Pirated listing and description? Is this allowed?

[huntfishdie45]

What is going on here? Sellers are literally using my descriptions word for word in their listings. Is that allowed on this site now? This site has really gone down hill in the last two years.

[ittybitnot]

Is that allowed on this site now? 

@huntfishdie45 

Yes.  Though this sort of plagiarism used to be a policy violation, that is no longer the case.  Once you upload your photos and text to eBay, any eBay member may use it. 

[natoman777]

Similar posts to this have cropped up a lot in the last year.  eBay does not prohibit this.  Unless you own the rights to the product... your listings are fair game for others to copy (including photos and item descriptions)

[aeparts1]

When I was selling for my employer, I had some listings used by others verbatim, including pictures.

I started putting in my description "AE Parts is proud to offer" & "this item from AE Parts is in good condition" & the like.  Made it harder for lazy sellers to copy & paste. I also put a card with the AE logo in all of the pictures I took.

It may have helped.

I have a friend that sells on eBay, he steals the description from someone else for just about every item he sells. He has been doing this for 20+ years.

[coolections]

Yes it is OK. The good news for you if you want to list something and someone else has for sale you can save yourself a lot of time. It is the SAME item so just click sell similar. If you like everything that is shown on that listing you need to nothing. If you chose to do so, you can make changes as you feel are needed.

[huntfishdie45]

Sorry, but that's not good news for any seller who takes their time and describes what he sells to make sure it is an accurate description for his buyer. I don't know what's worse, you think it's ok or that you actually promote this idea.

[coolections]

@huntfishdie45   Yes, saves me countless hours of filing in specifics and such without having to do it all over again. No need to reinvent the wheel. I don't mind if others use my listings either, saves them time.

[huntfishdie45]

You prove my point, and why it was a policy violation when this site was decent.

[murph1727]

I don't mind people using "sell similar" to help fill in item specifics but I agree with you that it is very annoying when people copy your thoughtfully crafted description. And what is worse is when they use your photos since taking photos can be time consuming (I don't use stock pictures). As others have said, I don't think ebay will change this rule.

[chapeau-noir]

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@huntfishdie45 wrote:

Sorry, but that's not good news for any seller who takes their time and describes what he sells to make sure it is an accurate description for his buyer. I don't know what's worse, you think it's ok or that you actually promote this idea.

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I don't think the description carries over when one does sell similar on another seller's listing, through - just the title and the IS's.

Photo and description plagiarism has been rampant on this site for as long as I remember - it's nothing new.  Back in the day when people used hot linking the seller having their intellectual property ripped off would just change the source photo and things like piles of rubbish, that Walmart guy in the leotard, etc., would crop up in the offending listing. 😁

[pjcdn2005]

You're right, the description, photos and shipping information do not carry over when you click on

''sell now" on another seller's listing.

[dbfolks166mt]

What is going on here? Sellers are literally using my descriptions word for word in their listings. Is that allowed on this site now? This site has really gone down hill in the last two years.

     It always has been allowed unless you have copyright on the descriptions and even the images it's all fair game. It's almost impossible to control anywhere on the internet even when the author or photographer has copyright to the work. 

[onefootflipper]

I assume you are on ebay to make a profit.

Every single minute you spend on this issue is a minute that won't earn you a single penny. 

Making the competition change up the photos or description does not remove the competition for the item, it just means you wasted some of your time.

I repeat, you will earn no money for your time spent caring about or pursuing this issue. 

[monster-deals]

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@huntfishdie45 wrote:

What is going on here? Sellers are literally using my descriptions word for word in their listings. Is that allowed on this site now? This site has really gone down hill in the last two years.

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Wait until you hear about your pictures

[valleytrading]

Best answer!