Stealing pictures.

[inhawaii]

I'm not sure what the current rules are on watermarking photos. I think it has changed a few times.  But if you're going to steal and use another seller's pictures for your own listing,  why wold you steal and use pictures with the other sellers username on the photo? 

This  has happened to me twice on the same item!  I never report it because i don't think ebay cares/enforces photo stealing. 

But with the hundreds, if not thousands of pictures out there, why use one with your competitors username all over it?

[7606dennis]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Is that why people are stealing it, because it's pretty?

But what about the fact that my username is on it?

I was hoping that might deter theft, but i guess not. 

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I'm not sure about eBay's no watermark policy, but at least you get some credit for taking the picture.

[onlinecentral]

Years ago I was a good sport and clicked YES to allow my photos to be added to the catalog.
I uploaded 750 fairly good ones that I rotated, color corrected and touched up with photo editing software.
I mistakenly thought if I 'primed the pump', others would contribute and I could use some of their submissions.
In all that time, eBay offered me the use of 2 photos.
One I could not use because my product was not the required New condition.
My item was either New Other or Used condition.
The other was a clear glass fuse, not the actual off white or gray color ceramic fuse which would have caused buyer questions or buyer not purchasing.
Since this was not a two way street, I opted out.
I was disappointed a few months later when the policy was changed so anything you upload can be used by anybody.
If you want decent photos, then buy some photographic equipment, learn to take photos and edit them.
Students at schools and universities receive penalties such as Detentions, Suspensions or Expulsions for plagarism.
The existing eBay software can detect Duplicate Listings.
It seems like a small change could be added to the software to detect plagarism.
I spent money to learn HTML and considerable time to create some listings.
I resent borderline illiterate sellers copying my somewhat slick descriptions.
If I click on the Advanced Search link, I can find my ID appearing in the text of other sellers listings.
Somehow they forgot to delete that detail.
Shouldn't there should be some recourse for the original author?

[lintbrush*]

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@colonelmarlowe wrote:

You can have the listings removed by filing a Vero complaint.

I have done it multiple times.

vero@ebay.com

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OP isn't the verified rights owner though.  They stole the image from the company's website.  

[theanswerreturns]

I have found sellers on here who took photos of items I'm selling on my own website which have my site's logo on them.  Items I've never listed on eBay, so they Google searched and just grabbed them.  One even had pictured damaged and there was no way it matched the condition they were selling.

These people are just lazy.  I guess it's just free advertising for my site, that's why I watermark them because they seem to end up everywhere.

[foxidation]

I have a boatload of items I would like to sell, but I do not have any way to take good pictures, so I can see why a seller might want to use pictures of similar items from other sellers.\\

I have a smartphone but my pictures are inadequate so I don't know if that is inadequate camera or human error.

[vintagecraze50]

I did a search of my items all over the web last week a lo and behold numerous photos from me were shown on several websites. I thought wow, my pics must be pretty darn good. LOL!!!

[richard1rst]

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@foxidation wrote:

I have a boatload of items I would like to sell, but I do not have any way to take good pictures,

A good digital camera with a cable to transfer the pictures to your computer where you can edit them as needed. Does not need to be top of the line. Just make sure it has a close up function and the ability to turn OFF the flash..

[hurryagain]

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@hurryagain wrote:

...oh wait!  I guess we can't calling it "stealing" anymore if eBay allows it...

...whatever...

...unbelievable...

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Technically you can't since continuing to use the site after eBay gave themselves the right to use anything uploaded to the site in the UA.  Nice bit of legal hocus pokas  on eBay's part, in my opinion.

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...yes, I know...my post was sarcastic in case you couldn't tell...

[hurryagain]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@foxidation wrote:

I have a boatload of items I would like to sell, but I do not have any way to take good pictures,

A good digital camera with a cable to transfer the pictures to your computer where you can edit them as needed. Does not need to be top of the line. Just make sure it has a close up function and the ability to turn OFF the flash..

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Yup!  You can get one here on eBay for 20 bucks or less...in great condition too! 

[nuclearomen]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I'm not sure what the current rules are on watermarking photos. I think it has changed a few times.  But if you're going to steal and use another seller's pictures for your own listing,  why wold you steal and use pictures with the other sellers username on the photo? 

This  has happened to me twice on the same item!  I never report it because i don't think ebay cares/enforces photo stealing. 

But with the hundreds, if not thousands of pictures out there, why use one with your competitors username all over it?

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I've had other sellers take my photos in the past in certain categories early on when I was selling things like hats and figures/dioramas...I then starting placing watermarks of my store name on them. I have mailed sellers directly and told them to take my photos down and to take/add their own photos. Reason is because it's misleading the buyer when you use another sellers photos. Those photos show the product I am selling, the condition the item I have is in, they do not represent the product condition They are selling. That is why I rarely use stock photos. I want potential buyers to see the condition of the item I have up not a stock photo made of the product by the manufacturer or generic web image. In fact when I buy, depending on that the item is if the seller uses a stock photo I won't buy it, for other things like shipping supplies or if I need a phone cable it doesn't matter what the photo is.