Kerry, knowing Ebay's policy, you're right. The information on your (very helpful) Web site isn't copyrighted, and as such, isn't a violation any law, and likely Ebay won't do anything except note the complaints against that sellor. Quite a few auctions plagiarzie other Web sites, including photos of items. It's interesting the starting bid and buy it now price is $250 more than I won mine on Ebay not long ago. Obviously he's not in a hurry to sell the lens.
--Scott--
Scott M. Knowles, MS-Geography
scott@wsrphoto.com
"All things merge into one, and a river flows through it."
- Norman MacLean
When you look at the other items he has for sale it is obvious that he ALWAYS is asking too much for his items - you gotta wonder who buys this stuff, but he does have over 1700 sales under his belt - so someone is taking the bait. His feedback is also pretty impressive - only 2 negatives in the past 12 months, which is not bad given his volume of sale. Good Luck Kerry - hopefully the listing will be pulled today and it will serve as a lesson to him and others.
Juergen
Just to clarify, I asked the seller a civil question expressing a concern and wasn't suggesting (necessarily) "malicious" actions. The seller or eBay wouldn't care about one complaint but would notice combined voices (only because they'd want to judge if it's bad for their trade).
I hope the official channel will produce some result. Please, Kerry, let us know how it goes.
Scott - The information on your (very helpful) Web site isn't copyrighted, and as such, isn't a violation any law
It most certainly is copyrighted. I am the creator and legal copyright holder of all the content on my web site. There is also a copyright notice at the bottom of every page, including the one at the bottom of the page in question.
This notice also appears on the top page of the large format portion of my web site:
"This site Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Kerry L. Thalmann, all rights reserved.
All photographs and text appearing at this site are the exclusive
property of Kerry L. Thalmann and are protected under United States
and international copyright laws.
The photographs and text may not be reproduced, copied, stored, or manipulated
without the written permission of Kerry L. Thalmann. Use of any image
as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a
violation of copyright.
Any unauthorized use of text or images will be prosecuted to the full
extent of federal copyright laws."
Kerry
>Just purchase it and stiff them. Don't be so afraid of maintaining 100% positive feedback - the feedback section allows you to >be quite accurate (so long as you are concise.)
Yes, but he shouldn't abuse or violate eBay policies any more than the person running the auction. Likewise, why should he mar his feedback rating as a solution to the problem.
>Most crooks won't leave you negative feedback anyway, even if you lambast them.
>eBay's feedback was meant to rat out the baddies but everyone is so chicken to call a spade a spade... give me the URL in a >usable form and I'll do it. I doubt having 99.7% verus 99.6% positive feedback really makes one lick of difference to a >customer.
Because of this exact problem, many trading forums will no longer take ebay feedback as references for buyers and sellers. I regularly trade through the 2cpu forum (computer) and in order to list an item on their classified pages you have to have some other outside references, like heatware or beerology, in order to post. They no longer accept ebay references as valid. I wish that there was a similar heatware-like service for people who trade camera gear. Maybe there is. Anybody know of any? The ebay feedback thing not only leaves little room for describing problems, but is susceptible to tit-for-tat feedback (which doesn't always reflect what actually happened during the transaction).
I'll tell you something else that EBay doesn't care one iota about, and that's trademark infringement, using someone else's name in their handle. They don't even have a guideline on that one, though they provide some minimal information.
They will enforce following through on a purchase, even though the buyer was hoodwinked into thinking they were purchasing from someone else. That places EBay in the position of enforcing an illegal act.
But, do you think EBay cares? Not a whit.
Perhaps you could ask this gentleman for advice...
http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/500658.html
Kerry: I don't mind people placing a link to the applicable pages on my web site,
Thank goodness! I just listed two lenses on your classic list for sale at eBay and did link to your site. I never even considered you might not want the traffic... Of course I would never copy anybody's text without permission.
Cheers,
Jack - Thank goodness! I just listed two lenses on your classic list for sale at eBay and did link to your site. I never even considered you might not want the traffic... Of course I would never copy anybody's text without permission.
I have no problem with people referencing my web pages as it allows potential buyers (or just people curious about the lens in question) to find further information if they so wish. What I do object to is: people using my words as their ad copy without giving me credit, or using words attributed to me directly in their ad to make it look like I endorse their products and service. A reference (link or URL) to my site avoids both of these issues.
BTW, those two lenses are truly Future Classics in every sense. They are two of my all-time favorite lenses and were a big part of the inspiration for the Future Classics section of my web site. Sorry to see you selling them. Hopefully, it's because you are moving up to 8x10 or ULF and need even more coverage.
Kerry
BTW, those two lenses are truly Future Classics in every sense. They are two of my all-time favorite lenses and were a big part of the inspiration for the Future Classics section of my web site. Sorry to see you selling them. Hopefully, it's because you are moving up to 8x10 or ULF and need even more coverage.
After all this discussion about eBay and assorted crooks, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to form a section on this forum where participants could a) list their eBay handles in a way that email addresses are handled now and b) notify the community when they have an auction going.
This could help us all have a bit more assurance about who we are dealing with and we could also make sure that the person is who they say they are.
Regards,
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