A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Leave Feedback

[freddy333]

Sometime within the past few hours, 2 of the better ebay sellers that I have done business with (each having perfect 100% seller scores) have had their ebay accounts (& stores) removed. All I get out of ebay is that the seller's accounts were closed by ebay or the seller closed it himself (the latter option is not likely). Since both sellers specialized in Rolex, I have a feeling that legal hammers (on behalf of the gen companies) are now being brought down upon anyone who cuts into the gens' dwindling sales & vanishing profit margins. I cannot help but think that the predictions voiced by a few here (including myself) over the past year suggesting that once the (economic) going gets tough, the gens' legal eagles will get going (against gray marketers & others who are cutting into sales of gen watches (yes, RWG, increasingly, we are becoming 1 of those others)). I have a feeling that this may be the sad case at ebay & the black cloud will only expand further. I hope I am wrong, but

[Pugwash]

Having seen my favourite gen dial (IWC, Breitling ...) dealer disappear last year, I think you're right.

[PAMman]

If I understand it correctly, Rolex enjoys a greater level of protection, against 'grey' imports into the US, than any other watch brand, with the US customs authorities enthusiastically protecting their market. Am I correct? If so, this is not simply a matter of collecting import duties on behalf of the state but the state is protecting the commercial interests of Rolex US. What the heck is that about? Collecting import taxes at the point of entry is the state's prerogative but to use the state machinery to protect the domestic market of a distributor of a foreign manufactured luxury item is really weird. Was this Dubya

[freddy333]

It is for this reason that I really wish the powers that be would consider making RWG a

<META name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">

site. While the horse has already left the stable on existing forum postings, at least we could limit the visibility of future postings.

And no matter what anyone has told you to the contrary, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER include real names or member locations in public posts. Although this information can be gotten via court order, there is no reason to make it publicly available without 1. Remember, whatever you post on the web may remain there (somewhere) forever & can be used against you.

[Pugwash]

It is for this reason that I really wish the powers that be would consider making RWG a

<META name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">

site. While the horse has already left the stable on existing forum postings, at least we could limit the visibility of future postings.

It's best done in the robots.txt from

$ curl http://www.rwg.cc/robots.txt

User-agent: *

Disallow: /cgi-bin/

Disallow: /ads/

Disallow: /mail/

Disallow: /support/

to

$ curl http://www.rwg.cc/robots.txt

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

However, it'd have to be across all three forums.

There's no point in hiding the site though.

[freddy333]

It's best done in the robots.txt

True.

There's no point in hiding the site though.

I am not sure about that?

[Pugwash]

I am not sure about that?

How did you find this site? I arrived via Google.

[HauteHippie]

$ curl http://www.rwg.cc/robots.txt

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

Yes.... I agree. That would be best.

[cht]

Which sellers went down?!?!?!

This is going to make hunting for parts a lot more difficult!

[Shundi]

QUOTE (Pugwash @ Nov 20 2008, 04:24 PM) *

CODE

$ curl http://www.rwg.cc/robots.txt

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

Yes.... I agree. That would be best.

Agreed... getting scary out there...

[freddy333]

It seems that my hunch was correct. I just received this response from 1 of the sellers

Our account was suspended due to an incorrect report on trademark infringement.

Of course, it is impossible (at this point) to know if this seller was just snagged in 1 of Rolex's random tactical sweeps or whether it is the tip of a much wider strategic plan. But it certainly merits continued scrutiny.

[coolfire]

It seems that my hunch was correct. I just received this response from 1 of the sellers

Of course, it is impossible (at this point) to know if this seller was just snagged in 1 of Rolex's random tactical sweeps or whether it is the tip of a much wider strategic plan. But it certainly merits continued scrutiny.

This is just so sick to hear...

I hope those 2 are not the ones i have dealt with. One of them was a fine gentleman.

