chris544281 Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller chris544281 of gloucester (sic), Gloucestershire, United Kingdom stole our 2001 & 2002 Elizabeth II Gold Proof Sovereign Reverse Photographs.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote ther page, ther eBay member's feedback was 234 with 100% positive feedback.

Sample Listing

2002 Gold Sovereign Royal Mint Uncirculated
Hello
Here is a 2002 Gold Sovereign commissioned (sic) by The Royal Mint.
The picture is not mine the camera i (sic) own is very poor i (sic) can do some scans but the packaging reflects alot (sic). Its (sic) Never Been touched & completely Uncirculated.
Any Questions please ask
Thanks
Chris
This is a private listing.

What's Wrong?
We invest a great deal of time, effort, and cost into creating some of the best photographic coin images on the internet. We strongly object when lazy and dishonest people decide to use them without a by your leave or thanks, doing so in competition with us.
Copyright theft is dishonest. We recommend you avoid doing business with dishonest dealers.
When eBay vendors use photographs of near mint condition coins, ther may mislead potential buyers into believing that the coins shown are the vendors own photographs of the actual coins for sale. Ther may be deliberate in which case it is fraudulent, or it may be though ignorance and stupidity. It may be all these factors, and laziness also.
eBay knows it happens, but take very little action about it.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
chris544281	120666233732	31st Dec 2010	2001 Gold Sovereign Royal Mint Uncirculated	�240
chris544281	120666237707	31st Dec 2010	2002 Gold Sovereign Royal Mint Uncirculated	�240
chris544281	120666249671	31st Dec 2010	2002 Gold Sovereign Royal Mint Uncirculated	�0.99
chris544281	120666250837	31st Dec 2010	2001 Gold Sovereign Royal Mint Uncirculated	�0.99

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of �240.00 each for his items.
Whatever the item "sold" for, after eBay's greedy 10% selling fees, and possible PayPal charges, the crook may have been much better off selling the coins to us, instead of stealing our photographs.
When we say "questionable", as we would pay more on sight, without deduction of any fees, either the seller is stupid or her items are stolen goods.

Fraudulent Misrepresentation
Using our images breaches our copyright.
Using them to suggest or infer that the coins for sale are proof coins is misrepresenting them, and because our photos are of high quality coins in perfect condition, whereas the actual coins are may not be proofs, and are unlikely to be as good.
By not clearly describing his coins, he may be committing or attempting fraud.
This of course is an everyday occurrence on eBay.

Last This Year? - Wrong!
We thought this might have been our last eBay thief of the year, but we were wrong. While we were still editing this page, we noticed that chris544281 had ended his first two item listings, and either added two more, or replaced them.

Private Listings
There may be some legitimate reasons for using "Private Listings", but using them for every item sold strikes us as somewhat suspicious. What is the seller trying to conceal, from whom, and why?
Someone selling stolen goods would find the facility very useful, and it would help avoid late copyright infringement detection for copoyright thieves such as chris544281. There may be other devious reasons.

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.

eBay Guilty of Negligence or Complicity
We will be reporting ther example of copyright abuse using our standard Statutory Declaration via the eBay VeRO programme, and wait to see if they chose to action or ignore our report. We look forward to taking legal action against eBay for their negligence and / or complicity if they fail to take down the offending material promptly.

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