A leading UK newspaper tells today how one of its researchers bought 34 designer items on eBay and only one was real. The news was about major companies claiming damages from eBay for counterfeit sales of its goods allegedly taking place at the auction site.
It all gets eBay a bad name, and also threatens the reputation of genuine sellers on eBay. That means you, it also means me!
It's very easy to fall victim to buying a fake to resell on eBay, usually innocently as where an auction company sells items it believes are genuine, only they're not. It's also easy to become a victim as a result of buying from criminals, however plausible those people might be.
But worry not because you can reduce your chance of buying fakes just by knowing which are the most heavily faked items and making sure not to purchase these items purposely for resale. It's a bit different if you buy these items as personal goods from the original manufacturer or authorised representative and then decide to sell them, where all you do to safeguard yourself is keep the product packaging and proof of purchase.
Among the most heavily faked names on eBay are Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton. I personally wouldn't even consider buying those items specifically to resell on eBay. But if you do decide to purchase such items, be sure to get a receipt from the seller and make sure the receipt has a valid name and address for you to give eBay and the police should that item later prove 'iffy'.
eBay is doing all it can to limit the number of dodgy items at its site, alongside many other organisations also working hard to protect the buying public.
A spokesperson for one of those organizations, the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, told reporters: "Counterfeiting has risen by more than 10,000 per cent in the past two decades globally, while in the UK the market is worth at least ?¨º14 billion a year. We strongly advise people not to buy any luxury goods on eBay."
No comments:
Post a Comment