UK online auctions are being swamped with unofficial mobile phone products according to online brand-monitoring specialist NetNames. Research by NetNames revealed 1505 unofficial mobile products were sold on ebay.co.uk in one week.

Whilst only one in five of the products on offer were from the Far East, some of those advertising are selling hundreds of items each increasing fears that the products are cheap, poor-quality copies.

The most targeted handsets were the LG Viewty, Samsung F700 and Nokia N95 being offered in the thousands and all offered unlocked from any network. NetNames reported that in one week there were 2,250 different sellers of the Nokia N95 handsets and batteries on offer.

The N95 is reported as the worst for having individual sellers with disproportionate numbers. There were 325 LG Viewty handset sellers with small amounts each and all based in the UK. As with the LG Viewty, the Samsung F700 has all the sellers based in the UK and not selling large amounts each. The maximum amount for any seller of the Samsung F700 and LG Viewty was four items during the period researched.

Chief operating officer of Netnames, Jonathan Robinson advised: ‘Manufacturers – even if they decide not to act on the information – at least need to be aware of and monitor the counterfeiting of their goods.

‘If a consumer has a bad experience with a product with your branding on it, it will not necessarily occur to them that it is counterfeit, it will simply create a negative perception which can quickly spread across product reviews, blogs and other social media creating untold brand damage.’

A spokeswoman for Nokia said: ‘Nokia takes all possible steps to protect its customers, consumers and business from counterfeit activity. Our enforcement activities are continuous and on a global scale.

‘This is unfortunately a serious issue that affects many companies with successful products.’

All mobile phones at ND Mobiles are genuine manufacturer originals supplied by the official networks.