Chris Howes' Sculptural Creations

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Hey Chris,

I was on ebay this morning and unfortunately, Bionic Joe has struck again. He even lists your name in the auction!!!!

Hopefully, you can do something about it. Here's the link:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-12-1-6-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Shannon

Thanks, Shannon. I sent him a polite note saying I just couldn't believe it could be true! :D Hopefully he'll do the right thing. We shall see. Unfortunately, he's also claiming to be the first in the US to have it (not true, many folks here on SSF had theirs MONTHS before he did), and he's devaluing my work by offering what appears to be an inferior casting (filled in under his hair curl even!) at a cheap ass price. And I specifically asked him to stop using my name without my permission. I don't care if people resell individual heads they bought from me, or sell copies of heads they privately commissioned ( Like the Lee Majors he commissioned, that's cool! ), but recasting heads that they don't have the rights to is very very discouraging. :tap :banghead

Folks, please avoid recasters. They take other people's hard work and make unauthorized copies, often vastly inferior copies. They profit from these illicit copies without having to spend the years toiling for countless hours to develop the skill required to create such work. They take the easy, cheap dishonest route. :monkey4

It begs the question, why should I bother putting out the immense effort it takes to create these sculptures when someone is just going to steal them, make crappy copies, ruin my reputation by attaching my name to inferior quality and undercut my price? I put perhaps 40 or more hours into a sculpt just to get to the point where I can show it to you all for a first look and a recaster puts 2 hours into making a mold and he's already making money. The return on his investment is many times mine even when he undercuts me by 50%.

So buy from the sculptor or an authorized source, please. You are always assured higher quality castings from first generation molds and you give the people who actually do the work the motivation to keep on creating those figures that you can't get anywhere else! :banana

OK, I'm getting off my soapbox now.... :D
 
Hey Chris,

I think you should sign up for Verio. It's a program on eBay where rights holders can have auctions removed. You may not have the rights to the Ledger likeness, but the sculpt is yours. I would give it a look.

Don't get discouraged, there are those of us here who will order anything you release.
 
Sorry, it's called VeRo. All you have to do is print out the form on this page and fax it to them. Then you can have these auctions removed. And I know for a fact you can do it, because I was selling a kit a while back and the sculptor had my listing removed because he thought I was a recaster. I contacted him, cleared it up and he let my listing go up. Good luck!

https://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

Within the document, you will see that you have the write as the sculptor, even though you don't own the license...

"Copyright – item infringement
3.5. Item(s) is an unlawful copy of other copyrighted work (paintings, sculptures, etc.)"
 
Hey Chris,

I think you should sign up for Verio. It's a program on eBay where rights holders can have auctions removed. You may not have the rights to the Ledger likeness, but the sculpt is yours. I would give it a look.

Don't get discouraged, there are those of us here who will order anything you release.

Absolutely agree, Chris. Look into the vero. Heck you put enough work into these sculpts, only for some git to sell these inferior recasts! Thanks for the technical tip posted a few posts back also...I tried using these today and already it's made a difference to my sculpting work. :cool:
 
Chris i have had several people make casts of work i have done as well as use photos i took to sell their items. Unfortunately is blows but there isnt much you can do about it. I would look into the ebay stuff they do a pretty good job of taking items down. I have had to report several users for this and have had a good outcome every time.
 
Hi Chris, I thought I'd post a question here:
what's your progress on the Maximus project (armor, headsculpt)? It's been a while since we saw any updates? :(
 
Forget about removing the auction. Buy the head and give him negative feedback. You can still report him to ebay afterwards. I would even think about getting a lawyer (maybe you have a friend who is a lawyer) and send him a polite letter. In Germany he has to pay the costs for the lawyer in that case... Dont be so nice Chris. I would raise hell and try to get as much money from that s*cker as possible. Remember, although it is listed on ebay, and ebay is offering a few options of handling this problem it is still illegal and you can still let your rights be prevented by the law. This would hurt more. :rolleyes::mad:

Cancelling an auction isnt simply enough.

Just my two cents. I really hate those ^^^^^^es.

:mad:
 
Everyone on here should message that guy letting him know you will never buy from him ever, whether it is legit or not!
 
Everyone on here should message that guy letting him know you will never buy from him ever, whether it is legit or not!

Hey Jack! It's nice to know I have friends out there looking out for me.

Thank you everyone for the support. The best thing to do is to only buy legit product. I hate the idea of having to act against people. I prefer friendly engagement...

Someone bought the Joker. I do think it would be a good idea to let him know he purchased counterfeit goods and let him know where to get the high quality real thing. Maybe if several folks let him know in a very friendly manner... :D Just remember, it's not his fault, he had no idea it was a fake.

As for Bionic Joe, he was actually selling 2 heads of mine. The Joker and Mad Max I sculpted for our very own freak, Toyadventurer. Luckily that one didn't sell. B Joe hasn't relisted anything on eBay yet, hopefully he'll do the right thingfrom now on.

However, he does have the right to sell the Lee Majors head I sculpted for him. As some of you know, we had a misunderstanding about that head. I asked him during a phone call if he wanted to sell it on this board. He said no, he didn't think anyone would buy it here for what it was worth. So, I asked if he minded if I gave it a go and sold a few to people in this forum. I thought he said yes, no problem. I recall it VERY distinctly. Apparently he remembered things somewhat differently and let me know in a very offensive and obscene manner. Needless to say, I was somewhat taken aback.

Well, after I calmed him down over the course of several emails and explained that it was a misunderstanding and not a deliberate dishonest act on my part I agreed to allow him time to sell it exclusively. Though I asked him to stop using my name which he was doing without my permission on a very poorly painted copy of the head. After all, I only want my name associated with the highest quality. And now he's using my name again without permission on his counterfeit castings.

Anyone who has dealt with me in such a situation knows I'm pretty darn flexible and easy to work with. I'm always happy to come to any reasonable arrangement that you want. And I try to promote your sales! I want you to succeed when you commission my work. So, this was a very confusing experience to me. So far I'm still honoring my amended agreement with B Joe.

So, keep an eye out for suspicious sellers and try to buy the real stuff from legit sources!

Thank guys for all your suggestions. Hopefully this will be the end of it and we won't have to take it to the next level.
 
Hi Chris, since you seem to be posting and reading this thread more often, any updates or ETA's on the Star Trek crew and the different Milla's?
Thanks.
 
Hi Chris, since you seem to be posting and reading this thread more often, any updates or ETA's on the Star Trek crew and the different Milla's?
Thanks.

I'm sort of paying attention to different threads in a rolling fashion as I work on different projects! I figure I can spend my time most efficiently actually getting the work done rather than cruising the threads.

ST and Bald Milla are underway. I hope to have updates on all in just a couple weeks.

Updates on Gorman soon, Tom Baker (fourth Doctor Who) soon, Maximus armor today or tomorrow.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top