tselen31 Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
tselen31, of Milan, Italy, stole our 1959 gold sovereign photograph to use on eBay, and omitted to tell buyers that the image was not of the coin 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 312; with 100% positive according to eBay.

Sample Listing

GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN 1958 ELIZABETH II 22 CT RARE MINT!
YOU ARE BIDDING IN ONE PIECE OF
GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN 1958 ELIZABETH II 22 CT
THE ITEM IS IN MINT CONDITION !!!!!!!!! , UNTOUCHED BY HANDS WITH NO EVEN HALF A SCRATCH !!!!!!!!!
CARACTERISTICS (sic) :
Weight: 7.9881 grams
Thickness: 1.52 mm
Diameter: 22.05 mm
Fineness: 22 carat = 91.67%
Actual Gold Content: 7.3224 grams
ITS A PRIVATE LISTING
WE HAVE 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK
WE SHIP WORLDWIDE
FAST DELIVERY
WE ACCEPT ONLY PAYPAL
WELL PACKAGED
FULL INSURANCED (sic)
WE SEND ONLY VIA REGISTERED MAIL, SO YOU HAVE TO GIVE FULL ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE (MOBILE OR LANDLINE), BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO SIGN BEFORE RECEIVING THE ITEM.

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 image of the obverse of a 1959 gold sovereign, he used it to sell his own coin on eBay. He did not seem to think it was worth mentioning to potential buyers that the high quality photographs of near mint condition coins were not his own photographs, and not the same coins 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, he is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.

Price
The seller was asking a Buy It Now (B.I.N.) price of £199 for his coin,
We offer the same date of coin for the same or less, without the hassle of eBay, and without having to deal with some crook from Greece, and without having to use the infamously insecure PayPal (owned by eBay).

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
tselen31	180387768179	24th Jul 2009	GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN 1958 ELIZABETH II 22 CT RARE MINT!	£199

Auctiva, eBay & Copyright Theft

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