Passap Photo Stolen And Used On Ebay
If you are in the market for a Passap Duomatic 80, do NOT buy this one:
(link deactiviated - see update at end)
Recognize the photo?
I stumbled upon the theft when surfing ebay for knitting machine items. I’ve emailed the seller and politely asked for it to be removed.
Since I’m not holding my breath they’ll cooperate, I’ve got a plan B.
I searched eBay forums and found that to get a photo removed, you have to download a pdf, fill it out, sign under liability of perjury that you are the intellectual property owner, and fax it back. Once they have you in the system, they claim any future copyright infringement requests can be handled electronically.
The other surprising tidbit is that as of Aug 2009, unless you opt out, you are currently giving eBay permission to share your photos with others.
I kid you not.
To opt out, log into your account, go to My Ebay, click the large Account tab, select Site Preferences, go to Share Your Content, and then edit it to opt out.
I had no idea this change took place. I’ve avoided eBay as a seller after all the feedback upheaval over a year ago. I was considering starting up again, which is one of the reasons I was trolling through the machine knitting section and found the stolen photo.
Please people - take your own pictures! Don’t use mine. Having another irritation with eBay is not motivating me to list my stuff.
To add insult to injury, it looks like either this seller or someone else had the audacity to not only pilfer my photo, but watermark it as their own as well. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with stolen images and is the main reason I get frustrated and go on long blogging breaks.
Assuming the seller doesn’t remove my photo, I’m going to jump through eBay’s complaint hoops and see if the process works. I’d like to have some confidence in them before I consider selling again.
And a word to a potential knitting machine buyer:
If there is no actual picture of the knitting machine
If one of the photos is stolen
If another photo looks like a stock photo
If the seller’s feedback is 10 with only 2 as a seller
Then it’s probably not the best buying opportunity.
Update
Ebay came through very quickly.
I faxed my claim on Sunday. I was emailed Monday that they had received my claim and would investigate. By noon on Tuesday, my inbox contained the following update:
From: vero@ebay.com
Subject: VeRO Program — eBay Listing Removed
Date: December 1, 2009 11:56:21 AM PST
To: knittsings@xxxxxxxxxThank you for contacting us.
We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:
a********
2804307*****We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.
If the Notice of Claimed Infringement contained items that are not listed above you will receive a separate email communication about those items. These notices may arrive at different times (over a period of up to several hours) as items for different sellers are processed separately.
If you should have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
VeRO Program
eBay Trust & Safety
I’ve purposely hidden the sellers identity and deactivated any links to the original ebay listing because I consider the matter resolved.
Ebay’s process worked as advertised. I’m happy with the outcome.
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November 28, 2009
4 comments
I feel your pain.
This past week I have had to approach two on-line stores to remove photos of a product I sell that they were using. Both store are experienced retailers and do know better, but they still do it. How many more photos of yours and mine are out there …. stop stealing people!
Wishing you the best of luck with everything.
WELL KICK ME!!!
I’m the one who just bought the DM80! WELL!…. we’ll just have to see if this knitting machine is for real,,,or,, well,,, y’know.
I’ll let you all know how it turns out. I did get the email from Ebay that they had cancelled the listing, but that was after I had already bought and paid for the machine.
I have a Pinky. I may just have to be happy with her.
There are many websites that use code to keep anyone from being able to take the photos from their sites. Perhaps you may find that code as well and use it for your protection. The rules on websites such as ebay are to keep the honest people honest so one must learn to protect themselves.
Well,
The Passap DM80 arrived and is beautiful! Seems this one was one of the later mfg. years (locks and stand legs are all-white). It is in perfect shape and was purchased new in 1995. It was packed up and the stand legs were wrapped in newspaper from 1996. All original accessories were perfectly packed and even the parrafin and the bellodor oil tube was unused.
I have to say, I was, like you, skeptical. All turned out well. It is truly a beautiful thing to behold.
Keeliey
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