Seeing Fakes, Angry Traders Confront EBay: Will Tiffany Force eBay to Change?

[snugglypuppy]

Well said xppman 

[bargainbloodhound]

I'll agree with everything XPP said, although I might change this sentence "The important thing to them is making money for them PERIOD." to The important thing to them is making money TODAY for them PERIOD..  I think eventually (or sooner) eBay's short term focus and (lack of) customer service and complete disregard for its customers is going to catch up to them and cause them to lose money just like similar attitudes eventually caught up to AT&T, and many other companies and caused them to lose their market lead.

It’s all because we’re rocking the boat, trying to get eBay to follow through on their promise to take care of people."

...which will help all sellers and eBay itself in the long run but eBay is too blind to see beyond the next quarterly earnings report.

[mandy]

A related article about luxury goods makers like LVMH targeting B&M landlords in New York City who rent space to stores that sell knockoffs.

Things move fast on the grubby, half-mile strip of Canal Street on the edges of the city's Chinatown, famous as a black market for counterfeit designer handbags, fake watches and pirated compact discs.

Customers come and go. Peddlers sell wares from racks and stalls that can be packed up and moved in a hurry. Just who is selling what changes daily.

With so many moving targets, companies and attorneys battling the city's booming knockoff trade _ some estimates put it at some $23 billion annually _ are increasingly taking aim at the only people standing still: landlords.

Like the owners of brick-and-mortar buildings, eBay's defense has been that it merely provides a place for people to advertise, and isn't itself involved in handling or selling merchandise.

"How are we supposed to know, without taking possession of the goods, what is genuine and what is not?" asked eBay spokesman Hani Durzy.

The same might be said for New York landlords...

full article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/b...34356.html

[xppman]

The disregard for its customers is going to catch up to them for sure.
It can not continue to go this way. Just common sense.

---------

I would think that if a landlord rented to one meth maker who the cops busted.

OK you got a bad tenant.

But if three weeks later the cops busted yet another
new tenant "meth maker" in the same house.

Then six weeks later the cops bust yet another
new tenant "meth maker" in the same house.


Well

Time to see what the landlord is or is not doing to
abide by common laws of the land.

A fine may be in order as encouragement to the landlord to
better screen the tenants prior to move in.

Something ebay fails at miserably as we all know and should be fined heavily for
their own shortcomings that are obviously only there because they make money
by allowing the scammers to list and sell.

Same with PP. Could you imagine being able to set up a merchant account
to accept $$$ and only have to "verify" who you are, say after you
have collect 1000.00 or 5000.00 or more $$$?

Like the stories we see all the time at PP boards about PP
FREEZING accounts because they need to "verify" who the user is.
Wanting all this information like CC's bank accts ssn and such.

Why didn't PP get all that information
PRIOR to letting someone accept and collect $$$?

It's insane and serious regulatory provisions need to be imposed on both these companies. If it means they have to raise their rates to offset "regulatory compliance".

Well than it makes them a less attractive option to use now don't it?  :blinkie:

[Kristijntje]

The major UK newspapers weigh in on the issue.  From the Telegraph:

Tiffany (NJ) Inc v. eBay Inc, which is expected to be tried later this year, is a landmark case which strikes at the heart of the idealistic "don't ask, don't tell" world of the internet and threatens to end the way eBay manages its business, which last year generated profits of about $1bn. Tiffany claims eBay is encouraging a trade in bogus bling; eBay insists it is merely providing a big tent in which on-line traders meet.

If the judge finds in favour of Tiffany, eBay may be obliged to verify the authenticity of the millions of objects it sells on-line each month, something old-school auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's must do at considerable cost...

Even if Tiffany fails, the issues involved are so fundamental the case might encourage lawmakers to take an interest and pass new laws...

full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/02/05/cctiff05.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2006/02/05/ixcity.html

The Observer deals with the issues of trust and fraud on both eBay and Google AdWords

The key to eBay's astonishing growth is that other people did the work, while it took a cut from everything they did. EBay merely provided a place in cyberspace in which people could buy and sell items. Within the limits of taste, decency and the law, it was not terribly interested in what people traded - caveat emptor and all that - though every so often it had to intervene when a particularly scandalous auction was discovered by the mass media. Examples that spring to mind are transplant-ready organs and tickets for last year's Live8 concert in Hyde Park. But in the main, eBay is a hands-off venture.

