A New Repro... THE COLLECTORS STRIKE BACK

Bonsai_Tree_Ent

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I think the collecting community has done brilliantly to mostly remove / ban the sale of repro from forums and facebook groups and respect to all those who have adopted the 'no repro' stance.

However the problem of ebay remains, and on that front the repro mostly definitely appears to be winning. This past year or so has seen repro production markedly become more accurate, with floating repro, better molding, and even repro figures. At the same time, Orme's cardboard boxed fakes appears to be flourishing - and from originally producing just a couple of items he now floods ebay with an enormous range. I fear repro products becoming indistinguishable from genuine vintage would result in the collapse of the collector market and a lot of people quitting the hobby.

So I wondered what to do about ebay... and one idea was for groups of collectors to conduct some 'bombing runs'. Target a specific repro listing on ebay and simultaneously hit it with Report Item. If a dozen or so people were to tag an item as counterfeit on the same day, would that lead to eBay's algorithms to end the listing? Does anyone have any experience of this?

21686063_1893240724329374_3822660197871721343_n.jpg


You might think, "what's the point, closing down one listing out of hundreds". Well, if you want to put a dent in drugs trafficking you don't need to tackle every street corner seller, you need to tackle the few key people who are dealing the big shipments. And on ebay there are a few repro power sellers - if you can cause them headaches and close down their listings then that would be the place to start. Beats doing nothing, and letting them rake in the £££ only encourages them to further fund more repro crap like Orme has done.

With good facebook group members and forum members it would be easy to coordinate. A bit like a 'discussion of the day' you could do a 'Report Repro' of the day.

However this idea is worthless if EBay's Report Item doesn't result in the listing getting shut down... and so as an experiment please can you take 30 seconds of your time to follow this link and report this listing. This listing for a repro AT-ST top gun has 24 days to run... a little experiment, let's see if we can make a difference to it?

Please report this listing and make a comment in the thread below that you've done so...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STAR-WARS-REPRO-PARTS-AT-ST-TOP-GUN-/292258792250?hash=item440bfb433a:g:FEEAAOSwozRZvsK6
 
Joined
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very well said Bonsai Tree Ent. ITEM REPORTED!
Sadly I think this is cutting the head off and another will grow but "The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing" so count me in on all future bombing runs :evil:
 

ScruffyLookingNH

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Reported.

Even through a "**** you" to ebay in there and told them if they kept on allowing this unlicenced **** to sell I'd report THEM to Disney. Bet their scared now, yeah? :lol:
 

Bonsai_Tree_Ent

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Haha, nice one!

I posted this on Echo Base too, and we have 4 reports here, 10 there, so we are up to 14.

This is really a stress test to find out how many cases of Report Item need to be made before the listing is shut down (either by ebay algorithm or a worker).

Keep them coming guys...
 

subzero

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Reported, I ****ing hate this ****.

This really does need to be an effort of the entire community because we all know how lazy ebay are to act on things.

If this works then look out repro sellers, everything else is coming down!
 

theforceuk

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I've done it, but is their any point? He is selling it as a repro so eBay probably won't do anything.
 

subzero

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Ebay really do need to change their policy on reproduction vintage toys ( if there already isn't one ).

The amount of **** that they don't allow on ebay for being copies / counterfeits saying because they harm their members and cause confusion in the buying experience etc, then they let repro vintage toys thrive effectly destroying the market and the collectors hobby, I find that really annoying. :evil:

I wonder if there's some kind of community petition that can be emailed over to ebay for them to ban them?, would they even pay attention to it?
 

lejackal

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Reported.

Out of interest is it Disney that holds the IP rights to the original merchandising or is that still held by GL?
 

subzero

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lejackal said:
Reported.

Out of interest is it Disney that holds the IP rights to the original merchandising or is that still held by GL?

This is a quote from this ebay guide iv'e just found on repro weapons...

"We have complained for over a decade to eBay, Hasbro, and LucasFilm, LTD. about Star Wars fakes. No one seems to have any interest pursuing action against small time dealers and sellers who have no assets to go after in the first place for selling fake, fraudulently produced items. eBay will only take-down a listing if you can prove YOU are the copyright, patent, or trademark holder. So if Hasbro or Lucasfilm, LTD has no interest, neither does eBay. We are trying to help buyers beware of these issues.

We have previously argued on our website that we believe that there are legal issues for knowingly sell counterfeit items; engaging in a conspiracy to defraud buyers, and selling "repo" items is a violation of registered copyright and trademark laws
."

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Vintage-Star-Wars-Weapons-/10000000012790034/g.html
 

poncho

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68 views in the past 24 hours that auction has had needs to be in hundreds and reported i reckon before its taken down
 

Bonsai_Tree_Ent

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I suspect many of those 68 views from the past 24 hours have been as a result of this thread and the one on echo base.

subzero, regarding EBay's policy on repro, I'm not sure that blog article represents it as it was written 8 years ago by a collector and is just his opinion.

EBay's official policy is described succinctly as: We don't allow replicas, counterfeit items, or unauthorized copies to be listed on eBay.

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html

However, whether this is in reference towards current brands only (the Rolex, Gucci Handbag and Nike fakers) is unspecified.

If I get a chance on Monday I will write to Ebay and seek clarification on their policy specifically towards reproduction / fake vintage Star Wars toys (and if there is any differentiation between declared repro in the listing or undeclared). I'll feedback the response, if I get one, here.
 

subzero

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Bonsai_Tree_Ent said:
I suspect many of those 68 views from the past 24 hours have been as a result of this thread and the one on echo base.

subzero, regarding EBay's policy on repro, I'm not sure that blog article represents it as it was written 8 years ago by a collector and is just his opinion.

EBay's official policy is described succinctly as: We don't allow replicas, counterfeit items, or unauthorized copies to be listed on eBay.

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html

However, whether this is in reference towards current brands only (the Rolex, Gucci Handbag and Nike fakers) is unspecified.

If I get a chance on Monday I will write to Ebay and seek clarification on their policy specifically towards reproduction / fake vintage Star Wars toys (and if there is any differentiation between declared repro in the listing or undeclared). I'll feedback the response, if I get one, here.

Yes that could be a problem with them not being specific over whether or not they mean vintage too in their policy, we all know fakes of current modern commercial items aren't allowed but it will be interesting to see what they say about vintage fakes.
 

theforceuk

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What should happen with all repro listings is sellers should be stopped from mentioning Star Wars in the listings, am I stating the obvious. :? :lol:
 

Jez

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Reported

Maybe one other way to piss these guys off is to create sock accounts and buy all his ****. Obviously not pay for any of them though :?:
 

subzero

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Jez said:
Reported

Maybe one other way to piss these guys off is to create sock accounts and buy all his ****. Obviously not pay for any of them though :?:

If ebay caught you doing that through the same IP then they would close any other accounts you have, chances are you'd prob get away with it anyway because ebay are pretty useless, but if they did catch you then, bye bye ebay account!
 
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