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The heart of eBay's business model is being challenged by users who have discovered knockoff products being sold on the site.
The New York Times
The story "Seeing fakes, angry traders confront eBay" published January 29, 2006 at 10:11 AM is no longer available on CNET News.
Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.




If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But why make attempts to punish eBay for simply providing a forum that not only provides sellers a means to market their goods to the world; but also a means for buyers to locate items that they may not find anywhere local to them.
Isn't this just another attempt to blame someone else for your own poor judgement?
America would be a far better place if they could elminate the ability to sue another person!
automated rip-off as far as I'm concerned. I get better prices,
buying or selling, with just local contacts. Ebay is a waste of time
and money. No one should be surprised at the embedded fraud in
Ebay.
Poor judgement doesn't enter into it. The knock-offs are artificially devaluing the authentic merchandise. So legitimate sellers are losing money on their merchandise while eBay never loses money. But ultimately they will. They will drive legitimate business away and eBay will become known as eFraud and some bright entrepreneur will see the hole in the market and take advantage of it and steal away eBay's business, just like Google took search from Yahoo!.
This is not how the law of the land in our country works. There are fair acts of trade laws, and they are put there for people to abide by and also for people who have been taken advantage of.
So law suits are necessary. I know if someone ripped me off or someone that I know for a good chunk of money, I would be a bit frazzled. Even when you take the best precautions that you know, there are those who are able to convince you otherwise. For that I say, take them to court.
I mean, come on I bet the jewlery she is talking about is work only dollars. It isn't like we are talking about thousands of dollars or even hundreds. It is the responsibility of the buyer to also know if they are buying fake crap.
I do think that perhaps a rating system should also be used. I mean they have one now, if buyers are pissed because the items are fake they should rate accordingly.
What is the problem?
using eBay's Buy It Now option and paid through PayPal
consistent with all terms in the seller's listing. The seller
subsequently attempted to impose additional conditions and
fees not in the original listings.
Even though the seller was in blatant violation of eBay's posted
policies, eBay basically shrugged it shoulders. When i attempted
to post negative feedback, eBay's software mysteriously
malfunctioned. Furthermore, the seller continues to post
identical listings, apparently unabated by eBay.
- shant sherbetdjian
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6601462033&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
KM
Now, when one holds an item in their hands, it's usually easy to tell if the item is original or not. I mean, to someone who is familiar with the product. What happens online??? You can't tell if the item is legitimate or not. Going by a couple of pictures. There's no way. Especially to someone who is new to using the product/item.
So, yes! eBay has a responsibility to look out after their customers. I got burned once by eBay and PayPal when a buyer kept my merchandise and received his money back claiming to them he never received the merchandise. This was after he had written to me and said "he had received it" and would eventually pay me back. It's been almost 3 years now. I basically got the "tough luck" treatment from eBay and PayPal. I still deal with both companies. But, I make sure my items have delivery comfirmation and insurance. However, this would not protect a buyer from getting a "fake" item. And, this is why eBay, as the middleman, needs to be held accountable. It's not as like they're involved in the process for free. They get paid by the seller and the buyer. Isn't that "double dipping"???
There should be some kind of protection.
It was only when we got the press and State Attorney Generals office, involved that eBay revoked his account. By this time he had scammed people out of $200K and skipped town. The buyers on eBay do not matter. Its easy enough for them to pay someone $10/hour to read you their policy, email you the standard boilerplate, and tell you they are looking into it. They do this enough, and they know most people will just give up.
not like to work now.
You should read the article once more.
Though I've not had to deal with fakes, I do see that eBay hides behind "we are only a venue" stance all too often. They take a piece for posting, then they take some for payment (paypal), have an antiquated (pun) feedback (rating) system, and don't care about seller or buyer (one can just get another creditcard # and email address and start all over).
Creditcard companies missed the boat on this business. eBay is now a target to be aimed for. I guarantee half of their customers would leave for a more secure, reliable and cheaper alternative.
Until then, how much feedback do you have (and does one care)? Oh, and how much to ship?
Ultimately it is the consumer that must be careful when it comes to purchasing certain items, such as antique jewelry or furniture, where there is a high tendency for reproduction and fraud. eBay cannot be expected to be experts on products in every field. They have not the time nor the expertise to examine every item even if they could, nor do they have the items themselves to inspect and ensure quality.
As in all things, it comes down to practical, careful consumerism and avoiding known hucksters, cheats, and frauds. eBay should be responsible, to a certain point---if a certain dealer is selling items consistently that are fakes, they should be pulled from eBay and not allowed to sell. To allow consistently fraudulent items to sell is bad for eBay's reputation, and it discredits other truly reputable dealers that have something to sell.
Sure, it's bad that people are getting ripped off. My opinion is that you guys should stop looking for that stuff on eBay! There's nothing that can be done that will not cost a fortune. I don't care about the fraudulent merchandise you unwittingly bid on! But the costs of checking the legitimacy of the collector products may be pushed over to the products I bid on. It will crank up the cost of the things I want.
I don't care! Don't make my costs higher!
- Partially valid
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by Rusdude
January 30, 2006 12:48 PM PST
- First of all, I agree that it's hard for authentic sellers to compete with lower-priced counterfeit goods.
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Reply to this comment
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(29 Comments)Having said that, here's a rule-of-thumb people should follow when buying goods on eBay: if you aren't sure about something (condition, authenticity, etc.), ASK SELLER A QUESTION! I mean, would you rather spend two minutes typing a message or spend days dealing with seller/eBay/PayPal if something goes wrong?
I'm a PowerSeller and I can't begin to tell you how many times people bid/buy before reading an auction description! The prime example is "wholesale lists" being sold under titles like "PLASMA HDTV SONY" (and the like) where there's a usually a small-print that says "bidding for list only". Sometimes it can be very hard since scammers put a lot of text, etc., but even us legit sellers have experienced cases when some person buys an item without knowing details that are plainly listed.