We noticed this dodgy eBay seller because he was using one of our high quality photographs of a 2007 Britannia Gold Proof Set, Can you trust this eBay member?
Many eBay sellers, including dealers steal our copyright images, What does this say about their honesty and professionalism. Does eBay care? Do their customers care?
Is eBay Really a Lottery? - Is This Seller Honest?
Whenever we send copyright infringement notices to eBay, which is a daily occurrence, we include a paragraph warning or alerting them that in our experience, may people who steal our images also steal other things, and that if a vendor uses stolen images, it is likely that he does not own the items he is offering for sale. eBay appear to take no notice of our "good neighbour" advice, and usually allow the seller to relist the same or similar items, sometimes they steal other people's images as well.
In a significant number of cases, although we don't keep count, we notice that a few weeks later, the seller is "no longer a registered user". We never get any feedback or thanks from eBay, but our guess is that the seller has failed to deliver the goods after being paid, buyers have complained to eBay or the police, and his membership has been revoked. Because we don't receive any feedback, we can only guess, and it does seem that eBay goes to great lengths to avoid bad publicity.
Au_Coins's Dubious eBay Listings
| Seller ID | Item Number | Date | Description | Value |
| au_coins | 120274711233 | 14th July 2008 | THE 2007 GOLD PROOF BRITANNIA FOUR COIN SET(cased+cert) | £1,175 |
Notes
Seller ID. There is nothing to stop eBay members changing their "Seller ID", or opening a new account.
Item Number. We may have shown only one out of many similar items.
Date = End date or date added to this page if item still current.
Description = Description as used by the seller as his item title.
Price = "Buy It Now" price.
Another Dishonest PowerSeller According to eBay:
As the pillars of our community, PowerSellers are committed to upholding and embracing the core community values that are the very foundation of eBay. They are exemplary members who are held to the highest standards of professionalism, having achieved and maintained a 98% positive feedback rating and an excellent sales performance record.
Pillars or Pillocks? Many of the eBay copyright thieves we come across are "PowerSellers". If these really are the "pillars of our community", we dread to think what the rest of the community are like.
Another 100% Feedback eBay Seller Caught Red-Handed
Many of the dishonest eBay vendors who steal our copyright photographs have a 100% feedback rating. We believe this undermines the eBay feedback system.
Our advice to eBay buyers is "do not trust the eBay feedback system". It is not a reliable guide to honesty or integrity. It can be manipulated by unscrupulous and dishonest traders. Indeed eBay take positive steps to protect the ratings of some of their higher fee paying vendors, who get special privileges.
What's Wrong
Au_Coins was using one of our copyright high quality photographs of a 2007 Britannia Gold Four Coin Set. This in itself is dishonest.
His previous feedback history states that he has been a member since 13th September 2004 in the UK. It also shows him as having a 100% positive feedback score of 650
We believe this is yet another example of eBay feedback profiles being unreliable. Do eBay publish anywhere the results of any other complaints against their members, or do they simply keep this information to themselves?
He has an eBay "Shop" called Gold Coin Investments.
When we wrote this page, we had not yet reported the vendor to eBay. Once we do, it will be interesting to see whether the vendor has the decency to contact us, apologise, and offer to compensate us.
Our Conclusions
- Au_Coins is not averse to stealing other people's images.
- Whether he is otherwise honest, we do not know.
- You should not rely on the eBay feedback rating or PowerSeller status.
Due Care & Attention We try to exercise caution when reporting anything like this because of:
- A libel action against us from au_coins if we are wrong,
- Retaliatory action from eBay, as we believe they don't like members taking vigilante action, probably because it may eBay look as bad as it is.
Copyright Notice Please see our "Copyright" page for further information.
Copyright Infringements Remedies Our suggested draft remedies for copyright abusers dependent on category - competitors, bloggers, pseudo-expert & advice sites acting as eBay & Google portals, eBay & other auction site sellers.
Buying Gold Coins & Bars on eBay
Selling Gold Coins & Bars on eBay
Copyright Thieves on eBay We already have a page naming and shaming dealers using our images without permission. It's time we did the same for eBay, although if we include them all, this could be a very long page.
Alphabetical Listing of Other Copyright Theft Sites
Other Web Sites All comments about copyright also cover content of all our other websites including, but not limited to:-
- Chards
www.chards.co.uk - Investment Gold Bars & Coins (This Site)
taxfreegold.co.uk - General Coins & Jewellery:
www.24carat.co.uk - Gold Sovereigns:
goldsovereigns.co.uk - 18 Carat Gold Jewellery:
www.18carat.co.uk - 9 Carat Gold Jewellery:
www.9carat.co.uk
Au_Coins eBay Item 120274711233 2007 Gold Britannia Proof Set in Box
Our 2007 Gold Britannia Proof Set in Box
32 - 36 Harrowside, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 1RJ, England. Telephone (44) - (0) 1253 - 343081; Fax 408058;
E-mail: Contact Us The URL for our main page is: taxfreegold.co.uk