Stealing photographs or text on eBay - dishonest or merely lazy?

steven_garner

Somtimes i look at other listings for referance or ideas. make sure im not missing out on any selling points and have the correct inforamton in my listing but i never copy and paste.

chickywiggle

i personally can't see the problem with using others images/ text. I once sold an item that could only be described in 1 way - description and size. I came accross someone selling same thing just to see if they had a better way of wording it. as it happened we had both written pretty much the same (shear coincidence but obvious when u saw the product). I used my own image.

She then got MY item pulled as she claimed i had 'copied her'.

Makes me soo cross - grow up - its not a school playground. Personally I think she was annoyed cause mine was half the price of hers!!!!

laughingcow81

I must admit I too have used other people's photos and text however these are usually stock items (i.e computer games) which only have the front image of the game.

The text is more often than not just a brief description of the game text which is taken from a site like play.com or something like that, and I would always add my own text too.

But if the photo was someone's they had actually taken in their own home (and was obviously so) then I would definitely not use it!

soolin

laughingcow81 wrote: »

I must admit I too have used other people's photos and text however these are usually stock items (i.e computer games) which only have the front image of the game.

The text is more often than not just a brief description of the game text which is taken from a site like play.com or something like that, and I would always add my own text too.

But if the photo was someone's they had actually taken in their own home (and was obviously so) then I would definitely not use it!

Don't forget that copying photos online or even text is against copyright and some companies have been known to get auctions closed when they notice it.

Jacks_xxx

In answer to your question Nutsohazelnut I think it's both dishonest and lazy. I avoid sellers who routinely nick photos from other eBayers cos I wonder what else they've nicked, or what else they will cut corners on.

Your daughter is very sweet to try and help to the person who bought from the other eBayer and you should be proud of her kindness and good manners. Apart from anything else, it makes good business sense not to ignore communication from potential buyers.

I'm so sorry that somebody else's deception has caused a problem for her and I hope it is all sorted out very soon.

alfiesmum

nutsohazelnuts wrote: »

As I understand it, the buyer believed my daughter to be selling similar items under two different eBayer names because of the photographs being the same. The other eBayer used the same photographs, the same text and even the same postage amount so I can understand her confusion.

Then she should tell the buyer to contact her on her 'other' ebay user.
There's no reason to even reply to them to be honest, blocked bidder list just in case might be a good idea though!

laughingcow81

soolin wrote: »

Don't forget that copying photos online or even text is against copyright and some companies have been known to get auctions closed when they notice it.

In that case I won't be doing that again!

StaffsSW

If a seller can not be bothered to script their own description and steals/borrows/shares other sellers images, what does this suggest about their overall integrity and level of service?

I think it is a sad state of the nation that so many people think it is perfectly acceptable to leach the hard work and effort of others.

I'm lucky that I sell in a niche category, so it is relatively rare I have to endure plagiarism, but those that do step into the category seem to think it is fair game to lift my images. I simply call PS Support, give them a few item numbers and dates, and watch as the lazy/dodgy seller gets put on restriction, and in one case NARU'd.

If they can not be bothered to ask me to use my images, why shouldI bother to pre-warn them of any consequences? People need to learn that actions need responsibility, and I'm more than happy to educate them.

VanyaHargreeves

I think it's very very lazy to steal someone else's listing. It just shows that you simply can't be bothered to do your own research into the product or you're too stupid to string a sentence together. It's not fair if one poor person spends their time making a good listing just to have some lazy person copy and paste it.

bluenose1

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

I think it's very very lazy to steal someone else's listing. It just shows that you simply can't be bothered to do your own research into the product or you're too stupid to string a sentence together. It's not fair if one poor person spends their time making a good listing just to have some lazy person copy and paste it.

I have been selling my nao figurines this week, I just looked at completed sold listings from private sellers and mainly used their text, though not photos.

As a working mum with 3 kids, I don't see the point in re-inventing the wheel. I have better things to do than research my product and devise new text. Though I like to think I could string a sentence together if I really wanted to. Lazy or time economical????