eBay Copyright Thieves & Crooks Named and Shamed
It's dishonest to copy photographs, and misleading to buyers.

amusementman73 Selling a 1918 George V British Gold Coin Ring on eBay
eBay seller amusementman73 of Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, offered a "1918 George V British Gold Coin Ring" for sale on eBay using our high quality copyright photos of a 1918 Sovereign from the Bombay India Mint.
Copyright abuse is dishonest.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
amusementman73	170506896913	29th Jun 2010	1918 George V British Gold Coin Ring No Reserve !!!!!	�0.99

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 123; with 100% positive according to eBay.
We think this clearly shows that high eBay feedback is not a reliable indication of honesty or intelligence.

Sample Listing

1918 George V British Gold Coin Ring No Reserve !!!!!
NO RESERVE !!!!! Please read before bidding!!!
Hi there im (sic) selling my ring i (sic) used to wear years ago when i played darts.
Its got an (sic) 1918 coin in it and aperantly (sic) is a rare coin, i havent (sic) had the time to investagate (sic) it (sic) whats and where's (sic) so im (sic) selling it as is.
But ive (sic) been told its an (sic) collectors (sic) item so start your bids !!!
Its (sic) in a good condition and ring is a real work of art.
Now for the important part im (sic) also advertising this item elswhere (sic) so i keep the reserve (sic) to withdraw this item for sale on ebay at any time !!
Even when there are bids on it.
Please bare (sic) this in mind !
Sorrie (sic) do NOT send abroad !!!!
Postage seems high but some "buyers"claimed (sic) not recieving (sic) the items so i have to send it recorded, means i have to go to the post office in town ( Stratford upon Avon) and the problem is i have to pay a fortune in parking, the postoffice (sic) is an (sic) litle (sic) one and is always packed so no quick in and out will take 45 min to hour at least meaning my parking cost are 1.40 at a minimum im (sic) afraid so i ad (sic) this on the postage costs to wich (sic) is only fair to be honest (sic). Some items need bags, bublewrap (sic) etc which i also have to purchase so in fairness its not to (sic) high. If you dont (sic) want to pay for the postage please dont (sic) bid !
And please leave positive feedback, i (sic) there's a problem please contact me and i will try to sort it all asap.
I Only post twice a week so please dont (sic) mark me down as its (sic) clearly listed.
I only accept paypal payments wich (sic) must be recieved (sic) within 3 days
PLEASE NOTE: I ONLY SEND PARCELS ON WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAYS !!

Questions and answers about this item

• Q: Hi. I'm trying to work out which coin this is.Could you tell me the size(diameter) of it?Metric or inches, either is fine.Thank you.Ian.
  A: Hi there I got it next to the ruler now looks like 1,8/1,9 cm. Acording (sic) to my son its a golden soevereign (sic). But its (sic) going to the jewelers (sic) tomorow (sic) as they put them in the window for sale down here, lot of tourist (sic) like these things they reckon but i could take it back any time they said and would call me first if there was interest in it. Hope this helps

• Q: Dear amusementman73,
  It's a half sovereign!
  A: Hi there
  I think this is highly abusive stating im (sic) dishonest, i google (sic) the pictures using google picture, if you wanted me to put your website on the picture thats (sic) fine with me put (sic) writting (sic) im (sic) dishonest is way out of order and i (sic) will take further steps, if there was any copyright on these pictures you should have stated that on the pictures and for that matter "your" pictures are on loads of websites so i hope you email them to (sic).
  I have seen the same pictures all over the internet and dont (sic) see they are your (sic), and for the matter that i better (sic) of (sic) selling to you is a cheap shot as you havent (sic) even contacted me about it.
  I will take this matter further
  - amusementman73

• A: Hi there
  The link you sent me is highly ofensive (sic) and i (sic) will contact ebay (sic) about this.
  I am not dishonest in any way what so ever (sic)!.
  I will have to block your bidding if this doesnt (sic) change
  Kind regards
  - amusementman73

• Hi there
  Well thats funny, how come the owner doesnt (sic) contact me like a proper business man (sic) does, if you google (sic) the images they come up as pure a picture (sic) and not as a website so they get used all over the place, strange how cheap remarks like he be (sic) better of selling to me was in there.
  Just shows what kind of a business man (sic) he is, but i will contact them (sic) myself as he (sic) isnt (sic) man enough to contact me himself.
  The coin forgery team ? Well thats a good thing against fake coins but im (sic) not selling a fake one.
  Im (sic) not worried if you dont (sic) bid its (sic) going to a jeweller tomorow to display in the window for the weekend so either way im (sic) sure it will get sold one day.
  And tell the owner that stealing is different and its (sic) not theft as there's no copyright sign on there, slander however is a criminal offence and as im (sic) getting it from you with knowledge from the owner i wouldnt be to happy about it all.
  I think its a verry (sic) cheap way doing it like this, if he just emailed or contacted me to tell me that the picture was his i would of (sic) asked permission to use or use (sic) a different one.
  Kind regards
  - amusementman73

Our Response
We did not e-mail amusementman73 direct, for a number of reasons:

• Most eBayers get abusive, and come out with crap exactly like this guy did.
• It is better for us to inform eBay. Although we think they fall short of shining examples of ethical behaviour, they will eventually warn their more wayward members, and even terminate their eBay membership in extreme cases.
• Never argue with an idiot, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

What's Wrong?
Copyright theft is dishonest, and against eBay rules, although they do not police it unless pushed.
amusementman73 has used our photographs of a (full) sovereign, whereas in the Q&A session, he has sated its diameter as 1.8 to 1.9 cms, clearly indicating it is only a half sovereign.
We believe this is deceptive, although it may have been done in ignorance.
He did add a label to both photos stating, rather unclearly, that they were "Not original pics".

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of �0.99.
Whatever price it sells for, he may have been better off selling it direct to us, and saved eBay selling fees, and PayPal fees.

Complaint
We received the following rant from Hans Hagley, who we presume is amusementman73. He does not sound very amused, but it is amusing.
Typically for eBay copyright thieves, he did not state his full name, eBay ID, item number, and real-world postal address.

From: Hans Hagley
References:
Hi there
I recieved (sic) an email from an ebay member claiming i stole pictures of your website.
I googled (sic) threw (sic) google (sic) images and these pictures showed up and it doesnt (sic) show the website ( saying that the same pictures are all over the internet so i cant (sic) see who owns them)
I did put in my listing that it wast (sic) the original pictures but didnt (sic) see threw (sic) google (sic) which website they came from.
But putting my (sic) down as a thief and dishonest is way out of order without contact me in any way.
Im (sic) not impressed with this in any way (sic), then the litle line with i (sic) was better of selling it to you straight away doesnt say much at all besides looking like a litle kid.
Is this how you treat people? Im sure you be (sic) doing a lot of business then dont (sic) you, if i (sic) would have found your website i might have considerd (sic) sending it to you to see what you would give for it but if you treat people like this saying that they are dishonest and a thief is bang out of order and slander so im (sic) not going to let this past me in any way.
If i would have taken your pictures on purpose would i (sic) have put on the pics that its (sic) not the original ones??
I didnt see any copyright symbol on it either .
I hope this matter gets resolved in a decent way
Hans

Don't Mention Ze Var
As John Cleese once said.

eBay Guilty of Negligence or Complicity
We will report this example of copyright abuse using our standard Statutory Declaration via the eBay VeRO programme.
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.

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