"Dave Welsh" wrote in message
news:wKnGg.1449$AP2.582@fed1read10...
"Ian" wrote in message
k...


Dave Welsh wrote:
[SNIP]
, so that everyone in the group can judge for
themselves whether eBay should be allowed to continue operating a venue
for
collectibles, antiquities and other items for which authenticity is
important, without any effective policing. This will also serve the
useful
purpose of warning RCC readers about some auctions that should be
avoided.

Profit and dividend are ebays key motivators..... not fraud prevention.
Until they are persuaded that it too should be a key motivator their
activities in that arena are likely to remain purely `token'.

There are lots of decent people out there selling their wares on ebay.
They are not `bad' for using a `venue' that is far from perfect.

The message I am trying to present is NOT that the "decent people out there
selling their wares on ebay" are bad, or that RCC readers should stop
bidding in their auctions.

The wrong that is being done on eBay is the work of a relatively small
number of unscrupulous criminals, and it is also the work of an amoral venue
that is perfectly willing to go on taking the commissions these fraudsters
pay so long as this can be done without any legal liability.

I am trying to convince RCC readers that it is time that eBay should acquire
legal liability for facilitating all this fraud, as a result of Government
regulatory action. That is the only sort of "persuasion" I can imagine eBay
responding to.


Dave, if this is such an emotional issue with you, I can't imagine why you don't
try to do something about it beside preaching to the choir here. I accept that
there is, and probably always will be, fraud on a site like eBay, considering
the wide variety of items there. Therefore, I am careful to bid on only those
collectibles that I feel qualified to verify as authentic. I don't feel
vulnerable and feel no desire to sic the government on eBay.

You seem to want everyone here to jump on the eBay-fraud crusade bandwagon with
you. Yet by your own admission in an earlier post, IIRC, you last reported a
bogus eBay auction item a year or so ago, and had reported none during the three
years before that. I think your outrage would get a bit more sympathy if you
had been constantly reporting every phony ancient coin auction you saw on eBay,
but getting no satisfaction. I'm sure there are those here who would value any
current eBay auctions you care to point out in rcc where a bogus coin is
offered, and would appreciate your expertice. Meanwhile, most of us may be
content to go about our eBay browsing, occasionally reporting a counterfeit coin
auction, if we feel qualified to, without the inclination to protect the world
from itself and from eBay fraudsters.

The well known fact that there are indeed phony collectibles being offered as
authentic on eBay should encourage collectors to learn even more about any items
they collect that have been subject to fraud and/or counterfeiting. I don't
collect ancient coins and while I find them fascinating, I don't know anything
about them. But following these threads, I have learned to beware of
counterfeit ancients. Thus I wouldn't buy an expensive or scarce one "blind" on
eBay any more than I would buy a bargain diamond engagement ring from a dealer's
table at an outdoor flea market. For that kind of stuff I would rely on a
respected dealer-- not eBay or that flea market (unless I trusted myself as an
expert).

I don't expect an anti-fraud petition from eBay members would have any impact on
eBay policy, any more than my letter to Heinz complaining that their sweet
relish in its new squeeze-bottle squirts mostly liquid when inverted above a hot
dog. At best, the petition would be passed to the appropriate office and my
letter to the Heinz human factors research dept.

Bruce