I don't appreciate other sellers selling the same product I am who copy and paste my description!

[winderbunny]

I don't appreciate other sellers selling the same product I am who copy and paste my description that I wrote onto theirs!!!!!!!

[horizon1907]

Are they using your Photos also? Contact them and politely tell them that it bothers you. Other than that, I don't think you have any recourse. Photos are different though. If they are using your photos, that is a reprtable to ebay. 

[chezzy]

Item Description and Picture Theft:

"eBay members are not allowed to use another eBay user's pictures or descriptions in their listings or About Me pages without the owner's permission."

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/vero-image-text-theft.html

Text certainly comes under intellectual property so it's not just about images, here is more info:

(see "Rules that affect how you can list items for sale" )

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/intellectual-property-ov.html

[winderbunny]

Thank you for your responses. I rang Ebay and asked what their policies were. They said no, you can't copy someone's description. MmIne was blatently copied and pasted. I messaged the person and they didn't change it so I reported them. I then messaged them that they had been reported and it was only then that they wrote back and changed it. They said their phone battery was running out so they only had time to copy mine with a few different details here and there. They openly admitted to copying and it wasn't until I informed them that I reported them that they replied and changed it. I told them no one on ebay will put up with plagerism. They didn't seem to care.

[chezzy]

I don't bother contacting the person direct these days as I haven't thought up a tactful way of telling them they

are lazy or a thief lol. Seriously the first time I did it I was very polite - and got abused. Told I should be

flattered that others wanted to copy/use my pictures and writing! Tried to put me on a guilt trip, they got

shirty etc.

Now I am inclined to report, but not before gathering evidence that shows mine was first/original. I am

willing to supply screen shots of anything of mine that shows earlier dates, offer to show ebay the exif

data from my original images etc etc

[black*poppy]

I hate the new changes to the photo gallery that make it so easy for photos to be ripped off.

I put alot of work into my photos - it's the most labour intensive part of the listing process.  In the past, the gallery images used to be quite small so that when someone ripped them off, without having the original 1600+ pixel picture their rip-off pic was small and grainy when reposted.  Now ebay puts up the big blow up pictures (Mouse Over) so they can get a really decent-sized photo to pirate at will.  I appreciate that the new gallery feature makes it better for buyers to see details, but I used to get around that by having photos in the listing, which were low resolution also.  I could start watermarking but geez I don't think it will really make a difference if I just have it in the corner to be cropped out easily, or across the front which will spoil the photos.  

[chezzy]

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@black*poppy wrote:

  I could start watermarking but geez I don't think it will really make a difference if I just have it in the corner to be cropped out easily, or across the front which will spoil the photos.  

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My thoughts are if you do the sort of watermarking ebay would be fine with then they could quite easily be cropped or photoshopped out.

My photos represent the actual items I am selling, they are not generic/stock photos. So if someone is lifting my photos to use in their listing it means their listing is misleading as it is not a photo of THEIR item. So you then have a copyright issue and a 'misleading/false advertising' issue.....

[phonebite]

Resolution: Take them to court and fight it out there. With the policies on your side you should win. A great lawyer would be nice too thought it may be expensive.

Though in the end you may be down in the hole by a huge amount, you'll think to yourself.. it was worth it.

[i-love-my-sheep]

My experience with court. Buyer took me to court for a significantly not as described item (a food van). It took several visits to court before a ruling was made. Not to mention the numerous visits to the solicitors. In the end, I won the case and the buyer was ordered to pay my court costs, plus all my legal costs. Solicitor said they won't pay and they are not forced to pay, even though the court told them and the only way to get the money out of them is to take them back to court, which would be another 12 months and another few thousand. Even then, there is nothing you can do to force them to pay and there would be a high chance they wouldn't pay.

It cost me over $6,000 and I have just finished paying it off. My advice, even if you know you will win, don't do it. It will still cost you an arm and a leg.

[clarry100]

We found another seller in our category that was using pics of ours even with the watermarks still present.

We contacted the other seller about it but got no response.

We contacted ebay about it and reported the offending items, and to this day the pics are still in use. We did the reports probably 12-months ago.

So it appears they dont uphold their own policy on this.