eBay is up in arms about proposed EU regulation at the moment, and while a fight between a big company and the EU isn't usually particularly gripping, bear with me. This will affect everyone who uses eBay from the sellers to the buyers.

If certain brands and companies get their way and the ruling swings in their favour, then you won't be able to buy or sell anything from that brand.

The point is that they want to stop counterfeit items, but the ruling can't stop there, so it would have to cover everything from BNWT to second-hand. And that's going to seriously affect the auction site.

I don't buy stuff that's blatantly fake, but I know people who have been caught out. eBay insist that only 0.15% of listings last year were reported and discovered as potentially fake. I'm not sure that number is the whole picture if I'm honest - it goes on reported figures and who actually reports the fakes they see? Don't you just move on to another item?

I can see why brands are keen to stop the fakes, but stopping the sale of these brands altogether would mean we couldn't get access through perfectly legitimate sellers, and we couldn't make that much-needed extra cash by selling off our second-hand brands.

I don't think this is a clean-cut case, but one thing is certain: the site will be damaged hugely if this ruling goes ahead, and we'll lose a chance to buy and sell. While I think it's important to act against counterfeits, I'm not sure this is the way to go about it. If you agree, you can sign the petition here.