[XWORD]

It's happening elsewhere and in other industries as well. The Gov't in our country also happens to seem to provide "extra services" for some (I don't know how they choose?) manufacturers. The customs agencies seem to be recruited as a line of defence in the importation department. I know that BMW, Mercedes Benz and a couple of others seemed to have a cozy relationship with the customs department in our country and are currently experiencing a class action lawsuit because of it. (Good luck winning that one though) However after some pressure from consumer advocate groups, etc. some of the rules have been magically rescinded. Now that our dollar has lost substancial ground against the US geenback I'm sure that these importations have decreased immensely and no longer get the scrutiny they once used to. But be sure that pressure will be applied when the economy tightens causing a reduction in profits and sales. Certainly the luxury watch industry will be putting up a fight.

[JoJo35]

Things have been changing for quite some time on the 'bay. Our fav DRSD dial has never resurfaced

[db1]

+1

i also think we should consider hiding rwg from praying eyes, you never know..

its true that as more sellers gonna have their accounts removed from the bay, parts will be harder to aquire- so if you would find any, they would sale for a redicilous amounts of money IMO.

i hope for good =]

[llsteve80]

Freddy,

Did these guys sell gen parts? I still see our fave slimeball selling aftermarket hands and bezels etc. Sometimes the things ebay does doesn't even make sense. Take down someone selling legit products and leave the grey market on....really weird....

And what about feedback? (from the title)

[freddy333]

You cannot leave any feedback when the seller's account has been removed & all of his auctions -- both active & ended -- have been pulled.

Both sellers had 100% Positive ratings & sold only gen parts (mainly Rolex). I only heard from 1 of them & the complaint was apparently instigated by lawyers on behalf of the trademark owner. That is all I know.

[Watchmeister]

I think it just ebbs and flows. I would find it difficult to believe that luxury goods makers will spend more money on lawyers when profitability is falling. I am hearing that we may well see actual price reductions on some manufacturers' list prices. I do believe that investigation is often instigated upon complaints received by the company so keep your friends close and your enemies closer. .

[southcoast68]

If this was brought on by Rolex, I think it is a pile of crap . Why would they care, especially if we are talking about parts and watches that they manufactured year and years ago. That would be like me going on Ebay to buy a used engine part for my old Mustang and Ford complaining of copyright infringement, it does not make any sense. Well, I guess it makes sense if Rolex (or any other luxury watch maker) really wants to proove just how much of a [censored] they can be. I remember asking about a replacement bracelet for my GMT, I was told by the AD that they would have to send my old bracelet back to Rolex, I guess you can guess which body part of mine they can kiss.

Rant over...

[Pugwash]

If this was brought on by Rolex, I think it is a pile of crap . Why would they care, especially if we are talking about parts and watches that they manufactured year and years ago.

It's the thin edge of a wedge. If you don't actively defend your trademarks, you lose them.

You can't really blame Rolex for this, much like you can't blame them for getting lawyers on replica sellers.

[freddy333]

It's the thin edge of a wedge. If you don't actively defend your trademarks, you lose them.

You can't really blame Rolex for this, much like you can't blame them for getting lawyers on replica sellers.

I have to agree.

[llsteve80]

Ok, I misread the topic Freddy, I read it like "a funny thing happened on the method to leave feedback"

Foolish me but now I get it

[greg_r]

It is for this reason that I really wish the powers that be would consider making RWG a

<META name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">

site. While the horse has already left the stable on existing forum postings, at least we could limit the visibility of future postings.

And no matter what anyone has told you to the contrary, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER include real names or member locations in public posts. Although this information can be gotten via court order, there is no reason to make it publicly available without 1. Remember, whatever you post on the web may remain there (somewhere) forever & can be used against you.

We do something like that on the re-booted RWG1. iPB has a facility to prevent search bots viewing certain forums - I've set things up there so that they cannot access the whole of the main forum - only the 'guest' forum, which is seen before you sign up, plus a few other select areas where appropriate.

[freddy333]

The sad thing about all this is that these functions are easy to implement & google, yahoo & most of the majors follow the rules. These indexes will ignore pages that instruct them to do so. Spammer robots, on the other hand, do not, but that is an altogether different kettle of beans.

[wimpie007]

+1