Text (or image) theft on eBay

Hello,

The subject sometimes comes up on the Forum of eBay sellers who "borrow" their item descriptions or item images from others, without permission.

Here is what can happen, and it isn't difficult or time-consuming to make it happen.

This e-mail to me from eBay --

Hello Jack,

Thanks for your email and for sending us in your attached NOCI

I can confirm that the following item reported in your report has now
been removed from our site:

Item Number: 150792374766 - Pair of Vintage Police Prison Hiatt Come
Along Nipper Steel Handcuffs

We'll notify the seller that the listing has been removed at your
request and all participating bidders will be advised that their bids
have been cancelled.

Thanks again for your email. If you should have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other VeRO related matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us again at: vero@ebay.co.uk.

As always Jack, we appreciate your support in helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable place to buy and sell.

Kindest regards,

Ryan Byran
eBay VeRO Team

-- soon was followed by this e-mail to me from eBay --

We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

[seller's user ID was here]
150792374766

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety

You do not have to tolerate the theft of your intellectual property by eBay sellers, and eBay will act quickly and appropriately on your behalf.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

There's not much you can do about people stealing your text, unless you have some pretty unique language. Most statements and specifications laundry lists are too short to be effectively copyright protected.

But your photos are absolutely protectable. I like to watermark my photos. My image hosting service (I use Auctiva for my eBay stuff) will watermark photos. I also have image viewing and editing software that will do so. I use Irfanview, which is free, and has just enough image editing capability to handle my eBay pix without being big and cumbersome.

Having your name across the image makes it less attractive to thieves.

It's nice to hear that eBay is taking this stuff seriously. Now, if we could only do something about the fake "Authentic Yuma Prison Handcuffs," complete with the brass tags.

Hello,

The subject sometimes comes up on the Forum of eBay sellers who "borrow" their item descriptions or item images from others, without permission.

Here is what can happen, and it isn't difficult or time-consuming to make it happen.

This e-mail to me from eBay --

Hello Jack,

Thanks for your email and for sending us in your attached NOCI

I can confirm that the following item reported in your report has now
been removed from our site:

Item Number: 150792374766 - Pair of Vintage Police Prison Hiatt Come
Along Nipper Steel Handcuffs

We'll notify the seller that the listing has been removed at your
request and all participating bidders will be advised that their bids
have been cancelled.

Thanks again for your email. If you should have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other VeRO related matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us again at: vero@ebay.co.uk.

As always Jack, we appreciate your support in helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable place to buy and sell.

Kindest regards,

Ryan Byran
eBay VeRO Team

-- soon was followed by this e-mail to me from eBay --

We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

[seller's user ID was here]
150792374766

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety

You do not have to tolerate the theft of your intellectual property by eBay sellers, and eBay will act quickly and appropriately on your behalf.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Click to expand...

I think the two issues are seperate. I fully agree that using another's photos is wrong especially if you're using it as representation of an item you're selling. Just last year I bought an H&R in box from a seller who as it turns out found a stash of them. The problem was once mine arrived it was apparent that he had not sent the example he had photos of. Turns out he took a few photos and used all the same photos on the 20+ he sold. Luckily he understood why I was upset and refunded me 50% of my money and I kept the cuff.

However if I sell an item and down the road someone uses my same terminology in their item description then so be it. They run the risk that all the details may not pertain to what they have but that's not my problem. I'd take it as a compliment and not a notion of theft. Heck if I'm selling let's say a valuable Coke bottle something I know little about you can bet that the info I post is copied off of something. I spend too much time on my hobby to learn another one. Unless its being used for wrong doing or for some sort of scam you should be flattered. 80% of what I've learned in this hobby over the years is from stealing you alls knowledge.

Hello,

The subject sometimes comes up on the Forum of eBay sellers who "borrow" their item descriptions or item images from others, without permission.

Here is what can happen, and it isn't difficult or time-consuming to make it happen.

This e-mail to me from eBay --

Hello Jack,

Thanks for your email and for sending us in your attached NOCI

I can confirm that the following item reported in your report has now
been removed from our site:

Item Number: 150792374766 - Pair of Vintage Police Prison Hiatt Come
Along Nipper Steel Handcuffs

We'll notify the seller that the listing has been removed at your
request and all participating bidders will be advised that their bids
have been cancelled.

Thanks again for your email. If you should have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other VeRO related matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us again at: vero@ebay.co.uk.

As always Jack, we appreciate your support in helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable place to buy and sell.

Kindest regards,

Ryan Byran
eBay VeRO Team

-- soon was followed by this e-mail to me from eBay --

We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

[seller's user ID was here]
150792374766

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety

You do not have to tolerate the theft of your intellectual property by eBay sellers, and eBay will act quickly and appropriately on your behalf.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Click to expand...

