Why does eBay allow people to sell counterfeit luxury watches as the originals?

[anjtim]

Recently I saw a listing for an Omega Seamaster Professional 300m dive watch. It was one of the mid level chinese counterfeit watches being sold on eBay as an actual Omega. These watches retail for $9,975AUD new from Omega.  People are actively bidding on it and it has not been disclosed that the watch is fake. 

I am an Omega expert and are able to authenticate Omega watches. I also own the original watch that this fake is purporting to be. I reported the sale to eBay and after reviewing it a customer service representative has deemed the listing to not breach eBay's terms of service.  Off the top of my head there were at least six points of reference that I based my judgement from where the listing deviates from the original. It is obvious to anyone who is familiar with Swiss watches that this is not what it is described as. Where is the buyer protection? Why should someone have to win this watch and later find out that it isn't real and open a case and have to jump through the hoops and wait months for their money to return to them. If eBay is going to allow these watches to be sold then they should be forced to have to be authenticated by an expert before the seller gets any money. I don't understand why they just don't care about the proliferation of counterfeit products and scams targetting eBay buyers.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why eBay just doesn't care about this issue?

[padi*0409]

Report it to Omega themselves, they might be the only ones to get it taken down.

[*casey*]

" I don't understand why they just don't care about the proliferation of counterfeit products and scams targetting eBay buyers"

I don't either.

Some of the Chinese sellers have pages of negative feedback for selling fakes.

Plus the number of  very  obvious scam listings for non  existent  items which aren't removed when reported.

Ebay's answer  to everything  is the Money Back Guarantee.

The  reality is that buyers leave eBay which affects ALL sellers.

[repentatleisure1952]

As an expert you should offer your services to eBay.

It should not take you long to check the 58,000+ listings with Omega in the title.

You have of course read that eBay does not guarantee the existence or authenticity of items listed on the platform.

[sugar249]

So you are approved by Omega to authenticate these things.

Why would anyone pay thousand online for a watch.   Go to some markets and there are heaps of fakes,  why do markets allow it.

[gutterpunkz05]

So as an expert, are you authorised by Omega to act on or for the behalf of  Omega,  if not then you are spraying moisture into the wind, and rightfully your opinion is of no significance to ebay.

[countessalmirena]

eBay will act when the rights owner reports the issue. They are very very unlikely to act when even an expert reports a fake, for obvious legal reasons.

❝Intellectual property rights owners

Only intellectual property rights owners can report eBay listings that infringe on their copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights. Sellers who are rights owners can learn more about the VeRO program and file a report from the Reporting intellectual property infringements (VeRO) page.❞

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-policies/selling-policies/vero-policy?id=4349

Anyone who buys a watch whose cost is well-known to be exorbitant and a mark of having money to burn, and expects that watch to cost far below its known value, online, from a Chinese eBay seller… that person exemplifies the idiom “A fool and his money are soon parted”.

That’s not to say that I’m not sympathetic towards anyone who’s cheated or defrauded; it’s equally not that I regard this as anything other than fraud. It’s merely that fraud protection begins with the individual; we shouldn’t expect something for comparatively nothing, and we should be wary about unrealistic deals.

[springyzone]

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@anjtim wrote:

Recently I saw a listing for an Omega Seamaster Professional 300m dive watch. It was one of the mid level chinese counterfeit watches being sold on eBay as an actual Omega. These watches retail for $9,975AUD new from Omega.  People are actively bidding on it and it has not been disclosed that the watch is fake. 

I am an Omega expert and are able to authenticate Omega watches. I also own the original watch that this fake is purporting to be. I reported the sale to eBay and after reviewing it a customer service representative has deemed the listing to not breach eBay's terms of service.  Off the top of my head there were at least six points of reference that I based my judgement from where the listing deviates from the original. It is obvious to anyone who is familiar with Swiss watches that this is not what it is described as. Where is the buyer protection? Why should someone have to win this watch and later find out that it isn't real and open a case and have to jump through the hoops and wait months for their money to return to them. If eBay is going to allow these watches to be sold then they should be forced to have to be authenticated by an expert before the seller gets any money. I don't understand why they just don't care about the proliferation of counterfeit products and scams targetting eBay buyers.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why eBay just doesn't care about this issue?

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I think the situation is worse than that. The people who win these watches actually have to open a claim within 30 days of receiving it & my bet is a person who would bid up for one of these on ebay from a Chinese seller is unlikely to be the sort of person who is a doubting Thomas and who would be rushing to get it authenticated in that time.

And worse still, if they open a claim just saying it is a fake, ebay might very well side with the seller because the buyer would need proof of their claim.

I fully believe you when you say you can see numerous points that prove this watch you saw is a fake. I have seen Chinese ads too that blatantly steal photos from the real designer websites.  Chinese laws are not necessarily the same as ours.

Ebay could do more to stop it but I agree with something countess said quite a while back in another thread. Until they face serious litigation from a powerful source, they probably won't. They get commission from every sale.

They do offer that money back guarantee but let's face it, a lot of people fail to ever make a claim or else they miss the deadline.

I agree with Padi. The best bet may be to report it to Omega themselves. Ebay seems to tighten up procedures for companies that take an active interest.

[sugar249]

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@springyzone wrote:

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@anjtim wrote:

I fully believe you when you say you can see numerous points that prove this watch you saw is a fake. I have seen Chinese ads too that blatantly steal photos from the real designer websites.  Chinese laws are not necessarily the same as ours.

t.

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Ebay do give people the tools to avoid these situations, like reading the feedback.  I note OP has made several purchases from sellers,  where the feedback spells out fake very loudly,   so why is OP supporting these sellers.  It's not Ebays job,   without them personally inspecting every watch,  how would they know.

Maybe OP needs to start in their own backyard before placing the blame on Ebay,  which is a listing platform,

[springyzone]

I believe ebay is well aware it is a problem.

They would never have started an authentication program for any items unless they were trying to stamp out some of these problems.

They cannot be expected to authenticate every item listed on ebay, but at the same time, I notice that they do have some policy restrictions that cause listings to be pulled. One that comes to mind is from years ago. Someone here was saying they made items and had listed something that was (I think, from memory) a registered Disney material and that ad had to be pulled straight away. Only authorised sellers had the right to advertise it or use it in their ads.

I suspect that Disney probably rigorously follow up on breaches so ebay can't risk it and acts accordingly.

That's why I think Omega themselves might be the best ones to tackle this, if they even care. If they did, I suspect a lot of the fake Omega ads would melt away.

Ebay already has other key words that cause ads to be automatically pulled.

The problem with fake or counterfeit products on ebay is that if it were to get a reputation for fakes, it could turn buyers off. It devalues their selling platform. That's why I think they introduced the authentication program, as they perceived a problem.