I couldn't agree more. Ever since eBay opened the floodgates, the OOAK items with true collector value have been swamped by a sea of everything from outright fakes to "wannabee" lookalikes.
I see this sort of thing in so many categories, and as frustrating as it is for a seller to have an authentic item buried in the Chinese dross, I'd say it's also just as frustrating for buyers who are looking for the real thing. It's one thing to have a selection to choose from; quite another to be overwhelmed with junk.
Unfortunately I think Chinese sellers have become quite clever at mimicry and workarounds where such items are concerned. These items fly under eBay's radar because, strictly speaking, they aren't illegally using a brand name, but piggybacking onto a well-known description. So they escape the "bots".
There was an interesting documentary not long ago on the subject of fake items coming from China which pointed out that in China, imitation really is considered an art and absolutely the sincerest form of flattery and respect for the original. Those who can copy, fake and imitate to a high level are regarded very highly. So there may be a clash of social/cultural perspective involved, where there is no shame whatsoever attached to fakes or lookalike products for Chinese sellers, whereas we in the West see it as disgraceful cheating.
Perhaps this is something eBay itself didn't count on -- providing an open invitation that the Chinese took them up on in spades! Now eBay has a problem that is not going to be easy to solve unless they find a way to completely separate offshore "stuff" from North American products at the first level of search. Of course, depending upon how well those Chinese items sell, eBay may not be willing to shove them to the back burner.
I recall there was a Canadian seller who used to come to these boards a while ago who was selling beautiful, authentic ammolite jewelry. He was incensed -- and I don't blame him -- that his items were getting swamped and buried by a whole lot of cheap Chinese items with a very similar name (ammonite) that were not in the same category of item or quality at all (I hope I have the item names right here, it's been a while). All he asked was that eBay provide separate categories for the two. They never did so, as far as I can recall.
