eBay Plagiarism Policy - Thoughts

[cruxmon]

Have been plaigerized twice on eBay by other sellers.

Have contacted eBay support each time.

Each time was told by eBay support that it is my responsibility to copyright or register my material prior to posting on eBay.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @cruxmon 

Are you talking about someone copying your listing description or photos?  That is no longer something eBay is doing anything about.  In fact, it appears to be ‘allowed’.  ☹️

[heckofagame]

Remember the famous quote from Oscar Wilde; “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”

[coolections]

Ebay support told you right. Anyone can use your listing for their own. All they have to do is use the sell similar button.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Sell similar does not reproduce your pictures or the item description.

Most Internet marketplaces are not acting on complaints of copyright infringement when the copyright is not registered. EBay appears to only be acting on complaints by VeRo members.

Your copyright is valid, you will need to take legal action on your own, at your cost, to enforce it.

[hartungcards]

Only twice?  Consider yourself lucky.

[maxine*j]

If you are talking about others using your listing descriptions or photos, here is the eBay policy:

"What should I do if my image, video or text is being used by another seller?

"When you create listings you give eBay and its customers permission, through our User Agreement, to use your images, videos and product details. Your content may be added to the eBay product catalog, and may be used by other sellers in their eBay listings."

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/images-text-policy?id=4240

If you're not talking about listing descriptions or photos, we need more info.

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[gwens*4saleitems*]

I once was looking for some comps and saw MY photo on someone else's listing. I knew it was mine because I have a distinct white with blue lines kitchen table. It was cropped very close to the item but you could still see the table. 

I simply wrote to the copy-cat lister and told him/her that it was my pic and it wasn't cool that they were using it instead of taking their own.  They wrote back and apologized and said they wouldn't do it again. (surrrrrrrrrre)

[maxine*j]

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@gwens*4saleitems* wrote:

I once was looking for some comps and saw MY photo on someone else's listing...

I simply wrote to the copy-cat lister and told him/her that it was my pic and it wasn't cool that they were using it instead of taking their own.  They wrote back and apologized and said they wouldn't do it again. (surrrrrrrrrre)

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And such people damage themselves in the end.  Unless the items are some mass-produced commodity item, brand new in all original packaging, there is no way her items are identical to yours.  INADs are in her future.

[barbie*ville]

I've had sellers copy my title which is unique because I add my inventory number to the end. 

I contact them and tell them they may want to remove the numbers at the end because they are my inventory numbers. And not to be embarrassed because other sellers have done it too.

[luckythewinner]

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@cruxmon wrote:

Have been plaigerized twice on eBay by other sellers.

Have contacted eBay support each time.

Each time was told by eBay support that it is my responsibility to copyright or register my material prior to posting on eBay.

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You will need to tell us what was plagiarized, because my thoughts on the subject are quite different depending upon exactly what was plagiarized.

[onefootflippers · Accepted solution]

I assume you are on ebay to make money.

Worrying about this "issue" will not make you one penny. Every minute you spend on it is a minute you are not earning money. Even if you "won" and managed to force another seller to rewrite that description that the buyer isn't going to read and retake the photos you would still be facing the exact same item as competition, the competition doesn't go away, you just wasted your time and possibly made an enemy of some maniac who might retaliate later somehow.

Also, your Pair Nashbar Front Bicycle Panniers listing itself clearly has a main photo taken from elsewhere, did you get permission for that? 😃

[inhawaii]

My thoughts?

This should be punishable be death.

But unfortunately that's not going to happen so I just abide by ebay's decision that it's ok. 

[lux-libri]

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@cruxmon wrote:

Have been plaigerized twice on eBay by other sellers.

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Only twice? Stolen descriptions, if that's what you're talking about, are a common occurrence. It's annoying, but impossible to prevent.

[gwens*4saleitems*]

You know it!  I didn't tell them that but I was so tempted.