[robinmce]

Came accross this photo on ebay and I'm sure I've seen it before. Notice they even watermarked the photo with their name.

http://item.express.ebay.com/16-11-1...mdZExpressItem

[knotty panda]

I give. Who got hijacked?

[robinmce]

Look an awful lot like PP's picture
http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=1049

I've been looking at that one alot lately......

[pattye]

Yep, it is the same. Look at the reflection and the clasp.

pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Hanaleimom]

And this ebay seller even has 99.7% positive feedback. Have you ever noticed that some ebay sellers have duplicate feedback from the same buyers? They are even within seconds or minutes from each other as far as feedback time. This increases their positive feedback percentage.

[knotty panda]

Did you report them, robin? These folks are located in Southern California. Maybe Jeremy can do more than just stop these folks in their tracks. Maybe this time he can actually take names and kick ...

[pattye]

Regarding feedback, if a person buys multiple items, they can give feedback for each item. But altogether it only counts as total of 1 percent that week.(for each person purchasing and leaving feedback For example, if you bought 10 items and left 10 negatives, it would only make the score go down 1 percent that week. (and that could be affected by others who leave either positive or negative scores.) Some people use the same feedback remark for every purchase they are happy with, instead of writing something specific. There is feedback only allowed once for each item purchased.

Jeremy knows just how to handle this type of fraud................

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[robinmce]

I was hoping Jeremy could take some action, I know he's dealt with this sort of thing before. Can you believe they put their own watermark on the Photo and warned of fraudulent ebay sites!
How do I report this? To jeremy? to ebay?

[pattye]

I would pm Jeremy and let him handle this. IMO it will have more clout coming from him since it is his photo.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Sueki]

Hello Robin,
You can report it to ebay - scroll all the way to the bottom of the item page and, underneath the Vendio logo there's a "report this item" link.
Then choose the first option in step 1, and the second option in step 2.
I've reported it, too, but the more reports ebay receive the more likely they are to take action.

[knotty panda]

Originally Posted by pattye

I would pm Jeremy and let him handle this. IMO it will have more clout coming from him since it is his photo.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

I disagree. I think the consumer has more clout in this situation. If a consumer notices the fraud, it would have to be pretty blatant and I think e-bay will more readily respond. Jeremy has more "take action against e-bay" clout than the consumer. Truly, everyone should complain!

[robinmce]

All reported now.to ebay and Jeremy

[jshepherd]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

I disagree. I think the consumer has more clout in this situation. If a consumer notices the fraud, it would have to be pretty blatant and I think e-bay will more readily respond. Jeremy has more "take action against e-bay" clout than the consumer. Truly, everyone should complain!

There is actually a little program at eBay called VERO. This gives trademark owners the ability to pull any auction from eBay that we feel infringes upon our trademark or copyright. I have used this many times and every auction has been pulled without fail. A couple of times the seller has had their account suspended as well. I imagine this is what happens to repeat offenders.

I am traveling right now so I don't have access to our company's VERO form but I did send a little note to TADragon asking them to remove the photos (I have found three of our photos in their auctions) by tomorrow. Tomorrow I will file a VERO complaint if the auctions are still in place.

It always surprises me when sellers steal photos and then add a watermark to them to keep other people from resteaing them!

[knotty panda]

Wow! Kinda like hitting Staples "Easy Button!"

[jshepherd]

The seller did not respond to my email about the photos so a VERO complaint was sent at 11:30 a.m. It is now 2.5 hours later and all three auctions related to the complaint are gone.

One has to give eBay some credit for that. They do not waste much time nailing picture and trademark thieves. I am sure recent lawsuits against the auction giant have something to do with that.