Are eBay Buyers Counterfeit Coach Bags Left Holding the Bag?

by Joseph K. Levene & Robert Grunder

Coach awarded £28.3 million, but will eBay reimburse these duped buyers?  

eBay aggressively advertises its buyer protection policy, and like most insurance policies, you should read the fine print!  Even though eBay buyer protection is 15 years too late, counterfeit listings are still the norm, as eBay has not implemented appropriate fraud protection.

According to eBay's buyer protection program, buyers have 45 days to make a complaint, even though the uniform commercial code specifies merchants provide four years of protection. 

While the court may have ruled in Coach's favor, it is unlikely eBay and PayPal will reimburse thousands of eBay buyers who did not realize they were bought counterfeit Coach Bags. 

eBay takes the position that since it does not directly buy or sell anything, there is no obligation to provide consumer fraud protection; it is that obvious deficiency that makes eBay a magnet for brand name counterfeits.

24/7 eBay continues to accept counterfeit listings for fine art purportedly by Pablo Picasso, Damien Hirst, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Roy  Lichtenstein, etc., and the lack of an appropriate anti-fraud policy condones eBay fine art fraud.

eBay continues to take no steps to vet its listings, even in 2016; in fact, if you contact eBay customer service  regarding a fraudulent listing, you will realize they just enforce a do nothing policy.

In 2007, we wrote eBay Could Easily Eliminate Fraud If They Hired Department Experts as a way for eBay to curtail counterfeit/frauds. However, we concluded eBay management really prefers generating listing revenue vs meaningful consumer fraud protection.

A previous counterfeit case in which Burberry was awarded £63 million gave Burberry the right to hold third parties such as Google, Twitter and Facebook accountable for associating with the various websites of the counterfeiters.

Hopefully, the courts will do likewise with eBay soon, and enforce implementation of meaningful consumer fraud protection that parallels the requirements of the uniform commercial code.

All fine art sold by Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd. is GUARANTEED for Authenticity.

©2019 Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd.

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