When Will eBay Get Serious About Counterfeits?

eBay is ideal for counterfeits, fraud and scams.

February 28, 2019 - Los Angeles, CA – eBay is under fire for some shady practices; enabling and facilitating the sale of an inexhaustible supply of counterfeit, fake and replica goods while hiding behind illusory counterfeit policies and ineffective website policing. Commanding 6% of e-commerce sales, eBay pumps an inexhaustible supply of counterfeit goods into the consumer marketplace.

eBay has migrated from the auction house of garage sale items to a global "Marketplace" seller model. Now a haven for U.S. and cross-border scam artists to freely unload counterfeit merchandise, these unvetted marketplace sellers (about 80% of eBay business) and can sell just about anything they want on eBay, including fake and fraudulent items.

Consumers just don't have a chance of identifying dangerous, deadly and often visually indistinguishable counterfeit goods, yet eBay still receives a transaction fee and profits from the fake item sales. The downstream consequences are destroyed U.S companies and retailers, lost U.S. jobs and deceived consumers spending good money for bad products.

The Counterfeit Report, an award winning consumer advocate and counterfeit watchdog, found over 3.3 million counterfeits on eBay and removed over 1.9 million, authorized by the brand owners. The eBay listings, for just a handful of selected products, reveal that over 765,000 counterfeit items were sold to consumers.

While most people would expect eBay to embrace the report, notify consumers, and work together to remove the counterfeits to provide a safe consumer environment, eBay chose to do the opposite. eBay blocked The Counterfeit Report's accounts, banned test purchases and commissioned the global law firm giant, O'Melveny and Myers, to threaten; "Any attempt to circumvent that ban may result in eBay taking further steps, including but not limited to legal action." Clearly a win for counterfeiters.

The problem isn’t unnoticed, or limited to the well-known fakes such as; watches, shoes and handbags, but includes a vast counterfeit universe of auto parts, cosmetics, OTC drugs, electronics, sporting goods, toys, and much, much more. Even inarguably fake products - items that bear a trademark, but do not even exist in the brand owner's authentic product line - are repeatedly offered on eBay.

• The U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") recently conducted an undercover investigation of e-commerce counterfeit goods sales and reported that about 50% of the items it purchased from eBay were counterfeit.
• Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") Director Michael O'Rielly sent a letter to eBay's CEO, Devin Wenig, telling him to knock off the counterfeit electronics.
• Forbes deemed the e-commerce giant a "cesspool of counterfeits and other illegal and potentially dangerous goods."

Despite counterfeit removal notices sent dozens of times for weeks, the fake products still remain, or are simply relisted. Consumers can see the authentic items and their counterfeit counterparts on TheCounterfeitReport.com website. Complaints to eBay senior management and corporate counsel, Marie O'Huber, fall on deaf ears.

Most eBay consumers wouldn't suspect the items below are fake. Even drug pill dies have been offered on eBay to make replica Oxycodone, Alprazolam and Xanax

(Photo: ©The Counterfeit Report)

Row 1 - Monster® never made a Tron model headphone. Supra® never produced a "Justin Bieber" model skateboard shoe, and the Drew Technologies® Mongoose® Pro vehicle diagnostic interface cable was never made in purple. Vans® does not make or license the use of the VANS® trademark on iPhone 6, 7 or 8 phone cases. Your life could literally be riding on this counterfeit vehicle suspension part. Group-A Autosports® never made the Skunk2® lower suspension control arm in the color shown. An automobile suspension part failure can cause a catastrophic accident with fatal consequences to those in, and around, the counterfeit equipped vehicle.

Row 2 - Authentic Dr. Numb is not made in the 10g size shown here. Counterfeit Dr. Numb® 5% Lidocaine Cream submitted for ingredient testing did not contain any Lidocaine as indicated, but Tetracaine, a potentially fatal drug. Composite Resources, Combat Application Tourniquet® (C-A-T®), has been supplied to the U.S. Military, police, first responders and the public worldwide for the past decade but was never produced in tan. Counterfeit versions of the C-A-T tourniquet have catastrophically failed during actual life-saving applications. eBay listings offer drug pill presses to make replica drugs including Oxycodone, Alprazolam, and Xanax. The Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") and FBI do not sell their badges on eBay, but counterfeits are available to terrorists, child predators and other criminals.

Row 3 - The various micro SD® memory cards shown were never produced in any authentic product line in the capacities shown, or licensed by SD-3C, LLC, the right holder of the microSD® trademark. Pharmaceutical giant GSK does not make its OTC anti-fungicide medication, Lamisil® in the liquid form shown.

Everyone knows selling counterfeits is illegal, yet through huge legal loopholes, and virtually immune to prosecution, IP laws and safety standards, eBay continues to allow counterfeits and avoid prosecution. Foreign sellers are difficult to identify and also escape liability.

Companies that facilitate criminal activity and profit from dishonest sales which impact consumer safety, jobs and public trust create a public perception of deception and impunity. The value of counterfeit and pirated goods is forecast to grow to $2.8 trillion, and cost 5.4 million net job losses by 2022 states a 2017 International Chamber of Commerce Report.

Consumers seeking authentic items would be safer and better served buying directly from the manufacturer or authorized retailers.