posted on July 15, 2001 11:23:47 PM
OK - I know I have seen a thread about this topic - but it has been a while and I can't seem to find it again. So here I go.
I logged on to ebay tonight to check my auctions and to see what the competition is doing in my catagory as well. To my surprise there is an auction with MY PICTURE of the item being sold!
Do I have any recourse with this? I emailed the seller and asked why were they using my picture? I don't expect a response back - but I thought it would be good to call them on the carpet on this one! How rude!
Any response is welcome here - I am not sure if this is reportable or not.
posted on July 16, 2001 12:38:19 AM
Did they copy your picture or are they also using your picture hosting ? If they are using your picture hosting you can fix them real good.
posted on July 16, 2001 05:06:30 AM
Hi. I started a thread about this a couple of months ago. Ebay was no help....by the time they responded to me, the auction was over. Even then, they did nothing. Doesn't it make you angry??!! We do all the work of taking the photo..cropping..lighting etc...and THEY, with the click of a mouse, have all our hard work! What I did was write the winning bidder to let her know that the item she saw in the photo was NOT the one she won. She was very appreciative, and emailed the seller about the photo. At the least, I hope the seller was embarrassed.
posted on July 16, 2001 08:10:47 AM
What is a VERO member and does it cost to become one?
I like the idea of emailing the winning bidder to let them know that what they see may not be what they get.
I would NEVER steal someone elses picture for that reason alone. What if my item is BETTER! Why would I want to take the chance of using someone elses picture and have the item not be just the same! Stupid if you ask me!
posted on July 16, 2001 08:21:42 AM
GO to ebay ,top of page ,site map and I belive you will find VERO there
It is a ebay program that is vastly abused in short you register that you have the intellectial rights to item --in your case the pictures--once you are registered you can report any auction that you claim violates your rights and ebay will end that auction immediatley The person who has his auction ended then has to file a sworn statemnt with ebay saying his auction does not violate your rights ebay will then let him relist at which point you can opt to take him to court. Needless to say the program is abused but I belive it would be applicable to you
I am not registeed but I don't belive there is a charge..
If you go to the AW home page There was a article explaining VERO recently I'm not sure if you can still acess it though
spock here......
posted on July 16, 2001 09:09:55 AM
Several months back, someone stole my photos. I reported it to ebay and they did immediately send a warning to the seller.
Contacting the high bidder may get you into trouble as that is auction interference. I hate to see you get suspended because someone stole your pictures. Just would not seem right. So follow the rules are you can be guilty too!
posted on July 16, 2001 09:20:12 AM
Hi. Sorry, but I don't see that as auction interference. The photo does NOT belong to the seller...the seller STOLE it. He was using a photo of MY item to sell one that he owned...sort of false advertising. When I bid on something, I look at the photo very closely to see if there is anything the seller missed in the description. What good would it do me to examine a photo of an item if it isn't the item I'm going to bid on. All I did was forewarn the buyer the she had bid on MY item through the stolen photo. That way, when she received her item and it wasn't the same as the photo, she would have some recourse...through me.
posted on July 16, 2001 10:50:44 AM
I know if they are actualy linking to your hosting service or web site you can change the photo to read "I steal other peoples photos" If you are running your auction simultaneously and it has no bids change the name of the real photo so it runs on your auction and the warning gif runs on the thiefs auction. If they are right clicking to steal the image, has anyone heard of code that can prevent this?
posted on July 16, 2001 10:54:01 AM
There is code to override the right click, but it does no good. A person can view the source and get the image URL and steal directly. Or they can just go to their cache.
Although it is not preventable, limiting someone to either linking directly (pretty clear proof if you want to complain to eBay) or rooting through the cache makes it harder than a right click lift. Would you have any more information on the code?
Unfortunately, while common sense and morality may be with you, ebay has, in fact, disciplined people like yourself who contact bidders, even with the best of intentions and/or legal rights on their side.
DO NOT contact bidders. Ebay can, and will, suspend you...depending on their mood, of course, since we all know their enforcement of rules varies from "random" to "haphazard".
Do the vero route, swap out the source photo file, contact the seller, contact safeharbor, or "grin and bear it", but don't take a chance with getting yourself in trouble.
