louise_freeman_09 Selling 1817 Sovereign on eBay
eBay seller louise_freeman_09 of bridgend (sic), Bridgend, United Kingdom, offered an 1817 George III gold sovereign for sale on eBay repeatedly & shamelessly using misleading stolen images.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
In cases like this, a photograph of the coin itself would save a lot of time and confusion. This seller couldn't be bothered to provide a photograph; even a scan would have helped. At least she didn't steal one of our photographs, up to now.

Brilliant Condition?
About 99% of coins listed on eBay are in "mint condition" according to their sellers, this one is in "Brilliant" condition according to louise_freeman_09. "Brilliant Uncirculated" is a recognised coin grade indicating that the coin is not only in mint condition, but also still has its original mint lustre. Funnily enough only about 1% of coins we see are in mint condition. Is this self-delusion or dishonesty?
In this page, we have drawn attention to a number of spelling and grammatical errors by louise_freeman_09; now we have seen what we presume is her own photograph, we realise she has mis-spelt "crap" as "brilliant", quite an unusual typo!

Repeat Cheat
When we first saw one of her 1817 sovereign listings, we thought the photo looked familiar, and did a very quick eBay search to confirm our suspicions. We quickly found another listing with the same photograph, but not actually from the seller we anticipated.
The next problem was to work out who had stolen from whom. This was not difficult. The other listing had started earlier, and had compatible obverse and reverse photographs. louise_freeman_09 only had an obverse photograph. The other seller also had numerous other items with similar photographs, whereas louise_freeman_09 did not. We considered this evidence to be virtually conclusive.
We e-mailed a member of eBay Coin Forgery Forum with a note of the two listings, but did not state our conclusions, there was little need, our contact worked it out for himself, and came to the same conclusion (he is not stupid).
Apparently he e-mailed louise_freeman_09, who change one stolen photograph for another. Our vigilante friend only need a few seconds to discover where she, louise_freeman_09, had stolen her second photograph from, and e-mailed her accordingly. She responded be swapping it for a third stolen photograph.

If at First...
Eventually, she cancelled her existing item listing, and relisted it with what looked like her own photo, although it is a shame she could not be bothered to show both sides of the coin, it only costs about 10 pence extra, and there are sites which offer free photo hosting. From her photo, the coin looks very badly worn and polished, probably ex-jewellery, and we suspect the other side may be in even worse condition, which would probably render the coin worth little more than scrap. Any buyer relying in the previous photographs would, if they had any sense, have been extremely disappointed with the grade and the deception.

Pathetic
What appalls us, time and time again, when eBayers are caught red-handed using misleading photographs, illegally sourced without permission from their copyright owners, is the immediate counter attack. Sadly, this seems to have become a normal standard in modern society. Not only is it perfectly acceptable to cheat, but its alright to deny everything, counter-attack, and threaten to set the police, lawyers, eBay, and anybody else onto the whistle-blower. Some elements of British society seem to have become habitually nasty.
The casual observer might miss noticing this, but a look at the e-mails from louise_freeman_09 speaks volumes:

• The image is not stolen. So please dont start being petty just as we have the same coins.I have now put a second image up of the item just to stop any pathetic arguments you may cause.
  Thanks
  - louise_freeman_09
• Hi
  What do you mean by no expirience? (sic) I sell items on ebay (sic) quite a lot?
  - louise_freeman_09
• Why would i be pretending to sell a coin? I had the coin listed last week but the reserve was not met so i have re-listed it today. I will quite happily explain to the fraud department if they email me that i do have the genuine coin here. If you look at my feedback you will see that i (sic) am not a fraudulent person selling items on here.
  - louise_freeman_09
• Just to let you know i (sic) have just rang (sic) ebay (sic) and advised them of your accusation which i (sic) can report you to the police for. As i do have the item for sale and have sent in a picture for. Can you also advised why you say i have stolen the image from item number 290449214459 which isnt (sic) even your account? So who are you to be 1. assuming i am a fraudulent person and 2. to be reporting on an account which isnt (sic) even yours? Because item number 290449214459 is a different username to (sic) the account you are emailing me on now. I have also made ebay (sic) aware of this, and that if the two accounts are yours then why do you have to have 2? Please dont email me again as you have no right and this will now be sorted out my ebnay (sic) authorities. Please also look at my 100% feedback and never accuse people of silly accusations like that again.
  Thanks
  Louise
  - louise_freeman_09
  
• Hi
  I have now ended the previous item and re listed (sic) it with a new photo.
  Please in future dont (sic) make accusations that your (sic) not sure of.
  Many thanks - louise_freeman_09

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
louise_freeman_09	250658636959	6th Jul 2010	1817 GEORGE III SOLID 22K GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN COIN	£199 / £350
louise_freeman_09	250658636959	12th Jul 2010	1817 GEORGE III SOLID 22K GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN COIN	£199
louise_freeman_09	250665525020	12th Jul 2010	1817 GEORGE III SOLID 22K GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN COIN	£199

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 39; with 100% positive according to eBay.

Sample Listing

1817 GEORGE III SOLID 22K GOLD FULL SOVEREIGN COIN
KING GEORGE III 1817 SOVEREIGN COIN
A (sic) EXCELLENT COIN , SOLID 22 CT GOLD IN BRILLIANT CONDITION

What's Wrong?
Who knows!

Price
The seller was originally asking a starting price of �199 for her coin, the first time, but did not sell it as it failed to reach her greedy and optimistic reserve price.
She is unlikely to sell it, as many potential buyers will rightly be deeply suspicious about the constantly changing images.
It is possible she could have got more by selling to us when eBay's 10% selling fees are taken into account Even ignoring PayPal fees.

Shortsighted Sheila
Even if she does sell the coin using stolen images, the buyer may complain and demand a refund, suing her in a County Court if necessary, and quite rightly too.
If her coin is in better condition than the photos show, then she may have short-changed herself by selling her coin too cheaply. We would snatch her hand and one arm off at �1,000 for a "Brilliant Uncirculated" specimen.
If the coin is worse grade than the stolen photos indicate, then any intelligent buyer will be angry at the deception, and demand a refund. She may also receive a negative feedback, although too many eBay buyers seem reluctant to do so, possibly in fear of retaliation (now groundless), or more likely as part of an unethical agreement providing the get their refund.

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.
eBay fail to make it clear and obvious to their sellers that images should not be copied without permission, and also to avoid deception, negligent or deliberate. They know it happens, but choose to do nothing much about it.

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