pictures stolen, ebay refuses to act

[au_ji88]

Hi folks.

Got a small store running on my other ID, selling dresses and hats...etc

A week ago I found a shameless seller who stole 5 sets of images from my store, then use them as his/her own.

I lodged a report immediately on each item; one week passed, nothing happened.

I called CS just a while ago, that lady told me that I am the one who should have added watermark on those pictures.

Because there is no watermark, there isn't much they can do.

She said she would still report it for me but nothing is going to happen most likely.

Now wait a minute.

Their policy clearly says that you cannot use image from other memeber's listing, nothing about watermark was ever mentioned.

On the other hand, how am I supposed to add watermark to all my existing listings?

Photoshop then re-upload every single picture?

That's just dumb, there are literally one thousand pictures in my store.

If there is any software or website that allows you to add watermark to existing listings, please shout.

Or, if there is a way to convince ebay to actually do something, please shout louder.

Upset  : (

[lyndal1838]

Are you using manufacturers pictures or are they photos you have taken yourself?  If they are manufacturers photos, do you have permission to use them?

If they are manufacturers photos it is quite possible that the other seller also has permission to use them.

Also, did you tick the box to say that the photos could not be put in the ebay library?   If not ticked, the other seller has every right to use them.

[digupatin]

You can batch watermark pictures with Photoshop CS6

or just Google 'Free batch watermark pictures' for several different options.

[clarry100]

About 12-months ago we reported a seller for stealing one of our own taken photos even having our watermark on it.

But they would not do anything about it. Never refused per-se, just never did anything about it desite our many complaints.

To this day the pic is still there.

I think the only way you could resolve this would be to take actual legal action against the seller under copyright laws.

Once you advised ebay of the legal action and they were implicated by being complicit then I'm sure they would take action.

[chezzy]

You may need to do a bit more than just reporting the incident to ebay, they have processes to
follow and will probably need to verify that you are the rights owner of the images.

However, don't feel 'trapped' into paying some website to 'register' or 'protect'
your images. Nor do you have to have them watermarked. I would suggest having a read of the following:

http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/IntellectualProperty/Pages/Copyright-information.aspx

and

http://www.copyright.org.au/find-an-answer/

The rights owner of the images can participate in ebay's Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program.
To join the VeRO Program, a Notice of Claimed Infringement (NOCI) will need to be filled in,
signed, scanned and uploaded.

Obtain form from here:

http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/au/pdf/help/community/NOCI1.pdf

Lodge form here:

https://ocs.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?OCSUploadMemberDocuments&action=signin&deptName=AUBaOff

The process is a bit of a pain, but necessary if you want to help fight image theft.
I started out by reporting an infringement, took screen shots that represented my original image
as well as the listing which used my image without permission. I was even willing to supply
copies of the original image and/or its exif date that shows the original capture info, date etc.

In the end though I only obtained satisfaction once I had joined vero and lodged the form.