The F.O.E. Report 2006-04-02

'Royal Vienna' sub-report:

Ginni D Snodgrass (eBay handle gdsnodgrass), our official agent with her own homepage on Bohemian, Austrian and Silesian porcelain as well as a wonderful section on fake marks wrote this summary in addition to her extensive report:

Power sellers and experienced sellers are big offenders and I believe there are very few 'newbie errors' made in relation. Of the 109 problem listings, 25% was keyword spamming, and of the keyword spamming problem, 80% of it was done in stores and overall 65% of the keyword spamming was done by power sellers and/or normal sellers, 58% have over 1,000 feedback!

Wrong Factory Identification (Auctions):

From 25 auctions by 22 different sellers:

41% (9) are from different power sellers.
32% (7) have over 1,000 feedback.
45% (10) have over 200 feedback, but less than 1,000.
32% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Wrong Factory Identification (Store Items):

From 16 store items by 13 different sellers:

62% (8) are from different power sellers.
25% (4) have over 1,000 feedback.
44% (7) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
13% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Wrong Factory Identification (Combined):

From 41 offers by 35 different sellers:

50% (17) are from different power sellers.
32% (11) have over 1,000 feedback.
44% (15) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
24% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

No marks on piece or not posted (Auctions):

From 14 auctions by 10 different sellers:

14% (2) are from different power sellers.
22% (3) have over 1,000 feedback.
22% (3) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
22% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

No marks on piece or not posted (Store Items):

From 15 store items by 7 different sellers:

27% (4) are from different power sellers.
20% (3) have over 1,000 feedback.
20% (2) have over 200, but less than 1,000 feedback.
20% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

No marks on piece or not posted (Combined):

From 29 offers by 17 different sellers:

25% (6) are from different power sellers.
35% (6) have over 1,000 feedbacks.
29% (5) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
35% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Look-a-like mark (Auctions):

from 4 auctions by 4 different sellers:

75% (3) are different power sellers.
75% (3) have over 1,000 feedback.
25% (1) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
0% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Look-a-like mark (Store Items):

From 1 store item by 1 different seller:

100% (1) power seller with over 1,000 feedback.
0% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Look-a-like mark (Combined):

From 5 offers by 5 different sellers:

80% (4) are different power sellers.
80% (4) have over 1,000 feedback.
20% (1) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
0% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Too close to call, but doubtful, Auctions:

From 4 offers by 4 different sellers:

0% (0) are different power sellers.
50% (2) have 1,000 or more feedback.
0% (0) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
50% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Keyword Spamming (Auctions):

From 6 auctions by 6 different sellers:

50% (3) are different power sellers.
50% (3) have over 1,000 feedback.
33% (2) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
17% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Keyword Spamming (Store Items):

From 22 store items from 11 different sellers:

33% (8) are different power sellers.
29% (7) have over 1,000 feedback.
13% (3) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
4% by sellers with less than 200 feedback.

Keyword Spamming (Combined):

From 28 offers by 14 different sellers:

64% (9) are different power sellers.
57% (8) have over 1,000 feedback.
28% (4) have over 200 but less than 1,000 feedback.
14% by sellers with less than 200 feedbacks.