ebay's fakes

Unlike a lot of women (and men) I know, I am not a shopper. Ok, maybe I'll do the very occasional, irrational spending spree - usually when I'm feeling rebellious - but I've never gotten a thrill from scoring a bargain. I do, however, know many people for whom bargain hunting is a sort of therapy - for them, eBay is almost always the first place they'll go. But buyer beware.

As Tiffany vs. eBay goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals, eBay reveals some pretty alarming stats about their counterfeit goods problem. According to Nicola Sharpe, eBay's spokesperson, 2.1 million listings were removed in 2008 and 30,000 sellers suspended for hawking fakes. That's a whole lot of dandelions. While I know my friends are savvy and will know how to tell between a fake and the real thing, some fakes are so well made that it's difficult to distinguish.

I don't think that the blame should fall on eBay, so I don't agree with the lawsuit. It's almost impossible for eBay to police counterfeits - in addition to having 2.7 billion live listings globally over a year, it's also not the business they're in. Sharpe did continue to say that 100% of reported listings were removed from the site last year, and usually within 12 hours. So, there is some consolation for my bargain loving friends. While it may turn out that one or two of their bargains weren't bargains after all, at least these fashion dandelions don't go unnoticed.