Insane Ebay system

soteman

Hi all,

Last week, I sold a camera on ebay and the buyer faffed around asking questions after the auction ended and then changed their mind and refused to buy it. I therefore made a second chance offer to the next highest bidder, who accepted and has now paid.

I have now just received an email from ebay stating that they have removed my listing due to me infringing another member's copyright, despite the fact that my item description and image were taken from the manufacturer's own description of the item.

This now means that my item has disappeared entirely from ebay. I was planning on opening a resolution to claim back my final value fee from the original seller after the allotted time period but now obviously I can't open a claim as the item has disappeared. Ebay still seem to be charging me for both final value fees.

Whilst I can't even begin to understand the logic of deleting a sold item because two users both copied the same description from the manufacturer's website, does anyone have any ideas for getting the FVF credited back?

Cheers,

Crowqueen

despite the fact that my item description and image were taken from the manufacturer's own description of the item.

This is probably the issue here. If you lifted their description and/or photograph from another website then that is probably the reason for them getting upset. The other guy might have seen your description and thought you took it from him rather than from the website.

Also, you should always do the NPB dispute before doing a Second Chance Offer to reduce the possibility of a buyer changing their mind, otherwise you end up with two buyers and one item, which is not good. I often find if something sold once it will sell again, so always do the dispute or a cancellation before thinking of re-selling it. It helps to get it straight and unfortunately you've ended up with a double whammy.

soolin

Unfortunately you cannot lift text or image from a website without permission of the copyrightholder.

soteman

I know you can't lift text and images but surely the specification of the camera can't really be copyrighted as such? E.g. 12megapixel with 4x optical zoom, adjustable strap etc. is fairly hard to say in your own words. I am on live chat with a "helpful" ebay person now who has been disappeared for the last 15 mins investigating so I'll see how I get on. They shouldn't be able to charge me £78 in FVFs though when I have only sold the item once.

Crowqueen

About the FVFs - they can easily say you didn't go through the proper process on the first sale that fell through and that you sold the item in question and received payment for it. Good luck getting a credit for the original sale though.

As regards the text from the manufacturer's website, you have to be careful how you format it. It's not us that make the rules on what constitutes breach of their copyright, particularly where photographs are also concerned.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Ebays camera section is absolutely covered with manufacturers pictures, text & links.

No doubt the initial buyer reported it to help them get over a strike.

soteman

Bizarrely, I managed to convince them to refund both FVFs but also they insist I still complete the transaction with the second chance buyer. Strange

terra_ferma

I've given up trying to understand the logic of eBay and Paypal...
It's remarkable how such huge international operations can function so well, so sometimes the right arm doesn't know what the left does.... you read one thing on the t&c, hear something else from live help, and people on boards have a totally different experience from yours...

Glad it worked out well for you!!!