doboden Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
doboden of Gateshead, United Kingdom, stole two of our 1912 gold sovereign photographs to use on eBay, and omitted to tell buyers that the images were not of the coins he was selling. Totally dishonest

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 64; with 100% positive according to eBay.

Sample Listing

1912 George V Gold Sovereign (22 carat)
You are bidding for a George V Gold Half Sovereign dated 1912
This was it was my late grandmas. It is London Mint, 22 carat and in very good condition.
The reverse side, featuring Saint George slaying a dragon was designed by Benedetto Pistrucci whose initials can be seen to the right of the date.
Diameter: 19.03 mm
Weight: 3.99 grams,

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.
This particular eBay seller not only stole two of our images of a 1912 gold sovereign, he used them in a listing for a gold sovereign which turns out be only a half sovereign. He did not seem to think it was worth mentioning to potential buyers that the high quality photographs of a near mint condition coin were not his own photographs, and not the same coin as he was offering for sale. This is almost certainly illegal in the UK under the Trade Description Act, although it appears to happen on a daily basis on eBay.
It's possible he is ignorant of such fine points, or just plain ignorant.

It is always possible, even likely, that sellers who steal photographs do not own a similar coin, and have the intention to totally defraud potential buyers.
The vendor is not only cheating us by stealing our copyright images, she is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.

Full Sovereign or Half Sovereign?
This item was listed in category:
Coins Coins British George V (1910-1936) Sovereign
Its title (the first thing most people look at states clearly "1912 George V Gold Sovereign (22 carat)".
It is only when you read further down the listing that this crooked vendor states (once) that it is a half sovereign, although this can be gleaned from the diameter and weight specifications. However most eBay buyers could not be expected to know these; we only notice it was a half sovereign because we noticed the diameter. We firmly believe this points to the extremely high probability that this eBay is a total crook, and was hoping to con some unobservant punter (sucker) into bidding based on believing the coin to be a full sovereign.

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of £0.99 for the coin. eBay now charges 10% final value fees, possibly plus PayPal fees. He is likely to get complaints, and the coin returned, if eBay buyers have any brains, so will have wasted time money and postage both ways, for himself an others.
He may have got more simply selling the coin to us, without all the bother of listing them.

eBay Guilty of Negligence or Complicity
We will be reporting this 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.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
doboden	190323145413	22nd Jul 2009	1912 George V Gold Sovereign (22 carat)	£0.99

Auctiva, eBay & Copyright Theft

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