Why does eBay allow fraudulent Limited Edition listings?

[robertgrahamfan]

Some unsavory sellers list non-limited items as Limited Edition, probably to get it sold faster or to get a higher price.  eBay takes no action when you report these listings, which I would think would make them legally complicit in the fraud.  Anyone have insight as to why eBay allows this to go on?  How can sellers combat this?  It seems the only option right now is for us to also partake in the fraud by also listing our non-limited items as Limited Edition.

Here is an example of an item which has been fraudulent listed for a couple months:

RARE Robert Graham FIELD OF GOLD Shirt Mens M Floral Long Sleeve LIMITED EDITION

This item (in size large) has sold with tags attached twice since November for under $100 each time.  This listing is pre-owned and the seller is offering a "deal" at over $200.  This would not be a crazy # if this were truly limited edition but this item is not embroidered with "Limited Edition", is unnumbered, was not limited in production, and does not have the high quality buttons or level of embroidery/pattern an educated buyer/seller would expect of a limited edition shirt.  However, this is a scam that might just work on an unsophisticated buyer.

[onefootflippers]

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@frankenhobbit wrote:

Anyone dumb enough to buy into  'Limited Edition' anything is prey to scammers. 

Shirts are never 'limited'. I just cannot fathom that. 

Food, ammo, fuel. medicine? Yes, I can see those as limited. But a shirt? 

And even for shirts, effectively there is a free 30 day return policy, despite whatever policy a seller may have on their listing. 

I guess that's one of the reasons I don't sell shirts! 

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Limited Edition is really a buzzword that is most often meaningless. In my many years of selling collectibles I have noticed that a lot of "limited edition" runs are seemingly no smaller than what is normal for the manufacturer.  Indeed what I have found is most common is that they often don't even make the entire limited run.  This shows up all the time when you go to research an item and find that every known example has a serial number in the first half, first 1/3rd or even first 10 percent of the so called run size. 

It is also extremely difficult to come up with any strategy that will cause something to actually sell on ebay over value. If adding limited edition to the title worked then you would see that everywhere.

That shirt hasn't sold because it is priced too high, period, it is a medium, which is a huge devaluation in any sort of men's clothing on the secondary market.  Mediums might be a common highly sold size for mall brand shirts and in Wal-Mart but a huge portion of those adult mediums are going to children / young teens.  I don't know what the real statistics are but I just know on the secondary clothing market the larger the size the better and the smaller it is the harder it is to sell.

[1786davycrockett]

@onefootflippers 

"Limited Edition is really a buzzword that is most often meaningless. In my many years of selling collectibles I have noticed that a lot of "limited edition" runs are seemingly no smaller than what is normal for the manufacturer."

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Marvel Comics was notorious for publishing numerous "limited edition" comic books, usually with press runs of 1.8 million copies -- which was basically the press run of most of their "high end" comic book titles.

Nevertheless, the comic book "geeks" would swarm into my store every Friday, to purchase multiple copies of everything that Stan Lee was shucking, with his promises that each new item was "guaranteed to be a future collector's item!"

And today I see boxes of these "limited edition" Marvel Comics at flea markets, garage sales and comic book conventions, staring forlornly from inside their Mylar bags, begging to be adopted by a new generation of unwary and ignorant "limited edition" collectors.

[bennotbill]

Is this that much different to all those items that have "Very Rare" or similar in the title?

[reallynicestamps]

Apparently this manufacturer does produce "limited editions"that are truely limited.

The have Limited Edition embroidered on the inner yoke.

They are numbered.

And the runs are pretty short.
Here's an example. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/375094856950?itmmeta=01HQE5WGY28VY4ABWCJRHR71AQ&hash=item5755654cf6:g:6UMAAO...

A bit flashy, but not outrageously expensive, for a mass produced item.

[robertgrahamfan]

That's another issue of credibility, but at least there is an argument to be made that "very rare" could be subjective.  That is not a case with these Limited Edition shirts.  If they don't say Limited Edition in them and are not numbered then they are not Limited Edition.  There is nothing subjective about that whatsoever.  Some sellers are just looking to scam people for a few bucks.

[bashort]

The only thing that matters is are the buyers happy with the item.

[robertgrahamfan]

Regardless of whether the shirt sells or the strategy of adding limited edition to non-limited items works, it's a scam and it clutters up the system making it more difficult for buyers to find the items we are looking for. 

Incorrectly listed items should have no place on eBay and eBay needs to do a better job of providing a trustworthy marketplace.  As I previously stated, it's one thing for eBay to not be proactive about this, but it's a completely different situation when they choose to ignore reports of very obvious fraudulent listings.

[robertgrahamfan]

These shirts are absolutely limited.  Why would you post something that is so patently false?  Please remove your comment from this thread.

[robertgrahamfan]

Exactly, and when they find out they didn't buy exactly what they thought they were buying they may not be happy just like I'm not happy with the fake autograph memorobilia I bought off eBay but I guess based on what I've read in this thread this is somehow good for eBay's bottom-line.

[robertgrahamfan]

Sorry, I meant other sellers sold this same item twice, not listed at limited edition, and the market rate for this shirt new with tags was $99 or less.  Truthfully it could sell for a bit more than that, but this seller previously listed this item around $400 (pre-owned) which is the price that limited editions start at new ($398).  It's very clear this seller is familiar with limited edition prices and is just looking for a sucker.

[inhawaii]

Every single item you buy is  "limited edition".

A bag of Doritos, a tire for your car, a bar of soap.

They are all limited, limited  to the amount that the factory can produce.

[robertgrahamfan]

I don't understand the point of your post.  If there is a demand for 1 million bags of a certain bag of chips and the factory maxes out its production at 10 million bags, then you consider that a limited edition bag of chips?

Compare that to RG's Draco's Dream which has just came on the market for $1298.  It is limited to a production run of 192 shirts and is already sold out of sizes XS, S, M, L, and 2XL.  When Draco's Dream runs out of shirts they will not make a new batch of the shirt as a potato chip factory would do with their "limited" bags of chips (whatever that means).

[robertgrahamfan]

Also, there is an expectation of higher levels of quality from Robert Graham's limited edition shirts than their normal shirts.  From that perspective it's comparable to Ralph Lauren Purple Label vs regular Ralph Lauren.

If some guy buys this shirt for $200+ thinking he bought a limited edition shirt, what's his recourse going to be if he runs across me in a year or 2 and I break the news to him that his shirt isn't actually limited edition.  Pretty much he's screwed, in large part because eBay has fraudulent listings.

[inhawaii]

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@robertgrahamfan wrote:

I don't understand the point of your post.  If there is a demand for 1 million bags of a certain bag of chips and the factory maxes out its production at 10 million bags, then you consider that a limited edition bag of chips?

Compare that to RG's Draco's Dream which has just came on the market for $1298.  It is limited to a production run of 192 shirts and is already sold out of sizes XS, S, M, L, and 2XL.  When Draco's Dream runs out of shirts they will not make a new batch of the shirt as a potato chip factory would do with their "limited" bags of chips (whatever that means).

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Just trying to point out that there is NO product that is truly "unlimited".

They are all limited.

192 of the shirts you discussed.

A bag of Doritos, I'm not sure what the number is, but I know there IS a limit.

[robertgrahamfan]

That's not what limited edition means though.  It simply means that they have put a limit on production and once it sells out it will never be produced again.  It's completely different than bags of chips, many of which have continued to be produced for my entire lifetime.