swampthebed Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller swampthebed not only stole our beautiful 1887 Victoria young head St. George gold sovereign images without permission, but then claimed the pictures did not do justice to his coin.

Our screenshots on the right clearly show one of this dishonest prat's (that's the polite version) listings, using two of our high quality photographs of a 1887 near mint state Victoria sovereign.
His listing states:

1887 Young Head St George Gold Sovereign - sydney
Victoria Young Head
Sovereigns were issued for Queen Victoria in almost every year from 1838 to 1901. There were three main obverse (head) designs, and two reverse designs. The Young Head was produced from 1837 to 1887 inclusive, with the St George reverse being produced from 1871-1887.
GREAT LUSTRE ALMOST UNCIRCULATED.PICTURE DOES NOT DO COIN JUSTICE

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.

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.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
swampthebed	220461329700	3rd Aug 2009	1887 Young Head St George Gold Sovereign - sydney	£0.99
swampthebed	220458135463	29th Jul 2009	2006 SOVEREIGN ELIZABETH II GOLD COIN - UNCIRCULATED	£0.99

Auctiva, eBay & Copyright Theft

Find More Items From the Same Seller. Bid or Buy Now!
This eBay Cross-Promotion and Marketing feature causes similar problems.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 2,912; with 99.6% 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.