Does Ebay allow fakes and quakery items to be sold?

[2014sportsterguy]

Please look at 231388206427. this item has never been proven to work for obvious reasons, some fool will be scammed 695 is sells.There is a million dollar reward on file for anyone who proves work, no one has ever claimed it.

[amethyst1415]

What is wrong with you?

[2014sportsterguy]

What is wrong? My goodness that product is known quackery in the hobby world. There is one person who has offered a
reward to prove that product is fake, it simply does not work. No one has ever proven it works.
YOU think EBay would not allow selling such fake rip off items. Maybe learn to read before you post.

[femmefan1946]

I don't know what the OP has against the Society of Friends, but I think he is referring The Amazing Randi's million dollar reward for proof of psychic ability.

This machine may or may not work (it seems unlikely), but there is nothing psychic about how it is supposed to work.

http://web.randi.org/the-million-dollar-challenge.html

[theundercutter]

What makes eBay great is the ability to buy or sell just about anything. If you think a listing is misleading, Report it.

[amethyst1415]

Am I missing something? What does the item being sold have to do with a million dollars and psychic ability? I feel like I am not in the same conversation as everyone else.

[73rhc]

I don't know how this concerns you or why it even bothers you. Take a look at the Natural & Homeopathic Remedies category. Tons of stuff that have never been proven to work. And yet, eBay has created a category with sub categories. The savvy buyer will soon have 6 months to return his or her purchase through Paypal.

[cumos55]

Home remedies..... Sometimes it is the thoughts of a person taking these remedies  that makes them work..... An honest belief the remedies work

Look back 100 years ago... and the machines  that created miracles..... Today they are very collectable.... quackery... yes  but   the beginning of a new dream

People will always be apprehensive of whether something will work.....  The reality is that people dream... create and ...sometimes  ....it works.

There will always be quackery... some people will believe in most anything.....  and then sometimes.....  quackery  changes our view of something and takes us to a new future...

Think about things such as 

Coca Cola.....  In the beginning the magical ingredient was cocaine.....  that is where the "Coca" came from.

Aspirin,,, Acetyl salicylic Acid....  started off as a home remedy.... and if it were not for the fact that aspirin was so widely available  and used....  if it was discovered today... It would be  a most highly regulated drug....both for what it can do  and for the problems  it can create...

Welcome to our world of wonders.... where dreams may become realities...... So...  if no one dreamed  I would NOT be sitting in front of a thing called a "computer"

[73rhc]

Regardless, these are products that the sellers make claims that are totally unproven. It doesn't matter what people believe that works for them. They are a very small percentage. Because for most they do not work. So why should eBay ban the metal detector. The OP said that no one can prove that it works. Has anyone proven that it doesn't?

[rose-dee]

There is a big difference between faking and quackery.  This could be the latter, but unlikely the former.  

EBay has enough on its hands trying to root out fakes, knock-offs, trademark violations, and brand name abuse. They simply can't check every product being offered for sale on the site to determine whether it really does what it claims to do.  

You can try reporting the item if you believe there may be a policy infraction, but I'm not sure whether you'd even find an infraction category that applies.  "Ineffective product" would probably apply to millions of items on eBay, from health supplements to cosmetics to divining rods (which many feel are wonderfully effective and others maintain are a hoax), but who is going to prove the claims are false, and through what process?  Why would eBay remove such items unless conclusive proof were available, even if they had a policy of removing ineffective products?

EBay doesn't have the time, money, staffing or inclination to act as a government vetting agency.  The fact that there may be a reward offered for exposing the product could be seen as a ploy by a competitor against a highly effective product, who knows for sure?  

In the end, it's up to the buyer to decide to do his/her homework and determine whether to spend money on something that may or may not work.  Also, remember that with eBay's new Money Back Guarantee policy, it would be easy enough for a buyer to return an ineffective product (INAD), leave scathing FB and low DSRs, the seller would suffer anyway and likely not want to try selling such a product again.  Interestingly, I see that particular seller has a 100% positive FB score (of over 1000) and high DSRs.  To me that doesn't reflect someone who is deliberately trying to pull the wool over buyers' eyes.  If the gadget really doesn't work, it's possible the seller doesn't realize it either.  

[2014sportsterguy]

Thanks for the folks that responded ...let me clear up a few points.

1) typical metal detectors all work 100% plus no question there, a great hobby

2)the item in question is not a typical beeb and dig machine it will not find anything short or long distance, if it sounds too good to be true then it is not true period! no science there just quackery  and lazy quackery at best.

3) no metal detector within our price range is yet sold that can separate gold from a nickel or pulltab, the conductivity is nearly identical

generally a person has a 1 gold to 1000 pulltab ratio

4) that quake long distance metal detector has been sold for decades, if it worked it would fly off the shelf.... RIGHT

I  did notice 100 % feedback, could some one with more research knowledge then me check if any have sold?

I have been in the hobby for 30 years never heard of it working, though the normal detectors work just fine, my old

metal detecting club last read had donated 50/100 k dollars to the kids hospital in Vancouver.

I tried to report but was not able, guess made my point and will moooove on.

[73rhc]

I looked at his sold items and 4 or 5 were sold.

[73rhc]

Is an item like this any different.

161484087605

But is it worthy of being taken off of eBay?

[mr.elmwood]

Sporster, then half or two thirds of all auto parts listings would vanish. Sellers know nothing of makes and models and just guess at applications. I go from listing to listing saying repeatedly "That won't fit".

Quackerly falls under the heading of caveat emptor.

Most grocery store items are fake. Tomatoes? They take unriped green tomatoes and blast them with carbon dioxide to make them change colour. You are buying unripened tomatoes artificially coloured. Bananas? Same thing.  Ever bite into a hard banana? Colour has been faked.

Somebody is selling a metal detector? They do work. Work exactly as intended? Maybe a little fluff in the description?

I was trying to buy a speedometer cable for my truck, a few years back. Generic "guaranteed to fit" cheap ones did not fit, no matter what. Went to a Chev dealership and the guy said "I can sell you a cheap one that won't fit or an expensive one that does fit".

Ya wanna be a Knight Errant and go after every windmill, be my guest. You are wasting your time.

eBay has, at last estimation, 800,000,000 listings that are constantly changing. Not enough employees in the world to scratch the surface of suspect listings.

[2014sportsterguy]

I did look at that listing 73rhc seems a farce, Mr.elmwood and others good points, guess will retireDon Quixote no windmills in Vancouver much.

[mr.elmwood]

It was about ten years ago, eBay Motors in Canada was rife with phony car listings. I flagged and flagged. I wrote and I wrote. I actually got an email telling me to kind my own business.

I was trying to be the eBay Police. Took up far too much of my energy. It is just not worth the effort.

800 million listings, say, they turn over four times a year, that is 3.2 BILLION per year.

You got that kind of energy, come and help me renovate my house.