Copying my listing....

[westernstargifts]

I haven't had time yet to figure out how to watermark my images....(thanks for the link, Recped)....My daughter knows how and is going to help me with that after Christmas sometime.....I hope.

Meanwhile someone is copying my pictures, my special features added above the description and a small portion of my description itself. I just finished reporting them but have no idea what response I will get from eBay support.

Is there anything else I can do in the short term to protect myself from this unwanted intruder?

Judy

[whoscloset]

Are they using your bandwidth? If so you can change the picture on them.

Make sure you report to .ca as .com won't do a thing.

[hhind_design]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this right now.

As a regular victim of photo fraud I can tell you it's frustrating. While watermarking helps it isn't perfect as there is software to remove it - and that happens to.

Have you contacted the seller and asked them to stop? Often a firm (but polite) email including the fact that you will report them to eBay helps. Sometimes not.

Make sure you demonstrate that you've had the photo first (supply eBay with a listing older than the violator's current auction). And like Monique said, report to .ca. It also helps to have some friends report the violator's auction as well.

[westernstargifts]

Ummm....what is bandwidth?

I reported it through the report button at the bottom of the listing. The seller is Canadian. Does that go to .ca or .com?

[westernstargifts]

220184922632 It also helps to have some friends report the violator's auction as well.

This is one of the listings.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should contact the seller. I may try that route...when I calm down....lol.

[futuretech_liquidations]

Not sure how much of if any impact that seller is having on your sales -- they are at 11 feedback and currently not selling anything.

Could be just a lazy parttime seller - so no real worries here -- still good to report but I am certain if you contact them and ask them to stop. Could not hurt to do so.

[westernstargifts]

Whoo-hoo!!! There is justice on eBay! They have already removed all but 2 of the listings, one of which has a bid, and it is only 2 1/2 hours since I reported them.

I know he can always come back with his own photos and descriptions (he/she even copied the wording in my Return Policy) but it will take some time to do so.

Thanks everyone for your advice...much appreciated.

Judy

[dynamicdollars]

I had the same thing happen to me, so I reported it to ebay support and they yanked my listing which was almost over, they confused the two and pulled the wrong listing,
All I got was oops were sorry, then I had to relist the item again, I find that customer support/trust and saftey are very incompetent.

[johnk_2000]

Just use the VeRO Program and you do not need to deal with T&S.

I never use the report button it is more frustrating.

With VeRO it is removed no questions asked.

Good luck.

[bare_bright]

Happy New Year All!

I'll just jump in here and Ask, Where Does one Find

This program VeRO..?

Thanks:)

[whoscloset]

VeRO can be found at the following link:

http://pages.ebay.in/help/confidence/programs-vero.html


I'm actually a member...and I have a Registered Canadian Copyright on some of my work. I've had trouble getting VeRO to do their job in the past. At one stage I had to point out that their failure to act upon my legally binding request to take action made them jointly and severally responsible for any damages I may claim in court for the violation of my copyright.

This lead to a personal call from the Head of T & S for ebay.ca. We chatted for a while and he informed me that .com is pretty lax in enforcing these rules but that I should have greater success if I reported them to .ca. Since then I actually have had a better response from .ca so I would recommend you report any violations of this type to ebay.ca rather than ebay.com.

Good luck!

[bare_bright]

Thanks Monique

At least know i know there is such a program in place.

I was worried a little about these issues, Since I have

A Project which will most likely spin off in early April

Hopefully if all goes well & Good luck with those issues.

Thanks:)

[whoscloset]

You should be worried. It is intensely frustrating when you spend a great deal of time developing and implementing a marketing plan and someone thinks they can just come along and copy your hard work to promote as their own.

I've had to go after quite a few Salt Lamp sellers, including huge wholesalers, who think copying my guides and pictures is perfectly acceptable.

Oy

[bare_bright]

Wow I just took a look at a few of your Listings & I

Must say, Very Very Nice Work. I would say your a Pro!

