A few years back I bought a pirated copy of the Fritz 8.0 chess program from Palika. Since, I had no machine to check it there, I trusted the vendor only to find that the CDs contained nothing but a couple of JPEG images.

Last year, I bought a pair of binoculars from Baazi.com, eBay’s India arm and they arrived without the lenses!

I would never ever buy a Nokia N95 from eBay, though I was tempted to when mine was stolen a few months back.

Thanks for bringing this up. My personnel viewpoint is that we need to understand source of problem. I believe fundamental element of living being is greediness.

It is always us as common man responsible for everything. People selling pirated goods is very small case, now under fund raising programs of Jihadi groups, all immigrants settled in Paris, Belgium, US and UK offer amazing street deals. Beauty of money laundering is that, it all goes to only two destinations Jeddah and Dubai.
My worry is not that my money going to some cheap seller selling or giving me pirated goods but that money going to terrorist outfits.
In recent report by CIA, one thing was made clear that if they are able to track and stop money laundering, terrorist activities can be restricted but problem was that their sources of revenue are large now and only way we can stop it is by educating people how they saving $5 on something can cost millions to nation.
I believe it is us as common man who has to become responsible and leave greediness. This is applicable to all things, terrorism, corruption, war, in fact all global problems.
I do not see, if Ebay alone can stop, law can stop, its us who need to understand value of quality and not quantity. Makes sense?

Refer to the emergence of Crime 2.0. The proceeds of the flourishing illicit trade globally merge with the greatest of ease into the vast daily flow of interbank settlements and Western Union money transfers. Internet not only boosts the speed and efficiency of illegal trade but expands the possibilities by, for instance, hosting online markets for prostitutes from Moldova and Ukraine destined for shipment to markets in Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

The illicit trade too offers terrorists and criminals means of survival and methods of financial transfer and exchange.

Way back in 2002, Moises Naim, editor of the prestigious magazine Foreign Policy in the Grotius Lecture in the U.S. had titled his lecture ”The Five Wars of Globalization” - referring to the illicit markets for arms, drugs, human beings, intellectual property, and money and internet, no doubt, is providing fodder to it.

There is eBay, a supermarket that knows no borders and in which virtually anything can be procured for virtually anyone, so long as the buyer is prepared to pay the price. Naim regrets that: ”Sadly, the evidence shows that too many clients are willing to pay the price and have the wherewithal to do so.”

In his well-researched book, Naim, a former Minister of Industry and Trade in Venezuela, says that it is perhaps the financial revolution of the past ten years that has most benefited the illicit trade. The daily swirl of financial transactions, e-Commerce, Internet banking, and wire transfer services all come into play to advance illegal trade.

There are umpteen instances in which gullible customers have been duped and cheated while making transactions on the e-bay but the fact is that in this age of e-commerce such platforms have to stay, rather are bound to flourish.

Illicit trade is of great concern because the finances are used for a myriad of nefarious activities. Even the pirated software trade money has found its way to terrorist organizations.

I really don't think the money being used by terrorist is such a serious issue as to the tarnish the reputation of this trade which can help the customers in getting a better service in a better price.

Proper laws and their implementation is needed, but while keeping in mind that too much legal activism will also lead to strangulation of it.
Small measures like any new trader who has not proved his credentials can only trade through e-bay accounts. S/he will only receive the money once the customer has received the goods and to his satisfaction, and till then money will remain with e-bay escrow account. I hope they already are doing such things.
It is also the mistake of companies, which has been correctly pointed out in the post, who are still not ready to see e-commerce as real commerce, and forget how much it can stain their trademarks and brand value.

Many ebay traders set up shops to fool newbies. Just like what Fatima said regarding XBOX box and console. You would be surprise to know that even many veteran players can be trapped by simple things.

They know most of the people will sort the list by price, and they will offer a lower price and hence will always be on the top of the result.

But the biggest problem which is highlighted by the article is why ebay officials who know all this is being carried out are turning blind eye to it.

It is a very well known fact that no crime can be committed without knowledge of local policmen. SO if ebay officials for the sake of small profit are ignoring the whole racket, isn’t this making them also a partner in the crime?

why don’t we learn our lessons from ebay:
1. people enjoy games on ebay
2. sellers pay ebay to list products
3. sellers pay ebay a percent of the final auction price
4. seller pays paypal to collect money
5. ebay PROFIT!

do you still want ebay to react…

You just can’t compare palika bazaar with ebay. Ebay is huge (in all terms) and people love both. Last time when I was in palika, the only thing I was able to see was heads…it was all jam-packed. And please don’t club ecommerce model run by ebay with crime2.0. As mentioned in the article, the second group of buyers are the main show runners. The percentage of these buyers is many fold compared to the brand conscious consumers. Now who would cater their demands? Why should they be deprived of the luxury of a fake iPhone? Who are the spenders? – people who can’t afford the real iPhone 3G. Where is this money going? – to fill the stomachs of the poor. What else? Fake is the new real!

Actually, eBay – the world’s biggest flea market - admits that fraudulent sellers are out there and hence gives basic advice on its site that it believes helps eliminate most fraud. Buyers and sellers should use the PayPal system, which is more secure. However, many try to take a different route as it costs them. But they’ve to understand that everything, here security, comes with a price. Ebay forcing everybody to use paypal is a different issue. They own it.

‘Ebay scam’ has become a dictionary term now meaning – “An especially convincing fake in sports, especially basketball”. You’ll have to live with it. Spammers, Spy ware distributors, Cyber criminals, Zombie masters, all fall into the category of cyber terrorism. An eBay scam ’takes place every hour’. So you can imagine the scale of what’s happening in the whole WWW. It’s a whole community out there. Social media is the new battleground. But you cannot blame ebay for this. Ebay, with their strict policies, has a 15% reported reduction in frauds. We’ve to understand that internet is evolving. IP version 6 will be hitting soon. Forget about making internet 100 safe. It’s impossible; despite promises made by biometrics technology. The future purely depends on human intervention and innovation. Imagine a day when the net will be holding all information about everybody. No one can escape.

I think success comes with a price. When people start complaining, faking or pirating your product then that means you are growing and are successful or in path of success. I would not like to blame eBay or any other marketplace. They just provide a platform for buyers and sellers to meet. For example, in Crossroads if someone selling pirated or illegal stuff, then its not crossroads responsible but that seller. Crossroads would have been responsible if he sells his retailing space by encouraging selling such goods. Similarly, if EBay or any of its employees in any way have encouraged such activities or have ignored then they are responsible and can be held responsible for supporting crime. I think laws have been unfair to such organization and in fact community policing shall be increased and such sellers shall be brought in notice of EBay and then they should coordinate with law enforcement agencies. In fact we need global defaulter seller list with their credit background. We can have tiers of such sellers and based on their involvement, we can handover such cases to different level of agencies. I hereby stand in support of EBay and request all such organizations running marketplaces to join forces, so that they are not sued again and again for something that they have not done. If someone creates a illegal website on internet, you do not sue or arrest the man who invented WWW or may be server folks. They all are technology companies capable of creating virtual malls. Thats it!

buyer be ware is the only comment i can make of course e bay can educate users & take action promptly when any irregularity comes to their notice
it is their reputation which is at stake after all
i confess there is little we can do using laws of india
i wonder if e commerce will get due recognition as & when next doha round under wto is concluded successfully some time next year perhaps