eBay sued for not policing counterfeites

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Porkchop3223

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Dec 27, 2005
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There is a problem on ebay that sellers are selling items as a trademarked product when in fact, it is a fake or misrepresented. Tiffany and Company is sueing ebay because people are selling Tiffany Jewelry, when in fact, the item is a knock off or fake. This effects the prices on genuine items.
As I surf eBay, the knife section is full of non-Bucks being described as "Buck Knives".
Buck has a trademark and a reputation that they worked hard to establish. When someone wants to buy a quality Buck knife, They shouldn't recieve a non-Buck piece of junk.
We are lucky, we are armed with a little knowledge and know Bucks are not made in Pakistan, but does a wife wanting to buy that Buck her Husband has been talking about have the same knife-sense?
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out. and how eBay will deal with this.
If Tiffany has a legal case, So does Buck! What do you guys think?
Porky
 
I think lawyers are expensive... :D

Buck could go after every little seller on eBay, but is it worth it??? Any knife going for big $$$ will have knowledgeable bidders; not housewives...Would *your* wife spend $536 dollars for a 110??? :eek:

But I agree, and your points are well taken...

Another point is that the term "Buck knife" has come to be associated with a whole gender, rather than an individual knife...like ".45 automatic", or "AR-15 rifle"...Lots of companies make them, and we refer to them that way, but it's not technically correct...

And some of those Pakastani/Chinese/India 110 clones are so close that the parts are interchangeable...
 
Ebay has a MAJOR problem when it comes to fake items on their sites. I collect autographed memorabilia, & the amount of fake stuff is sickening. And what's sad is watching people bid on a Mickey Mantle baseball (or whatever) that is so bad & people think it's real. I've emailed both buyers (to tip them off) & sellers (they always play dumb) in the past, but after awhile I realised it was useless. There's too many crooks out there & too many gullible, trusting people that get taken every day. There have been numerous complaints of buyer's to all the fake items on Ebay. Ebay's position is basically, "We're just a 3rd party between the buyer & seller. We don't present the items to be real or not". So what they're saying is, Caveat Emptor...let the buyer beware. And in fact, those words really do apply when buying from a total stranger on Ebay. Unfortunately, too many people don't heed that advice. Thay look at a seller's great feedback rating & think he must be legit. In reality, a very good feedback rating means squat when it comes to items being authentic or not. Ebay has gotten away with this position regarding autographed items, so I doubt this lawsuit will go anywhere. But then again, maybe if the right people got burned, (as in those with $ or influence) something may get done.
 
E-bay had an autographed picture of a Maria Conchita Alonso on there, the only problem was that it wasn't even her, it was a photo of a completely different star. But the photo did have her "autograph" on it. . I e-mailed the seller to tell him of his mistake and he told me that I was wrong! He said he obtained the autograph in person and also offered a COA, for what that was worth.

I sent e-bay an e-mail about it and they did nothing. The item closed with no bids.

Ever since then I have been reluctant to buy knives off e-bay unless they are new in box with papers.
 
Tiffanies has sued Ebay before over this, They have people at Tiffanies that their entire job is just to check online auctions for counterfiet Tiffany's items.
 
The Last Confederate said:
Tiffanies has sued Ebay before over this, They have people at Tiffanies that their entire job is just to check online auctions for counterfiet Tiffany's items.
Click to expand...

More policing of Ebay for fakes & fraud is exactly what's needed. Ebay isn't going to do it though....they could care less. Again, Caveat Emptor when it comes to Ebay.
 
Ebay are just greed bastards
If they really wanted to clean up their act they could just ban people who are known to sell ripoffs, but they wont, because most of their money comes from these theives.
 
billyoz said:
Ebay are just greed bastards
If they really wanted to clean up their act they could just ban people who are known to sell ripoffs, but they wont, because most of their money comes from these theives.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's all about the almighty dollar. Greed is rampant everywhere today. :(
 
I think, if ebay was more like a live auction, then there would be some control over counterfit msd. But ebay is just a means for people to buy and sell. In my mind it is a buyer responsibility to know the product. Read the sellers feedbacks, and decide. And ebays responsibility to react properly when a dispute is filed. I have seen ebay ban sellers. But it is impossible for them to monitor all of it.

A while back I was looking for a toy for the grand kids and did a search on just the word "toy". Came back with over 180,000 hits.

I figure ebay is doing a pretty good job and has come a long way over the years.
 
