VeRO program - anyone had problems?

[lm-entertainment]

hi everyone!

i've read some past threads which are a year or more old regarding the VeRO program - but i was wondering if anyone has had a lot of trouble getting ebay to enforce removing stolen photographs? 

i initially had no success with the VeRO program when i have used it in the past. i was told i must contact the seller first - which usually, they don't respond or tell me to stick it. after i have contacted the VeRO program, they took 3 weeks or so to get back to me and by that time i'd generally sold the items and the other seller had too or they wanted more information and i just gave up.

now though, i have three different ebay usernames - all from asian countries, but selling on ebay australia - using a photograph which i took myself and purposely has a card with my business logo on it in the photo to prevent people from stealing it. the problem i have with it is that they are selling fake items using my business' logo - items which i sell the genuine ones of. 

anyway, i went to report the listings and found you could do it through the contact form now - and it seemed to be easy. until i got an email response saying i had to fill out a VeRO form - then i did that, got a response (presumably from another person) saying that i needed to fill out a different VeRO form. they also said they can't clearly tell that the image is mine. i've attached a copy of the image and it's pretty clear to me that it has my logo in it - however, they're refusing to remove the offending listings.

so after all that - i was wondering if anyone else has had similar problems with the VeRO program and if so, whether you were able to find success somehow.. and exactly how you did it? 

thanks in advance!

[lyndal1838]

I am not a seller but I have never heard of sellers having to go through the VeRO program to report other sellers for using their photos or whole listings.

However, you do need to watermark your photos rather than just have your name in the corner of the photo.  That means you give the other member no chance to replace the item in the photo with something else.

If your photo or description is used without permission you just ring ebay with your item number and the item number of the other listing.

[toybox-australia]

I've had other sellers steal my images previously & Found that majority of the time contacting the offending sellers worked. Those that didn't respond I attempted the Vero program & Found that there were too many hoops to jump through & seriously doubted that Vero would do anything anyway. So I changed the wording in my listings to inform my customers that I was an authorised reseller & that unlike cheap copies by other sellers out there, my products are genuine with quality that lasts.

[kopenhagen5]

Watermarking pics - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/pictures.html#adding

[imastawka]

Kopes, the ebay watermarking is a joke.

It gives tiny writing down in one corner and can easily be cropped out.

Better off using an app off the net

[schmidttools · Accepted solution]

Yes had this problem quite a loy of times. As others suggested a decent watermark on the image right in the middle will help.  you do have to make it fairly transparent though to keep ebay happy.

It will be still be obvious enough that it's your picture though.

The secret they never want you to know is that you can actually speak to someone in the vero department on the phone.

They are contactable before around lunchtime  East coast Aus time. Since they are based in the US.

The initial person on the phone will always tell you, no you cant talk to anyone in Vero.  This is rubbish.

I learnt it one day when i emailed them and the lady gave me her daytime contact number and explained that you can indeed talk to the vero team directly as an aussie ebay customer but most of the people who answer the phones just say no, because they obiously cant be bothered conecting you or dont know they even can.

On the phone is usually a pretty fast response if you can prove easily with a watermark that it's your picture.

Best to make a water mark with your store name in the print and plaster that onto a picture.

I've had a knuckle head copying my listings for a $1000 item everyday for about 2 weeks, then listing it as a $500 item.  Makes a new ebay id each time.  Quite annoying.

I get the listing removed in about 2 minutes.

Hope that helps.

[lm-entertainment]

thanks so much - greatly appreciate the reply! :]

.. and everyone elses!

[schmidttools]

Your most welcome.

[whitsundaydiscountmarine]

Yes, having problems with Vero now.

They are unhelpful, evasive and obstructionist. I will continue harassing them until they resolve my issue.

Thank you