protecting your description

[doodledog8]

Hey All !

I list some odd and esoteric items from time to time and for the second time in about 6 years, I have had another seller copy & paste my written description of those items.  I know in photos you can watermark the pics in your listing  but is there a way to watermark your description ?

I did add to my description today to change and the other seller has not formatted the listing so that it looks like mine, she has run words together, etc. 

But it still makes me ticked off.

[doc-holmes]

I don't even think you're supposed to watermark your pictures anymore. 

[chapeau-noir]

You can't do much about the description - one signs away one's rights to listing elements like photos and words when one lists something on eBay.

It's a pain, though - these lazy people. Generally they run into trouble in the end because what they're stealing is not describing what they're selling.

Just changing some of your description might help distinguish.

[inhawaii]

Someone else using your pics is not a violation.

You're not supposed to watermark them, but ebay isn't really that strict about that.

Many people do.

There is no way of protect your description/text,  also not a violation.

[reallynicestamps]

Was she correctly describing the items she has when she used your description? If not, she faces losing a Not As Described claim from an unhappy buyer.

You could Message her saying that you cannot give your permission to use your copyright description (and it is copyrighted as soon as you published it) and ask her to remove or rewrite it.

You can shake your head and mutter "Some peoples' children" and ignore it as an oddity that shows up once in seven years, like cicadas.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, it was once a policy violation to use another seller’s images and text without his/her permission. But those days are years gone past.

Now, through the terms of the User Agreement, sellers grant the rights for their creative material to be used in eBay’s catalog and other seller listings. See the link below for the details to the policy.

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

[ittybitnot]

@doodledog8 

Though just posted in jest....try using that AI description generator.  Nobody wants to copy that garbage...problem solved.  Certainly a "must have" to thwart text plagiarism. 

[doodledog8]

🤣😂, I have a few times loaded the AI just to see what the silly thing says. Maybe I just shouldn't show off my god given verbose talent so much if it's going to get stolen like this !!

Thanks for the idea.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

For many items, the descriptions are not protectible intellectual property, they are not eligible for copyright. They are information from the product with no seller contributed content. The AI descriptions might come closer to be something which could be protected, but the seller did not create them, Ebay's bot did.

[gurlcat]

Which of your items is it?  

[doodledog8]

This time it's a somewhat rare ketchup bottle by Hazel Atlas. I did the research and found it was only made for about 7 years.  Then another seller listed one and because the traffic had gone up on  it & someoe was watching it, I thought I would click the research prices to see if any others had sold or were for sale now. It was the only one of it's kind when I listed a few years ago. Imagine my surprise to find there was another and it had my wording in the listing. The seller wasn't sharp enough to reformat the wording so that it looked like mine, Thank Goodness. The first time this happened to me,  was a few years ago, it was for a select set of Stihl brand calendars with hunky dudes in chain saw contests from around the world.  But, I sold both of my calendars before he sold any of his 24  calendars 🙂.

I do have to add, I put the other seller's bottle on watch and was sent an offer for a cheaper price. I just declined the offer & said that I would not purchase from someone who had obviously cut & pasted their description from another seller 😁. Of course, I have no idea if they have even read the declination but in some small way it made me feel a tiniest bit better. And of course, I have blocked this seller.

[gurlcat]

I'm confused .... it's a rare item ...... but you had TWO of them listed .... until you sold one yesterday, coincidentally the day after making this post, after multiple YEARS of not selling.  

By the way, the one that is still listed looks exactly like the one you sold yesterday, scuffs in the same places and all.  

[chapeau-noir]

Sorry for going off on a tangent here but I'm struggling to get past this: hunky dudes in chain saw contests from around the world.

These dudes were clothed during their competition, right?  RIGHT? 🤤

[doodledog8]

NO, I did not have 2 listed. I had one. Yes, I sent an offer to a watcher and guess what , that 'watcher' ended up being the same seller that was selling the other  Hazel Atlas bottle that stole my words. She clicked purchase and then turned around in about a minute and wanted to decline the sale. So I did.  I have no idea why she  clicked accept. And like all sellers I immediately relisted my  original bottle .

[doodledog8]

well, yes they were, but that doesn't  hide the muscles and the faces 😋