Using my text & my ebay name in a competitors listing

deecy

An ebay wedding photographer like myself has taken to copying and pasting from my auction directly into his own listing and then comparing his services with mine.

eg My auction might say:

"white padded wedding album & 20 pages"

he has c+p this into his auction and 'answered' it with

"we give you 40 pages in a suede wedding album"

These are not real examples but I can't post exactly what it says, link to my auction or his or give you an auction number - I don't think

It's not that I mind him undercutting, outdoing my Ebay wedding packages but why pick me out as someone to directly compare to?

I complained directly to him and he slightly changed the wording so now it might say:

"some companies give you a white padded wedding album & 20 pages .. etc etc"

I also complained to Ebay that my text copyright had been breached, to which I got an automated reply and not much more as yet.

He has now changed his listing to mention my company/ebay name in his listing as in:

"why choose Smith Photographic when for £280 you can get..."

£280 being the price of the package details he chose to copy and paste.

I'm really annoyed that he's deliberately using my words and my name to advertise his work boost his own sales - I spend a lot of time designing my listing, revising it and adding recent photos, availability calendars etc and he just decides to rubbish it in a cheap unoriginal attempt to make his service look good.

Anyone have any ideas if I can complain about him using my company name in his listing?

smartie1976

As far as I can see, it's the same sort of thing as keyword spamming - using someone elses info to compare to your own. I'm sure it's against ebay rules. I'll have a look round the help section.

Would you be prepared to post the link to the jokers auction(s)?

bleugh

if you host your own photos and just link to them in your auction, then change the photos for something a little more zesty ;-)

that way, all his auctions will have the correct text, but will have ........for example, hardcore gay !!!!!! for pictures (or something!)

missile

I can understand why you are annoyed, but is this anything other than sharp business practice? Tesco do it to Sainsbury who do it to Asda etc.

shelly

missile wrote:

I can understand why you are annoyed, but is this anything other than sharp business practice? Tesco do it to Sainsbury who do it to Asda etc.

Tesco etc are huge companies who can afford to lose a few customers to competitors. It on a totally different level altogether. I assume the OP isn't in the same league size wise as a supermarket so can't afford to be rubbished/criticised by a competitor. I wouldn't be impressed either and would do all I could to get his listing removed or at least amended.

dodger65

deecy wrote:

I also complained to Ebay that my text copyright had been breached, to which I got an automated reply and not much more as yet.

In my expierience Ebay will do absolutely nothing for you I'm afraid.
I have had people copying my pics and descriptions word for word one guy in Spain had exact copies of a load of my auctions running simultaneously to mine.
He obviously never had the stuff as it was all secondhand and vintage. Repeatedly reported it, ebay did nothing and a lot of buyers got scammed out of there money.
It's the wild west out there and the sheriff is generally sitting in the saloon drunk ;+)

old_system

Report anything and everything to ebay, ive had plenty pulled for copying my listings, i also go through and report competitors for antyihng i can (paypal surcharges, offering extra stuff off-sale etc)
Fight back on your listing?
Also post the seller here, and we can email them with some grief!

frivolous_fay

Don't descend to his level... there are other sneaky things to try ;-)

dodger65

old_system wrote:

Report anything and everything to ebay, ive had plenty pulled for copying my listings, i also go through and report competitors for antyihng i can (paypal surcharges, offering extra stuff off-sale etc)
Fight back on your listing?
Also post the seller here, and we can email them with some grief!

Are you a powerseller though?
When I was a powerseller I noticed ebay started acting on my problems - but I also noticed my profits dropping (powerseller status seems to put some buyers off - percieved lack of customer care I suspect).
So I left my main account alone for a while until they took the powerseller status away and now I ignore there invites.
Btw glad I'm not in competiton with you.

old_system

dodger65 wrote:

Are you a powerseller though?
When I was a powerseller I noticed ebay started acting on my problems - but I also noticed my profits dropping (powerseller status seems to put some buyers off - percieved lack of customer care I suspect).
So I left my main account alone for a while until they took the powerseller status away and now I ignore there invites.

Come to think of it, powerseller status mentions priority email or phone support depending on level, i guess the email support includes reporting infringements because i have noticed quicker replies since becoming a powerseller (usually within 2 days).

You can also become a powerseller but not display it next to your username if you wanted the priorty support, and whatever other benefits there are.

dodger65 wrote:

Btw glad I'm not in competiton with you.

Just helping uphold ebays rules, and my helping my wallet a little!

dodger65

old_system wrote:

You can also become a powerseller but not display it next to your username if you wanted the priorty support, and whatever other benefits there are.

aha! That I didn't know. Will have to check it out. Ta