eBay’s counterfeit fight with Ratatouille’s Remy

July 23, 2008

I’ve just been browsing the new eBay pages on counterfeits which is linked from the eBay home page. The no counterfeits on eBay message is supported by Remy from the Disney Pixar movie Ratatouille talking about fake DVDs.

eBay’s message is pretty clear - trust in eBay is undermined by the presence of counterfeits, it’s illegal, buying a counterfeit is a bad consumer experience and that honest sellers face lower average selling prices.

The good news is that eBay removed 2.2 million fakes from the site in 2007, suspended 50,000 sellers and blocked 40,000 previously suspended sellers from returning to the site. The majority of counterfeit listings are removed within 4 hours of them being reported.

There is advice on what to do if you inadvertently purchase a fake. eBay advise opening a SNAD (Significantly Not As Described) dispute and communicating with the seller. That’s unlikely to be fruitful with a hardened counterfeiter, although escalating it to Trust and Safety will at least flag the seller to eBay for investigation.

Counterfeits are a strange area. I’ve met many buyers who are more than happy (and in fact actively look for) fakes to purchase. They want the brand without paying the price. The message is clear though, and reinforced by publicity surrounding the recent LVMH and Tiffany court cases. Counterfeit products are not welcome on eBay.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 15 Comments