Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
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Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#2We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones.
This sort of thing drives us crazy. We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) or sellers getting scammed after selling a legit item (unscrupulous buyers filing fake claims, resulting in loss of both the item and sale money to the seller)...
/Lollipuff co-founder.
[1] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/41/ebays-counterfeit-epidemic...
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#3We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy . We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Ch…
>fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later)
If the fake is so similar to the real thing that it's possible to be fooled by it for years, who cares? Who is harmed besides Chanel?
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#4We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy . We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Ch…
>fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) If the fake is so similar to the real thing that it's possible to be fooled by it for years, who cares? Who is harmed besides Chanel?
As someone who is familiar with Chanel, the difference is night and day. However, for someone new to the brand, it's not. A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. It's usually the newbies that don't know off the bat. And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands.
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#5We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy . We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Ch…
One thing I hate about trademark legislation it that it prevents knowingly selling "counterfeit" trademarked goods. If a consumer wants to knowingly buy a "counterfeit" item, then that should clearly be legal. Besides, the sale of misrepresented goods is already illegal because of other laws, so there's not much need for trademark laws.
Of course, trademark laws increase profit for many companies, which is the reason they've been created in the first place. However, the point of intellectual property should be to benefit society, not companies.
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#6We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy . We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Ch…
"According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones."
How is eBay compensated? If they are compensated on a flat-transaction-fee then sure. But I thought they took a percentage of the sales price (in which case your assertion would not be true if the fakes sold for a tenth of the price of the originals.)
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#7My company sells fine jewelry on amazon, eBay, buy.com marketplace, Newegg marketplace, shop.com and more. We connect to all of them automatically through Channel Advisor, as do many large fashion companies. If you connect to CA, you will have a world of sellers you can select from who wouldn't bother with your small site otherwise. We all pay $10000 or more a year to use it so it's serious businesses.
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#8We recently did a survey for Herve Leger (tight bandage dresses) on eBay. According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones. This sort of thing drives us crazy . We're fighting against the counterfeit epidemic head on. You can only hear so many stories about buyers ending up with a fake $2000 Ch…
"According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones." How is eBay compensated? If they are compensated on a flat-transaction-fee then sure. But I thought they took a percentage of the sales price (in which case your assertion would not be true if the fakes sold for a tenth of the price of the ori…
This is the problem... regular users (that aren't brand experts) cannot tell the difference. So on eBay, the counterfeits sell for about the same price as authentic items.
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#9My first instinct was that this appeared to be a very low volume industry and a really small niche market of people that are buying second hand and desire expert verification.
Then I thought about it for a while, and I can see where you're coming from. A percentage fee seems like it could work with lower volumes.
I'm curious about the site's design, though. Why did you choose to organize the auction the way you did, scrolling down one item at a time? It seems a bit disorganized; are you planning on adding more categorization?
I notice you only accept three brands. Is there a legal or a verification bottleneck that prevents you from covering others?
Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes
#10My first instinct was that this appeared to be a very low volume industry and a really small niche market of people that are buying second hand and desire expert verification. Then I thought about it for a while, and I can see where you're coming from. A percentage fee seems like it could work with lower volumes. I'm curious about the site's design, though. Why did you choose to organize the auction the way you did,…
Hi, thanks for your thoughts.
Authentication is a skill, and that's why other sites who decide to take on all secondhand designers at once usually have counterfeits leak through.