Don't bother reporting copied pics anymore

[pauls1239]

It used to be a simple process for a seller to report someone who has copied one of your photos. You just filled in the item numbers and the reason and sent it off, and checked back a while later and the listing was gone. Not anymore!!!!!. Be prepared for a runaround. I rang ebay in desperation at the first form. They told me i had to report it to the vero team, and i did. After a few hours trying to work out how to sign a pdf which they sent me i thought i had won. Silly me!!!! The form they sent was for the USA, and i had to fill out another different form. This aussie pdf form needs the form to be signed by a (not related)witness!!!!! as well.

Some other people would keep jumping through these hoops but i gave up. So it seems that all the lazy bottom dwellers can copy to their hearts content knowing that it is just too difficult to report them.

Just another reason to be turned off by ebay and their stupidity in not looking after their customers.

[chameleon54]

I,m pretty sure ebay changed the user agreement around 12 months ago to say we agreed to our ebay photos no longer having personal copyright status. There was a suggestion at the time that ebay may choose to post the photos on other sites and sell them.

The idea was also that ebay would have a bank of stock photos ( including yours ) that anyone could use in listings. I,m not sure if ebay followed through with this bit of the plan, but I think you will find you no longer have control of any photos used in your listings under the ebay user agreement.

All part of ebays plans to standardise and homoginise the products sold on the platform. ( then race to the bottom on price .....    ). This was done in conjunction with the need to have product identifiers on all listings.

[chameleon54]

I just had a look at the user agreement and all of terms I mentioned in above post are covered by section six, titled " content ". I,m not up with all of this copying and pasting stuff, but it is very clear you lose all property rights to any information you post on ebay. All text and photos become the property of ebay once listed.

I Might get one of the kids to help me copy & paste section......

[chameleon54]

6. Content

When you upload content to the eBay website or otherwise give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise any and all intellectual property rights (including copyright and trademark rights you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future and for any other purpose.

If you are the author of that content, you also irrevocably and unconditionally consent, to the maximum extent permitted by law (either present or future), to eBay and its licensees, contractors, assignees and successors, and their licensees and any other person authorised by any of them (“eBay Authorised Persons”):

(a) disclosing, reproducing, copying, adapting, publishing, performing, exhibiting, communicating, renting, transmitting or otherwise using the content (and any adaptation or part of the content) anywhere in the world:

(i) in whatever form and in whatever circumstances eBay and the eBay Authorised Persons think fit, including adding to or otherwise altering the content (or any adaptation or part of the content); and

(ii) without making any identification of you as the author in relation to the content (or any adaptation or part of the content); and

(b) doing anything or omitting to do anything in relation to the content (or any adaptation or part of the content) anywhere in the world that would otherwise infringe the moral rights, or any similar non-assignable, personal rights, that you might have.

For the convenience of sellers, we may offer catalogues of stock images, descriptions and product specifications that are provided by third parties (including eBay users). You may use catalogue content solely in connection with your eBay listings during the time your listings are on eBay's sites.

While we try to offer reliable data, we cannot promise that the catalogues will always be accurate and up-to-date, and you agree not to hold our catalogue content providers or us responsible for inaccuracies in catalogues. If you choose to include catalogue content in your listings, you continue to be fully responsible for your listings and for ensuring that your listings are accurate, do not include misleading information and comply with this User Agreement and all eBay policies. The catalogues may include copyrighted, trademarked or other proprietary materials. You agree not to remove any copyright, proprietary or identification markings included with the catalogues or create any derivative works based on catalogue content (other than by including them in your listings).

[chameleon54]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

6. Content

When you upload content to the eBay website or otherwise give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise any and all intellectual property rights (including copyright and trademark rights you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future and for any other purpose.

If you are the author of that content, you also irrevocably and unconditionally consent, to the maximum extent permitted by law (either present or future), to eBay and its licensees, contractors, assignees and successors, and their licensees and any other person authorised by any of them (“eBay Authorised Persons”):

(a) disclosing, reproducing, copying, adapting, publishing, performing, exhibiting, communicating, renting, transmitting or otherwise using the content (and any adaptation or part of the content) anywhere in the world:

(i) in whatever form and in whatever circumstances eBay and the eBay Authorised Persons think fit, including adding to or otherwise altering the content (or any adaptation or part of the content); and

(ii) without making any identification of you as the author in relation to the content (or any adaptation or part of the content); and

(b) doing anything or omitting to do anything in relation to the content (or any adaptation or part of the content) anywhere in the world that would otherwise infringe the moral rights, or any similar non-assignable, personal rights, that you might have.