Google bills you and you are happy to pay because you may make a sale from the click. It looks like what business schools call a 'win-win' situation.

Er, not necessarily. According to a fascinating investigation by Wired magazine, there is a downside to Google's fabulous moneymaking machine. If your unscrupulous competitors start clicking on your Adwords-generated ads, then they wind up costing you money without the offsetting consolation of making a sale.

full article: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/...72,00.html

[mandy]

Another related article:

"EBay is a huge problem for a lot of us brand holders," said Vance Lommen, director of legal affairs for Oakley, of Foothill Ranch, Calif. It is also a problem on other auction sites, he said. "EBay at least is working with us to close these sites down," he added.

Now that counterfeit goods have become big business at online auction sites, companies are expanding their efforts to thwart it. "We have several attorneys who do nothing but collect the information on the auction sites 24 hours a day," Lommen said...

While successes are growing, so is the problem. Rolex stopped just 180 Internet auctions of counterfeit goods in 1998. But in 2005, it shut down more than 4,000 such auctions. Microsoft Corp. is shutting down about 40,000 eBay auctions a year, said Bonnie MacNaughton, a senior attorney for the software giant.

The creators of designer jeans called 7 for All Mankind recently bought 50 pairs of what were labeled as their jeans on eBay. They found that nearly 90 percent were fakes.

full article: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/inquirer/business/14018236.htm?source=rss&channel=inquirer_business

[sneakymagenta]

"EBay is a huge problem for a lot of us brand holders," said Vance Lommen, director of legal affairs for Oakley, of Foothill Ranch, Calif. It is also a problem on other auction sites, he said. "EBay at least is working with us to close these sites down," he added.

Now that counterfeit goods have become big business at online auction sites, companies are expanding their efforts to thwart it.

eBay's new no refunds policy lets them profit from the fakes and look like they're fighting counterfeits at the same time.

[Kristijntje]

A related article:

Perhaps since the beginning of commerce — certainly long before the Internet was a gleam in anyone's eye — art, signatures, memorabilia and nearly everything else of value have been faked and pawned off as the genuine article. While knockoffs hardly began with eBay, currently the sale of faked and forged designer and brand name items is rampant on the site...

...Tiffany has thrown a monkey wrench into the works by suing eBay for "trademark" infringement, not covered in the 2001 law. Part of the suit contends that "eBay charges hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees" for sales of counterfeits, a complaint echoed by online watchdog sites and many eBay users; the point being that eBay profits from fraudulent, illegal activity on its site, thus, in effect, becoming a facilitator of fraud...

the suit raises a double edge sword over eBay: should the suit go against the company, a flood of similar suits will surely follow. Should, as many predict, eBay settles out of court, many other similar suits are still likely to ensue. Followed, perhaps, by class action suits from disgruntled buyers.

Nor is it just eBay's North American operation that is in jeopardy. Many foreign countries' laws are more favorable to brand names owners. The Tiffany suit will be closely watched overseas.

full article: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/essential...hp/3589751

[bargainbloodhound]

the point being that eBay profits from fraudulent, illegal activity on its site, thus, in effect, becoming a facilitator of fraud

eBay is only a venue.    If buyers are defrauded it's their own damn fault for not using PayPal.  99.99999999999999% of transactions on eBay are fraud free  Tiffany is negative and might sell more if it didn't spend its time complaining about eBay.    maybe Tiffany should try best offer in their stores! 


*wow, my first "positive" post! do you think they'll let me in the positive club now?"  *







arcasm1:

[mandy]

Bogus Tiffany merchandise sold on eBay led to raids by law enforcement in the United Kingdom that resulted in the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in counterfeit items, Tiffany & Co. announced today.

The raids were conducted last month after an investigation by Tiffany’s regional security manager in the U.K. connected the bogus items to eBay auction sites and then alerted authorities. The seized merchandise included counterfeit Tiffany silver rings, necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry as well as phony Tiffany packaging materials, Tiffany said.

Counterfeiting is on the rise, “aggravated by Internet auction sites like eBay that enable criminals to operate counterfeit distribution rings anonymously,” said Dave McGowan, vice president of worldwide security for Tiffany...

full article:  http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=17852