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Press Releases
Watchdog buys counterfeit goods from eBay's 'most trusted' sellers
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Watchdog, Tuesday 7 November 2006, 7pm, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One's Watchdog has discovered that some of the sellers that eBay calls its most reliable are peddling counterfeit goods - and says the company needs to do more to protect customers from being conned.
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An investigation by the long-running consumer series has discovered a number of eBay's power sellers - described by the company as the "pillars of the eBay community"- are able to sell fake goods while claiming that they are authentic.
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Among the products bought by the programme's researchers were:
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 Counterfeit Prada shoes sold as authentic. The real shoes would cost around Β£190 but a Β£40 bid for a pair of "genuine" new ones was successful
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Two bogus Christian Dior bags. Sold as 100% brand new and authentic, for Β£75. Though the bags appeared to be bought from different sellers, in fact they were from the same one. These were the worst copies the programme obtained: the detail was shoddy, and they were stuffed with Thai newspapers - even though the genuine company is based in France. And the supposed authentication cards had identical serial numbers.
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A realistic copy of the highly sought-after Adidas Y-3 trainers. Small details revealed these to be fake: no shoe should have the same number, but these did.
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A fake but supposedly genuine Chloe bag. A good copy, again small details (like the workmanship on the padlock and clasp) and its colour gave it away.
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eBay says counterfeit goods are not allowed. But several big name manufacturers feel the online marketplace - the most visited commercial website in the UK - isn't doing enough to police the problem.
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Although eBay does run a system for monitoring counterfeit goods, the onus is on genuine brands to alert them of the ones to remove.
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And when eBay does take down adverts for fake goods, it is easy for the traders caught out to do exactly the same again using a different name.
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Watchdog will also include footage of a raid by police and Trading Standards at the premises of an eBay trader alleged to be selling counterfeit goods.
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Ruth Taylor, a Trading Standards Investigator from North Yorkshire, says she has concerns about how easy it is to sell fakes on eBay - and how fast the company responds.
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The programme's editor, Rob Unsworth, said: "Raids at taxpayers' expense mean we're all paying the cost of fraud on eBay - even if we've never shopped there.
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"Fake goods described as genuine were easy for us to find. But somehow eBay keeps missing them.
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"Customers who think they're getting the real thing are being ripped off - and often it's by sellers who seem to have eBay's seal of approval."
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Mike Roylance of Adidas said: "There are some really serious criminals behind this. We're seeing people going out to the Far East to bring containers in just to sell on eBay. They're making millions - it's big, big business."
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eBay's security relies heavily on buyers gauging for themselves the trustworthiness of a seller by choosing ones with high levels of positive feedback left by other customers.
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But the feedback system is easy to cheat - a former eBay employee gave the Watchdog team simple instructions on how to do it.
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All the power sellers Watchdog bought from had high feedback scores - though when that feedback was examined in detail there were angry messages from customers furious they had been ripped off. These were not spotted by eBay.
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Since hearing the programme's findings, eBay has taken down ads from the sellers identified as selling counterfeit goods.
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EDA
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