Weiss Vintage Jewelry
a retiree insouthern Oregon who dabbles in vintage costume jewelry, went on eBayand bought 10 butterfly brooches made by Weiss, a well-known maker ofhigh-quality costume jewelry in the 1950's and 1960's.
At first, Ms. Rogers thought she had snagged a great deal. But when thejewelry arrived from a seller in Rhode Island, her well-trained eye
told her that all of the pieces were knockoffs.
Even though Ms. Rogers received a refund after she confronted the
seller, eBay refused to remove hundreds of listings for identical
"Weiss" pieces. It said it had no responsibility for the fakes because
it was nothing more than a marketplace that links buyers and sellers.
Any comment?
1 ) Know your merchandise. (Both as a buyer and seller.) If you want to
dabble in jewelry, at least pick a brand and know what was made by them.
2 ) This is a New York Times article. What's the difference between their
own classifieds and eBay? Does the NYT check everything listed for sale, to
weed out the counterfeits? When's the last time an NYT reporter wandered
down to Canal Street, one of the breeding grounds for trademark/copyright
infringement?
3 ) Ira Steiner (quoted in the article) is a known anti-eBay activist who
makes money from taking that position in any article he's sourced for.
4 ) How many people care or understand the impact of trademark infringement
and fake merchandise? We're having a discussion on this same article, over
on alt.marketing.online.ebay, and I'm one of the few who believes that
knowingly buying a fake item is wrong.