eBay is a little poorer today. The giant Internet auction site has been fined 20,000 Euros (about $31,000) for allowing counterfeit goods to be sold through its auctions after a suit was brought in France by luxury goods maker Hermes. That could set a precedent for future suits, which could include those brought by Tiffany and Louis Vuitton.
eBay has honoured requests to remove counterfeit items from auctions. However, in many ways counterfeits sold there are small potatoes, as one estimate says that 10% of all global sales of branded goods are counterfeit.
Milton Pedraza of the Luxury Institute said:
