Quiz: How big is your eBay problem?

Follow the below procedure to make a estimate of the scale of your brand’s infringement problems on eBay.  A worksheet is provided at the end to assist in your calculations.

If you would prefer that BrandCleaner performs this analysis please email info@brandcleaner.com with details of your brand, and any other information you think we should be aware of when performing the analysis.

1. Go to http://www.ebay.co.uk or http://www.ebay.com
   
   
2. Click on Advanced Search
   
   
   
3. Click on Advanced Search again
   
   
   
4. Enter the following information in the search screen
1. Enter Keyword or Item Number: Your trademark.
1. Note that:
2. If your trademark is more than one word enclose it in inverted commas: eg. “trade mark”
3. To exclude a word from the results prefix it with a  -  : eg. –word
4. If your trademark can be spelled in different ways place them it in brackets, separated by commas: eg. (trademark, “trade mark”, brandname)
2. Locations: Change to items located in, and select Any Country/region
   
   
   
3. Sort by: Time: Newly Listed, Results per page: 100
   
   
   
   
5. Click
   
   
6. You will now see the results page
1. You may need to reset the “sort by newly listed” option. If so change Sort By to Newly Listed
   
   
   
2. If a large number of results (more than 30%) are not relevant to your trademark you may need to go back to the advanced search screen and exclude some terms to make the results more relevant. See 4.a.i  - iv
   
   
7. Note down:
1. The number of items found – this represents the current number of auctions on eBay worldwide with your trademark in the description
2. The time and date of the most recent listing
   
   
8. Scroll to the bottom and check that 100 items per page are listed (it should be the number in black). If not change it to 100 by clicking on 100
   
   
   
9. Click through the pages, until you find an auction listed at the same time yesterday. Then note down what page this is (page number will be in black)
   
   
   
10. Multiply this figure by 100. This is the number of auctions listed in the last 24 hours.
    
    
11. Go back to page one of the auction listings.
    
    
12. Look through the first 100 auctions for likely infringing items and make a note of each one you find. Look closely at the following indicators:
1. Auctions with Buy It Now
2. Auctions for “new” items at a very low price
3. Auctions for multiple items
4. Auctions from sellers located in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa
5. Within the Auctions:
1.  Sellers with low feedback (under 500)
   
   
   
2. Seller who are less than a year old
   
   
   
3. Sellers with feedback less than 99% positive
   
   
   
4. Sellers who have sold your product previously (click on See Detailed Feedback for a list of that sellers previous auctions, if their previous auctions are “private” and not accessible this is also suspicious)
   
   
13. The number of likely infringing items represents a very rough guide (as a percentage) of how many likely counterfeit items are available on eBay. Optionally, for more accuracy you can perform the same process on additional results pages and average the percentage.
    
    
14. To work out:
1. The total number of likely infringing listings on eBay right now:
   Multiply the % of likely infringing listings by the total number of listings, and divide the result by 100.
2. The total number of likely infringing listings within the last 24 hours:
   Multiply the % of likely infringing listings by the total number of listings in the last 24 hours, and divide the result by 100.
3. The total number of likely infringing listings in a year:
   Take the result from 14.b.i and multiply that by 365
4. The approximate value of retail losses due to likely infringing sales on eBay per year:
   Take the result from 14.c.1 and multiply that by your trademarks average retail price

Worksheet:

Trademark search: _______________________________________ (A)

Number of Items Found: ______________ (B)

Time and date of the most recent listing: __________________________ (C)

Page number of Auction from 24 hours ago (yesterday): _____________ (D)

(D) x 100 = number of listings in last 24 Hours (approx.): _______________ (E)

Likely infringing items in first 100 listings: ____________ (F)

(F) represents a rough percentage figure for likely infringing listings on eBay.

No. of likely infringing items on eBay now: [ (B) x (F) ] / 100 = _________

 

No. of likely infringing items on eBay in last 24 hrs: [ (E) x (F) ] / 100 = _________  (G)

 

No. of likely infringing items on eBay per year : (G) x 365 = _________  (H)

 

Approximate median retail value of your products: _____________ (I)

 

Approximate retail losses due to likely infringing sales on eBay per year:  (H) x (I) = ____________