A court in New York ruled today that Ebay could not be held responsible for policing the contents of its site, and that it was Tiffany's role to draw fake designer jewellery to the auctioneer's attention. This ruling comes after a Paris court decided that Ebay had to pay Louis Vitton Moet Hennessy Group (LVHM) 38.6m euros, which had Ebay and e-commerce supporters shaking in their boots.
So where does this put Ebay and other consumer led business practices? Well essentially Ebay is merely offering a forum for consumers to trade their goods, and Ebay themselves claimed the ruling to be a ‘Victory for consumers’. Indeed it appears, unsurprisingly, that this is soley consumer driven and people like the idea of having imitation products for a fraction of the ‘real thing’ price.
For businesses such as Tiffany’s and LVHM to simply pass blame onto a third party for counterfeit products may not be entirely justified. However Ebay is not blameless. Although they see themselves as a consumer dictated organization, that always wants the best for it’s customer, they are relatively quick to turn their backs on victims of fraudulent bidders or can be incredibly slow to deal with purchase disputes.
Is there a finger to be pointed? Well essentially, yes, and that finger could be pointed firmly at the consumer. We are all looking for that bargain or wanting to sell our junk for the highest price, and we know the risk we take when doing so. Consumers have created the market for counterfeit goods and ‘knock off’ products and essentially Ebay is providing the consumer with a service that allows them to purchase such items with relative ease, but of course at a risk.
We are seeing ecommerce such as this grow at an enormous rate. Businesses are realizing the power of consumer to consumer commerce and are capitalizing on this, take ,for example, mobile phone adverts that focus heavily on the ability to do your day to day Ebay trading on the move. Adverts as a whole are focusing on consumer driven promotion, for example the famous Dove Evolution video viral was merely posted on You Tube and the business could sit back and let the public do the work.
Today’s ruling does indeed put into perspective that e-commerce, in this form, is certainly not going to disappear and will probably continue to thrive. Consumers and businesses alike will have to take the rough with the smooth and realize that it’s really ‘everyone for themselves’!
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Posted by: return to tiffany | December 14, 2009 at 03:38 AM