News
eBay ruling threatens online auctions
Ben Parfitt Jul 1 2008, 11:54am
Comments (6)
Etailer told to take responsibility for sellers trading imitation goods on its site
The French courts have potentially dropped a bomb onto the online auction sector by ordering eBay to pay fashion giants LVMH $61 million worth of damages for failing to do enough to prevent the sale of counterfeits of the firm’s goods on its site, TechRadar reports.
The ruling could have widespread ramifications for all online auctions sites by not only forcing them to police the activity of their users more closely but also limiting the potential revenue they earn.
LVMH said of the ruling: "This decision represents an important step in protecting brands and products against parasitic practices.”
The outcome follows similar rulings in favour of Hermes and Rolex, all of which could pave the way for a whole host of companies to take action against eBay and its contemporaries.
Alexandre Menais, the attorney in charge of eBay's partnerships with rights owners, stated: "We are going to fight this decision because it is totally ridiculous.”
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Comments
“Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: Graham - Jul 1, 2:24pm
I hope that Ebay is indeed made more responsible for the behaviour of its users. We all know who the rip-off merchants are so why are they allowed to continue trading as they do?
“Re: Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: Susie - Jul 1, 5:21pm
Silly Graham. eBay is a whore interested only in the money it can fleece from it's unfortunate sellers. Bottom line...eBay will police it's fees and not waste time on peripheral annoyances such as authenticating items on the site.
Why not come around to PheeBay.com and discuss eBay and alternative selling sites.
“Re: Re: Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: Richard Thomas - Jul 1, 7:56pm
Ebay have been happy to encourage VAT avoidance by Chinese sellers - as other comment say they are good at stopping anything that will hit their fees. They could easily have stopped any comments such as "We will mark goods as a gift to avoid VAT in your country"
They are too big to get away with some of things they have been doing. Social, Corporate responsiblity and accountability is a welcome change - well done the French!
“Re: Re: Re: Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: Chris - Jul 4, 2:35pm
ebay should not be held responsable for the sale of counterfit goods. the people they should really be after is the counterfitters themselves. with the ammount of things sold and listed on ebay its very very difficult to authenticate each and every item. if people want to spend there money on counterfit goods then who are we (or the french courts, or ebay) to stop them?? this is just crazy. with virgin media saying we are not permitted to do what we want with out internet connection and now people saying we are not permitted to buy what we want its just stupid. this is suposed to be a "free world" what happened to it?
“Re: Re: Re: Re: Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: ronald mc donald - Jul 14, 1:13pm
Luxury goods have their price fixed and if the retailer discounts then they may very well lose the agency.
So how about price fixing Rolex, what do you say to that?
“Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ebay rip-offs”
Posted by: Al Vin - Aug 11, 7:51am
Well Ebay does have alot of issues they should deal with concerning sellers.Among issues is protecting them from theives,alot of the buyers have made a good living ripping people off by reversals.And while I don't like to target any peoples,but come on the French,are a joke the only time I have ever lost a product and money was from a purchaser from France,that admitted they beleived I shipped the product,I showed proof that it was in the hands of the carrier,they didn't purchase insurance,but yet I had to eat the cost.We also know how the French have swindled American visitor's in the streets of Paris.And yes the high fixed prices for products are crazy,much like the video gamming industry,as well as os designer's.