Defunkd

[jimmyj]

Hey guys -

I'm actively pursuing eBay to be more responsible with regards to the bootleggers who have been allowed to flourish on the system.

Need your assistance with a little experiment to determine how effective the report item button on each listing really is.

We all know TinaLove1991 and how this operation has been successfully peddling their own unlicensed screen prints - passing them off as vintage - for, what, 4 years now?

Thanks to Hermosa we were able to connect the dots between the Mahagamage "vintage" label and the supplier behind TinaLove1991 inventory, if not the actual account holder.

http://www.defunkd.com/2011/04/28/mahagamage-brand/

Please report this item which is undoubtedly fake - given the cut of the t-shirt, the too dark purple color and Tina's never-ending supply of it. Most of what they have for sale is fake but lets focus on one at a time.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/VINTAGE-T-SHIRT-PRIN ... 20bac89174

Use the report item button on the listing and please report for:

Reason for Report: Counterfeit
Detailed Reason: Bootleg and counterfeit media
Additional: Unauthorized photocopies (seems to be the most fitting)

Add in a mention of this sellers fraudulent activities on eBay in the Brief Description field.

Then please submit it.

Please post in here and let us know you submitted a report so we can gauge exactly how many people have participated in this. Then we might be able to figure out what it takes to trigger an automatic listing suspension (if there is one) or how many reports eBay needs before a representative decides to take action.

Thanks,

[TheMilkMan]

Done!

[StivTaters]

and done.

[jimmyj]

Ha, ooops - almost forgot to do it. Done.

[VPimps]

Hey everyone. I reported this tina love character. Hopefully we can get them off eBay!

[CRAZYBUBBA]

Done.

[jimmyj]

Good start, thanks gents. For the record there are now 5 reports and the listing stats are:

Time left: 4d 04h (Jul 11, 201103:25:34 EDT)

[maxvintage]

done!

[Johnny65]

Done!!

http://worn75.blogspot.com/

[jimmyj]

Update: 7 people have responded that they have participated by submitting a report to eBay.

Has anyone else? Thread has been viewed 69 times.

As of today the item is still live with under a half a day left to close out.

Time left: 10h 26m 6s (Jul 11, 201103:25:34 EDT)

[oscar]

Yesh

[jimmyj]

Update: 8 people reported participating by submitting to the report items button.

Nevertheless, the item successfully closed out:

Ended: Jul 11, 201103:25:34 EDT
Bid history: 13 bids
Winning bid: US $41.00

http://cgi.ebay.ca/VINTAGE-T-SHIRT-PRIN ... 6975569030

I had my suspicions that button was just a mirage, having filled out many reports over the years - looks to be a waste of time.

I'll keep monitoring - sometimes they take action after the sale..which seems a little useless given many times the item has already been paid for and shipped.

Stay tuned...

[matmin]

done too

[hermosavtg]

I had my suspicions that button was just a mirage, having filled out many reports over the years - looks to be a waste of time.

I think that button is there for VERO participants or items that are gross violations of ebay policy. Selling your own kidney or pro nazi memorabilia are the only things that come to mind.

Tinalove is well in the gray area along with all the other sellers peddling their flea market knock off tees on the 'Bay.

[jimmyj]

The VeRO program is a little more involved, you have to fax in an initial application, then subsequent ones are done electronically - but there is still a form involved and you have to sign off on it every time.

http://pages.ebay.com/vero/about.html

The weird thing is that you don't actually have to provide any proof - you just sign under the penalty of perjury.

I got a few unfair VeRO reports against me back in the day as a seller - filed by Machette marketing who were licensed to sell Exploited, Stray Cats and a few other punk shirts. I tried to protest both of them - but eBay doesn't listen - they take that faxed document and a signature as the law - even if the person doesn't truly own the rights - or is just a licensee leveraging the eBay VeRO system so they can sell more of their own t-shirts.

[Frank]

I got popped on a VERO "violation" last week. I was selling a Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept parody shirt and got a VERO email less than a day it listed. I nicely explained that I would glad remove the listing, etc. but to no avail. Ebay also was less than responsive. I'm now "restricted" for a week- no new listings allowed. This is my second VERO in 10 years- the first was for listing an M n M's shirt about 7 years ago. I'm getting to the point where I don't want to list shirts on ebay anymore. Just venting- beware of listing cop stuff, even though it wasn't a badge or patch or ID, they don't care. Shocking, huh?

[jimmyj]

They take the VeRO stuff very seriously because it can result in a law suit against them. Pretty sure they have a limited amount of time to comply with the request - like a cease and desist - so they are quick on the draw - shoot first and don't ask questions later.

Classic eBay.

If only they would apply that policy towards bootleggers - but all of the fraud that successfully transpires on the system translates in to millions of dollars of earnings for them - so why bother?

[hermosavtg]

Ironic and disheartening that eBay is imposing selling limits for a seller with TRS status like you Frank.

[jimmyj]

VintageRetroWear going through the VeRO stuff - he's no longer allowed to list anything new, ever again.

[jimmyj]

On the bottom of the information page about the VeRO program, there is a "Contact Us" link (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/que ... -item.html). England said sellers can use this link to submit appeals to VeRO report.

A few interesting reads, they're experiencing lots of problems with this - it amazes me that they still don't take reports seriously:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y11/m07/i18/s01

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m09/i21/s02

[hermosavtg]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0782344578

Maybe if Harley Davidson was an active VERO member...

[jimmyj]

I've kept an eye on this item to see if eBay took any action on it after the auction ended. Nope. If they had it would show as being an invalid item that had been suspended. Here it still is, in all it's glory 2 full weeks after close.

8+ sellers with accounts in good standing reported this item and absolutely nothing was done about it. Shameful.

TinaLove1991 goes on their merry way deceiving more eBay buyers and pocketing the loot.

And of course they've already posted yet another fake Prince shirt....the cycle continues.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/VINTAGE-T-SHIRT-PRIN ... 20bb4af17c

[maxvintage]

What a bummer. With nearly 6000 transactions you can bet that ebay has made a lot of money off tinalove, no wonder they don't want to do anything about it.