When I was 18 years old , I bought a baby Louis Vuitton handbag off of eBay . It was about $ 300 and light blue devil . I loved it . Then , the slide fastener break and when I take it to the Louis Vuitton store to get repaired , the snooty sales girl informed me that it was counterfeit . Eighteen - year - old me was cense , humble , and embarrassed , but I learned an expensive ( if important ) deterrent example : Do n’t buy designer good off of eBay .
Counterfeiting is a big problem on eBay and other on-line marketplaceslike Amazon , and it only seems to be getting worse . Amazon is finally meaningfullyaddressingits counterfeit issueafter gettingsued by merchants . And now it in conclusion looks like eBay will address the problem as well .
On Thursday , eBay said it will belaunching a unexampled programcalledeBay Authenticateto help “ hike up consumer confidence ” for higher - terminal transactions . Ebay has a longsighted history with counterfeit product and has previously beensuedby luxury goods makers like LVMH ( parent company of Louis Vuitton ) andTiffany & Coover the problem .
The melodic theme is that sellers can opt - into a service where a third - political party examines an detail before it is shipped off to a consumer . So if I ’m sell a$15,000 Hermès Birkin traveling bag , I can pay to have professionals authenticate that the item is genuine before it ’s sent to me . Ebay also says it will take into account consumers to pay for the authentication service on their own , if the marketer does n’t want to give for it .
The program will launch sometime later this year , and although the plan is to target high-pitched - market item like sumptuousness way items and jewellery ) , if it goes well , it could be expanded to other product categories too .
I ’m appreciative that eBay is at least trying to check the counterfeit job , but it ’s a petty concerning that this is an opt - in programme . Ebay is n’t read how much this servicing will be , but I ca n’t reckon it will be cheap . transport to a middle - humanity alone will add buck to a leverage . customer always have the right hand to only buy from places that propose authentication , but my fear is that the add up expense will mean a lot of Peter Sellers simply do n’t take reward of the feature article .
For a $ 15,000 handbag , yield superfluous to verify it ’s legit is belike a smart idea , but I wonder how many marketer or buyers will opt for this selection for submarine $ 500 goods .
[ EbayviaVenture Beat ]
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