Page Two	E-mail PagePrint Version

SAN JOSE – 12/21/07 – The French government has decided to take online auctioneer eBay to court, charging that the company doesn't do enough to protect consumers from fraud and abuse.

The Council of Sales, France’s regulatory authority, said that eBay's French site ''should be held to the same standards as other auction houses in France,'' which are required to acquire a special permit from authorities that includes guarantees of consumer protection.

The company has responded saying that it ''has invented a new way of buying and selling, which has been adopted by 10 million French people, and which is not at all the same as that of auction houses.''

The suit, it said, is ''totally unjust.''

The Council said it had been studying eBay.fr, eBay’s French subsidiary, ''carefully” over the past three years and had compiled “a long list of problems.''

In one case, it said, a buyer who expected to purchase an 18th century painting actually received a piece of wood with a photocopy pasted onto it.

Fakes are a big problem on eBay.fr, the Council said, adding that some buyers complained that they never received the merchandise they had successfully bid on.

The Council, whose members are appointed by the state government, took similar action earlier this year against Carsat, an online car auction site.

Go back, or read the latest Page Two stories:

CANADIAN FIRM SNAGS AIRPORT PROJECT

SACRAMENTO – 08/11/08 – Canadian transportation multi-national Bombardier has snagged a $29.8 million contract to design, supply and install an automated people mover system at Sacramento International Airport; the automatic train system will transport airline passengers between a ticket terminal and security checkpoints and airline gates at a new Terminal B and, eventually, to Terminal A.