As reported on Auctionbytes, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) recently announced an initiative to thwart the listing of counterfeit goods on its auction site. The program will be targeted at a tiny selected group of particular product names. Most probably in reaction to pending litigation by companies such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior Couture, this move seems to be a bit of oil targeted at a few squeaky wheels.

The details of the program are obtuse and ill-defined, but in part, the initiative involves a smattering of criteria which when encountered will trigger a red flag and expose a seller to manual inspection of their item listings. Included in the program are new restrictions against the listing of certain items from the countries of China and Hong Kong. While on its face this program seems helpful and reasonable, overall it is an unimpressive effort according to sources who have contacted this writer.

"What an unmitigated load of bull----!" , was the response I received from one associate. She sees this program as nothing more than another stopgap PR play reflective of the same type of flimsy "solution" eBay employed to quiet the Skype overloading of servers issue. In part, the concern is that while this program may indeed reduce the number of attempts to sell a few counterfeit copies of a few specific items, it will do nothing to pursue or prosecute those who are habitually engaged in practices of illegal merchandising on eBay's site.

The eBay insider: Waving hello to potential counterfeiters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.