E-Bay being Sued- Bout Time

[NHCharger]

And not by some single bidder with no clout
It's about time E-Bay gets taken to task for their, hear no evil, see no evil, it's not our problem approach to the thousands of who get ripped off on E-bay.http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/technology/29ebay.html?ex=1296190800&en=f91ec53fbb30c816&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rssands 

[Silver R/T]

Ya they should be sued for fake crap. Guess what, when she wins, Ebay is just gonna raise listing fees to compensate
On the other hand Ebay cant monitor every item for its authenticity, buyer should research what theyre buying before placing bid

[Telvis]

I got screwed last month on an item I paid $150 for. I have to give Paypal some credit. I did get $125 of it back. I'm still working on the other $25. I WILL GET IT!!!!!

[Mike DC]

Ebay doesn't have to monitor & be liable for everything that passes through their site.  They just need to start doing ANYTHING about the repeat offenders who pull the same scams for years on end.  How about keeping all the feedback viewable for the public?  How about cracking down, just a little bit, on the most flagrant scammers who just keep changing their accounts to dump the bad repuations all the time?  How about taking ANY steps to prevent companies from clogging up the listings with 50 copies of a brand-new item still in the package?  

Ebay has probably made its creators as rich as Arab oil barons in the last 10 years.  God Forbid they have to start taking a few of the same basic steps to protect customers that we would already expect of any other public auction house.  I'm sure the legions of ripped-off buyers would be thrilled to provide Ebay with a steay streem of info on who is conning people and how they're doing it.  

Ebay shoudln't be held liable for all bad sellers in the big scheme of things, but right now they're not even lifting a finger to take the small steps they could do to stop them.  

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[twilt]

    I disagree that ebay should be liable for crap like this. Any legal action taken should be taken against the fraudulent sellers. Buyers need to operate/buy with a reasonable level of sensability. If it appears too good to be true......it is.   For example, if i wanted to buy a genuine Rolex watch, would i buy one on ebay? absolutely not.... that would be stupid.   

[Mike DC]

I'm not saying Ebay should be liable for the stolen amount.  The sellers should still be the one directly liable for any damages.   

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If you got ripped off by an independent seller standing in front of a Wal-Mart, your first reaction wouldn't be to sue Wal-Mart.  It would be to sue the seller, right?  That's fine.

Okay, But what if the guy has been scamming people there for 10 years?  And it was public knowledge that Wal-Mart was getting a small rake-off for letting him stand there?  Eventually you might start to resent Wal-Mart for not kicking him out when there have been ongoing complaints about him.  You still probably wouldn't actually demand that Wal-Mart give you your money back that the con-artist took, but you'd be pissed if Wal-Mart knew he was scamming people but chose to keep taking his money & keep letting him stand there anyway.

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[Telvis]

Eventhough I have been scammed a time or two. I have been selling on ebay since 1987. I have made a pretty good living off the site especially since I retired in 2004. I think ebay provides the venue and helps buyers and sellers find each other. I think it is the scum bags that screw people who are to blame for their actions. I don't blame Ebay. I got screwed on some parts I traded on DC.com. It's not Troys fault. It;s the thieving bastard that took my parts and sent me useless crap. That's just the way it is. You take a chance everytime you make a transaction online. Hopefully most come out well. I would not give up the opportunity to keep buying and selling. I love it. It's America at it's best. The small guy can compete with the big company. I love It!!

[Vainglory, Esq.]

Ebay has probably made its creators as rich as Arab oil barons in the last 10 years.  God Forbid they have to start taking a few of the same basic steps to protect customers that we would already expect of any other public auction house.  I'm sure the legions of ripped-off buyers would be thrilled to provide Ebay with a steay streem of info on who is conning people and how they're doing it. 

Yes it has.  And one of them, Steve Westly is the front-runner for challenging Arnold for the California governorship.  Democrat, of course.

