vtchouki Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller vtchouki of pasadena, CA, United States, not only stole our minty 1912 Gold Sovereign obverse image without permission, but claimed "The coin looks much nicer than the picture indicates, but otherwise omitted to tell buyers that the image was not of the coin he was selling. Totally dishonest, and an insult to our photograph.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 2; with 100% positive according to eBay.
It also demonstrates that high eBay feedback is no indicator of honesty.

Sample Listing

1912 GEORGES (sic) V BRITISH GOLD SOVEREIGN COIN
Rare British Gold Coin. Gold alone is worth buying this coin. It is in real good condition but I do not know what grade it is, I am not an expert. Need some cash so selling it. No returns, It is an authentic coin. The coin looks much nicer than the picture indicates. Essential to any collector. SHIPPING IS VIA USPS PLUS INSURANCE. I ACCEPT PAYPAL ONLY.

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 ten of images of various gold sovereigns, he used them in five different listings for five individual sovereigns. 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.
From his title, we half expected to see a double headed coin. but were disappointed to find only one George on it not two or more Georges. The rest of the semi-literate listing is not worth further comment.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
vtchouki	260482019008	25th Sep 2009	1912 GEORGES V BRITISH GOLD SOVEREIGN COIN	$0.99

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of $0.99 for his coin.
When he does sell it, after eBay's greedy 10% selling fees, and possible PayPal charges, the idiot may have been much better off selling the coin to us, instead of stealing our photographs.
Any sensible eBayer may be able rightly to claim to have been deceived and defrauded if the seller's coin does not match our photograph, and the seller also states "No Returns Accepted" which is surely unacceptable in cases of mis-description by omission.

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
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