eBay member has stolen a photo from my website. WWYD?

[~Trish~]

Hi everyone! I'm not sure if this thread will get noticed, not many people frequent this section!

My sister last night pointed out an eBay listing with a photo that has been taken from my website (I have an online store). It is a photo I have taken myself and has my website address stamped across the bottom of the photo, so it's REALLY obvious LOL! I did not give permission for my photo to be used and am quite annoyed.

I reported the listing to eBay and they sent me a cut & paste reply this morning saying:

Unfortunately, I am only able to take action if the owner of the images or text writes to us.

Grrrr.... It's obvious that they didn't take the time to read my message. I have replied to them, but don't like my chances of being responded to before the listing ends in 2 days time. I spoke to Live Help and they said I need to reply to the email .

So...I'm in two minds about contacting the eBay member myself and asking them to take the image off. DH says I shouldn't because they may get annoyed and try to do something stupid through my site (like order heaps of items without paying, etc...).

Maybe I'm being petty, but I really don't appreciate people ripping off my photos that I take a lot of time and effort to create.

So, do you think I should contact the seller myself or just leave it and hope that eBay remove the image?

TIA

[Arimeh]

If it were me, I would wait another 12 or 18 hours for ebay to get back to me (although how stupid are those workers to not read your complaint properly!!! idiots. )
And then I would contact the Seller. I would be hesitant to do so before hearing from ebay cos I agree with your DH.

Hopefully it sorts itself out soon for you.

[~Trish~]

Thanks Mel

I miraculously received an email back from eBay! They said I need to fill out a form and fax it back to them, then they will remove the listing. I'm not sure if I should or not. The seller would know for sure I reported them and I'm afraid of backlash...

Maybe I should just leave it be? I dunno... It just annoys me LOL!!

[Arimeh]

How would the Seller know that you made a complaint? (Possible blonde moment ahead... ) do they get told of any complaints and who they are from or something? I would of thought it would have all been anonymous..

[{sarah}]

I'll PM you with a suggestion

[Phteven]

Fill it out and return it.
I hate people stealing photos on ebay and I hate the way that ebay makes it hard for the owners of the photo to report them. You have to jump through hopps just so that ebay can get it's fees.

[~Trish~]

Mel - I assume eBay would notify the user that the owner of the photo has reported their item. Because my web address is on the photo, they'd easily track me down.

Sarah - Thanks for your suggestion, very clever and funny

Chloe - It is ridiculous how hard they make it, which is why I wonder if I should just contact the seller directly seeing as they'll know it's me either way...

[boomba]

Trish that sucks! Can you email the seller and explain why you dont want them using it?
If they are selling the item cant they take there own picture?

[visitor1]

Id def fax the form back AND email the seller saying you are not happy and have reportrd them to ebay

[Pandora]

Theres a way to prevent people being able to save/download images from your blogs/websites. I know my GF has done if cos she found her childrens photos had been donloaded by strangers and her blog linked to.

Someone who knows about computers and servers and webhosting might have an idea?

[Daydream Believer]

Email the seller & tell them its a breach of copyright & if its not taken down within a set amount of time they will be charged - even if its not true (it may be, I don't know) it might scare them into removing it

[~Raven~]

rayray you can right click disable the photos so the image can't be downloaded, but a person can still take a screenshot of the page and then crop out the stuff they don't need in photoshop. Nothing on the web is protectable like that unfortunately.

[MantaRay]

I'd send the person a bill for the photo. I'm sure they won't pay, but they'll take the photo down really soon. And if they do pay, what a bonus!!

[soniebon]

Having this similar issue last week i contacted the offender and told them to remove the photos or i will sue for breach of copyright,and piracy..And that unless it is not removed within 24 hours you will contact a solicitor.My other advice if you dont get a response is to actually report them to ebay and small claims as it is totally illegal.
good luck

[dorimom]

hi
I had exactly same issue sometime ago. I suggest you to contact a seller straight away and if that doesn't help you can contact ebay directly.They have special dpt there that deals with copyright issues and they will be able to remove this user listing if you prove that he copied your photo
Hope that helps

[TheBear]

It's a tricky situation...

1. If they have downloaded your photo and have re-published it without your permission then you have a viable complaint.
2. However, if they have just linked to the image on your server from within their advert (this doesn't have to be a click-to-view link, you can display the image by linking to it) then technically they haven't republished it at all, and you can't legally do anything about it.

You can configure your webserver to not serve up images unless they are linked to from pages on your webserver to stop the second problem.

[~Trish~]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

TheBear - The photo was taken from my website and republished.

I ended up just letting it slide, they didn't get any bids on the item anyway :P. If they relist it I will just contact them directly. I think it's ridiculous that I have to print out a form, fill it in and fax it to eBay to have them remove my photo! If I reported them for having a website address in their photo, eBay would have pulled the listing no questions asked . Here I was trying to do things legitimately and I have to jump through hoops.

Anyway, that's my rant today, I feel better letting it out LOL.