j.hill90 Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller j.hill90 of "London, United Kingdom", not only stole our 1904 Edward VII Gold Sovereign image without permission, but failed to inform buyers that the coin pictured was not the same as he was selling. He also described his coin as in excellent condition, which it may or may not be.
Many coin owners and eBay sellers appear to delude themselves. We wonder who he is trying to fool?

Sample Listing

gold soveriegn 1904
HI UP FOR AUCTION IS MY EDWARD V11 1904 FULL GOLD SOVERIEGN,THIS COIN IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION.
THANKS FOR LOOKING.
HAPPY BIDDING

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
j.hill90	320414289005	21st Aug 2009	gold soveriegn 1904	£50

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.

Price
The seller was asking a starting price of £50 for his coin, which is a strange price. Either start low at �0.99 to save listing fees, or start at a realistic minimum price. �50 is neither one nor the other.
His sovereign eventually attracted a highest bid of �151; so he probably would have got more by selling it to us, after taking eBay and PayPal fees into account.
The only caveat here is that we would not wish to buy stolen property, which probably does not apply to most eBay buyers, as eBay must now surely be the biggest fencing ring (stolen property market) in the world.

Any Relation?
We noticed some similarities between this listing, and another sovereign listed by ellishill87
The names (eBay User IDs) are similar, the titles are similar, including the capitalisation, or lack of it, and the starting price. One has Kentish Town, London as an address, the other simply "London, London", and the start dates were the same, just 30 minutes apart.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
ellishill87	200375824703	21st Aug 2009	gold soveriegn 1900	£50

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 3; with 100% positive according to eBay.

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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