27th Nov 2007
eBay’s Faux Problem
So with Tiffany going all RIAA on us and taking Ebay to court, I wondered exactly where this is going and what’s the main point behind the lawsuit. Everyone (read everyone) knows that if you want to buy fake anything that closely resembles the real (insert designer here), the best place to go is eBay. I ventured on to eBay earlier this year (sometime in late February) and found that items from Marc Jacobs Fall 2007 collection were up for sale. The seller was someone in China who stated that they were a former production assistant at Marc Jacobs. With suspension of disbelief firmly not in-effect on this one, I sent the seller a random question on why he/she/it were willing to sell a dress not yet in production for such a low price (around $250). Surely the person could have sold it for a lot more. I received no response. I’m guessing it was more of a do you want to buy this or not type of seller.
The point is I applaud Tiffany, while at the same time wondering why they are so late to the party. LVMH has been on a piracy tear for as long as I can remember, first in the real world and then online. If it’s Louis Vuitton (or not, as it were), it can be had on eBay with a 90% discount. The products are usually shipped straight from China and in some cases are hard to discern from the real ones. eBay has not exactly been dormant in the fight against counterfeit items as it does state in it’s terms of service that selling stolen goods, counterfeit items and/or pirated items is against the rules. The issue is whether they’ve done enough to stop the practice. Finding counterfeit goods is not exactly the hardest thing in the world. Take a look at the page below, can you spot the fakes?
The end result of Tiffany and Co’s fight with eBay may be monumental on certain levels. If they do win, other manufacturers / designers / companies will be watching and readying their own lawsuits. eBay may end up spending a lot of money tightening controls to ensure that counterfeit items are either non-existent in the marketplace or are extremely hard to find.
Posted by Eva @ 7:45 am
