Why selling fakes is tolerated on Ebay?

[arteis]

Whatever what policies said fakes seems to be tolerated on Ebay.

Just take a look for N64 video game and you'll see a good portion of Chinese made replica (genuine are made in Japan) without mention of it being a reproduction.

Some are even using info from the Ebay catalog that specified Made In Japan in 1998-2002 where in fact they are made recently in China.

Some seller even have the face to tag them as "New" even though they loose (out of the box) game. Maybe Ebay thinks that this "clue" (a loose game that is new is definitely not genuine and definitively not made in Japan) is enough to inform buyer.

I've reported dozen of them to Ebay without any impact, they just don't care.

I personally stopped selling N64, I can't beat the price of the reproduction.

[reallynicestamps]

With 140million listings a day on eBay, policing the site is a nightmare.

My only suggestion is to add a note in your description saying 'Ships from Canada" with a flag or something.

And of course Made In Japan in the title.

[tyler@ebay · Accepted solution]

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@arteis wrote:

Whatever what policies said fakes seems to be tolerated on Ebay.

Just take a look for N64 video game and you'll see a good portion of Chinese made replica (genuine are made in Japan) without mention of it being a reproduction.

Some are even using info from the Ebay catalog that specified Made In Japan in 1998-2002 where in fact they are made recently in China.

Some seller even have the face to tag them as "New" even though they loose (out of the box) game. Maybe Ebay thinks that this "clue" (a loose game that is new is definitely not genuine and definitively not made in Japan) is enough to inform buyer.

I've reported dozen of them to Ebay without any impact, they just don't care.

I personally stopped selling N64, I can't beat the price of the reproduction.

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Hi @arteis - thank you for taking the time to report listings that you believe to be inauthentic! We do not allow the sale of counterfeit items to be sold on our site, and so we appreciate you letting us know what you find. 

Depending on the volume of reports there may be a delay in our review process, and we do not disclose action taken on other members' accounts but we do review and take your reports very seriously. Thanks!

[esclyons]

there are 10's of thousands of bootleg asian games, that are replicas.. and most say so in there listings.. very few overseas seller's try to con anyone, by saying you are getting the real deal, weather it be silver coins, gold bars, video games etc.. so as a buyer you need to read the auction from top to bottom,, unfortunately reporting listings does very little to the big sellers..  as they are feeding the machine with their sales..  but doing due diligence will save you a lot of trouble.

[arteis]

Most seller of bootleg I've notice are from North America. They sell then high price (for a bootleg) so it look legitimately like a good deal on a genuine game.

[hlmacdon]

The marketplace model is to make it the rights holders problem to police unless a buyer complains upon receipt of item. Why? Simple, it is in their economic interest and it is part and parcel of basing your business model on emphasizing the Chinese seller/factory/OEM market. More importantly marketplaces have limited product knowledge and aren't in a position to verify authenticity outside of reports from brands, rights holders, etc. There are mechanisms for rights holders to file takedowns of listings, most don't bother or farm it out to third party agencies who periodically review listings, but not on a regular systematic level. When you file a report as an individual ebayer, multiple reports from multiple account holders are required before any review is triggered, otherwise sellers could just play the game of taking down competitor listings. 

As a funny side note, Amazon from time to time gets caught out buying fakes from their suppliers. At some point in the future I can see this model changing as there is growing political pressure in the US to put an end to blatant IP infringement, specifically at the marketplace level. Not only are fakes routinely ignored, every marketplace is in the habit of selling sales data to Chinese sellers/factories for popular items and having knockoffs produced. In many cases these knockoffs violate patents and marketplaces routinely ignore sellers/businesses who report IP/patent infringement. That being said many categories are gated (minimum sales/inventory volume/seller standards) in some marketplaces to discourage this, along with agreements with brands to restrict sales of their product.

[femmefan1946]

as there is growing political pressure in the US to put an end to blatant IP infringement,

And as we saw with China Post and the UPU, it only took about 20 years to get China to admit they were not really a developing nation, and deserving of the lower fees they had been paying to First World post offices, any more.

[onebadwolf]

Ebay chooses ignorance. A fake Breitling Bentley watch worth thousands, being sold from the US was reported, and ebay does nothing.

The authentic item is worth thousands, more than some cheap game controller. If Ebay allows 10,000 fake watches to be sold as authentic, good luck with lower priced items.

[pjcdn2005]

If the rights holder reported it, the listing would be taken down immediately but if the watch was reported by an eBay member, how does ebay know that member is correct and/or is being honest? They could be a seller trying to eliminate competition or they could be mistaken. It would be a free for all if eBay took down every listing that was reported by joe ebayer as eBay does not have an expert authentication available to them for every brand sold.  