[5.9_Liter_Grand_Cherokee]

I have bought a couple of items on ebay, and so far I've been lucky, but I know people who have been ripped off.  I think ebay should have a rule like I have in my club's car show.  I allow the participants to classify their car as to whether it is stock or modified.  But I kinow who my experts are, and if I get three complaints on a car I have a couple of guys go check out the car and I will move it if my experts deem it necessary.  It would be easy enough for ebay to implement the same form of system.  Yes, they may have to shell out a hundred bucks to an antique dealer to go out and check up on a seller who has gotten a few complaints, but word would get out, and people would be more careful about their listings if they knew that they would be scrutinized and banned if they get so many complaints.  They would also have to built safeguards to ensure that people aren't using the complaint department to limit their competition.  Something like you make five erroneous compalints about other people you get banned. 

[hemihead]

  I disagree that ebay should be liable for crap like this. Any legal action taken should be taken against the fraudulent sellers. Buyers need to operate/buy with a reasonable level of sensability. If it appears too good to be true......it is.   For example, if i wanted to buy a genuine Rolex watch, would i buy one on ebay? absolutely not.... that would be stupid.   

I'm with Twilt on this one.

[Mike DC]

I agree with that aspect of the issue.  If I get ripped off by a seller, I'm not saying Ebay owes me any reinbursement money.  It's the seller that committed the crime.

But I CAN choose not to do business with Ebay anymore if they don't want to try and combat this stuff at all.  The monopoly situation they're in is costing us all some service.  (And you could argue that Ebay currently loses a fair amount of business simply because of the security issues.)  If a real competitor for Ebay ever appears, then I'll bet Ebay would start fixing this kind of stuff real fast.

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[NHCharger]

Don't get me wrong.I don't want to see E-Bay go down. I want to see them implement a few more rules or safe guards to cut down on the amount of fraud going on. Several months ago a large fencing operation got busted in NJ. These guys were selling all the items they stole on E-Bay. A victim saw her items on E-Bay and contacted them. E-Bay didn't lift a finger to help until they were finally told by the police to remove the items. If E-Bay is raking in that much money they can afford to set up a better system to monitor these problems.

[BigBlockSam]

How about cracking down, just a little bit, on the most flagrant scammers 

this lady got her money back, most people do. i live off of ebay and there charges have gone up big time. all this will do is raise the charges even more. Rene

[Charger_Fan]

If E-Bay is raking in that much money they can afford to set up a better system to monitor these problems.

If they know what's good for them, they'll set up a better system soon. There's already a few other Ebay wanna-bee's out there & if people get pissed off enough at Ebay, they'll start using those other companies & Ebay will go down the pooper eventually.
Same thing as any other business out there must do to stay in the good graces of the customers who keep them alive.

[Old Moparz]

I read the article in the link, I think the lawsuit is valid & should be an interesting case. I have mixed feelings as to the extent of ebay's liability, but there's no difference here than if they were a landlord allowing a tenant to sell illegal merchandise in a mall. The landlord collects rental income generated from the sale of counterfeit merchandise, which is illegal because of copyright law, and continues to profit from it unknowingly.

If the tenant is caught, the landlord now knows of the situation & should evict the tenant based on illegal business practices, which more than likely is a violation of the lease anyway. If illegal activity isn't a violation of a lease, then we should see a few whorehouses pop up in between The Banana Republic & KB Toys. If the landlord is aware of the illegal activity, then they are now part of the problem for allowing it to go on & should be held accountable.

Ever hear the expression "ignorance is no excuse for the law"? It should apply across the board to all types of people & business. Maybe the first time, or in the early part of a company's existence, they can legitimately claim that they aren't aware of a problem, or they have no way of knowing about a scam, but ebay is not new anymore & should be more responsible. I've found a handful of loop holes in the feed back system, so it's not perfect.

At some point in time, enough people will be sick of ebay's very lenient policy & lack of policing itself & go elsewhere. It happens in business all the time, think about a few large companies that looked like they would be around forever & aren't. Someone new comes in with a better way of doing business & if the old company doesn't adapt or change, poof, they're gone.

