As per eBay's User Agreement:
"When providing us with content (including causing content to be posted using our Services), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual (or for the duration of any copyright or other rights in such content), irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to use the content (including, without limitation, creating and using derivative works). We may in particular use your content, including any photographs you upload, for marketing and promotional purposes. This includes (i) offering it to other sellers to use in their listings, and (ii) displaying it to other eBay users as part of the browsing experience on eBay. We will also be allowed to keep a copy of any content (including photographs) you upload in our product catalogue for subsequent use for these purposes. You authorise us to exercise any and all copyright, trademark, publicity, database or other intellectual property rights you have in or to the content in any media known now or developed in the future for these purposes. Further, to the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, you waive your moral rights in the content and promise not to assert such rights or any other intellectual property rights you have in the content against us, our sublicensees or our assignees."
The short version of all that is you forfeit any copyright you have to eBay for all eternity when you create a listing and you further agree not to assert any rights you did have.
There is a way around this, though. You can't transfer any rights you don't have to eBay. For example, if you sell brand new Nike trainers and you use a stock Nike product image you obviously are not handing Nike's copyright over to eBay. When creating listings you need to ensure that you don't own the copyright to the images so the actual copyright owner can assert their rights.
The simplest way to do this is to create a website that displays a copyright notice at the bottom of every page; the named copyright holder just needs to be a different legal entity to the person who is named in the "Business details" section of your eBay account. If the eBay account holder is "Some Company Ltd" the person named in the website's copyright notice should be "Mr. Some Body" or some other legal entity (person or company); i.e. "All content © 2025 Mr. Some Body". The website doesn't need to be fancy; it can be just an image gallery that contains your images with a copyright notice at the footer of each page as described.
Then, if someone does use one of your images without permission you fill out a notice of claimed infringement (PDF file) and email it to vero@ebay.com. The contact details to enter are those of the person named in the copyright notice that is displayed on the website you created and the reason code is: "4.2. Listing(s) uses unlawful copy of copyrighted image". In "Works infringed" you enter the website URL where the image is displayed showing the copyright notice (the "Item Number(s)" field should be self-explanatory).
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
