A Ebay member has used my photos for their listing.

[*ghost-rider*]

Hello. This can't be right surly. I have been browsing the site, and I couldn't believe my eyes. I've just noticed another ebay member has stolen my photos. What I've sold is a one off, so very unlikely they would have the same. I have also a few days ago sent this item off, and its gone overseas. I've reported and complained to ebay, but nothing as yet. I believe their is something fraudulent about this member. There are nearly 140  items they have for sale, and each photo does not look to be in the same surroundings ?

[*ghost-rider*]

yes you are correct on that one. Thanks

[carbtec]

You own the copyright to any image you create. If you still have the original image it will (hopefully) contain exif data that indicates the time / date it was taken & on what device. Vero will remove images if you can show this data but this process is made difficult & can be lengthy. Is it worth it for an item that you sold as a one off & probably won't be listed for much longer?

[*ghost-rider*]

Oddly enough. I have gone on to sell, and typed in the title, and Ebay have used my image as a suggestion as the same as you are selling. However, this seller has gone on my site, and took off all the other images. However, I seem to think this seller is fraudulent. There are to many items for sale, and look like they are mostly all shot at different houses.   

[wyntersemporium]

Remember this a few years ago, buyer used not only my photos but also put my eBay ID in their description. 

[*vyolla*]

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@*ghost-rider* wrote:

Oddly enough. I have gone on to sell, and typed in the title, and Ebay have used my image as a suggestion as the same as you are selling. However, this seller has gone on my site, and took off all the other images. However, I seem to think this seller is fraudulent. There are to many items for sale, and look like they are mostly all shot at different houses.   

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You see a lot of that on Vinted, new sellers with photos snagged from other sites.

[arty.crafty.books]

I can see an accepted solution already being present, yet believe sharing our (my parther's)  experience could benefit others encountering similar issues. A seller copied four of my partner original images, likely via screen capture (evident from the phone's time and battery display), and used them in their listing, resulting in multiple sales. I initially reported the listing through the "report an item" feature, but received a response stating it didn't violate eBay's policies. (!) Surely it did - even if for the big border only... Dissatisfied, I contacted eBay customer support via chat. They instructed us to submit a Notice of Copyright Infringement (NOCI) form (https://ir.ebaystatic.com/pictures/aw/pics/pdf/us/help/community/EN-NOCI.pdf) along with the original images to vero@ebay.com.

It's apparent this seller has infringed on the copyrights of multiple individuals/ websites. While eBay has internal policies, copyright law supersedes them.
Importantly, this product is not listed in the eBay catalogue eliminating any potential catalogue rights issues. Therefore, if you are the copyright holder of an image and discover it being used without your authorisation, I would suggest completing the NOCI form and submitting it via email to vero@ebay.com. The consequences might deter future instances of 'borrowing' outside of the catalogue. If other people have tried this - please share how it went...

[*ghost-rider*]

Thank you for your update on this. 

[carbtec]

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@arty.crafty.books wrote:

Therefore, if you are the copyright holder of an image and discover it being used without your authorisation, I would suggest completing the NOCI form and submitting it via email to vero@ebay.com. The consequences might deter future instances of 'borrowing' outside of the catalogue. If other people have tried this - please share how it went...

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One of my best selling items was cloned, they used my images & my description in their listings supplying a much inferior product. I didn't mind losing the sales but I DID mind any possible damage to my brand reputation if anyone buying this item considered them to be from my brand & therefore my product was of equally poor quality.

There were 16 different accounts of Chinese origin listing in the exact same format. After going through VERO all were removed. Only 8 have since reappeared with the same heavily doctored image, still not of their actual item, but they have been tailored to each of the 8 sellers with overlayed British flags, Genuine UK seller, 5 year warranty, fast shipping etc.

VERO works but it is a difficult & lengthy process. If you created the image you own the copyright & if you can prove this then VERO will take them down.

[date80211]

If someone really used without permission photos that were your own original work, then that person clearly committed at least a civil and possibly a criminal offence, and should also have violated eBay policies but how many photos were involved and what did the alleged abuser gain?

If this is a one-off case, it's extremely unlikely to be worth pursuing either in court or through eBay.

If this happens many times it will be worth asking eBay to sanction, if not to close down, any bad guys but still though it should be legally and morally justified, any court action would be unlikely to make financial sense.

[wyntersemporium]

Mainly Chinese on vinted they seem to snag them off Etsy. 

[*vyolla*]

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@wyntersemporium wrote:

Mainly Chinese on vinted they seem to snag them off Etsy. 

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It's prolific. I authenticate a particular designer brand and last week was presented with 3 of my old photos, all for different items sold years back, asking me if I thought they were the real deal as they appeared to be listed at a cheap price (two on a US selling site and one on a Japanese one). No idea what the sellers would be sending out if anyone bought them. Two of those pics seem to have been snagged from Google, one was from Pintrest.