4 ms·

We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake

by beambot 14y ago

We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy. We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) or sellers getting scammed after selling a legit item (unscrupulous buyers filing fake claims, resulting in loss of both the item and sale money to the seller)... /Lollipuff co-founder. [1] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/41/ebays-counterfeit-epidemic-herve-leger-edition https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/41/ebays-counterfeit-epidemic...

eurleif 14y ago
>fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) If the fake is so similar to the real thing that it's possible to be fooled by it for years, who cares? Who is harmed besides Chanel?
- bebefuzz 14y ago
  As someone who is familiar with Chanel, the difference is night and day. However, for someone new to the brand, it's not. A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. It's usually the newbies that don't know off the bat. And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands.
  - eurleif 14y ago
    >A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. But apparently the bags are durable enough to last for years, so the materials and craftsmanship can't be that bad. >And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands. The stress is caused by attachment to status symbols, and could be better solved by letting go of such bullshit. And they would have lost the same money by buying a genuine Chanel bag, which is only considered to be worth that much money because of the brand.
    - dmohs 14y ago
      > But apparently the bags are durable enough to last for > years, so the materials and craftsmanship can't be that bad. As a recently-converted believer, I recommend you take a look at a five-year-old version of each and then make your judgement. The difference is significant. > which is only considered to be worth that much money because > of the brand. Perceived value isn't less real simply because it is all in our heads ;)
nawitus 14y ago
One thing I hate about trademark legislation it that it prevents knowingly selling "counterfeit" trademarked goods. If a consumer wants to knowingly buy a "counterfeit" item, then that should clearly be legal. Besides, the sale of misrepresented goods is already illegal because of other laws, so there's not much need for trademark laws. Of course, trademark laws increase profit for many companies, which is the reason they've been created in the first place. However, the point of intellectual property should be to benefit society, not companies.
niggler 14y ago
"According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones." How is eBay compensated? If they are compensated on a flat-transaction-fee then sure. But I thought they took a percentage of the sales price (in which case your assertion would not be true if the fakes sold for a tenth of the price of the originals.)
- beambot 14y ago
  This is the problem... regular users (that aren't brand experts) cannot tell the difference. So on eBay, the counterfeits sell for about the same price as authentic items.
  - niggler 14y ago
    I'm not really familiar with eBay's practices, but what happens if the product is counterfeit but advertised as original?
    - beambot 14y ago
      Unfortunately, getting money back after receiving a counterfeit from eBay is not trivial. A third party authenticator must be paid by the buyer to fax a thorough formal document for PayPal to review. The process can be long and expensive. Even then, it's not guaranteed that the buyer will receive their money back as a result. Buying and selling designer items through auction sites such as eBay is fraught with risk. Mind you, a seller of authentic items can get hit with a fake claim as well.
      - illuminate 14y ago
        This wasn't the case for me last month, I bought a guitar pedal that turned out to be a fake, I filed the complaint and sent in evidence, received a full refund from eBay/Paypal.
        14y ago

by beambot 14y ago

eurleif 14y ago

>fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) If the fake is so similar to the real thing that it's possible to be fooled by it for years, who cares? Who is harmed besides Chanel?

bebefuzz 14y ago
As someone who is familiar with Chanel, the difference is night and day. However, for someone new to the brand, it's not. A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. It's usually the newbies that don't know off the bat. And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands.
- eurleif 14y ago
  >A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. But apparently the bags are durable enough to last for years, so the materials and craftsmanship can't be that bad. >And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands. The stress is caused by attachment to status symbols, and could be better solved by letting go of such bullshit. And they would have lost the same money by buying a genuine Chanel bag, which is only considered to be worth that much money because of the brand.
  - dmohs 14y ago
    > But apparently the bags are durable enough to last for > years, so the materials and craftsmanship can't be that bad. As a recently-converted believer, I recommend you take a look at a five-year-old version of each and then make your judgement. The difference is significant. > which is only considered to be worth that much money because > of the brand. Perceived value isn't less real simply because it is all in our heads ;)

nawitus 14y ago

One thing I hate about trademark legislation it that it prevents knowingly selling "counterfeit" trademarked goods. If a consumer wants to knowingly buy a "counterfeit" item, then that should clearly be legal. Besides, the sale of misrepresented goods is already illegal because of other laws, so there's not much need for trademark laws. Of course, trademark laws increase profit for many companies, which is the reason they've been created in the first place. However, the point of intellectual property should be to benefit society, not companies.

niggler 14y ago

"According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones." How is eBay compensated? If they are compensated on a flat-transaction-fee then sure. But I thought they took a percentage of the sales price (in which case your assertion would not be true if the fakes sold for a tenth of the price of the originals.)

beambot 14y ago
This is the problem... regular users (that aren't brand experts) cannot tell the difference. So on eBay, the counterfeits sell for about the same price as authentic items.
- niggler 14y ago
  I'm not really familiar with eBay's practices, but what happens if the product is counterfeit but advertised as original?
  - beambot 14y ago
    Unfortunately, getting money back after receiving a counterfeit from eBay is not trivial. A third party authenticator must be paid by the buyer to fax a thorough formal document for PayPal to review. The process can be long and expensive. Even then, it's not guaranteed that the buyer will receive their money back as a result. Buying and selling designer items through auction sites such as eBay is fraught with risk. Mind you, a seller of authentic items can get hit with a fake claim as well.
    - illuminate 14y ago
      This wasn't the case for me last month, I bought a guitar pedal that turned out to be a fake, I filed the complaint and sent in evidence, received a full refund from eBay/Paypal.
      - 14y ago