Question about someone using a picture of mine on eBay to sell his own figure...

[LChinoz]

Can I do anything about this? The guy is using a picture of mine taken from this thread:

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68857

Here is the auction:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Hot-toys-Micha...IC&otn=10&po=&ps=63&clkid=8064329947051798661

I don't care that much but it irks me a bit...I mean the guy didn't even spell "Billie Jean" right. Should I let it go or what? I mean the only problem I have is the outfit was hand-stitched and the fact that the guy thinks he is going to duplicate it I feel kind of disrespects the artist.

 

[EVILFACE]

Send him a message to not use it.

If he doesnt and it bugs you tell ebay.

 

[LChinoz]

Send him a message to not use it.

If he doesnt and it bugs you tell ebay.

Already done, I just don't want to seem like an ass for something that may not be that big a deal (though it is to me). I shall wait for the reply...

 

[Chouzi]

at 399usd..tell him to pay you commission for the picture or else take it down....

report to ebay...he is not selling accurate product anyway... buyer will be thinking he bought the figure in the pix.. doubt he will be getting the custom MJ that u made

 

[The Craw]

i'd find him and cut his ____ing jacobs off.

 

[LChinoz]

at 399usd..tell him to pay you commission for the picture or else take it down....

report to ebay...he is not selling accurate product anyway... buyer will be thinking he bought the figure in the pix.. doubt he will be getting the custom MJ that u made

You're right, but eBay doesn't really stop recasters so I don't know how they will treat this issue. I mean, it's not like I am a huge company or something, I just think using it is disrespectful to the artist. Hey, maybe he can recreate my custom exactly, but for $400 who cares?

 

[BadMoon]

Already done, I just don't want to seem like an ass for something that may not be that big a deal (though it is to me). I shall wait for the reply...

You made a thread about it and felt the need to post this. So you are already making a big deal about it.

 

[316what]

Wonder if the seller saved the picture to his h/d and then uploaded to Ebay or uploaded the URL from the pic on the forum? If the latter, then payback could be fun or you could delete the pic. If the former, not really much you can do.

And really there isn't much that can be done. Maybe Ebay will ask the seller to remove, maybe not. If you can Google and find the pic, it's pretty much fair game.

Best advice for the future: watermark your pictures.

 

[EVILFACE]

Its uploaded to ebay, so swapping with newds. . .

 

[316what]

Its uploaded to ebay, so swapping with newds. . .

Won't work if he saved the pic from here on his h/d and then uploaded it to Ebay. I know...I've "borrowed" non-watermarked pics before to use on Ebay.

 

[occulum]

just watermark your images.
When the bidders notice the watermark doesnt match the seller's name, they will instantly be a little suspicious and it would be a detriment for sellers to them it at all..

 

[lcummins]

Since he is selling a "custom" figure and using your pictures, how do we even know that it isn't a scam and he never means to send the product in the first place? I would report it to eBay.

 

[ProgMatinee]

looks like the auction is ended for some reason.

 

[316what]

Since he is selling a "custom" figure and using your pictures, how do we even know that it isn't a scam and he never means to send the product in the first place? I would report it to eBay.

How do we know that about any auction?

 

[LoneWolf]

This actually happened to me a year ago when I was selling one of my Mattel Justice League action figures.. A local eBay member is auctioning the same item, and posted MY PHOTO..

After searching eBay's HELP pages, I saw something there that connotes the seller violating eBay's Terms & Conditions. I reported him to eBay. He got a warning, I guess, and used another photo.
"eBay members are not allowed to use images—including photos and other pictures—or text they didn't create themselves. Exceptions to this policy would be if they are authorized to do so by the owner, its agent, or the law."

Here is the link: https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/image-text.html

 

[Blackthornone]

As I recall, it is against ebay rules to use someone else's pictures in your listing. This is mainly true if it was taken from someone else's listing I think. People have contacted ebay and forced the seller that was using their pics to take the pictures down.
Frankly, if they say that those are just pictures of what the item looks like and is not the actual item, I don't have a problem with it, but if there is no such qualification, that that is just fraud. If they don't even have pictures of the actual item, and resort to using someone else's, how do we know if they even have the item at all?

 

[Kuzeh]

Yep,
you should've reported it to Ebay...
One guy was using one of my Billie Jean MJ pics for their auction and I told him to take it down or else I would report it to Ebay, he took it down immediately...

 

[creature4000]

How many use SS's pics?????

 

[karamazov80]

Last year at some point, EBay decided to update its policies so that anyone posting a picture could have that picture used later by someone else, and you had to manually opt out of it through a convoluted set of steps, otherwise you were essentially "giving permission" to anyone else to use your pic, through a bank of pictures that eBay would manage. There is a thread about this somewhere.

I don't know if this has gone into effect yet or not, but if you didn't opt out, eBay might not have your back on this one.

I believe that official, stock pics are allowed usage on eBay.

 

[LChinoz]

He just replied saying he was sorry and would remove the picture. He was nice about it and promised it would never happen again (and I guess he ended the auction). Glad I didn't have to go the eBay route. Thanks for the replies all. This has been very informative.