I wonder how ebay is different from a classified ad in the newspaper? I'm not defending selling fakes, but isn't it up to the buyer to be an informed buyer? Do we all think someone else should be responsible for us? If I'm spending $20 I'm ususally not as concerned as when I'm spending several thousand. When I shop on ebay, I don't buy big ticket items. If I did, I would need to be able to verify the authenticity of the item. If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't bid.
Bob
 
rdg said:
I wonder how ebay is different from a classified ad in the newspaper? I'm not defending selling fakes, but isn't it up to the buyer to be an informed buyer? Do we all think someone else should be responsible for us? If I'm spending $20 I'm ususally not as concerned as when I'm spending several thousand. When I shop on ebay, I don't buy big ticket items. If I did, I would need to be able to verify the authenticity of the item. If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't bid.
Bob
Click to expand...
The difference is....with a classified ad you get to go and look at the goods. With Ebay that's not an option so you rely on the integrity of the seller to a larger extent to be upfront. Ebay shouldn't be held liable but needs to weed out the unscrupulous sellers when they identify them.
 
I do see quite a few auctions for "Buck knives" that are not actually Buck knives. I have a letter I send them asking them to change their description. About half of the time they respond courtieously and make the change. The other half of the time they tell me to get lost, in so many sometimes unpleasant words. :rolleyes:
I think it would take someone here about 20 hours a week policing Ebay for this sort of thing. Most of the time, it is a case of a seller using the term generically, never intending to fool anyone. Too many times the seller is just using the word Buck in their auction to get more hits.
It sure makes surfing through Ebay for honest to goodness Buck knives take a lot longer.
 
Joe Houser said:
Too many times the seller is just using the word Buck in their auction to get more hits.
Click to expand...

That's for sure...sure seems to be an increase in the verbage "...not Case, Buck, Gerber, Kershaw..." for POS knives just to get looked at. Preston
 
Putting the "Not Buck, SOG, Busse, Tiffany's, etc...":rolleyes: in is perfectly legal, just a PITA ploy. There are "strategy guides" for getting hits that advocate just that. Ntothing wrong, just REALLY annoying...
"Yes I KNOW it's not, that's why I don't want to look at it!!!!!" :rolleyes: :mad: :barf:

But mis-representation is another matter. I personally love the "Rolex" watches... "received as gifts", "bought in estate sales", "brought over from the Orient by a friend", etc... starting at $50 with no reserve.... hmmmm... :jerkit: Rolex, spends a LOT of time hunting those down, and goes after EBay ruthlessly. I guess Tiffanys is the same.

Bottom line point (and the IS one...:rolleyes: ), does it hurt Buck financially? Does it cost them more in sales $ than it would to pay someone to police and watch the hundreds of auction sites...??? I am guessing not. Tiffany's stuff, Rolex, etc cost $thousands and are an "elite" item, where the name is expensive. Someone once said the Rolex Submariner is an outstanding $800 watch; problem is it costs about $4,000... Tiffany's is about as high (or more).

Buck's are an affordable high quality knife. There isn't as muchcost difference to some of the knock offs, so the damage to Buck should be less. At least that's my SWAG...:)
 
In general I would say for Tiffany's to have a solid case, they would have to prove eBay refused to correct specific auctions they were made aware of. They don't have to actively look for violations or have expert knowledge to know which is a real one and which is a knockoff.

Ebay is a flea market. You are buying from the seller, not ebay.

BUT...ebay sure is lazy about getting rid of career offenders. Often I will run into some obvious scam artists, who try to sneak in ridiculously high shipping charges (99 cent item, $89 shipping charge, no kidding). Others are clearly running fake accounts and auctions to up their rating in order to hide the fact that most of their real customers get cheated and leave negative feedback.

Maybe ebay is afraid of doing too much general policing because they are afraid they would become something other than a public meeting place and have to start verifying everything sellers say.

Or maybe they are just greedy bastards who don't care as long as they get their fees.
 
Unfortunately, the EBAY "pay first" process makes it perfect for less than honest sellers to scam people. I have learned the hard way that EBAY, as was mentioned, is nothing more than a venue. Also, they make their money from sellers not buyers and they do little or nothing to help victims. As the years have passed since i've been buying on EBAY it seems there are more and more sellers that think it perfectly acceptable to "embellish" descriptions for bids and offer "money back" if not happy. Naturally the buyer is stuck for all shipping costs! Just keep in mind....the buyer assumes ALL RISK!

The best a buyer can do is use your credit card whenever possible. At least that way....somebody is on your side. You still will lose shipping costs however.
 
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