Counterfeit or not?

[brogdonius]

Trying to re sell an item I bought on Ebay, but my listing has been removed as counterfeit. Does this count as an admission of guilt that the company did not exercise due care and are responsible for my purchase of an illegal item? Concensus seems to be that the item is unofficial but not illegal. Where is the consistency in this process?

[albertabrightalberta]

What was the item? 

[soh.maryl]

When you mention that "the company did not exercise due care", assuming you're referring to eBay, you do realize that no one employed by eBay ever sees most items listed for sale here.  When a buyer makes a purchase from a seller, with most items, the purchased item is shipped directly from the seller to the buyer. 

What was the item? 

[brogdonius]

It was a David Bowie cd set on the Coda Publishing label. I know it does attract some controversy about unofficial as opposed to illegal.

[farmalljr]

Look, eBay has some duty to ferret out fakes. If one seller is allowed to sell something and the buyer later on is not allowed because eBay deems it "fake" , then eBay should have the responsibility to refund the original buyer in whole. eBay has made "improvements" over a period of time to remove fakes from the site, right? Well it should be on eBay to cover buyers when they get duped. 

If I buy something in good faith for $100 today and 6 months later it increases in value to $200, and I decide to sell it here, what impression does it make of THIS platform, if eBay were to take down my listing as a "fake"? We have all seen the problems that have happened repeatedly with the "authenticators" that eBay uses/owns. Point being as eBay takes over more and more of the sellers sales, and controls more and more, why is ANYONE making excuses why eBay should have no responsibility? I don't care if they are employing AI or people, eBay owns this. If it's fake now, it was fake then. A buyer has been scammed, and eBay is responsible. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@brogdonius wrote:

It was a David Bowie cd set on the Coda Publishing label. I know it does attract some controversy about unofficial as opposed to illegal.

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I asked Google whether "an unofficial CD is considered a fake" and this was the response: 

AI Overview

Yes, an unofficial CD is generally considered a fake or a bootleg if it's a copy of an official release without the artist's or record label's authorization. These unofficial CDs are often produced using unauthorized duplication methods and may have inferior quality compared to legitimate releases. 

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Unauthorized Copies:

  Unofficial CDs are made without the permission of the copyright holder (usually the artist or record label). 
• Bootlegs vs. Counterfeits:

  While both are unofficial, bootlegs are often of live performances or unreleased material, while counterfeits try to mimic official releases closely. 
• Quality Issues:

  Unofficial CDs may have poor sound quality due to using lower-quality materials or mastering processes. 
• Copyright Infringement:

  Producing and selling unofficial CDs is a violation of copyright laws in most jurisdictions. 

[brogdonius]

The item was a 4cd set by David Bowie on the Coda Publishing label. I'm aware of the fact that eBay is merely a platform buy my point is they have identified the item as counterfeit but failed to do so when I purchased it. My research suggests that items on said label may be unofficial bit not illegal, certainly not in Europe where they are classed as public domain. In short it seems wrong to prevent my selling it on ebay when I bought it on ebay in the first place.

[powell-collectibles]

It isn’t legal.  Hey, I like bootlegs, and buy plenty of them.  Absolutely, you can find them on eBay. Eventually, those sellers face restrictions, sometimes permanent selling rights revocation.  There are sites that are better for selling boots. 

you were probably caught because of some wording you put in the description of the item or the title. Or, maybe eBay is just getting better and identifying bootlegs. They are much better – is much harder to find boots on this site than it was even just a few years ago.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@brogdonius wrote:

In short it seems wrong to prevent my selling it on ebay when I bought it on ebay in the first place.

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There are approximately 1.7 billion active ebay listings and over 13 million CD listings.  It's impossible for ebay to weed out every (or even most) illegal items. 

The listing from which you purchased wasn't caught but your listing was. 

As a seller, it's your responsibility to verify authenticity of any item that you aren't 100% positive is authentic.

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@brogdonius wrote:

The item was a 4cd set by David Bowie on the Coda Publishing label. I'm aware of the fact that eBay is merely a platform buy my point is they have identified the item as counterfeit but failed to do so when I purchased it. My research suggests that items on said label may be unofficial bit not illegal, certainly not in Europe where they are classed as public domain. In short it seems wrong to prevent my selling it on ebay when I bought it on ebay in the first place.

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The way these 'takedowns' work is that typically like this:

A VERO (Verified Rights Owner) member, or their rep (typically law students working for a law firm hired to peruse 3rd Party Market Places) and have 'unauthorized' items 'taken down'. 

They only allow their 'chosen' sellers to sell their item.

Ebay has created VERO so that members can have items removed that are being sold on this site and they typically just use the 'counterfeit' statement across the board, if you are not an authorized seller, it could be and that's all that matters (to Ebay and the VERO member).

The person you bought it from could 

a.) have been authorized

b.) just wasn't 'caught'.

So, what you do now is forget about it and sell it elsewhere. 

[brogdonius]

I get that but it's getting harder to identify a lot of this "grey area" stuff, and most of it is readily available on Amazon or Facebook. Is there a site you'd recommend for selling this stuff without being sent to the naughty step?

[brogdonius]

Totally agree. For example after being notified of my listing removal I informed eBay of multiple Coda listings with similar "grey area" items. About half were taken down but others  were noted as not breaking policy. They simply don't have the knowledge or expertise to make these decisions.

[krazzykats]

Use a bing search for "sites you can sell gray items on."

[powell-collectibles]

Don’t get me wrong, eBay still has the best traffic for selling and buying boots, in my opinion. Places like Mercari, bonanza, Etsy are better for not getting caught. But, you’ll get less money on those sites, much less traffic. Problem with eBay is that they are better at weeding out, identifying boots. If it is a risk you wanna take, you can make a pretty good amount of money and not that long of a time. Provided you don’t get nabbed.  I would love to unload an 84 disc get back sessions set that I have – But not worth the risk on eBay.

[kensgiftshop]

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@brogdonius wrote:

It was a David Bowie cd set on the Coda Publishing label. I know it does attract some controversy about unofficial as opposed to illegal.

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It's pretty much the same thing, counterfeit.