Are Reselling Sites Doing Enough to Combat Fake Football Shirts?

Are Reselling Sites Doing Enough to Combat Fake Football Shirts?

The short answer? No — and in some cases, they may be actively making the problem worse.

Fake football shirts are nothing new. Anyone who’s followed the game long enough remembers dodgy market stalls, backstreet shops, or low-quality knockoffs being sold out of the back of a van. But what has changed is the scale, visibility, and apparent acceptance of counterfeit shirts — and much of that change has happened online.

Platforms like eBay, Vinted, and Depop present themselves as neutral marketplaces: just connecting buyers and sellers, letting the community regulate itself, and stepping in when rules are broken. In theory, this should work. In practice, it’s failing — badly.

The Explosion of Fake Shirts Online

Search for almost any modern football shirt on these platforms and you’ll see the same red flags repeated over and over again:

• “Brand new with tags” for a fraction of retail price

• Multiple sizes available from a “private seller”

• Stock photos instead of real product images

• Identical listings from different accounts

• Sellers shifting dozens — sometimes hundreds — of shirts

These are not one-off mistakes. This is industrial-scale counterfeiting, operating in plain sight.

And yet, the listings remain.

Putting the Platforms to the Test

Rather than just speculating, I decided to test the system.

I reported:

• One clearly fake football shirt on eBay

• One on Vinted

• One on Depop

Each listing was obviously counterfeit — the kind any genuine reseller, brand owner, or experienced collector could spot in seconds.

The results were telling.

eBay: “Reviewed by AI — No Breach Found”

eBay replied to say the listing had been reviewed by AI and did not breach their terms.

This response raises more questions than it answers.

If an AI system — trained on vast amounts of data — cannot identify a clearly fake football shirt, then one of two things is true:

1. The system is not fit for purpose

2. The system is designed to err on the side of keeping listings live

Neither is reassuring.

eBay has spent years promoting its trust systems, authentication services, and buyer protection schemes. Yet when it comes to counterfeit football shirts — a market worth millions — enforcement appears minimal.

Vinted: Silence

Vinted didn’t reply at all.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Vinted has become notorious for non-responses, whether you’re reporting counterfeit goods, fraudulent sellers, or policy breaches.

In fact, during a recent discussion with the BBC, it was revealed that journalists had also reached out to Vinted — and received no response.

When a platform doesn’t engage with users or the media, it sends a clear message: this isn’t a priority.

Depop: Hiding Behind the Terms

Depop’s response leaned heavily on its terms and conditions, offering no meaningful engagement with the issue itself.

This is a familiar tactic across tech platforms:

• Acknowledge the report

• Quote the rules

• Avoid addressing whether enforcement is effective

It gives the appearance of action without actually taking responsibility.

Why Aren’t These Platforms Doing More?

This is the uncomfortable question.

These companies have:

• The money

• The technology

• The expertise

• The data

They already run advanced systems for:

• Fraud detection

• Payment security

• Image recognition

• Seller behaviour analysis

So why does counterfeit merchandise — especially fake football shirts — slip through so easily?

One possible explanation is scale. The volume of listings is enormous, and manual review costs money.

But that argument doesn’t fully hold up. These platforms already invest heavily in moderation when it suits them — particularly where legal risk or PR damage is high.

Which leads to a more troubling possibility.

Do Fake Shirts Drive Sales?

Counterfeit football shirts are:

• Cheap

• High-demand

• Fast-moving

• Repeatedly bought

They generate:

• Listing fees

• Transaction fees

• Increased platform activity

Even if the platform takes no direct responsibility for the goods themselves, they still profit from every sale.

So the question becomes unavoidable:

Is the fake football shirt market too profitable to aggressively shut down?

No platform will admit this, of course. Officially, all three claim to prohibit counterfeit goods. But enforcement tells a different story. Weak moderation, slow responses, and automated systems that consistently “find no breach” create an environment where counterfeit sellers thrive.

At best, it’s negligence.
At worst, it’s quiet acceptance.

The Impact on Fans and Collectors

This isn’t just a legal or corporate issue — it directly affects real people.

• Fans pay for “authentic” shirts that turn out to be fake

• Collectors see genuine items devalued

• New fans struggle to tell what’s real

• Smaller independent sellers get undercut by counterfeit stock

And perhaps most damaging of all, trust in these platforms erodes.

If buyers can’t rely on marketplaces to enforce their own rules, then what’s the point of those rules existing at all?

Passing the Buck

What’s striking is how hard it is to actually speak to a human at any of these companies.

• eBay hides behind AI

• Vinted doesn’t reply

• Depop points to the terms

There’s no meaningful escalation. No transparency. No accountability.

Platforms often argue that responsibility lies with buyers to “do their research,” but that feels like an abdication of duty — especially when the platforms themselves profit from every transaction.

So, Are Reselling Sites Making It Worse?

Arguably, yes.

By allowing counterfeit football shirts to be listed openly, sold repeatedly, and rarely removed, these platforms are not just failing to stop the problem — they’re normalising it.

What once required physical distribution networks now only needs:

• A smartphone

• A supplier

• A resale account

That ease of access has allowed the fake shirt market to explode.

Final Thoughts

Reselling platforms love to talk about community, trust, and safety. But when it comes to counterfeit football shirts, those values often feel like marketing slogans rather than operational priorities.

Until platforms:

• Respond transparently to reports

• Invest in proper human review

• Publicly share enforcement data

• Accept responsibility for what they host

The fake football shirt market will continue to grow — not despite these platforms, but because of them.

And the silence, in many ways, says more than any policy ever could.