I've had people use details from my listings before too. One of the funniest times was right after I sold a S&W 938 stainless cuff. I stated in my ad that it was more rare than the average common model 90 and alot harder to find than the model 90. Right after it sold a few days later I'm browsing ebay and low and behold word for word from my ad is another cuff for sale. The major flaw with it was that it wasn't a 938 like I sold, it was the more common model 90 I was referring to.

I sent the seller a message telling them that It's ok if they want to pull details from my listing, but the cuff they had up was a model 90 not a 938. I then explained the quickest way for a rookie to tell which is the S stamped on the bow of the 938 vs. the lack of this on the 90.

They replied thanking me for the info and apologizing. They simply didn't know what they had and the cuff they had to sell looked close enough to mine, so they helped themselves. They seemed nice in their reply so I let it go. They didn't harm me by using my description and at least i got a laugh or two out of the deal.

Hello,

The subject sometimes comes up on the Forum of eBay sellers who "borrow" their item descriptions or item images from others, without permission.

Here is what can happen, and it isn't difficult or time-consuming to make it happen.

This e-mail to me from eBay --

Hello Jack,

Thanks for your email and for sending us in your attached NOCI

I can confirm that the following item reported in your report has now
been removed from our site:

Item Number: 150792374766 - Pair of Vintage Police Prison Hiatt Come
Along Nipper Steel Handcuffs

We'll notify the seller that the listing has been removed at your
request and all participating bidders will be advised that their bids
have been cancelled.

Thanks again for your email. If you should have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other VeRO related matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us again at: vero@ebay.co.uk.

As always Jack, we appreciate your support in helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable place to buy and sell.

Kindest regards,

Ryan Byran
eBay VeRO Team

-- soon was followed by this e-mail to me from eBay --

We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

[seller's user ID was here]
150792374766

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety

You do not have to tolerate the theft of your intellectual property by eBay sellers, and eBay will act quickly and appropriately on your behalf.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Click to expand...

Hello,

What a person writes from scratch is an original work of authorship, as much his property as an auction item is the seller's property. When an eBay seller takes text, word for word and without permission, from my Web site, he steals from me, and for no noble social purpose or cause. He steals to sell an item for personal monetary gain.

What I can do when someone steals my text is to cause that person's auction to be ended by eBay. The question was raised of how I, and, by extension, eBay, know whether intent was exercised or co-incidence occurred. When the auction text copies my text exactly and when the wording style fails to conform to the wording style of any of the seller's other auctions, or even to the style of language the seller uses in his -- or her, for all I know and to be fair -- shipping and payment instructions, the reasonable inference is that the seller infringed my intellectual property rights, i.e., in fact did steal my text.

I posted my previous message, though, to assist Forum participants whose text or images have been used without their consent by eBay sellers, and who do not know what recourse is available to them.

Over time, I have had many eBay auctions ended through eBay's VeRO programme. For whatever interest it may have, when a seller contacts me in advance and asks permission to use my writing, I invariably grant it, despite being under no obligation whatever to do so.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Hello,

The subject sometimes comes up on the Forum of eBay sellers who "borrow" their item descriptions or item images from others, without permission.

Here is what can happen, and it isn't difficult or time-consuming to make it happen.

This e-mail to me from eBay --

Hello Jack,

Thanks for your email and for sending us in your attached NOCI

I can confirm that the following item reported in your report has now
been removed from our site:

Item Number: 150792374766 - Pair of Vintage Police Prison Hiatt Come
Along Nipper Steel Handcuffs

We'll notify the seller that the listing has been removed at your
request and all participating bidders will be advised that their bids
have been cancelled.

Thanks again for your email. If you should have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other VeRO related matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us again at: vero@ebay.co.uk.

As always Jack, we appreciate your support in helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable place to buy and sell.

Kindest regards,

Ryan Byran
eBay VeRO Team

-- soon was followed by this e-mail to me from eBay --

We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

[seller's user ID was here]
150792374766

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.

If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety

You do not have to tolerate the theft of your intellectual property by eBay sellers, and eBay will act quickly and appropriately on your behalf.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Click to expand...

That's great news Jack.

Some years back (1999 to be exact) I had this happen to me on ebay, The seller copied my items description word for word and used my photos too. ebay only warned the seller who then re wrote his description and used his own photos.

Glad to see things are improving.

PS, Unfortunately for the new or uninformed buyers, The sellers of brass tagged cuffs and collars wont be stopped anytime soon. (if at all)

Best regards, Grant