Does ebay actually employ 2,000 anti-fraud monitors?

Factual Questions
1

In today’s Wall Street Journal, ebay lost a case against Louis Vuitton’s parent company:

Mr. Ruso said that the search terms cited in the lawsuit were spelling errors and that eBay had no intention of aiding the sale of fake products. EBay says it tries hard to combat the sale of fake products on its Web site, and employs 2,000 people and spends millions of euros a year for this purpose.

Does Ebay actually do that? 2,000 employees just for monitors? And if so, how much are they getting paid? Last I checked, a search for a Louis Vuitton product had about nine out of ten listings as obvious fakes. (How many people besides authorized dealers have brand new LV products to sell?)

So what is the straight dope on Ebay’s statement?

2

Just want to point out that a valid interpretation of that statement is that EBay employs 2,000 people total.

3

I doubt the 2,000 people they employ simply sit around and monitor listings. I recall when my account was hacked I was able to speak via chat and via phone to someone right away, in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people I interacted with that night were part of the 2,000 employed to help with fraud.

When not helping customers who were the victim of fraud, some or all of those people are probably also monitoring listings.

4

I used to work there. The statement is accurate as far as the total count of their fraud team is concerned.

They have that many people working on all sorts of fraud and abuse that occurs on the platform.

5

Valid or not, it is incorrect. Forbes reports that eBay has 16,200 employees.

6

So they do have 2,000 anti-fraud monitors; or least anti-fraud specialists in general, at least that’s what their representative says.

So my second question was, what exactly are these people doing? With 2,000 full time anti-fraud specialists, even a site as big as ebay should not have the torrent of fake goods that it does. I mean, just a search of Louis Vuitton Wallet shows obvious fakes. What are the chances some ebay user in small town America happens to have 10 new LV wallets and is selling them all at the same time? 10 gifts for their birthday?

A lot of the counterfeit goods can be told just by their pictures – mismatched stiching, patterns, etc. One specialist in LV goods could eliminate half of the counterfeit items if they worked full time at it.

7

It’s hard to believe that eBay does anything about fraud. Add in PayPal and the skepticity is much higher.

OTOH, there’s the wonderful US litiginous system at work here - if you try to police the system, then the victims will blame your failure for anything bad that happens.

8

Is it just one guy with a really big desk? I mean, 2,000 flat panels can’t take up that much room, but finding power strips for all of them would be a hassle.

9

I prefer Paypal over Google Checkout. That’s a nightmare. I never had too much problems with Paypal, but there are certain things in both programs that cause triggers and they stomp your account closed and that’s when you’re in trouble.

They are quick to close and forever to reopen.

In the early days of eBay I had trouble with sellers not shipping (or things getting lost in the mail). Since Paypal came along and I could use my credit card, I never had one thing get lost.

10

How so?

11

Because there’s no reason those statements have to apply to “employs 2,000 people.” “For this purpose” could only apply to the money, not the people. It would be misleading as all get out, but it would still technically be true.

12

I have a friend trying to sell a legitimate Fendi (I think) bag and eBay is always quick to shut it down despite the fact that she can document that it’s legitimate. This was after getting the OK to list it from eBay’s customer service. They’re militant. Overly so. And it’s impossible to get a straight answer from their fraud people.

13

Are we reading a news article or a legal brief? :confused:

14

I had no problem listing this Fendi bagat all. Not a peep from anyone. I pulled it to give to my daughter as she saw the bag on my desk and coveted it mightily.

15

I find it hard to believe eBay does anything that would hit its bottom line.

sorry for the slight hi-jack, but

Isn’t eBay’s official policy “caveat emptor”?

I can’t remember who, but someone on this board (I think) mentioned that when they were selling items, eBay would encourage them to shill bid their own items to get the price up. That’s not hard to believe, considering they make money on the final sale of the product.

I was burned by a shill bid once, and proved it by doing some investigating. eBay couldn’t have cared less. They never responded to my repeated attempts to discuss it, and the seller in question was one of their “power sellers”. Guess where eBay’s loyalties lie?

16

I do a lot of selling on eBay and I’m unimpressed (in general) by eBay’s pricing policies which I think are borderline manipulative and financially abusive. Having said this you have to pay to play, and I’ve been wildly unimpressed by buyer quality and response on Craig’s List vs eBay (selling notebook PCs specifically). I had a locally/regionally listed new PC notebook, priced way below retail, sit on CL for 10 days with only a few, scattered absurd lowball offers. I sold it on eBay at asking price in 30 minutes and the buyer had to pay shipping besides.

I don’t like they way eBay and paypal gouge me, but they are the only real game in town if you are looking for maximum exposure.

17

Same thing happened to me. They actually called me back the next day, on a weekend, and fixed the problem. I really really like their service, this is a great company :smiley: