Ebay seller copied my description - so annoyed!

mink

mink

O.G.
Jul 15, 2006
266
23
#1
I just saw a listing on Ebay for a bag that I had posted on Bonanza. The seller has her own pictures but she used my description. I have a small Bonanza booth and am an occasional seller on the bay (do a mini-purge of my closet maybe once or twice a year). I was going to move some of my Bonz items back onto Ebay since I was going to list some other items and when checking for comparables, lo and behold there is a listing for the exact same bag with my description!!!!!!!!!!!

I take a lot of time and care to create my listings (and apparently this seller thought it was good enough to copy) so not only did she steal my listing, if I now post my own bag with my original description, Ebay will think I copied her! :mad:

I would report it to Ebay except they could probably care less that someone copied something from a competitor's site. Is there anything I can do? Probably not right? It's even more maddening that it is not a common bag and it was my biggest ticket item. Honestly now I'm just too annoyed and frustrated to bother moving my item to Ebay.

Well, thanks for letting me rant - I do feel so much better now that I've let it all out. I'm sure some of you have experienced the same thing (especially with pictures) and it's definitely not fun.
 
#2
It's next to impossible to get them to act on text theft unless you have some unique descriptive terms in your listing. Even though a listing could be a direct copy and paste, ebay doesn't consider it plagiarism if the information is "factual." (I disagree as do most sellers whose descriptions are copied.)

But unless you report, it won't get acted on. Depending on who reads the report, you might get lucky and they may pull the copied listing.
 
#4
I had a seller copy my listing word for word for a Levian ring that I had sold a couple weeks prior, AND she even stole my photos...including one of my ring on MY HAND!! I sent a message to the seller asking her to remove my pictures and text from her listing, or I would report her to eBay. She refused...said she didn't give a sh*t if I reported it to eBay. So I did report her, and eBay did nothing. They told me that because my listing had ended and was not an "active listing" that there was nothing that they could do. Makes no sense...it's still my listing, and my photos!! The nerve of some people!!
 
#9
*MJ* said:
I had a seller copy my listing word for word for a Levian ring that I had sold a couple weeks prior, AND she even stole my photos...including one of my ring on MY HAND!! I sent a message to the seller asking her to remove my pictures and text from her listing, or I would report her to eBay. She refused...said she didn't give a sh*t if I reported it to eBay. So I did report her, and eBay did nothing. They told me that because my listing had ended and was not an "active listing" that there was nothing that they could do. Makes no sense...it's still my listing, and my photos!! The nerve of some people!!
Click to expand...
Whoever responded to you was wrong. Picture theft is fairly easy to prove and your pictures are not there for others to use, either while your listing is active or after it has ended.

In the future, keep reporting (twice/day) until listings are removed.
 
#10
Actually, if the pictures were originally posted on another website (Bonz), eBay often doesn't do anything kuz it says it can't tell for sure who stole whose pictures. It either doesn't have the manpower or won't use it to look into who posted what and where first.
 
#12
Did they take your pictures and rehost them? I have actually had people steal my pictures and not even re upload them to their own photobucket etc. So i just edited that pic to say "dont steal pictures, thanks" if you keep the same name on the pic it changes it where it is. Hard to explain but I hope it makes sense, So the pictures in their auction that they stole will now delete and say that instead :P
 
#13
^^ Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about :smile: Although sometimes you need to refresh the browser to see the updated pix.

I think everyone should WATERMARK their pictures. I use Picasa - just create one watermark text and then paste it onto the rest of the photos.
 
#14
Hi all, thank you so much for your comments and advice! I did not contact the seller directly bc if she's difficult it would just be more upsetting and also I did not want her to know my eBay ID since she copied my Bonz listing and only knows that one. Given all the horror stories, I'd hate for her to bid on one of my items and neg me or something. Or create an ID on Bonz and buy something from me there and cause trouble. I know I sound paranoid but after reading some of the stories here I'm definitely a bit spooked. :wondering

I think I'll just report to eBay and see what happens. Probably nothing but I guess I have nothing to lose.
 
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