Watching the financial channel today whilst doing business with my CFP.
Picture but no sound. Seems like Tiffany is spending $3 million to $5
million to sue ebay. Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is
fraudulent. Ebay says it's not their problem to police what's being sold.

Ebay is a shadow of its former self and what it could be. I had a very good
ride on ebay myself, but now it is so shaky and seamy it's hardly worth the
effort unless you have a real market niche, or a hustler who seeks out
underpriced articles and hits home runs (high profit) on every item.

I think this is going to get interesting, and I hope they break it off in
ebay's ass. Selling fraudulent goods out of their store isn't their
problem, huh? Some attitude.

I haven't bought anything on ebay for about a year now. I'd just as soon
shop for it online through people who are going to guarantee it and just
make less of a profit.

Rant off.

Steve

Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:24:59 -0000, newshound wrote:
Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

Maybe 75% of stuff being sold as Tiffany? Didn't read the original
article but that'd be more believable.

"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:24:59 -0000, newshound
wrote:
Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

Maybe 75% of stuff being sold as Tiffany? Didn't read the original
article but that'd be more believable.

Of course! that makes more sense.

I would say it isn't so. Stuff still sells, good deals are available,
sellers are as honest or dishonest (depending on the person) , as they
have always been.

i

"Ignoramus3971" wrote in message
...
I would say it isn't so. Stuff still sells, good deals are available,
sellers are as honest or dishonest (depending on the person) , as they
have always been.

i

Yeah, I'll still buy and sell. It's just crummy that they won't police
themselves. I've had a couple of beefs, and know of many who just plain got
screwed. But as long as ebay gets their vig, they don't care. It WOULD be
a monstrously huge task to watch everything that carefully.

One time, I was selling a multi tool, and used the term "Leatherman like".
I was told by ebay AND Leatherman to cease and desist. Yet, I've seen and
heard of lots worse, and those sellers are still at it.

Oh, well.

Steve

I have 350+ transactions with Ebay and PayPal, mostly buying. I must be
one lucky guy, according to those figures. Only 1 *Very Bad*
transaction, the rest 100% OK.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

SteveB wrote:

Watching the financial channel today whilst doing business with my CFP.
Picture but no sound. Seems like Tiffany is spending $3 million to $5
million to sue ebay. Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is
fraudulent. Ebay says it's not their problem to police what's being sold.

Ebay is a shadow of its former self and what it could be. I had a very good
ride on ebay myself, but now it is so shaky and seamy it's hardly worth the
effort unless you have a real market niche, or a hustler who seeks out
underpriced articles and hits home runs (high profit) on every item.

I think this is going to get interesting, and I hope they break it off in
ebay's ass. Selling fraudulent goods out of their store isn't their
problem, huh? Some attitude.

I haven't bought anything on ebay for about a year now. I'd just as soon
shop for it online through people who are going to guarantee it and just
make less of a profit.

Rant off.

Steve




--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

On 2007-11-22, SteveB wrote:

"Ignoramus3971" wrote in message
...
I would say it isn't so. Stuff still sells, good deals are available,
sellers are as honest or dishonest (depending on the person) , as they
have always been.

i

Yeah, I'll still buy and sell. It's just crummy that they won't police
themselves. I've had a couple of beefs, and know of many who just plain got
screwed. But as long as ebay gets their vig, they don't care. It WOULD be
a monstrously huge task to watch everything that carefully.

One time, I was selling a multi tool, and used the term "Leatherman like".
I was told by ebay AND Leatherman to cease and desist. Yet, I've seen and
heard of lots worse, and those sellers are still at it.


They have a automated filter that deletes all auctions that end with
"like keyword". where keyword is in their keyword list.

Example of a canceled listing

Desmond Surface Grinder Wheel Dresser not diamond.

i

newshound wrote:

Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

Companies have a way of exaggerating... Rather like the downright
fraudulent sales loss claims of the RIAA and SPA who try to claim that
every pirated copy is a lost sale, when only perhaps 20% would have any
chance of being sales if piracy were impossible.

SteveB wrote:
... Ebay says it's not their problem to police what's being sold.
.... Selling fraudulent goods out of their store isn't their
problem, huh? ...

eBay's not selling any goods - they're selling a service. They don't
get anywhere near the goods. I don't see how they could possibly police
for authenticity.

Bob

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:54:17 -0000, with neither quill nor qualm,
"newshound" quickly quoth:


"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:24:59 -0000, newshound
wrote:
Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

Maybe 75% of stuff being sold as Tiffany? Didn't read the original
article but that'd be more believable.

Of course! that makes more sense.

What's happening is that people use the word "Tiffany" to mean
"Tiffany style", and even then they're wrong most of the time.
Tiffany never imported cheap crap from China/India.

--
"Given the low level of competence among politicians,
every American should become a Libertarian."
-- Charley Reese, Alameda Times-Star (California), June 17, 2003

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:30:47 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, JR
North quickly quoth:

I have 350+ transactions with Ebay and PayPal, mostly buying. I must be
one lucky guy, according to those figures. Only 1 *Very Bad*
transaction, the rest 100% OK.
JR

I've had two bad trips out of 212 (an old Stanley plane with a tote
which was in two pieces; I'd have bid less if I'd known what she meant
by "slight crack".) Another was a set of filters for my respirator
which wouldn't fit at all. She refunded my entire amount, too. No
drama here in 7 years of eBaying at the moon.

Amazon recently refunded my entire amount when a book fell apart upon
my first opening it. I sent pics to the vendor, then to Amazon. The
vendor didn't answer my emails for two weeks so I put in a claim at
Amazon. It took another week and my CC got the refund. No worries.

Last night (2 weeks later) I used Shoe Goop to put the sheaf of pages
back into the book and I'll probably be able to read it, despite the
mottling on the pages which had fallen out. The (neatly done) Goopy
mess is still setting up with weights on it.

I've never had any incidents with PayPal in all that time and that
many transactions, either. I have a separate bank acct for PayPal,
just in case, though.

--
"Given the low level of competence among politicians,
every American should become a Libertarian."
-- Charley Reese, Alameda Times-Star (California), June 17, 2003

Dave Hinz writes:

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:24:59 -0000, newshound wrote:
Tiffany claims that 75% of everything on ebay is fraudulent.

Based on my experience that statistic just seems ludicrous.

Maybe 75% of stuff being sold as Tiffany? Didn't read the original
article but that'd be more believable.

Reading the story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6030048/, that seems
to be the claim. They took a sample of "about" 200 items and found
that "three-quarters" were obvious fakes. So it sounds like they it
was a sample of items sold as Tiffany, and there's a lack of
specificity (don't they know exactly how many they bought and how many
were fakes?) that makes it sound like there was some exaggeration
going on.

Bob Engelhardt wrote:

SteveB wrote:
... Ebay says it's not their problem to police what's being sold.
... Selling fraudulent goods out of their store isn't their
problem, huh? ...

eBay's not selling any goods - they're selling a service. They don't
get anywhere near the goods. I don't see how they could possibly police
for authenticity.

Bob

Exactly. E-Bay is a location, not a vendor, effectively a mall renting
space to the actual vendors. The issue is with the tenant, not the
property.