eBay's Counterfeit Enforcement Policy Is A Sham

Consumers deceived, jobs destroyed by counterfeit sales.

February 8, 2018, Los Angeles, CA – eBay, once an auction house of garage sale items, has fallen into an abyss of counterfeit sales and fraudulent sellers. eBay is a haven for U.S. and cross-border scam artists to freely unload counterfeit merchandise, mostly from China, on unsuspecting consumers. Counterfeiting is a profitable, hard to enforce and a widely unpunished $1.7 trillion global criminal enterprise.

Everyone knows selling counterfeits is illegal, and eBay would like consumers to believe that it provides an honest and safe place to buy name-brand goods – and only authentic name brand goods - but that's not true. eBay enables and facilitates an enormous number of counterfeit product sales while touting its illusory policy "You can't list replicas, fakes, counterfeits or other illegal copies on eBay." The downstream consequence is destroyed U.S companies and retailers, lost U.S. jobs, and deceived consumers spending good money for bad products. eBay still takes a transaction fee for each item sold.

The Counterfeit Report®, a popular consumer advocate and industry watchdog, identified over 3 million counterfeits on eBay, removed over 1.9 million counterfeits, and purchased over 2,300 fakes from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). Just this tiny research sample identified over 730,000 counterfeits sold to eBay buyers. One eBay seller boasts of over 5,000 sales of an indisputable fake product, yet remains on eBay despite repeated counterfeit complaints sent to eBay dating back to 2016.

The Counterfeit Report's research revealed eBay engages in a number of alarming practices that offer little, if any, protection to buyers;

• eBay didn't notify buyers they received a confirmed counterfeit, even when the items were dangerous or potentially deadly.
• eBay allows counterfeit sellers to repeatedly relist the counterfeit and fake items (items that don't even exist in an authentic product line, but bear a trademark).
• Counterfeit listings, reported by the trademark holders, can remain active for weeks, even months, until the item is sold out or eBay gets around to it; "We have been experiencing higher than normal volume and are working diligently to remedy the situation."
• eBay sends direct email solicitations promoting banned, counterfeit and inarguably fake items; "badge LAPD Police Officer Police US is ending soon"
• eBay admits it removes counterfeit and negative feedback left by buyers. (View the Business Insider article)
• There is no indication in eBay seller feedback of a sellers reported counterfeit sales history - even sellers with over 100 counterfeit listings removed from eBay.

How did eBay address The Counterfeit Report's research? Publicly, eBay claimed "we applaud the efforts" and "have reached out to [The Counterfeit Report] to discuss how we can work together in a more formal manner to keep eBay a place where people can shop with trust and confidence." Behind the scenes however, eBay threatened legal action, blocked The Counterfeit Report's test product purchase accounts (and by extension any protection afforded eBay consumers), denied counterfeit product refunds, and removed product warnings and feedback from eBay.

Consumers' wouldn't suspect the eBay items below are all fake - none exist in an authentic product line. Despite repeated complaints, they are still sold on eBay.

(Photo: ©The Counterfeit Report)

Monster® never made a Tron model headphone. Supra® never produced a "Justin Bieber" model skateboard shoe, and the Drew Technologies® Mongoose® Pro vehicle diagnostic interface cable was never made in purple. Vans® does not make or license the use of the VANS® trademark on iPhone 6, 7 or 8 phone cases. Authentic Dr. Numb is not made in the 10g size shown here. Counterfeit Dr. Numb® 5% Lidocaine Cream submitted for ingredient testing did not contain any Lidocaine as indicated, but Tetracaine, a potentially fatal drug. Composite Resources, Combat Application Tourniquet® (C-A-T®), has been supplied to the U.S. Military, police, first responders and the public worldwide for the past decade but was never produced in tan. Counterfeit versions of the C-A-T tourniquet have catastrophically failed during actual life-saving applications. Your life could literally be riding on this counterfeit Group-A Autosports® vehicle suspension part -the Skunk2® control arm was never made in the colors shown. An automobile suspension part failure can cause a catastrophic accident with fatal consequences to those in, and around, the counterfeit equipped vehicle. The various micro SD® memory cards shown were never produced in any authentic product line in the capacities shown, or licensed by SD-3C, LLC, the right holder of the microSD® trademark. ICOM® never made a V87 model amateur radio, and pharmaceutical giant Novartis does not make its OTC anti-fungicide medication, Lamisil® in the liquid form shown.

Companies that facilitate criminal activity and profit from dishonest sales which impact consumer safety, jobs and public trust create a public perception of deception and impunity. However, their reputation damage is only a small part of the problem: the value of counterfeit and pirated goods is forecast to grow to $2.8 trillion, and cost 5.4 million net job losses by 2022¹ while manufacturer's brand integrity is tarnished or destroyed.

Consumers seeking authentic items would be safer and better served buying directly from the manufacturer or authorized retailer.

Footnotes:

¹ THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF COUNTERFEITING AND PIRACY
The report was prepared for The International Chamber of Commerce, Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy unit (ICC BASCAP) and The International Trademark Association (INTA)
January 2017
Frontier Economics, Ltd.