Ebay Targeted for Counterfeits. Is This Just the Start?
Louis Vuitton Leads $47 Million Law Suit Against the Auction Giant
While many may shrug this off as being of a relatively low news value occurrence over in Europe, the implications could soon become far worse in my opinion.
How many other brand names are suffering from the attention of counterfeiters operating on eBay at the moment? How many of these may be inspired to take similar action, particularly if the French case appears to make good progress?
At the moment it is perhaps 'handbags at ten paces' for eBay but how interested could the sports goods manufacturers, or the DVD and music industries become?
A few days ago I mentioned the apparent regularity of one scam. A DVD or music CD being sold on eBay as 'new' or 'original' when buyers are then actually sent an illegal copy. The negative feedback eventually begins, the sellers account vanishes and the same scam can start within minutes under another identity already lined up. Personally I believe eBay can do more to stop this kind of rip off.
Try to open an account on eBid.net claiming to be in a different country than you really are. It usually doesn't work as your computer IP address is checked to see if it is registered in the Country you claim to be in. Now try the same at eBay?
Look at the efforts eBay are making to attract listings from the far east. Where do a large proportion of the worlds 'knock offs' originate from?
Try to build up a good eBid feedback record on a new user account by buying penny eBooks. You can't, it's impossible to buy eBooks and you can't buy anything for a penny on eBid. As I write there are thousands of such opportunities on eBay. What possible benefit do thousands of items selling for a penny give to eBay apart from inflating the listing numbers?
It simply isn't credible in my mind to suggest eBay takes every reasonable step to hinder scams and rip offs on its site. I don't think it will belong before regulatory authorities around the globe start to take a similar view and, in my opinion, this is a ticking time bomb that eBay should defuse immediately.
The integrity of the site, the trust between users and the potential future value for investors could all be undermined by, what many see as, eBay turning a blind eye.
Maybe this foreign Lawsuit is seen as a mere distraction in eBay's US heartland today. But what will be the consequences should the next big Court claim originates closer to home?
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- today has seen this major Lawsuit confirmed
- how interested could the sports goods manufacturers, or the DVD and music industries become?
- In my opinion this is a ticking time bomb that eBay should defuse immediately
12 Comments
Post a CommentEbay has never taken fraud seriously on their site. I've been on since '99 and posted over 100,000 auctions - this year I went on to buy a bike, there was an obvious scammer that had hundreds of these auctions, I googled it and found a web page that had been up for months about this exact scammer and what they had done to stop it - and still the same ads were all over ebay - However, legitimate sellers have been fighting the Vero program for years.
Try looking at the Picassos, Dali's, Miros, etc. in the arts categories. ALL of them, without question, are fakes - some being sold for thousands. Ebay now has a weak paragraph somewhere about seller's of this type of artwork having papers to prove they are what they are. Well, I can tell you from experience that I spent over a year on their arts community watch trying to get rid of the sellers of these fakes. I finally realized this was just nonsense. They didn't want to rid the site of large art sellers who get them juicy final value fees. Not one large seller was suspended or ousted from the site while I was there. Some were reported a dozen times....and still nothing. All this nonsense about Ebay trying to cut down on fraud is just that...NONSENSE!
Add Dior to the list of lawsuits against Ebay! The amount of fraud and cheap "knock-offs" on Ebay is growing...we report...they ignore! They have a "number of daily views" count that is also being manipulated by making people signing into Ebay, sign again again, every time they move to a new section! Ebay, try NOT to be so obvious! Stockholders are being informed of your attempts to manipulate the stats!
I really appreciate all the comments. Personally I would love the opportunity to ask Meg Whitman why she continues to allow penny (feedback) sales on eBay and why they don;t do even basic IP checks on account registration. I doubt I will get the chance but that doesn't mean I wont try!
I'm posting an interview with Meg Whitman in February of this year regarding the lawsuit Tiffany's brought against eBay for the fraudulent Tiffany's jewelry that is sold on eBay.
She makes the comment that it would take hundreds of manhours to police the listings.
Actually, we eBayers all over the world have been doing their jobs for them, reporting fraudulent listings by the hundreds to eBay...and they remain ignored...and the listings remain.
I think this is just the tip of the iceberg...
Ebay CEO Comments on Tiffany Lawsuit
Ebay CEO Meg Whitman says the company's business is changing according to a recent Macworld article. Whitman said over 1/3 of eBay sales are now bought at fixed prices (eBay's Buy it Now feature) and not at auction. She also commented on the recent lawsuit from Tiffany's over fake Tiffany jewelry being auctioned on eBay.
Commenting on the recent decision by jeweller Tiffany & Co. to sue eBay for failing to take adequate steps to preven
ebay needs to get focused on these issues 'at home' instead of just spreading its tentacles all over the place. It's rotting from within while it's expanding into all sorts of other areas, new sites, acquisitions, etc. You can only put off the inevitable for so long; 'ebay' and 'scams' are getting increasingly hooked together in people's minds, and it is eating away at business there. The problem is, it's such an incredibly huge site now and so rife with shady sellers that I don't know how it can be totally cleaned up at this point. It's a great place, you can build incredible collections through ebay, but this fraud issue is out of control.
I'm glad to see someone is stepping up to the plate with eBay! Maybe a few big time companies demanding that ebay stops the frauds being pulled off in their name will make ebay get their act together!! The window is closing rather fast on ebay, they're passing up the opportunity to stop this before it starts to get hairy, and this lawsuit is only the beginning. Come on ebay, don't you think it's time for action?
Another great article Graham! Keep em coming! We're posting your link all over the place!
You are absolutely right in saying that ebay could stop these practices, and it's amazing how ebay will harrass an honest seller for the most trivial of matters, but the big time scammers operate undetered!!!! Bravo to France for doing this, and I certainly hope that all other companies worldwide are paying attention to this, and they will follow suit against ebay. Counterfeits are numerous on ebay and growing with each passing day. Someone has got to stop the greedy, manipulative, deceptive monster that ebay has become!! Ebay has truly lost IT!!!!!!
It's about time that someone took on eBay, who continually hide behind the 'we are just a venue' argument. That is as maybe, but if they had more stringent signup procedures much could be avoided. It is a simple matter to set up a false ID, buy some feeback with 1p e-books and set up a nice little scam. If eBay staff pursued the scammers, fraudsters and ripoff merchants, with the same vigour that they remove critical comments from their Forums they wouldn't be in this mess. It is easy for an average user to spot them so I am quite sure it is possible for eBay to organise a set up to check the more obvious fakes.
Excellent article.. Thank you.. It's good to know that other sites can and do take fraudulent activity much more seriously and take steps to safeguard their members. But ebay obviously doesn't consider this issue very important and with it's billions of dollars doesn't want to spend the money on any extra steps. They didn't even provide a secure sign-in for their members until about late 2004 or some where in 2005. Posters on their discussion boards were screaming about that. You did get a secure sign-in for the discussion boards, but not for your ebay account.
I hope investors are listening and remember that legal fees are not cheap. And among the ebay execs.. who can really think clearly and really concentrate on growth and innovation when in the back of their mind they are concerned about when the roof is going to cave in. Maybe that accounts for some of the bad decisions they have made lately.