eBay Copyright Thieves & Crooks Named and Shamed
It's dishonest to copy photographs, and misleading to buyers.
bluenose_502003 Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller bluenose_502003 of Tamworth, United Kingdom, not only stole our 1912 & 1917 George V Near Mint Condition Gold Sovereign Obverse Photographs, but failed to tell buyers his coins were not the same ones.
High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 54 with 100% positive according to eBay.
It also demonstrates that high eBay feedback is no indicator of honesty.
Sample Listing
1912 SOVEREIGN GEORGE V BRITISH GOLD COIN 'EF'
1912 SOVEREIGN FROM GEORGE V IN 'EF' CONDITION
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.
When eBay vendors use photographs of near mint condition coins, this may mislead potential buyers into believing that the coins shown are the vendors own photographs of the actual coins for sale. This may be deliberate in which case it is fraudulent, or it may be through ignorance and stupidity. It may be all these factors, and laziness also.
eBay knows it happens, but take very little action about it.
Seller ID | Item Number | Date | Description | Price
|
bluenose_502003 | 160491334984 | 9th Oct 2010 | 1912 SOVEREIGN GEORGE V BRITISH GOLD COIN 'EF' | �0.01
|
bluenose_502003 | 160493908007 | 15th Oct 2010 | 1917 SOVEREIGN GEORGE V (M) MELBOURNE GOLD COIN | �0.01
|
Price
The seller was asking a starting price of �0.01 for his item.
Whatever the item "sold" 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.
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