Blatant rip off & duplicate stores.

[threepeasdesignscustominvites]

I sell invitations on Ebay and luckily I have been so successful that it has become my main source of income.

Yesterday I came across two sellers who have both blatantly ripped off my designs. Place my original next to their rip off and there is no difference - except the quality of the work.

I have sent a cease and desist letter to both.  One apologised and removed the offending listing straight away.

The other has not replied and is not removing her listings, in fact she listed another.

Today I did a quick search and have found the seller who refuses to take down the listing has 2 accounts from which she is selling exactly the same items.

Is this even allowed? And if not, how do we report it?

[saarzi]

oh i just want to point out - you dont have to steal the image directly downloading it from Disney (or anyone else) for this to be illegal. You could have drawn it all from scratch - its still illegal. 

And i just noticed you have also ripped off the Frozen trademark  -  it doesnt have to be *exactly* like the Disney image for it to be illegal (so you cant claim, 'oh but the Frozen font is slightly different'). It only needs to look or sound similar enough that somewhere, someone *might* confuse it for being associated with the original (a disclaimer means nothing).

You can read all the copyright laws / treaties / trade agreements online. There is masses of information about them available.

[transport-posters]

I forgot to type that in the sarcasm font. 🙂

I really hope for their sake that all that stuff they have made and sold is properly licenced.

[saarzi]

*hopesnoonenoticesIvarythespellingof'licensed'eachtimeI typeitbecauseIhavenoideahowtospellitnomatterhowmanytimesImtoldand itsastupidwordanyway*

[fmurphy2005]

I was looking through my old forum posts for something else and came across this memorable thread.  Curious to see how this seller was going, I saw no items and then checked the feedback...!!!

[the_great_she_elephant]

Good grief - looks like she's panicked and done a runner.

[mbselections00]

Well and truly !! But why is she still a Registered User  ?  Why wouldn't eBay shut her down completely ?

[jessicadazzler97]

Like the others have said, there's not that much you can do. If you contact eBay they might be able to help, but really, is it worth the trouble? Your only problem would be if she was listing her design at a lower price than yours.

But I totally understand that you don't like it. I had someone copy my description for a book they were selling that was exactly the same as mine. I did send them a message to ask them to change their description, but they never replied and I never checked back to see if they had changed it or not.

[wendshees-rocks]

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@jessicadazzler wrote:
Like the others have said, there's not that much you can do. If you contact eBay they might be able to help, but really, is it worth the trouble? Your only problem would be if she was listing her design at a lower price than yours.

But I totally understand that you don't like it. I had someone copy my description for a book they were selling that was exactly the same as mine. I did send them a message to ask them to change their description, but they never replied and I never checked back to see if they had changed it or not.

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Given the original message was written 5 months ago and the OP has only written one message to the forums, I doubt she will be back to read your reply. I'd say she's either been negged into below standard, or been arrested for copyright breach given she hasn't had any listings for 2 months.

It's very easy to jump on the bandwagon with the latest kid fad, but people have to be really careful. The fad will pass, they always do, but the damage to your reputation can last a life time, especially if you end up with a criminal record out of it. I read somewhere that when Disney was cracking down on fake merchandise, they weren't just suing the person, they were demanding all money made from the sale of that fake stuff.

[mbselections00]

wendshee, take a look at OP's Feedback (I'd guess she panicked & dropped her bundle) - absolutely the worst I've ever seen & yet she's still a registered user ??  That bit I don't get . . . . . . .   not that she's got any listings now, so one would hope, she's stopped and it was a genuine lack of understanding on her part in the beginning, just someone trying to make a few extra $'s -  but of course there is also the possibility she knew exactly what she was doing and is using a new ID 

[wendshees-rocks]

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@mbselections00 wrote:

wendshee, take a look at OP's Feedback (I'd guess she panicked & dropped her bundle) - absolutely the worst I've ever seen & yet she's still a registered user ??  That bit I don't get . . . . . . .   not that she's got any listings now, so one would hope, she's stopped and it was a genuine lack of understanding on her part in the beginning, just someone trying to make a few extra $'s -  but of course there is also the possibility she knew exactly what she was doing and is using a new ID 

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I know, it's atrocious isn't it? I wouldn't be able to show my face in public if that was my feedback! I nearly cried when a buyer gave me 2 a few weeks back, let alone all those!