Chinese seller copying my listings descriptiotn and photos

[electronicrepairstore]

Hi

I keep getting sellers from china copying my descriptions and photos. Some of these photos were even sent in from customers and they have copied the lot! Its so annoying as I spent time sorting them out and asking permission to use them. Also the text I spent lots of time on to difference myself and now they look like me.

I've asked ebay about this before and didn't get very far. How can I defend myself against this....

Thanks

[tobiasd4]

Any photos on ebay are available for other sellers to use.

All in ebay agreement. 

[electronicrepairstore]

Time to watermark I suppose. 

[red_magpie]

Time to watermark I suppose. 

eBay doesn't allow photos to be watermarked either. They presumably don't want buyers to realise that the item in the photo isn't the actual one being sold.

You can read eBay's policy here:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-policies/images-videos-text-policy?id=4240&st=12&pos=3&...

[electronicrepairstore]

The policy states...

"You may contact the seller and ask them to remove your image or text if it is not part of the eBay product catalogue."   So far its not part of the ebay product catalogue so perhaps I can go that route...

[tressygirl]

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@electronicrepairstore wrote:

The policy states...

"You may contact the seller and ask them to remove your image or text if it is not part of the eBay product catalogue."   So far its not part of the ebay product catalogue so perhaps I can go that route...

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That is correct you ' may ask' but they do not have to oblige.  It's polite in the first place to ask if one can use another's photos,  but again not mandatory to do so.

As explained above,  it's in the eBay agreement when we sign up to be a seller,  that members, or even eBay themselves for use in their library,  can use our photos.

@electronicrepairstore 

[plpmr]

not allowed by eBay as, for example, many scams put messages/contact details in images.

[electronicrepairstore]

If I understand it correctly ebay do this so they can put the photo's into the catalogue for everyone to use . As the photos are not in there (at the moment) and I also used the photos first on my company website (and they are still there) then I can still claim copyright on them under the Vero scheme. I am no lawyer so could be wrong 🤔

[red_magpie]

not allowed by eBay as, for example, many scams put messages/contact details in images.

I doubt this is the reason. When eBay respected sellers' copyright to ther images they allowed them to be we watermarked. Sellers' "consent" to other sellers copying their images was only achieved by changing the user agreement so that they had no choice except to stop selling here.

I have no doubt that the ban on watermarking is to principally ensure that copied photos carry no clue that they are another seller's potos. IMO concealing this is underhand and misleading. When buyers realise this it can only increase distrust in eBay as a venue.

eBay should watermark the photos themselves to make clear that these are stock images, not a photo of the actual item being sold.