French firms target eBay in anti-counterfeit drive

Complaint, due to be filed next month, aims at forcing auction site, others to clamp down on product pirates.

The story "French firms target eBay in anti-counterfeit drive" published August 18, 2006 at 4:41 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[ericjohnson100]

Ebay ENCOURAGES Counterfit Merchandise Sellers

I bid on a fake piece of designer clothing on ebay a few months by accident.

Upon further inspection and feedback of over 43 complaining about 43 people complaining about the item being a fake, I told the seller I would not pay for a counterfeit illegal item and participate in illegal trafficking of counterfit goods across interstate lines.

The seller filed a dispute report indicating I didn't pay, and I responded to ebay telling them that this seller was selling counterfeit goods, and showed them all 43 feedbacks indicating the goods received were counterfeit.

Instead of shutting down the seller, they decided in FAVOR of the seller and told me I had to pay for the illegal counterfit goods or would have a strike against me and potentially lose my ebay account.

I didn't pay, and a week later my account was suspended for not paying for the illegal counterfit goods.

And to this day, the same merchant is peddling their illegal counterfit goods, regardless the countless complaints.

As one can tell, ebay actively encourages the selling of counterfeit goods, and penalizes those that refuse to pay for the illegal goods that they mistankingly bid on later to find out they were counterfit.

[thewrestler]

BBC

Hi

I was really interested in your comment about eBay. I'm doing some research for BBC Television into this subject. I was wondering if you would be prepared to have a chat with me over the telephone. I am based in London but if you are willing to talk I can ring you direct.

Jeff Wilkinson
Producer
00 44 208 752 7316

[groink_hi]

Reporting counterfeit items isn't easy

eBay makes it look like it's easy, but it isn't. On their reporting forms, eBay makes it look like ANYONE can file a report of replica, counterfeit, and unauthorized copies. If it was this simple, ANY member - seller or buyer - can rat on a seller. It's sort of like having a feud with your neighbors, and then make a phone call to the police saying your neighbor is manufacturing crack.

For a company like Microsoft to report illegal items like these, the company must first join eBay, and then basically bend over backwards to prove to eBay that they in fact own the rights to these items. That could take literally WEEKS. By the time eBay makes ANY form of a move on the seller, the seller's already made Power Seller status.

I'm seeing this first-hand... There are sellers that sell fansubbed Japanese anime and drama DVDs. As an eBay member, I've reported these sellers to eBay hundreds of times, but nothing is ever done about it.

When eBay says, "We don't allow counterfeit items on the site. It is against eBay policy. It is illegal. We are committed to working with copyright owners on this," they're full of it. They've seen the filed reports, and they still give these bootleggers Power Seller status. It takes an act of congress to bust anyone on their system.

[jacob999]

Blatant lies by eBay spokesman

eBay spokesman Hani Duzry is lying when he says that eBay actively monitors auctions for counterfeit products and shuts them down. Currently, there are entire stores owned by "eBay Power Sellers" offering hundreds of counterfeits for sale operating on eBay. They've been operating for years and eBay turns a blind eye to the whole thing because the sale of counterfeit goods boosts eBay's revenues. I was shocked at the amount of piracy going on and how open it all was -- we complain about Chinese IP violations but we should shut up about that until we've cleaned up our backyard, starting with eBay.

[Anon-Y-mous]

Agree - eBay Lies - They do NOTHING

Example: There is a seller who sold photocopies of video game manuals. He'd download the PDF's and print them and list them as "MINT" (with scanned coffee stains and all.)

In small print in the shipping terms he stated "Quality reprint". Numerous people turned him in about 4 years ago. eBay did NOTHING.

Finally 3 years ago, he did himself in by expanding into car repair manuals, and did the same scam. He however got slow on shipping and got his account suspended. In the course of 3 months and 10 separate new eBay accounts, he tried to come back, only to be shut down for "previously suspended user".

Unfortunately, eBay finally quit listening to user reports, even when they furnished the complete list of eBay ID's he used, and links to ALL duplicate auctions where he used identical text, pictures and URL's. They stopped shutting him down.

Now 3 years later, he's a power seller, and is even got a BANNER AD at the top of certain search pages on their site. To top it off, he had private feedback for a while when a ton of negs rolled in. He then paid $20 a pop to have ALL of the negative feedback removed, so now he is back at 100% feedback rating (even though the comments are some still there) and made is feedback public.

He is making money deceiving numerous customers and stealing IP from videogame and other companies, and lowering the value of authentic items at the same time. All while the phrase "Quality Reprint" is burried in the description right next to the shipping terms. (Though it is a bit larger than it was 3 years ago).

It's stuff like this that PROVES eBay doesn't do a dang thing about fake goods. They stopped trying to 3 years ago from user reports. If they'd only realize that they're losing buyers and lowering profits because the value of the real items have plummeted so much, they'd go in and listen to users who report numerous facts.

They also have now removed the ability to attach any text on most violation reports.. HOW CONVIENT! So you can't give them the facts to go along with the item number for them to verify. So they simply treat each as a competor turning in their competition instead of honest people trying to help prevent other buyers from being scammed.

If anyone from eBay is reading this and will promise to do something, post an address and I will forward you the proof of this scamming seller, and help you.

[Anon-Y-mous]

Agree - eBay Lies - They do NOTHING

Example: There is a seller who sold photocopies of video game manuals. He'd download the PDF's and print them and list them as "MINT" (with scanned coffee stains and all.)

In small print in the shipping terms he stated "Quality reprint". Numerous people turned him in about 4 years ago. eBay did NOTHING.

Finally 3 years ago, he did himself in by expanding into car repair manuals, and did the same scam. He however got slow on shipping and got his account suspended. In the course of 3 months and 10 separate new eBay accounts, he tried to come back, only to be shut down for "previously suspended user".

Unfortunately, eBay finally quit listening to user reports, even when they furnished the complete list of eBay ID's he used, and links to ALL duplicate auctions where he used identical text, pictures and URL's. They stopped shutting him down.

Now 3 years later, he's a power seller, and is even got a BANNER AD at the top of certain search pages on their site. To top it off, he had private feedback for a while when a ton of negs rolled in. He then paid $20 a pop to have ALL of the negative feedback removed, so now he is back at 100% feedback rating (even though the comments are some still there) and made is feedback public.

He is making money deceiving numerous customers and stealing IP from videogame and other companies, and lowering the value of authentic items at the same time. All while the phrase "Quality Reprint" is burried in the description right next to the shipping terms. (Though it is a bit larger than it was 3 years ago).

It's stuff like this that PROVES eBay doesn't do a dang thing about fake goods. They stopped trying to 3 years ago from user reports. If they'd only realize that they're losing buyers and lowering profits because the value of the real items have plummeted so much, they'd go in and listen to users who report numerous facts.

They also have now removed the ability to attach any text on most violation reports.. HOW CONVIENT! So you can't give them the facts to go along with the item number for them to verify. So they simply treat each as a competor turning in their competition instead of honest people trying to help prevent other buyers from being scammed.

If anyone from eBay is reading this and will promise to do something, post an address and I will forward you the proof of this scamming seller, and help you.

[gubbord]

EBay has an interest in profiting from counterfeit goods

and they won't do anything to stop it unless their feet are held to the fire.

while the law goes after kazaa or edonkey, ebay are the ones making billions from piracy.