[ edited by captainkirk on Jul 16, 2001 11:07 AM ]
posted on July 16, 2001 11:37:26 AM
I looked into the VERO listing - seems really complex to register. I don't understand what "rights" I have to the item. I didn't manufacture it - I didn't even buy it. It was a give-away at a ball game I went to on the 4th of July. The item is a collectable because only 2500 were made and given away - so it is worth something. But I don't have the rights to it - at least not my understanding of rights.
I included in my auction the give-away item, a token and a ticket stub - all clearly stated. This person who stole my picture also stated that they are receiving the same - but in generic form - they never mentioned the color of the non-winning token. The tokens were all different colors and if you had the winning color (announced at the top of the 3, 4, 5 & 6 inning) then you won the give-away item. The token in my auction was my son's and it was a non-winning color. The winning colors had to be turned in so that you could collect your give-away item.
What I am most afraid of is this person who is listing this item with MY photo is misleading the buyers! What if this person is really selling what isn't pictured? Because it is MY photo - will that link me into a potential bad sale?
I am concerned about contacting the winning bidder for fear of auction interference. I don't want to be kicked off of ebay. But I also don't want to be tied into this guys auction either!
Should I write to Safe Harbor for advice or is there another email address that I should send my concerns too?
I also wanted to state that this picture was from one of my completed auctions.
llampi
[ edited by llampi on Jul 16, 2001 11:41 AM ]
posted on July 16, 2001 11:46:34 AM
Work through ebay/SafeHarbor ONLY.
Contact them telling them that your picture was stolen and is being used to represent something the other guy cannot be selling -- YOUR ticket stub.
Other than that, let it go. You are in no way liable for what he does in his auctions. Period. If you'd never seen the photo, you'd have never known and never been held accountable if he's doing something shady.
posted on July 16, 2001 11:46:58 AM
BINGO, llampi! That is exactly the reason the high bidder should be notified. The high bidder could be bidding on a totally different item. I DID contact Safe Harbor...NOTHING! If you are afraid of getting suspended for "auction interference"..can you write the high bidder under another name..one that won't matter if it's suspended? Seems to me that if Ebay is notified..does nothing such as warn the high bidder...won't let YOU warn the high bidder....they should be liable if the high bidder gets scammed.
posted on July 16, 2001 12:11:47 PM
Some thoughts:
1. No, you aren't in trouble somehow if someone else misuses your picture, so don't sweat about that.
2. The vero "rights" in this case isn't the right to the item being sold, but the photo itself. since you "created" the photo, and are the copyright owner, ebay theoretically will protect your right to it if you register and then complain about infringement of your rights when someone else uses your picture.
3. I don't think the risk justies the "return" of trying to help in terms of notifying the high bidder. First, of course, before the auction is over, who knows who the final bidder will be, and even if you can contact the final high bidder, who knows if they will even listen to you before mailing out payment? In some sense, being emailed by some unknown other seller that "my picture was stolen by your seller" doesn't sound like a compelling argument to do much, since I don't know if you are even telling the truth, or if it even matters - as a buyer, i'm not here to settle disputes between sellers. Just doesn't seem worth it to me, anyway.
THe rights you have are to the pictures they are your pictures and the other seller has no right to use them without your permission.
Ebay will send them a notice that you complained but not a warning becouse how does ebay know that you haven't taken his pictures ?
The same thing happened to me about a year ago it was a high end item I spent about 2 hours writing a really good add all kinds of html took some really good pictures then I did a search and found someone had copied the whole thing
I sent him a e-mail asked him to stop ...got a sarcastic reply contacted ebay..they sent him a notice that I had complained but by then his auction had ended
Mine closed also and I suspect he contacted the my high bidder and offered a better deal as I never was paid. but I was unable to prove it
The bottom line was Ebay diud nothing as he ran this ad several more times as three day auctions and by the time I found them they were about to end.
spock here......
posted on July 16, 2001 01:03:40 PM
If it was me I would do the wait and see. If the buyer doesn't get what he bid on then the buyer can go to safeharbor and also leave a negative for the seller. I doubt if you are under any obligation, but in the future I would figure out a way that you could mark your photos and maybe someone will think twice about using them. I understand power sellers do that a lot along with stealing descriptions. There was a thread quite awhile ago about using other descriptions and a power seller answered how do you think I can stay a power seller, I don't have time to write descriptions. Take Care
posted on July 16, 2001 05:14:42 PM
A copy/scan of a ticket stub in all likleyhood has no "creative" or "original" merit and would lack any rights outside of eBay's no copy policy.
