This month has been a flurry of emails from a lot of the Shawnee collectors to Ebay and the sellers of the fraudulent jars. Everyone is aggravated by the lack of action on the part of Ebay's management. Seems if there is no patent being infringed upon, Ebay won't bother to monitor the auctions.
Below are a couple of the responses from Ebay that a couple of our members received - also responses from some of the sellers who continue to list fraudulent items as genuine Shawnee. A few are downright laughable. Ebay's responses are strictly lip service!
There are actually some sellers who are being more honest about their items being "Shawnee inspired", Shawnee-like and others listing as Smiley pig or Puss n Boots but not calling them Shawnee or antique.
"Linda,
I just got this reply back from Brigitte on behalf of Bill Cobb. I
thought you might be interested since you mention it again in your
latest Newsletter. Anyway I believe I will continue to use the link she
provided to keep reporting these scam artist. I really enjoy your news
letter especially this last one on tea pots.
David Woody
-----Original Message-----
From: On behalf of Bill Cobb [mail to:billcobb@ebay.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 3:38 PM
To: David Woody
Subject: Re: Fraud on eBay (KMM27898229V32941L0KM)
Hello David,
Thank you for your email to Bill Cobb. Bill has requested that I
respond on his behalf.
I understand your concerns about Private Auctions and the listing of
Replica and Counterfeit items on the site. We take these matters
seriously and we work closely with our buyers, sellers and members of
independent third party organizations to address these issues.
Please note that we have identified a group of trusted authenticators
for the benefit of our members. For a list of these authentication
services, please go to the following link:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/auth-overview.html
We are in the process of growing this list to meet the needs of our
members. Please check back regularly for more information.
Also, I encourage you to assist us in our efforts and report any items
that you believe are counterfeit via the web form below:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_inline/index.html
eBay removes thousands of listings every day that we determine are in
violation of our policies. Without the assistance of helpful eBay
members who use this tool, we would not be able to locate as many of
these listings as we currently do.
Currently there are not restrictions for when a seller can use the
Private Auction option. Typically sellers use this when they feel their
item is one that their bidders would not want other people to know they
are bidding on. For example, if a seller has listed a high priced piece
of jewelry, they might make their auction Private to ensure that other
sellers cannot see who is bidding. This option is more of a protection
to the buyer rather than the seller.
I want to assure you that I will personally review the sellers that you
reported. However, in the interest of privacy, I cannot share with you
the outcome of this review.
Thank you again for your email.
Sincerely,
Brigitte, on behalf of Bill Cobb
President
eBay North America
Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
Dear Sir:
I have written on numerous occasions about fraud on eBay. Your company
is not only looking the other way but you are actually promoting fraud
by allowing "Private Auctions". I am a collector of Shawnee Pottery and
over the past few years the pottery has become more collectable
especially gold cookie jars. Now we have rip offs on eBay out selling
just made pottery as Shawnee. It is always the same people or person
under the eBay user names of "fayes_southern_memories",
"rock_of_memories", "dixie_delights", "dixieland_collectables",
"morningglorycottagegifts", and "our_country_treasures", I guess our
only way of stopping this is through law enforcement. However I would
like to give you another opportunity to stop these crooks. At least when
you have an open auction we can contact the bidders and let them know
that the item they are bidding on is not Shawnee Pottery.
Thank You,
David Woody
wdwoody on eBay"
Another report about fraudulent sellers.............................
"Hello Linda,
First, thank you for your personal efforts in working with Ebay to eliminate fake Shawnee auctions. As a long-time Shawnee collector, it is simply disheartening that there are dishonest human beings (sellers) that continually prey on unsuspecting buyers and a powerful internet site (Ebay) that apparently can do nothing about it!! This passive approach could eventually lead to the elimination of this web site all together if a competitor enters the picture and actually backs up their "strong ethics" principals to protect the masses of honest people. In any business, if you take your customers for granted, it will eventually catch up with you. The "bread and butter" of my restaurant businesses are my customers and it is unimaginable that I would allow any type of practice that would most certainly cost me the loss of valued customers- one unhappy customer after another. I just hope Ebay has not forgot that we (buyers) are the lifeline of their business. Anyway, I thought you would enjoy the following ridiculous responses from some of the "criminal-like" Ebay sellers selling "Shawnee-like" pottery:
1. Here is the response to my question asking for the logic behind private buyer/seller listings:
Hi,
I have buyers who spend hundreds and sometimes thousands a week repeatedly. One buyer about a month ago was Caryn Johnson. You may not know her as Caryn but you would know her in the movies as Whoopi Goldberg!!! Do you honestly think Whoopi wants everyone knowing her business? I don't think so.
Thanks for your interest!
Our Country Treasures
2. Here is the response to my question inquiring about who made the jar since it is obviously not authentic Shawnee:
Hello,
I have read where 3 to 4 companies made Shawnee. You are the expert, you tell me.
Dixie Treasures
3. And, I received no response to my question below.
Dear fayes_southern_memories,
Hello. If description accuracy is a goal of yours, why do you continue to list "Shawnee-like" cookie jars as authentic Shawnee? In my opinion, being true to your goal would probably work better for you anyway than hoping to deceive a small percentage of ebayers with minimal Shawnee pottery knowledge. Regardless, I'm sure you would sleep better at night. God bless! -Terry
Regards,
Terry Lysholm (terdee)"
