Stop Yourself Selling Fake Articles on eBay

Stop Yourself Selling Fake Articles on eBay Articles by Avril Harper™ Updated: Tuesday November 24, 2009

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Stop Yourself Selling Fake Articles on eBay by Avril Harper

The UK's Daily Mail today (April 9^th 2008) tells how one of its researchers bought 34 designer items on eBay, only one was real.

Also today, Google News talks about major French fashion house, Hermes International, claiming damages from eBay for counterfeit sales of its goods allegedly taking place at the auction site.

Other major companies are also suing eBay for sales of fakes at its site which in turn get’s eBay a bad name, and also threatens the reputation of people selling on eBay. That means you, it also means me!

It’s very easy to fall victim to buying a fake to resell on eBay, usually innocently as where an auction company sells items it believes are genuine, only they’re not. It’s also easy to become a victim as a result of buying from criminals, however plausible those people might be. Sadly, it’s not quite so easy to protect yourself from buying fake items to resell on eBay.

But you can reduce your chance of buying fakes just by knowing which are the most heavily faked items and making sure not to purchase these items purposely for resale. It’s a bit different if you buy these items as personal goods from the original manufacturer or authorised representative and then decide to sell them, where all you do to safeguard yourself is keep the product packaging and proof of purchase.

Among the most heavily faked names on eBay are Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton. I personally wouldn’t even consider buying those items specifically to resell on eBay. But if you do decide to purchase such items, be sure to get a receipt from the seller and make sure the receipt has a valid name and address for you to give eBay and the police should that item later prove ‘iffy’.

eBay is doing all it can to limit the number of dodgy items at its site, alongside many other organisations also working hard to protect the buying public.

A spokesperson for one of those organizations, the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, told reporters: "Counterfeiting has risen by more than 10,000 per cent in the past two decades globally, while in the UK the market is worth at least £14 billion a year. We strongly advise people not to buy any luxury goods on eBay.”

Tips to Help You Avoid Buying Fake Goods

Car boot sales and flea markets are amongst the most prolific sources of fake designer and brand name goods and they are best avoided at all costs, even if ‘so and so’ seller is a long standing friend.

Many fake items are shoddily made and missing essential pieces like key fobs on handbags and buttons on Steiff teddy bears. Stitching is often uneven and fastenings poor quality compared to the originals.

Don’t believe what the experts say, even top auction companies. Some fakes are very hard to tell from the original and in the absence of provenence only a few experts worldwide are able to spot the genuine article. Fake autographs are notoriously hard to tell from the real thing, and even some legal autographs are not the ‘real’ thing. This is because many busy and well known people like politicans and royals, film stars and major sports personalities, allowed others to sign their name or to use autograph pens which are like small printing machines that glide across the paper and leave an exact impression of an actual signature.

At an auction last week I could have bought more than 100 autographs of popular subjects like Bob Hope (his signature is well worth a few hundred pounds plus), Tony Hancock (also priced in hundreds of pounds), and many others besides. They sold for around a tenner apiece but I bought none of them, I’m just not willing to sell potentially faked items on eBay. Had several of those autographs been dedicated to a named individual and more of that person’s belongings were also up for sale, I’d have grabbed those autographs. Proof of an earlier owner, someone unlikely to be a fraudster, is often sufficient proof of those items being genuine.

There’s a great place to turn for information about what is and what is not likely to be a fake. That place is eBay itself and guides written by sellers intending to benefit potential buyers. But those guides are equally useful for sellers and I recommend you go look at those before you ever consider buying potentially faked items to resell on eBay.

Go to eBay UK’s front page, click on ‘Site Map’ top right, then way down the next page, under ‘Buying Resources’ click on ‘Reviews & Guides’. Next page key ‘fake’ into the search box and you’ll find lots to choose from.

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