aqua_firefox Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller aqua_firefox of "southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom", not only stole our 1976 Gold Sovereign image without permission, but failed to inform buyers that the coin pictured was not the same as he was selling. He also described his coin as in excellent condition, which it may or may not be.
Many coin owners and eBay sellers appear to delude themselves. We wonder who he is trying to fool?

Sample Listing

1976 Gold Sovereign coin
Full gold sovereign from 1976. In perfect condition, comes in origional plastic wallet from Natwest.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
aqua_firefox	270446547422	27st Aug 2009	1976 Gold Sovereign coin	£100

What's Wrong?
First it is dishonest to steal images. We select the best coins from thousands of sovereigns, then take high quality photographs of them, followed by extensive post production work (airbrushing) to make them look even better. This draws on our wealth of experience, education, training, trial and error. Our two graduate photographers work very hard to produce our high quality pictures. We have invested thousands of pounds in equipment and software. When some dishonest eBay vendor thinks it is acceptable to use them without our permission, we get more than a little annoyed. If we were a family business from Sicily, we would send one of the boys round to talk to them. If we were in Northern Ireland, we could set the Intellectual Rights Association onto them. As things stand, we simply report them to eBay, who usually get round to removing the copyright infringements. We also request full contact details of the eBay member so that we can take legal action against them, or send them a warning.
We were alerted to this instance of copyright theft by an honest eBay member (they do exist!), with the simple message "Liar!". We consider this to be a very perceptive remark.

Deception
Not only does it infringe our rights, it is an attempt to deceive any and all potential buyers. This is fraud, which is a criminal offence.
We thoroughly recommend any potential eBay buyers to avoid dealing with this crooked member.

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of £100 for his sovereign.
When we report it to eBay, and they remove the listing, we may have saved yet another stupid eBay buyer from being conned and ripped off.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 412; with 100% positive according to eBay, which all goes to show that you cannot rely on the eBay feedback system as any indication of the honesty or integrity of the member.

Selling Gold Sovereigns & Other Coins on eBay
We point out that sellers may often get more money, for less effort, by selling to a specialised dealer, such as us, rather than via eBay.

Copyright Notice
Please see our "Copyright" page for further information.