I was browsing my competitors today and found some guy selling the same item (my undisclosed niche) using my description and hotlinking my pictures, he was also undercutting me by 25%!
I filled out the text/image theft form on ebay and sent it off, 45 minutes later i got this reply from ebay....
Hello,
Thank you for your report about another member using your text in their
listings without your permission. I'm happy to assist you with the same.
We have reviewed the information you sent us about the items
xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx, and xxxxxxx. Unfortunately, there's not enough evidence to show that this member has breached our Image or Description Theft policy. To be fair to all members, we will not take
action unless a complaint can be proven with certainty. Please be assured that we will reopen the investigation if you have any additional information.
I was livid with this response so emailed them back.... Quote:
Thanks for the rapid response!
I can understand your concerns but you only have to look at the items in question to realise they're a direct copy and paste of my auction, even the images he's using are still hosted in my photobucket account!
The only thing that has been changed is the title & the gallery picture,
the whole of the description and all other images belong to me, i have
been using the same listing template for this item for nearly 2 years
but it now looks like nothing can be done about the theft of it!?
He has also undercut my selling price which means although i'm a
good standing member and an established powerseller i cannot afford to sell on ebay anymore because he's taking my customers away and my buyers presume he's offering the same quality product because he's been allowed to copy my listing!
I heard ebay was looking to attract new sellers but i'm sure that
letting them get away with stealing auction descriptions and images from
long standing business sellers isn't the way forward!
I suggest that you (ebay) take another look at my concers, i'm sure with a bit of human intervention it will be clear that they user has stolen my description and images, as i said above i've been selling this product for years, i'm a registered business seller with 1000's of positive feedbacks, yet you are prepared to let a seller with less than 100 sales behind him steal my trade by using a sales pitch written specifically for my item!
20 Minutes later i had a reply (you heard me right, 20 minutes!)...... Quote:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us again to report about another member using your image and text in the listing for the item xxxxxxxx without your permission.
Let me reassure you that it's our top priority to ensure eBay remains a
safe and reputable place to shop. We take reports of members who break
our rules very seriously and have taken the appropriate action in this
matter.
As it's important that eBay maintains member privacy, we can't share
details of the precise action we've taken on the other member's account.
They can't tell me what they've done but the seller had 3 featured listings active for 7 days and now has 0
It just goes to show that a little bit of persuasion goes a long way!
