Hi Jane,
I hear you on all points you mentioned. I know Louis Vitton scored a big win against eBay in France to the tune of a $6 million judgment? So I'd like to think eBay is being more proactive about preventing the selling of fakes. Of course like you say they stand to make a ton of money if they "look the other way" and allow the selling to continue.
I am glad to see Coach is cracking down, as the fake stuff looks nothing like the real thing - cheap scrappy looking hardware, funky colors, ugly fabrics - but yet some are still fooled into buying it. I can only hope they continue to go after the big suppliers as once it gets onto eBay there's too many small sellers to catch I would think. Just like when they go after the big drug king-pins, stop the stuff at the source. That's the key.
I just hope Alibaba takes a strong stance against fakes as I won't even consider doing business with them as it stands now. At least not for handbags. Puhlease. If they have some good suppliers of authentic designer goods already, you'd never be able to find them, they are so far outnumbered by the fakes. I'm staying away.