Ebay's Response Springer regarding Tudor/Rolex Fraud

[springer]

I received the following email message on 3/31/08, from the office of the CEO of ebay, Bill Cobb. My initial email message to Cobb follows the ebay message.

It was recommended to me by others, that I contact ebay over the proliferation of Tudor - Rolex dialed watches that were being sold on ebay with impunity. These others had contacted ebay in the past, thru the preferred contact method outlined by ebay, but nothing was ever done by ebay to the sellers who still continue to sell the redialed, fake or counterfeit Tudors. Call them what you will, they are not a Rolex watch, but a watch brand manufactured by Rolex. Remember, there are many first time buyers out there, who don't know a Rolex from a Tudor. Many have purchased these redialed or fake watches thinking it is a Rolex - only to be disappointed later when it was too late to do anything about it.

This was not my first contact with ebay regarding counterfeits or dubious sellers. My message wasn't "touchy feely" but to the point as stated, as I have dealt with them before and they don't respond well to "touchy feely" inquiries. Our office has worked a few major ebay criminal fraud cases, and get inquiries every week about fraudulent purchases on ebay. Believe me, there are many honest, hard working buyers on ebay who fall prey to fraud every day there. Not all of these victims were "looking for a deal," but instead, they were just taken advantage of by a seller that was afforded the opportunity to commit fraud on ebay.

(Also, please read Orchi's thread -Is eBay a SAFE HARBOUR for Sellers of FAKE "Rolex Tudor" watches...??? in the WATCHOUT Section

3/31/08

Dear ------------- (message from Cobb's office to springer),

Thank you for your recent email to Bill Cobb in regard to counterfeit Rolex items listed on the site. He has asked that I review your email and respond on his behalf.

As you know, eBay does not participate in the buying or selling of any items. We provide a venue for members to sell and buy a variety of merchandise in a variety of formats. The format we use is similar to that of a newspaper classified advertisement section.

Because we are not involved in the actual transaction, we're unable to inspect or verify any item that sellers list on eBay. We simply provide a marketplace for buyers and sellers to purchase and sell items.

The only information we have to review, is the information that sellers provide for us in their listings. If an item doesn't clearly violate the law or eBay policy, we rely on government or law enforcement agencies to verify if the sale of an item is against the law.

If an item does violate either the law or our policy, we will immediately take action upon review. That being said, with millions of listings on the site at any given time, we are simply unable to review each and every listing while they are active on the site.

In our best efforts, our Trust and Safety department has filters in place to try and identify violating listings before they reach the site.
We also have filters that notify sellers of potential violations while they are listing in the "Sell Your Item" form. I understand these filters are not perfect, however, we will continue to work to refine them to provide sellers with more knowledge regarding listing policies.

As we cannot actively police the site, we also rely on members of the community to alert us to potentially violating listings. If there are listings that are concerning to you, I would encourage you to report those to us for review. To do so, simply click the "Report this item"
link at the bottom of the item page. I would also encourage you to contact the rights owner in question (Rolex). Rights owners can have infringing listings removed through the eBay Verified Rights Owner
(VeRO) program.

You'll find a list of rights owners and contact information, as well as information about infringing items, in the VeRO Program About Me pages.
To view the list, please go to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

I understand your frustration regarding this matter and apologize for the inconvenience it caused you.

Sincerely,

Terri
Office of the President




Original Message Follows (from springer to Mr Cobb):
-------------------------

Dear Mr Cobb,

I, as well as others, have reported to ebay, several counterfeit Rolex
watches that have been redialed as 'Rolex Tudor' and continually end up
being sold on ebay. There is no such watch and never has been. Rolex,
who produced the Tudor brand of watches, never placed their name on the dial of a Tudor watch. This was done obviously by Rolex so consumers would not be confused into thinking that when purchasing a Tudor, that they were in fact purchasing a Rolex watch. Tudor, is not a model-type of
Rolex, but a totally different brand of watch, which contained different serial
numbers and movements, unrelated to the Rolex watches. Tudors was a
marketing ploy by Rolex to introduce the consumer to Rolex made watches without the substantially higher price associated with the Rolex brand watches.

Tudor watches carry their own serial numbers which are different than
Rolex watch serial numbers. In the past, there have been lawsuits over this
misrepresentation by sellers, and some have occurred because of sales on
ebay.

Your security department has been warned about this in the past, but
ebay sellers continue to sell the Tudor - Rolex dialed watches without any
repercussions from ebay.

Just as a Lexus is not a Toyota, a Tudor is not a Rolex. A Toyota Land
Cruiser re-badged illegally as a Lexus LX 470 is criminal and fraud, a
felony. This is what is being done with these watch dials, and many
buyers see the Rolex-Tudor dialed watches at substantially discounted prices and buy them, thinking they got a "deal on a Rolex on ebay."

Ebay has a legal responsibility here, and hopefully you or someone at
ebay, will start taking some of this fraud seriously. I don't know how you
can shield yourself from responsibility, while you continue to let it
happen after you have been notified of this problem in the past.

Feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or questions. I have
been in law enforcement 32 years, and it continues to amaze me, and many
others, how much more ebay could do to prevent this type of fraud, but instead ebay continues to turn a blind eye to the problem.


My Name