topic Selling photocopies in Selling

Selling photocopies

i-once-was-bump — Sun, 30 May 2021 03:40:16 GMT

Hi everyone, I decided to sell some books that I would have expected to get over $100 each.

Someone is listing photocopies of very similar patterns from $4 to $8 each.

This, to me, will reduce the values of my books so I am annoyed.

If they were to sell the same books at half the price I would charge then I would have to suck it up.

Are 'enhanced photos and copy of a pattern from her own collection' allowed on eBay?

Re: Selling photocopies

bjlcr — Sun, 30 May 2021 03:53:40 GMT

Just report them

Re: Selling photocopies

curraone — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:12:21 GMT

I know of no reason why a seller could not sell a copy of a pattern or picture or ??. As long as it clearly states it is a copy.

Re: Selling photocopies

domino-710 — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:46:30 GMT

Would ' copyright ' not come in here.

Re: Selling photocopies

chameleon54 — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:48:04 GMT

A number of years ago, ebay specifically mentioned photocopies in its prohibited listings policy, but this was removed some time ago. My main product line has been decimated by unauthorised Chinese digital and scan copies that infringe current copyright and trademark legislation, but the only people who can report this to ebay,s Vero programme are the copyright holders themselves.

Many companies simply cannot be bothered and ebay will not take action unless the copyright holder complains. As for older and vintage items, no longer protected by copyright, it is open slather. ( so long as the copy is noted in the description )

My answer has been to develop alternative product lines that cant easily be copied.

Re: Selling photocopies

curraone — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:49:14 GMT

It is not like manufactured goods, handbags or shoes. Books are always copies of something anyway - how about books on art? All the pictures have been copied.

Re: Selling photocopies

curraone — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:51:08 GMT

And maybe the OP's items are more valuable to the buyer who is a collector of original patterns. Not the buyer who just wants a single dress pattern to make a dress.

Re: Selling photocopies

domino-710 — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:56:16 GMT

@curraone wrote:
It is not like manufactured goods, handbags or shoes. Books are always copies of something anyway - how about books on art? All the pictures have been copied.

Yes - but with the permission of the artist/artists.

Re: Selling photocopies

namnie — Sun, 30 May 2021 05:02:10 GMT

If it’s breach of copyright then report them

Re: Selling photocopies

domino-710 — Sun, 30 May 2021 05:03:20 GMT

@namnie wrote:
If it’s breach of copyright then report them

That's what we are trying to figure - is it a breach of copyright. ??

Re: Selling photocopies

curraone — Sun, 30 May 2021 05:08:44 GMT

Well it's probably too late to ask Da Vinci if we can print copies of his art.

Re: Selling photocopies

imastawka — Sun, 30 May 2021 05:12:48 GMT

What can I copy and re-use without a copyright owner's permission? | National Library of Australia (nla.gov.au)

Re: Selling photocopies

digital*ghost — Sun, 30 May 2021 06:18:08 GMT

Designs can't be subject to copyright, but expressions of a design can be - this generally means it's a breach of copyright to produce copies of an existing pattern, but it's fine to recreate it and sell your own version. (It's all about ideas vs artistic expression - you need to patent designs to protect them, copyright applies to artistic expression, so it's not for the design itself, but the artistic choices made to show a pattern, like fonts for the text etc, original wording / instructions, stuff like that).

Unless the patterns are in the public domain, anyway - then you can do whatever you like with them.

Re: Selling photocopies

chameleon54 — Sun, 30 May 2021 08:23:21 GMT

@namnie wrote:
If it’s breach of copyright then report them

Ebay specifically notes in its policies that the report of breech of copyright must come from the copyright holder. Ebay will ignore reports coming from general users. Realistically they have no way of knowing whether Joe Bloggs reporting a competitor for copyright breech is genuine and they dont have the resources to check and verify every random accusation made by selling competitors.

Re: Selling photocopies

domino-710 — Sun, 30 May 2021 08:44:02 GMT

@curraone wrote:
Well it's probably too late to ask Da Vinci if we can print copies of his art.

Check it out - copyright does have a life. lol

Re: Selling photocopies

i-once-was-bump — Sun, 30 May 2021 09:41:46 GMT

Back home again, I have several tartan pattern books and the person/s selling copies has unusually similar furniture and other props for photos in my books. These books are copyright and the enhanced copies are 99% similar to photos in my books.
The books are about both technique and patterns.
The books have 140 patterns so selling at $8 each is a real little money earner $1,120 to be exact. As they might sell multiples of some styles then the profit is endless.
I think I wasted my time getting my account up to date so I could sell on ebay again.