The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: WaterDraw on April 21, 2018, 03:00:42 PM
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Hey, I'm not exactly sure how to go about this since I've never really written something about another eBay seller, so if I do something wrong please pardon me.
Basically, I have found this seller who's two listings just seemed too good to be true. They only had one picture on one listing (professional and everything) and two pictures on the other listing (again, very professional). I looked closer and there are little Ponyology.com watermarks in the corners of the pictures. I tried reverse image searching for these pictures but I have had no luck. The descriptions are VERY vague for these listings too.
Should I post the link to their profile here or what? Like I said, I'm not really sure how to go about this because I've never really done this before...
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I believe you aren't allowed to post live auction links on here unless they are your own, but you can post the seller's eBay name. That way, maybe someone here can help locate the owner of the pics and we can get this seller reported to eBay if they truly are a scammer.
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Boo, hiss, bad sellers taking pictures that aren't theirs! Not nice.
There's nothing stopping you from posting the seller's eBay name, which would be a good idea to keep others from being scammed. To be honest cases like fraud seem like they might be a good candidate for an exception to the 'no live links' rule, but I don't think they are allowed regardless.
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Okay the seller's name is cherrilf2007 if that helps anyone from possibly getting scammed by them in the future. Again, I'm not 100% sure they are a scammer, but there it is for anyone to check out to see what they think. To me, at least, it looks very fishy.
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I'm not seeing any active listings, but maybe they're not visible from Canada? *shrug*
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I'm not seeing any active listings, but maybe they're not visible from Canada? *shrug*
Huh, weird. It shows up for me, but yeah I live in America.
I wonder, if I can't link anything would it be possible for me to still take screenshots or is that against the rules as well?
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I can see them. And the ponyology image as well.
If you search it on ebay.com then it comes up :)
(I'm in the UK so you don't have to be in the US to see it)
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Well, there is a seller named Ponyology on eBay. I'm going to contact them and ask if it's them selling on another account, because it could be them for all we know. And if not, it's up to them to have eBay remove the pictures.
*Edit: I contacted Ponyology and they already replied: "Thanks for letting me know, that is definitely not me and I never reused pictures for selling ponies anyway, they each got their own photoshoot to accurately show conditions. Can't believe someone is selling ponies in this way! ugh! I will report them! Thanks!"
So, hopefully the other seller's pics will be removed by eBay.
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Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
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Thanks everyone for your help. I hope we saved some people from getting scammed, even if it was only one person. :)
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Yes, I see the listings too. As you say they look very professional and are the only two items offered by that seller at the moment. They have good ratings, but they seem to be mostly for purchases made by this person. Thanks for the heads up!
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Yes, I see the listings too. As you say they look very professional and are the only two items offered by that seller at the moment. They have good ratings, but they seem to be mostly for purchases made by this person. Thanks for the heads up!
I honestly don't think they're trying to scam. As NightGlider pointed out, the items they sell seem to be for purchases from Ponyology. I think it's buyer's remorse and they are just reselling what they decided they don't want and reusing her pictures.
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My guess is they do have the ponies but stole the pictures from Ponyology. Who knows if the ponies they have are in the same condition!
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I'm debating on whether or not to buy one just to see if its like the picture or not...
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I'm debating on whether or not to buy one just to see if its like the picture or not...
It's fairly obvious it isnt the exact pony in the picture.
You can ask the seller about the condition of the pony (or additional pictures to show flaws).
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I'm debating on whether or not to buy one just to see if its like the picture or not...
It's fairly obvious it isnt the exact pony in the picture.
You can ask the seller about the condition of the pony (or additional pictures to show flaws).
This is exactly my thought too. I really do not believe they are reselling ponies they bought from Ponyology, but rather just using the photos. In looking at the report options there doesn't seem to be an option for contacting ebay about stolen photos in the menu's for reporting the listing.
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No option for a falsified or fraudulent listing?
That's what I'd consider using photos that aren't yours to be, given this isn't a stock item off a shelf.
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No option for a falsified or fraudulent listing?
That's what I'd consider using photos that aren't yours to be, given this isn't a stock item off a shelf.
Yes there is an option for Fraudulent listing, but they don't give Photo theft as a choice which is irritating to me. They don't allow you to even write what you are trying to report. So, without that option how is ebay going to figure out what the fraudulent issue is? Your choice is to either pick "Seller is using other accounts to inflate prices." or "You suspect it is Fraudulent" this is useless. If you can't say why what is the point?
