santje Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller santje of Berlin, Germany, not only stole our 1959 sovereign obverse & reverse images without permission, but tried to tell buyers his coin was in top condition.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 77; with 100% positive according to eBay.
It also demonstrates that high eBay feedback is no indicator of honesty.

Sample Listing

Goldmünze Gold Coin Sovereign Elizabeth 1959 22ct TOP!
Goldmünze Gold Coin Sovereign Elizabeth 1959 22ct
Sammlermünze - 917er Gold Sie bieten auf eine seltene historische Sammler Goldmünze der Queen Elisabeth II aus dem Jahr 1959. Die Münze ist sehr gut erhalten und weißt nur geringste Gebrauchsspuren auf.
Sie kann gerne in Berlin besichtigt und abgeholt werden. Der Versand erfolgt mit versichertem DHL-Paket.
Gewicht: 7,98 Gramm
Gold: 917er Gold
Durchmesser: 22mm
Prägeland: Großbritannien
Prägejahr: 1959
Wie der Dukat, der Krugerrand, der Dinar und der Meaple Leaf ist der englische Sovereign eine interessante Geldanlage.
1959 QUEEN ELIZABETH II 22ct GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN IN VERY GOOD CONDITION - RARE
MINT: 1959
MATERIAL: 22 CARAT GOLD
DIAMETER: 22mm
WEIGHT: 7.98g
Please ask for shipping worldwide.
Privatauktion. Der Verkauf erfolgt unter Ausschluss jeglicher Gewährleistungen. Fragen zur Münze beantworte ich gern.

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 our (old) high quality images of a 1959 sovereign, he used them to try to sell his own sovereign without saying it was not the same coin. Anyone viewing the photographs would expect it to be the same, near perfect condition coin, "airbrushed" it to make it look like a supermodel.
As it happens, he stole a pair of our older photographs, and we have since upgraded most of our images in a process of continual improvement.
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, he is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
santje	120575522062	27th May 2010	Goldmünze Gold Coin Sovereign Elizabeth 1959 22ct TOP!	€1

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of €1 for this listing.
Whatever the items "sell" 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.

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.

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.