[dkn1997]

From the article: " We're not car experts,"  yeah, no shit!!  you can stop the auto fruad on ebay by just not allowing any auctions that originate out of lake villa, Ill.

They should not be laible, but need to do more screening.  They should not let anyone join without a valid phyiscal address, etc....They need to make it harder.  And I find it hard to believe that there is not technology out there to prevent stealing identities.

[JimShine]

Eventhough I have been scammed a time or two. I have been selling on ebay since 1987.

Huh. You must have been good buddies with Al Gore. 

http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/thecompany/companyoverview.html

"Founded in September 1995, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is The World's Online Marketplace® for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and small businesses. Today, the eBay community includes more than a hundred million registered members from around the world. People spend more time on eBay than any other online site, making it the most popular shopping destination on the Internet. "

[chargers_r_us]

solved

[Telvis]

Eventhough I have been scammed a time or two. I have been selling on ebay since 1987.

Huh. You must have been good buddies with Al Gore. 

http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/thecompany/companyoverview.html

"Founded in September 1995, eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) is The World's Online Marketplace® for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and small businesses. Today, the eBay community includes more than a hundred million registered members from around the world. People spend more time on eBay than any other online site, making it the most popular shopping destination on the Internet. "

It was a typo.....I meant 1997....Gees... I'm glad I didn't type 1887

[2Gunz]

I think the biggest point here is with a little bit of effort on the part of Ebay they could make the situation ALOT better. Out of all the people cheating and stealing on Ebay prolly 1% sell 90% of the fraudulent items.

I dont think that Ebay should be responsible for the fraud. But given the fact that they have been irresponsible, AND getting rich. They should share some of the burden.

[resq302]

Just so everyone is aware, I heard that Paypal is owned by Ebay!  My dad got taken by a guy up in Canada who sold us a 1970 AM/FM 8 track radio for our el camino so we could have it as a spare since the 1970 radio was a one year only item.  Dad paid by paypal which is supposed to be a "SAFE" way of paying and only got SOME of his money back.   Not the whole $275 he paid.  Needless to say, we no longer have an account with Paypal!

[MyMopar]

Ebay needs to be somewhat responsible.  Lately have you seen all the bogus listings for Muscle cars.  Do a search for Dodge Challenger, they have pristine rare and desirable cars listed starting at $100. No buy it now auction button but the seller states that if they want to buy it now they can for $6800. 
Hopefully anyone with a brain will realize that you can't get a 1970 Challenger convert. in showroom condition for $6800. Where is ebay on these scams? I reported 8 to them in the past 2 days but they keep coming back up. I wonder if someone has hacked the ebay user ids and are just listing stuff to annoy the real user id account holders?

[Old Moparz]

Just so everyone is aware, I heard that Paypal is owned by Ebay!  My dad got taken by a guy up in Canada who sold us a 1970 AM/FM 8 track radio for our el camino so we could have it as a spare since the 1970 radio was a one year only item.  Dad paid by paypal which is supposed to be a "SAFE" way of paying and only got SOME of his money back.   Not the whole $275 he paid.  Needless to say, we no longer have an account with Paypal!

You heard correct, & you have to wonder who got the better part of the deal, ebay or paypal? It was on sale for only $1.5 Billion.

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-941964.html

[472 R/T SE]

If you got ripped off by an independent seller standing in front of a Wal-Mart, your first reaction wouldn't be to sue Wal-Mart.  It would be to sue the seller, right?  That's fine.

Okay, But what if the guy has been scamming people there for 10 years?  And it was public knowledge that Wal-Mart was getting a small rake-off for letting him stand there?  Eventually you might start to resent Wal-Mart for not kicking him out when there have been ongoing complaints about him.  You still probably wouldn't actually demand that Wal-Mart give you your money back that the con-artist took, but you'd be pissed if Wal-Mart knew he was scamming people but chose to keep taking his money & keep letting him stand there anyway.

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Never happen...You have to shop there first.