Ebay Question on plagerism

[wendyl]

Apples to Oranges...The comparison is off-base

gotta disagree. An auction listing is a 100% a presentation--descriptive words have to be chosen, the item has to be set up just right to be pictured, the pictures then have to be taken and right one has to be decided upon (sometimes I have to take 5 or more picture to get just the right one), those pictures have to be uploaded to the system, and the auction, shipping, and paying terms have to be decided upon and then put in to words and typed up. It is as much a presentation as one at work would be (and for many of us, Ebay is at least a part-time job, if not a full-time job). It shouldn't matter how long it took someone to do, or whether you think the presentation is 'special' or not, or what the results of this 'stolen auction' were--if someone steals it---it's wrong, it's a biggie, and it should be reported and stopped.

 

[babiesX2]

Ok, I think I saw the other auction last night. I was thinking postal stamps! Like for mailing letters! Ding-ding! Ding-ding!

Now that I've seen the OP's auction being discussed, could someone show me what I'm missing? I just saw a very generic listing. I didn't see anything special with the shipping. I was expecting to see that the stamps would be personally delivered by OP while walking on her hands and balancing the box of stamps on her feet! I saw USPS Priority mail. I could be accused of copying competitiors items, too because I pretty much only use USPS. My home is also smoke free. I didn't see anything that was especially time consuming or special. But eBay must have seen something since the listing is no longer available.

This reminds me of a lady that sells pre-made scrapbook pages. All of her auctions begin with this long tirade (in huge font) about how other eBayers have "copied her pages to the best of their abilities." Her pages are cute, but she uses materials that are available nationwide at every Hobby Lobby and Michael's. By her thinking, anyone who scrapbooks is copying her.

 

[Franne]

It looks to me like the seller's auction is doing better than the person's that "stole" her barebones description so your scenario doesn't really hold.

And FTR, I could care less what people do with their mugs

First off, I had said that I didn't take too much time to write the listing. It doesn't matter if it's "bear bones" or not, it WAS copied. That's what the big deal is. Did I lose anything by her copying it, YES. The person who won hers is high bidder on mine, maybe the auction would go higher if the other person didn't have a buy it now (that I had to begin with!) I am not complaining at all about the price it's at, in fact I'm estatic. More money for Disney!
But, it's against ebay's rules to copy from another seller. Both of the auctions were taken off ebay, I got an email today from ebay stating this along with the ruling on copying auctions.
I don't know why there is so much negativity about this. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and mine is it's not right and EBay agrees with me. It's all about following the rules. I listed the stamps easily, the other 2 sellers could have done the same thing. They took the easy way out. Next time I will definately put some text on the picture so it won't be copied. Thanks everyone and I am excited to see how this auction ends!
Franne

 

[Franne]

It's so strange how on this board folks get verbally abused for suggesting bringing a past year's refillable mug to a disney resort to reuse, but people think it's perfectly fine for someone to come along and completely steal your personal pictures, auction style, wording etc..., and use them without asking to compete against you. Especially when Ebay is so clear about it being a gross violation of policy.

I totally agree! Stealing is stealing!

 

[nightowlky]

I'll keep an eye on my domain stats and if I see someone hotlinking to an image of mine (well, images I don't want hotlinked ) I'll change the image to something awful or just something that says "I'm a Bandwidth Stealer"

 

[DMRick]

The thing is, there are pictures on the company's website that would be more appropriate than my unprofessional one.

The problem with that, is that the company is more apt to go after the person stealing their picture..which is also copyright infringement and just as wrong as taking from the seller.

 

[nuke]

If you can't take the time to write your own description and take a picture you shouldn't be selling on ebay.

That being said this thread reminds me that I have a stack of rubber stamps that I need to list!

 

[belle&beast]

The problem with that, is that the company is more apt to go after the person stealing their picture..which is also copyright infringement and just as wrong as taking from the seller.

I never thought about that- I see LOTS of pictures from catalogs or websites. By the way nothing has been done to the person who copied my listing. It is really frustrating!