Storm wasn't kidding about Ebay, was he?

scoutsout47

E-Fencing Central

storm888

If online collectible sales are bad, don't just blame the economy.

Corrupt sellers attract corrupt buyers; both hurt legit sellers/buyers
by deforming price structures, driving legit sellers out of biznez,
causing legit buyers to fear buying online merch, and killing the
natural category-crossover sales that collectible sellers rely upon
in large venues.

While the online venues KNOW what is going on, they are NOT legally
responsible to do anything about it.

If ANY pawn shop in America did biznez like such venues do, that shop
would be closed IMMEDIATELY and the boss would be jailed.

The failing is NOT in the immoral conduct of the online venues. The ball
is dropped by the LEOs, and that will NOT change; maybe not ever. The LEOs
simply do not understand how online crime works. It is easy to shutdown
a bad pawn shop, but the law just has not caught up with internet crime;
since the LEOs don't understand it - and lack statutory authority to combat
it - they simply avoid it.

Pawn shops are HIGHLY regulated. Their owners are granted what amounts
to a license to print money. Dealing in stolen stuff is just not worth risking
that license for. In some areas, LEOs visit such shops more than once a day.
The LEOs understand HOW to police any problems they find, and they have
the statutes they need to do so.

The loss-prevention guys at America's largest publicly-traded retailers ALL
agree that the largest online resale-venues contain THOUSANDS of products
that were STOLEN from those retailers. Thus far, they have had virtually NO
success in halting the problem.

When you find a case of Pampers or Enfamil listed online at less than 50%
of its retail value, Safeway or COSTCO are likely missing some merch.

When power-tools show up for cents-on-the-dollar, Lowes, Sears, and
Home Depot wish they could get their merch back.

...................

If a "knew or should have known" concept was applied to regulating
online-advertising venues, the problems would END within days.

Can any venue really say they "did not know" that an item listed
as New In Box - at half its retail price - was STOLEN? Yes, they can.

But, with the right laws in place - like the ones pawn shops prosper
under - NO online venue would be able to say they "have no obligation
to know" that a listing features STOLEN merch.

................................

To date, no online-ad venue has forfeited ONE CENT of the MILLIONS
OF DOLLARS in fees they have collected by accepting listings for obviously
STOLEN merch.

Meanwhile, I am now allowed to list only 10 TOPPS Tiffany cards per month.
And, each revision - price reduction or spelling fix - counts as a new listing.

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2009