend who had known this man for years. But when he was at the back of the shop he motioned to my friend and spoke with him for a few moments, then waved me over. He took me into a back room concealed by a fake wall. Inside this cramped room with a six-foot ceiling were shelves filled with carefully wrapped handbags. I'm no expert, but I examined a few items and they looked fantastic. Supple leather, quality zippers and straps. This was the good stuff.
:-)
They sold for about 5x the cheap items out front, and 1/5th of the genuine bags. I knew that some of the genuine bags were produced locally, and figured that these possibly came from the same factory. To my untrained eye there was no difference.
When I returned home I sent it to a friend who was heavily into designer fashion and bags, expecting her to be impressed. I didn't tell her where it came from. She said "Why did you send me this cheap knockoff?" I thought she was bluffing, so I challenged her to explain why it was fake.
Boy did I get schooled. She easily rattled off fifteen compelling reasons, and with each reason the scales were falling from my eyes and I realized the actual tremendous quality that goes into the real thing.
It was still a nice bag though
When I returned home I sent it to a friend who was heavily into designer fashion and bags, expecting her to be impressed. I didn't tell her where it came from. She said "Why did you send me this cheap knockoff?" I thought she was bluffing, so I challenged her to explain why it was fake.
But why would an expert being able to tell it from a quality fake count?
A designer handbag has only two purposes:
As long as the cheaper bag is fully functional, who cares if it's "genuine"? Beside those in the designer handbag industry, of course.
Quality matters. Having the profits go to a particular person does if and only if that person is you.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I make my own bags. I make them out of sturdy upholstery fabric that I find in the remnants section of fabric stores. That fabric is extremely durable. And if its from remnants, it is about 1/4 the price, if not cheaper.
$10.00 of fabric from remnants is more than enough to put together a very sturdy lined bag.
I still have one of the bags that I made about five years ago. I use it to carry up to about 50 pounds of stuff. It does not show any wear at all.
I wonder how long a Gucci would last hauling 50 pounds of groceries, tools, etc.
Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
The high quality knockoff handbags are now all handmade as well as the money for quality fakes is huge. It takes a trained eye to be able to spot the fakes. In Bali my wife was in one of the handbag shops and even when I told her they were fakes she was unable to spot any real signs of it on 2 of the chanel bags. (FYI the reason you can tell they are fakes is they were selling at 25% of actual retail price, before bartering)
Really?
I've been to Bali a few times, as well most other parts of Asia where counterfeiting is rife and I find them still rather crude. I specifically look the the best fakes I can get for cheesy gifts, but struggle to find anything that isn't blatantly obvious.
Some people still believe the myth that they are made by the same people that make the real ones no matter how many times it is debunked,
Interesting. My Aunty was a seamstress for a branded manufacturer many years ago before China took over the world. She didn't make anything counterfeit, but she did make both high-end $100+ shirts along with $10 shirts.
We recently purchased a knock-off Cisco kit from Amazon, that was Prime.
It blew my mind when Cisco told me this part was fake, it looked identical to the original.
A piece of tin with a Cisco badge looked exactly like a piece of tin with a Cisco badge? Mind blown...
Two things.
First, Luxury handbags are usually designed by hand by expert artisans.
FTFY
Making is easy, it's the designing part you are paying for. That and the materials which you can't fake since quality leather/wool/cotton/gold etc comes at a cost.
First thing they should do is get rid of all of those sellers with 'genuine' emerald rough and shit with the bullshit certification cards. If they can't guarantee genuine ROCKS then I wouldn't count on them being able to distinguish genuine electronics or clothing brands.
Oh, wait, this is probably another scam to get you to pay to avoid commingling.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
(FYI the reason you can tell they are fakes is they were selling at 25% of actual retail price, before bartering)
haha! It is amaaaaaazing how that trick works though. Like the whole counterfeit market exists because so many people are willing to believe they're getting a great deal and/or are savvy consumers, rather than the person they're dealing with is a scammer trying to defraud them.