I wish that everything here was guaranteed to be authentic but I’m not sure how it would be possible to accurately police it. The best thing to do if you see a fake item is to contact a rightsholder so that they can look into it.

[cumos55]

There are many listings on eBay....

The most important thing each buyer should know... is...

What not to buy on eBay..

What sellers  are selling fakes....

Many buyers learn  the HARD way.....  Buy and find out everything about the transaction was wrong...

Buyer... Be Careful....

[Anonymous]

eBay could take action if someone reports the sellers and eBay do the action, it is not that hard!

[femmefan1946]

It is that hard, though.
If I who know less than nothing about watches were to report a seller for say saying a Timex was a Rolex when the icture title and description all say the watch is a Timex why should I be given any credibility?
Or if a seller of saddles reports another seller of saddles— the reporter may have expertise but he also has a conflict of interest
Perhaps eBay should be adding all these complaints on to the manufacturer. Perhaps the reporter should be cutting eBay out and reporting directly to the manufacturer

Or perhaps eBay is waiting to have “enough” reports from different sources to make a move

We do see that eBay removes some scams if only from scammed buyers unable to figure out how to get a refund

[momcqueen]

The same can be said of loose toys coming directly from China. Either they're counterfeit or undisclosed seconds. I've come to the conclusion that buyers simply don't care because these items sell for pennies on the dollar so therefore ebay doesn't either. 

[momcqueen]

Actually, allow me to add to that:

Most buyers don't seem to care they're buying counterfeit toys for their kids as long as they're cheap toys. Discerning buyers do, collectors do. But buyers who fall into the latter category can spot a fake listing a mile away and therefore don't get sucked into that game. That's not to say all parents are pleased to buy knockoff for their kids, either. I won't; I've seen fakes disintegrate and I've seen fake plastic with a film or grease on it that reeks or stings. Real companies selling real branded merchandise can't get away with it whereas counterfeits are held to zero standards for manufacturing.

You can't police production standards for the black market, and I'm not a risk-taker so I'm not willing to put that stuff in the hands of my children, no matter how cheap it is. 

[mcrlmn]

Yes, more than any other product, banned substances such as lead, phthalates, cadmium, boron, dimethylformamide, styrene, toluene, and etc are often found in counterfeit toys.

[lacha1968]

how do i report a store for selling fake nike at 9.99

[ypdc_dennis]

Use the Report Item link (same line as the Description and Shipping and payments tabs in the actual listing, far right side).

Then select from the menu tree...

1. Listing practices

2. Fraudulent listing activities

3. You suspect that a listing is fraudulent

...

[lostgixxer]

Reporting anything to Ebay is absolutely useless. I have a feeling they will be sued for that as it shows intent to avoid the issue. I've reported 100s of sellers over the years and NOTHING was done. Those who were misusing titles or search are still using it. Those who were selling illegal pirated software are still selling those (you don't have to be educated on the subject to understand that a $800 software can't be sold for $7 from India/China and be "preactivated" and sold by sellers with near 0 feedback). I can go on and on.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

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@momcqueen wrote:

 I've come to the conclusion that buyers simply don't care because these items sell for pennies on the dollar so therefore ebay doesn't either. 

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This. I sometimes go to events to sell off the collectibles I bought from Japan. My prices are sorta on the high-ish side because I didn't acquire them cheap... and of course the buyers would compare my prices with the big vendor in the corner selling bootlegs...

[reallynicestamps]

@lostgixxer 

"It is that hard, though.
If I who know less than nothing about watches were to report a seller for say saying a Timex was a Rolex when the picture title and description all say the watch is a Timex -why should I be given any credibility?
Or if a seller of saddles reports another seller of saddles— the reporter may have expertise but he also has a conflict of interest
Perhaps eBay should be sending all these complaints on to the manufacturer.

Perhaps the reporter should be cutting eBay out and reporting directly to the manufacturer

Or perhaps eBay is waiting to have “enough” reports from different sources to make a move

We do see that eBay removes some scams if only from scammed buyers unable to figure out how to get a refund"

[reallynicestamps]

"It is that hard, though.
If I who know less than nothing about watches were to report a seller for say saying a Timex was a Rolex when the picture title and description all say the watch is a Timex -why should I be given any credibility?
Or if a seller of saddles reports another seller of saddles— the reporter may have expertise but he also has a conflict of interest
Perhaps eBay should be sending all these complaints on to the manufacturer.

[reallynicestamps]

Perhaps the reporter should be cutting eBay out and reporting directly to the manufacturer

Or perhaps eBay is waiting to have “enough” reports from different sources to make a move

We do see that eBay removes some scams if only from scammed buyers unable to figure out how to get a refund"