No matter how much "work" you put into an image, unless there is some modicum of originality, you have created no rights in the image.
posted on July 16, 2001 10:58:31 PM
I recently had someone email me and ask if they could take my photos. It may not be a big deal to some, but it is to me. I don't believe I am anal retentive for saying "No, you can't steal MY pics, that took time to prepare, not to mention the cost of the camera, etc." I politely told the lady that she could not, they were my photos, but thanks for asking ahead of time. I receieved a nasty email from the person saying that I was a baby, selfish, and a various of other names. I was so mad! I went on in my next email to explain that they are my photos and if she used them it would be a misrepresentation of her item (fraud), since it wasn't really the item she is selling. I explained that it takes money and time to produce good quality pictures, plus the fact that it STATES IN MY AUCTIONS that I don't allow copying and usage of my photos for any reason. Yet, this person somehow thought it didn't apply to her. She never stole the photo.
I had another situation where I caught someone who actually stole my pics. I called her on it and she denied it. Duh, I know my pics when I see them. She said they were her pics and I stole them from her! I was soooooooo mad at her lying that I interfered and let her bidders know what she was doing. A bidder emailed my message to her and asked what it was all about. So much for being discreet. =) I contacted ebay about it, and yes they are slow. The seller found out my email address and turned me in. Nothing happened to me, but her auctions were already over by the time ebay checked it out.
I have turned people in to ebay for stealing my photos, but they don't do anything but warn in my cases. They are slow about checking it out too that a lot of times the auctions are actually over.
It aggravates me to see people taking other people's pictures. Tell them to invest in a camera and read and learn some knowledge about posting pics like everyone else does and they will be much better off. =)
posted on July 16, 2001 11:56:03 PM
Much ado about nothing! If someones uses my picture who cares. If fact it makes me feel that my pictures must be pretty good if someone bothers to copy them for their own auctions. Also I keep totally busy just trying to keep my listings going and don't have the time to make such a big fuss about it all. It would be nice if all you whiners would chill out a little. Whah.
posted on July 22, 2001 11:12:38 AM
My favorite way to deal with this is to change the pictures to something disgusting or funny - then post here so we can all enjoy a laugh on that seller!
PLUS it will teach them a very valuable lesson about stealing images - you never know what you might end up with
posted on July 22, 2001 11:23:06 AM
I asked another seller if I could use her pics, she said yes, but 1 week after her auction is over, O.K. it worked out,
But I would never steal,
I think that the easiest way
To prevent it is to
Write over your photo like many other people do, if your ID is Laiochka and I
Write on it "Laiochka's la Perla auction"
In the corner or right in the middle,
They would have to work hard to cover it up
Or to remove it from the picture
Which takes time (that's why they steel the pics) so they wont bother
And if they still steel it, and
Their user name is XYLKMNP
And the picture says Laiochka's auction
In the midle of it, then you definitly have proof
posted on July 22, 2001 11:34:34 AM
Depending on your software, you can remove text on a picture in a matter of seconds no matter where it is placed, and do it in a manner that is undetectable.
posted on July 22, 2001 03:26:36 PM
Well no kidding, I was just about to list a product, but decided to look it up first to see how it was doing.
There's my picture, But the guys description is different than what is on my picture.
He is using Ipix or whatever that is ebay offers, but you can clearly see the stamp that mine has, the bend on the corner, I put it up next to mine, and its mine.
His description says 2.8 oz, the picture, and what I have says 5 oz. And that is what shows in the picture.
So is this not misleading also.
Well I wrote him thru 'ask the seller a question' using my ebay selling ID, and asked him, if he was selling the 5 oz and was it also written in French, as the picture shows.
Was that wrong?
Now if I put mine up, which I started selling these back in April, and stopped about 3 weeks ago, people will think its his picture? And if people buy and recieve his thinking they are getting what they saw in picture, will they think mine is bogus to...
hell I don't know what to do, it pissed me off. Pictures are time consuming.
