Hi, whateve -
To tell you the truth, the way I understand it, it makes no more difference than saying that your "Aunt Sally" told you it was fake. If pushed, they would tell you to have those "so-called experts" report it themselves.
In short, removed items mean less revenue for eBay. Not only do they lose out on the selling fees, but they also have to pay people to remove the items and send those MC-xxx reports to the sellers - then pay their other CSRs to "explain", argue, etc., when disgruntled sellers call to complain.
At the same time, they've been sued enough times that they know they have to be careful and take
some kind of action (even "token" removals, one by one) when counterfeit sales get too obvious. After all, counterfeits ARE illegal, whether the manufacturer is looking over your shoulder or not. It's a very fine balance, and they don't always handle it terribly well.
As Hyacinth mentioned,
COACH itself isn't about to do much about it, especially on the single, listing-to-listing level. They have the upper hand and can always go after eBay (or any other vendor) if they so choose, and they will always be in the right, since it's their product. It's all about money. At what point is it worth it for either a manufacturer OR a "vendor" to take definitive action?
In short, it would cost far more for eBay to monitor all the gazillions of single listings than to continue letting volunteers (whatever their motivation) help get rid of the obvious stuff. If one of those huge, expensive lawsuits comes of it, they can always try falling back on their "we're just a venue" philosophy and the reporting program they have in place. "Look at all these counterfeit that were reported! We removed them all!" (yeah, right...)
It's disheartening, at best, but for those with a mission to deter counterfeit sales, those angry enough to report, or those with simply a bit too much time on their hands, it can be worth it.
