EBay: Whipping Boy of the Global Gray Market?

That’s certainly the way eBay (EBAY) is casting itself today, in its response to being ordered by a French court to pay the equivalent of US $61 million in Euros to luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMUY.PK), which makes Fendi bags and a lot of other high-ticket items, accused eBay of failing to stop counterfeit goods being trafficked on eBay. Ebay contends Vuitton is trying to rein in legitimate resale of Vuitton products, which it contends is not fair.

In its press releasing vowing to appeal the ruling, eBay says “today’s ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers everyday. […] The ruling also seeks to impact the sale of second-hand goods as well as new genuine products, effectively reaching into homes and rolling back the clock on the Internet and liberty it has created.”

“$61 million is a big chunk of change,” says Shawn Milne, who follows eBay for Oppenheimer & Co. “It’s not the right precedent, and I was not glad to see it,” Milne told me in a brief chat. Milne points out that of the 970,000 sellers on eBay, upwards of 40,000 “power sellers” account for the lion's share of the volume. As it’s unlikely 40,000 power sellers are trafficking in large volumes of gray-market goods, Milne thinks most after-market resale that happens on eBay is between individuals. To try and eradicate that kind of person-to-person trade in legitimate goods is “far-reaching,” Milne thinks. Still, he notes the ruling, if upheld, won’t have any immediate impact on eBay’s financials.

Comments

[User 220016]

... WELL I'M THINKING THE BELOW WILL HAVE AN "immediate impact on eBay’s
financials". AT THE VERY LEAST, IT SHOULD GET THE ATTENTION OF SHAREHOLDERS,
BECAUSE EBAY IS DOING SOME SERIOUS "STOCK MANIPULATION" IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO
DEFRAUD SHARLEHOLDERS AND ARTIFICIALLY INFLATING STOCK VALUE.

finance.google.com/gro...

SPECIFICALLY COMMENTS REGARDING "Listing padding" AKA "STOCK MANIPULATION"
at eBay with the help and assistance of buy.com.:

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Mon, Jun 30 2008 3:57 pm

AND

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Tues, Jul 1 2008 7:26 pm

AND

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Wed, Jul 2 2008 8:41 am


ALSO, UNBELIEVABLE SUPPORT OF RIC'S FINGDINGS!:

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Thurs, Jul 3 2008 7:44 am

finance.google.com/gro...


Jul 16, 2008 EBAY Q2 2008 Earnings Release <--- CAN'T WAIT! :)



cc: SEC, FTC, FBI, YAHOO, J.N.

SIGNED,
UKNOME!

finance.google.com/gro...

SPECIFICALLY COMMENTS REGARDING "Listing padding" AKA "STOCK MANIPULATION"
at eBay with the help and assistance of buy.com.:

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Mon, Jun 30 2008 3:57 pm

AND

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Tues, Jul 1 2008 7:26 pm

AND

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Wed, Jul 2 2008 8:41 am


ALSO, UNBELIEVABLE SUPPORT OF RIC'S FINGDINGS:

From: [e-mail] - view profile
Date: Thurs, Jul 3 2008 7:44 am

finance.google.com/gro...




cc: SEC, FTC, FBI, YAHOO, J.N.

SIGNED,
UKNOME!

[User 220016]

OOPS! CUT ME OFF....

finance.google.com/gro...

[User 230232]

Negative Ghost Rider - Ebay is a HAVEN for grey market activity. In our line we have map pricing on products yet HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars of products are sold on Ebay by unethical dealers such as Baby Unlimited, finefunkykidfinds, mendel854,greenboy77 and others. They lie to customers about their status, they don't provide legitimate phone numbers, customers DONT have a warranty if they buy from these creeps.

Pathetic unethical losers