While Amazon has emerged as the world’s most-visited online marketplace, it is not the only platform benefiting from the immense growth of e-commerce in recent years. Founded in 1995, eBay survived the late nineties “dot com bubble” to become a major player in the e-commerce space for over 20 years.
Although 2022 was a down year for eBay, seeing a 0.79% decline in year-over-year revenue, the platform stood tall throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, posting an annual revenue for 2021 of $10.42B, representing a 17.16% increase from 2020. eBay is still running strong in 2023.
According to eBay’s Q3 2022 fillings, eBay still holds 135 million users worldwide. As per the latest insights by SimilarWeb, eBay.com is also the 2nd most visited eCommerce & Shopping Website globally.
eBay remains a solid marketplace for brands to list their products. When it comes to seller fees, eBay is generally more affordable than Amazon as it charges a flat fee per item listed and takes a percentage of any sale amount.
Like Amazon, however, eBay is no stranger to the wide range of scams that can be damaging to brands. As is the case when selling on any e-commerce marketplace, knowledge is power. Brand owners should be aware of the numerous scams on eBay along with its Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRo) to stay ahead of the curve.
Brand Protection on eBay Against Scammers
As explained extensively in previous GreyScout blogs, counterfeiting is a growing threat to e-commerce marketplaces and eBay is no exception. Similar to marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Alibaba, eBay also enables high volumes of third-party sellers, which creates a thriving environment for counterfeits, unauthorized 3P sellers, and a wide range of other intellectual property (IP) rights violations
Threats to brands on eBay include the unauthorised sale of knock-off designer clothing, jewellery, electronics, and even pharmaceuticals. Without in-depth protection tools built into the platform such as those offered by Amazon, counterfeiters can easily use images stolen from legitimate brands and companies in their listings.
This makes it extremely difficult for buyers to distinguish between real and bogus products.
In addition to peddling counterfeit luxury goods, designer items, and other name-brand products, scammers on eBay will also take advantage of the ability to use the platform to sell used or refurbished goods. In some cases, a seller may attempt to list a product as new when in fact it is used, refurbished, or even stolen.
Unfortunately, due to its open marketplace nature, eBay is particularly vulnerable to IP threats and other nefarious illegal and grey market activities. With this in mind, buyers and sellers alike need to be aware of the potential risks associated with the platform.
To combat threats, eBay has taken measures such as introducing authentication processes to verify the authenticity of goods sold on the marketplace as well as educating users about how best to protect themselves against IP thefts with resources such as its “Know Your Rights” guide and tutorial videos available on its website.
eBay’s Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO)
VeRO is a system designed to protect the IP rights of owners and creators. The program provides a mechanism for the owners of copyrighted works to report any online violations of their rights. VeRO gives copyright owners the power to quickly report suspected infringements on eBay. eBay then takes prompt action to remove infringing listings.
The program is free and open to all eBay members. To start participating in the VeRO program, a brand must register with eBay as a verified rights owner. After completing registration, copyright owners are given access to an online interface that allows them to manage their notifications and monitor any violations taking place on eBay.
Once an IP rights violation claim is made, eBay performs an investigation and takes appropriate action, including removing listings and suspending or cancelling offending accounts.
In addition to offering protection against potential infringements, VeRO also educates its participants on how best to protect their IP rights by providing resources such as best practices for marking works as protected under copyright law, sample cease-and-desist letters, guidance on registering copyrights with government agencies, and in-depth information about international IP laws.
The Bottom Line
Just as Amazon offers its brand protection tools to protect its sellers, eBay has also made extensive efforts to combat nefarious actors in its marketplace. eBay has partnered with governments and other organisations around the world to ensure that its members comply with local IP laws and regulations when trading items across borders.
By ensuring compliance with relevant laws across multiple jurisdictions, VeRO enables sellers and buyers alike to feel secure in their transactions knowing that all necessary precautions have been taken for them to do business safely over eBay’s platform.
As such, it is an invaluable tool for protecting both IP owners’ rights as well as promoting fair trade between buyers and sellers worldwide by maintaining transparent business policies.
Tools such as VeRO, however, should be used in conjunction with online brand protection monitoring tools such as GreyScout to monitor, verify and enforce against unauthorised 3P sellers operating on marketplaces like eBay, where channel control on the grey market and unauthorized 3P sellers is limited.
