On eBay, a seller is NOT allowed to use certain words to draw customers. For example, if I have an estate find “David Yurman” looking necklace to sell and I’m not totally sure if it’s authentic David Yurman, I’m not allowed to use the words “David Yurman” or “David Yurman style” or “David Yurman inspired” anywhere in the auction title or text of the eBay ad. eBay will end and remove my ad as soon as they are aware of this type of text. If I violate this rule repeatedly, my eBay account can be suspended.
eBay will tell sellers that, prior to listing a designer item, they must be able to authenticate the item’s provenance to eBay’s fairly strict standard. This policy is supposedly meant to prevent trademark infringement by unethical sellers. I support these rules if this is the true reason for their existence.
Today I searched for David Yurman jewelry on eBay and found at the bottom of the page, in the Sponsored Links section, four different ads for David Yurman inspired (meaning fake) jewelry from paid advertisers. Same thing for Tiffany. eBay is allowing companies who sell fakes to advertise on their pages, right below eBay sellers who have to abide by stricter rules.
I’m sure that eBay’s argument would be that nobody is violating eBay’s trademark infringement rules if these goods are sold on sites that are merely linked to eBay.
I have a real problem with this. Let’s hold all vendors who sell or advertise on eBay to the same standard.
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