I feel so violated!

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Firefly Flanatic

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since the item description says "GOOD LUCK AND DON'T FORGET TO VIEW MY OTHER ITEMS LISTED ON EBAY RIGHT NOW''THANKS", you should email them and say "How can they view YOUR items when you use MY pics?"
 
You should contact the seller and ask him if he's selling the one in the photos. If he says yes, tell him that's impossible since it's in your house. See how he handles that! If he says no, ask him why.
 
Firefly Flanatic said:
I uploaded to Flickr some photos of my daughter's Spike figure that she's thinking of selling. Today I was checking out Spike figures on Ebay and I find a listing using my photos!! I was like those look like my photos, and then I was like those are my photos!!!:horror

https://cgi.ebay.com/BUFFY-12-SIDESHOW-SPIKE-HUMAN-FACE-FIGURE-RARE-MINT_W0QQitemZ6050184012QQcategoryZ36554QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This happens all the time. It has happened to me at least 5 times. Many sellers will at least rip pics from past listings.

If you want your pics removed follow Tom's advice/link.
 
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Sorry to hear about that FF!

I must admit, I used to "borrow" pics in my early days of Ebay listings years ago (I've been a member since 1998)... before Ebay streamlined the photo process and I got my hands on my own digital camera. But in my own defense, I always used pictures that were either from past Ebay auctions or stock photos of the item. And I ALWAYS stated that the pictures in the auctions were "for reference only" and was not "the exact item". :eek:

Can you forgive me? :monkey3
 
I forgive you but don't let it happen again!:lol

I used to do that with product photos of something but this one was presented as those pictures being the one they have available.

I haven't e-mailed the person or reported it yet. I just got home but maybe later I'll e-mail them.
 
Just for info: there is ALWAYS a copyright issue. No matter where you 'borrow', or steal the pictures from. The intellectual rights always belong to the author of the pictures, who should therefore always be contacted and asked for permission.
 
You can write the seller about it and see what he says just for grins. There really isn't much you can do about it. He isn't infringing your copyright since you don't have one. You can start adding it to your photo's as some etailers do if you want and take it from there. I imagine most people wold take the pictures down if you asked them to. I know I would.
I've been with eBay since 98' also and I never used to steal photo's till I started doing it a couple of years ago. I take photo's mostly from commercial sights like Sideshow's although I have taken manufacturer pictures posted on dealer sights also. I use professional advertising photos almost exclusively, and only to represent items that are new in the box. And I have also stolen a couple of pictures from Michael Crawford since his pictures are worth using unlike most stuff people put up on the internet, myself included. If I'm selling something that is "used" then I do take pictures of the actual item and give a thorough description of condition.
I don't think doing this is terribly harmful or dishonest and if anyone ever asked me to take down thier pictures regardless of the legalities I would. I use this method largely out of expediancy. Guess I'm a little lazy.
 
After I thought about what I just wrote I realise how rude it was never to have asked Mr. Crawford about using his photo's in an auction. I haven't used them often and probably won't use them again. I really need to write him. It really is rude.
 
Well, I'm probably going to let it slide and not do anything about it but I'm glad I saw them because if I list the Spike I have I'll make sure I take new pictures. I wouldn't want to be accused of using "someone" elses photos when they were mine first!
 
chamildav said:
After I thought about what I just wrote I realise how rude it was never to have asked Mr. Crawford about using his photo's in an auction. I haven't used them often and probably won't use them again. I really need to write him. It really is rude.

I don't think he minds if you use a link to one of his reviews, I have.
 
I decided to send a message to the one bidder to let them know the pictures shown weren't the sellers. I e-mailed the seller earlier today and told them to remove the photos or I'd report them and they haven't. They only have the one bidder so I thought I'd let them know what was going on. After I sent the message I wondered if that would be considered "Spam". Hope I don't get in trouble!
 
chamildav said:
You can write the seller about it and see what he says just for grins. There really isn't much you can do about it. He isn't infringing your copyright since you don't have one. ...

I'll repeat: there is ALWAYS a copyright issue. If Mr. X takes a picture, then Mr. X owns the intellectual rights of that picture, unless other agreements with third parties where made (I don't know what the Ebay policy says about pictures used on Ebay). There are other issues involved, but basically that's the core of the matter. I'm not saying that taking action against the theft of pictures will always have results, but telling people they don't have the copyright to their own pictures is not true!
 
Sadly, the conclusion to this epic ended in another thread. Turns out he was wrong. It wasn't one of his pics. He did a big mea culpa, and we all tried to forget it ever happened. The End.
 
Alice Adrenochrome said:
I'll repeat: there is ALWAYS a copyright issue. If Mr. X takes a picture, then Mr. X owns the intellectual rights of that picture, unless other agreements with third parties where made (I don't know what the Ebay policy says about pictures used on Ebay). There are other issues involved, but basically that's the core of the matter. I'm not saying that taking action against the theft of pictures will always have results, but telling people they don't have the copyright to their own pictures is not true!
I think I understand your feelings, but actually, no, you don't have a copyright assigned to each utterance, note or photo you create. Copyright is a limited legal, not moral creation and it's something you actually have to establish purposefully. It really wouldn't make any sense otherwise since I doubt most of us are really interested in protecting or establishing legal rights to every thought or expression we have. I understand the moral position that no one else is entitled to use your words or artistic creation without your explicit permission and I'm glad it is possible to protect intelectual property if you choose to since you should be able to protect your commercial and artistic interests. But it actually has to be done consciously, it doesn't just "happen". Copyright protection is about establishing a legal right of ownership, and has to be done formally, and nothing else.
And what I'm saying has nothing to do with eBay policy which may be more stringent in applying a principal than the law of the land, and you might have recourse with them. I have no idea although my experience with eBay is the sole purpose they serve is to collect fees from sellers.
 
Customikey said:
Sadly, the conclusion to this epic ended in another thread. Turns out he was wrong. It wasn't one of his pics. He did a big mea culpa, and we all tried to forget it ever happened. The End.

Yup, I was mistaken (and I'm a she by the way!). The item was set up in the same fashion as mine, with an identical quilt used as a background, with camera flashes almost in the same location. But they weren't my photos!!!:eek: I e-mailed both the seller and the bidder and swallowed my pride and apologized!
 
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