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I had this same problem with trying to report a seller back in February. Ebay don't have an option for photo theft, which I would expect to be under the wider blanket of misrepresentation. I think because theyve become so commercialised they expect people to use stock photos of products and forget that a lot of people are selling actual old stuff that you can't use a stock photo for.
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Bleh, that sucks. :c
It's quite true that eBay is turning into yet another commercial marketplace instead of a second-hand sales avenue.
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I thought there was an opinion for photo theft when you see your own image being stolen?
Otherwise, I did see an option to report an image with a website/text.
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I thought there was an opinion for photo theft when you see your own image being stolen?
I thought so too, that's why I contacted ponyology.
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I thought there was an opinion for photo theft when you see your own image being stolen?
Otherwise, I did see an option to report an image with a website/text.
Yea I was just going by the report item on the auction itself. If there is another way to report something, I don't know how to do it. I looked through all of the lists on the Report Item from the auction and found nothing about photos. I sure would like to know how one reports photo theft for the future. So, if you have another way please let me know. I am curious.
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I thought there was an opinion for photo theft when you see your own image being stolen?
Otherwise, I did see an option to report an image with a website/text.
Yea I was just going by the report item on the auction itself. If there is another way to report something, I don't know how to do it. I looked through all of the lists on the Report Item from the auction and found nothing about photos. I sure would like to know how one reports photo theft for the future. So, if you have another way please let me know. I am curious.
Ugh. Now I can't find it. Maybe i was confusing it with the rules about images.
Watermarks of any type, including those used for ownership attribution
I reported one image earlier and that one is gone now.
I think I did...
Listing practices / links / web address included in store name
Technically that's not true but the main image had the . com link. There's also "other link"
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Thanks for letting us know :)
Contacting Ponyology was the right thing to do too :bigups: . You cant report this kind of thing directly to ebay yourself , but you are allowed to notify the person whose images were used without permission and they can report to ebay to get them taken down.
This seller *probably* isn't trying to scam (though you cant be sure as some scammers do do this) If they are used to mainly buying it could be that they've thought it was ok to use those pics like the stock pics a lot of ebay sellers use now. I had this issue come up earlier this year with an item I was selling. Another seller used my photo without permission (I also take pics of exact individual item, on my table with a dark background as the main pic - something on there to make sure it doesn't look like a stock pic - there are natural daylight pics too but not as the main pic and again nothing to make it look like a stock pic) to use in their listing along with stock pics from ebay.
You used to be able to report this easily and ebay still don't allow sellers to use other peoples pics or description without permission, but they have made it a lot harder to report.
Plus if you have used a white background and made the pic look too professional it may be the seller has used it thinking it was a stock picture and may even be allowed unless you can definitely prove otherwise :awake:
I contacted the seller and asked them to remove my picture (politely of course ;) ), but they still had it showing for a while so I also reported to ebay. It comes under VeRO now in the report seller drop down menu. I didn't actually have to fill in the form for that particular item for some reason, it just let me click to report it and then the picture was removed from the sellers listings.
Here is what it says on the subject from ebay.com (ebay Uk is similar)
How to report another member who has copied your images or text
Before you report a seller who may be using your image, please remember that images you have used on eBay may be used in the eBay catalog at our discretion. The eBay User Agreement provides that listing images may be put into the catalog for use by eBay in promoting products and may be used by other sellers in their listings. If another member is using your image, it may have been provided to the seller through our catalog. If that is how your image was used, VeRO cannot process your claim because the photo is being used in accordance with our policies.
If you believe another eBay member has copied images and/or text from your listing, we encourage you to contact the other member to ask if they'll remove your image or text from their listing.
If the other member is unwilling to remove the image or text, you may report it using our VeRO program. You must fill out the Image and Text Theft Notice of Claimed Infringement- opens in new window or tab and return to the VeRO team by emailing it to [email protected]. To learn more about VeRO and how to contact us, please see our Reporting intellectual property infringements (VeRO) page.
If you don't own the rights to the images or text, you won't be able to report these items through the VeRO program. However, you may consider contacting the rights owner directly to have the owner report these items.
How eBay protects intellectual property rights
We developed the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program to facilitate cooperation between eBay and rights owners protecting their intellectual property rights.
Learn more about how eBay protects intellectual property rights and how rights owners can report intellectual property infringements.
Why does eBay have this policy?
Members should use their own images and text when describing listings. Buyers like to see images and text that accurately represent items they are purchasing. If you are using images or text created by someone else, make sure that you have permission from the rights owner or creator.
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Thankfully they didn't bother to remove the watermark.... *rolls eyes*