For the convenience of sellers, we may offer catalogues of stock images, descriptions and product specifications that are provided by third parties (including eBay users). You may use catalogue content solely in connection with your eBay listings during the time your listings are on eBay's sites.

While we try to offer reliable data, we cannot promise that the catalogues will always be accurate and up-to-date, and you agree not to hold our catalogue content providers or us responsible for inaccuracies in catalogues. If you choose to include catalogue content in your listings, you continue to be fully responsible for your listings and for ensuring that your listings are accurate, do not include misleading information and comply with this User Agreement and all eBay policies. The catalogues may include copyrighted, trademarked or other proprietary materials. You agree not to remove any copyright, proprietary or identification markings included with the catalogues or create any derivative works based on catalogue content (other than by including them in your listings).

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Note the bit about  renting highlighted ...........Ebay can sell your photos on other sites.!!!

[digital*ghost]

That bit bolded in red is one of the most widely misunderstood and misinterpreted T&Cs on the internet - a variation of it appears on pretty much every site where you upload content that then needs to be reproduced and displayed publicly - other ecommerce sites, forums like these, etc. Rest assured it does not mean you lose all rights to content uploaded to eBay, just by uploading. It means eBay need to be able to freely reproduce the content so that your listings will have things like image thumbnails in search results.

Where ebay differs from most other sites is the bit about being able to take and adapt content - but eBay is the operative word there, and if your content is not nabbed for the eBay catalogue, no other member has any rights to use the content. Don't forget it says "authorised use", not "automatic loss of copyright". 

[*tippy*toes*]

I wouldn't know if anyone is using my images or not. I've never bothered looking. All my items are one offs so it would only be someone reselling something that might use my pictures. They would be of no use to anyone else. 

[chameleon54]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

That bit bolded in red is one of the most widely misunderstood and misinterpreted T&Cs on the internet - a variation of it appears on pretty much every site where you upload content that then needs to be reproduced and displayed publicly - other ecommerce sites, forums like these, etc. Rest assured it does not mean you lose all rights to content uploaded to eBay, just by uploading. It means eBay need to be able to freely reproduce the content so that your listings will have things like image thumbnails in search results.

Where ebay differs from most other sites is the bit about being able to take and adapt content - but eBay is the operative word there, and if your content is not nabbed for the eBay catalogue, no other member has any rights to use the content. Fair point digi, as mentioned I was not sure if ebay had followed through with using photos provided by non - commercial members in listings in its catalogue system. To my reading, ebays terms DO allow ebay to place users photos on third party sites to be " rented " out to others willing to pay for the use of the photos though.

Don't forget it says "authorised use", not "automatic loss of copyright". 

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[digital*ghost]

It doesn't actually say that eBay can rent the content to anyone else, anywhere else, but they do need the ability to reproduce your content on other sites, eg if you offer international postage, on google, they might charge a fee to have certain content appear on deal sites - it's unclarified, but typically these things are not as bad as the wording makes it appear.

[chameleon54]

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@digital*ghost wrote:
It doesn't actually say that eBay can rent the content to anyone else, anywhere else, but they do need the ability to reproduce your content on other sites, eg if you offer international postage, on google, they might charge a fee to have certain content appear on deal sites - it's unclarified, but typically these things are not as bad as the wording makes it appear.

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If you are the author of that content, you also irrevocably and unconditionally consent, to the maximum extent permitted by law (either present or future), to eBay and its licensees, contractors, assignees and successors, and their licensees and any other person authorised by any of them (“eBay Authorised Persons”):

(a) disclosing, reproducing, copying, adapting, publishing, performing, exhibiting, communicating, renting, transmitting or otherwise using the content (and any adaptation or part of the content) anywhere in the world:

I,m not a lawyer, but to me it looks like this is exactly what the user agreement says.