Amazing work:)

[whoscloset]

Thanks!

I'm actually completely self-taught in the past 4 years since I began to sell on-line. Really anyone can do it if you have enough drive to learn a few computer languages.

[numero_1]

i've reported pictures others have stolen of me and funny enough they've added their name on it

ebay with luck might close auction few days after it ended 🙂

[westernstargifts]

This seller is at it again. Just for an update...When I first started selling these products on eBay I scanned my own pictures. My supplier then gave me the pictures that I now use on eBay. At the time they were not available for everyone to copy and paste from his web site and that is why I thought this seller was copying my pictures. My supplier has been constantly changing his website recently and now anyone can use the pictures. He is the only source for this jewellery so she obviously is buying from him too.

The photos were not the only problem. She was initially copying text from my listings almost word for word. Twice I had some of her listings pulled. She came back still using information from my listings but changed it just enough that eBay would not pull them. She even uses my terms in the Item Specifics and her payment policy is almost word for word from mine.

Not only is she copying my text, but she is also drastically undercutting my prices and then charging higher shipping and handling. That has me boiling. I know I can't stop her from doing that but if anybody else agrees that her text is copied from mine I would greatly appreciate it if you would report it too.

Also if anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this I would like to hear them. I could schedule my listings to coincide with hers and undercut her prices...I have lots of stock to overwhelm her listings. But then my repeat customers see me listing for much lower prices than they paid. Or should I just keep on selling at my regular prices and try to do a better job of marketing than she is doing (not hard to do)?

I guess I am looking for advice on the marketing strategy to use here. I will be seeing my supplier this week and will also have a chat with him about it.

Judy

[westernstargifts]

220196406202 & 220196406644

Here are 2 of her listings..one for a ring and the other for a bracelet...different descriptions but still from my info.

[coxengines]

Judy,

If you can't get eBay to pull the listings then they probably don't qualify anymore as "copied" (in eBay terms).

It is generally an ambiguous strategy at best to lower prices if you are dealing with repeat customers.

The automobile manufacturers are a prime example of how not to do it. Today, most of them are suffering from "discount fatigue".

Were I your shoes, I would not cater to the business practices of your competitor. I believe that, if you continue to do what you do best, the tenor of your listings will reflect that, and customers will come to you.

That aside, the other seller is fairly "low mileage" compared to you and you have an advantage over him/her.

A question to ask yourself is: "If she had made up her own text and was undercutting my prices, would it still bother me?"

An honest answer to that question will will reveal to you what course to take.

Same thing happened to me twice last year. Both times I wrote that it would have been nice if they would have asked before they copied my pics/text and wished them well with their auctions (I did not report it or asked them to stop).

One seller immediately apologized and asked where they could get "net" pics. I emailed him some "net" pics off Google.

The other one said "thanks for wishing me well" but his next listing was of his own creation.
Xena

[westernstargifts]

"If she had made up her own text and was undercutting my prices, would it still bother me?"

I spent a lot of time researching keywords and marketing for my products and it really bothers me that she just swoops in and takes some of my keywords and uses them, even using the same Item Specifics title that I created for my listings. She obviously doesn't know much because she puts hyphens between her words and some key words won't show up in listings because she makes two words into one, etc. She doesn't even spell the words correctly. And she has done a very sloppy job of writing her description.

If she had come out with her own description and looked like she knew what she was doing it would still bother me because she does what I hate....Starts the bidding low and expects to make her money on shipping and handling. Although maybe she thinks they will sell for more...ha ha. That is what I thought when I first started. So far she hasn't sold anything for a high enough price to make any profit. She has to be losing money thus far with all of her unsold items.

I guess I have answered my own question because I don't want to devalue my product and make money on S/H. I will just have to keep doing a better job of marketing the product than she does. She only lists about once a week and they always end in the morning when I find traffic is not as heavy. It will be a wait and see game.

Thanks for your input Xena. You have given me some things to think about.

Judy