Yet another eBay member and small dealer unethically using our high quality copyright coin photographs to sell the same modern gold proof coin sets as us, in direct competition with us.
eBay Copyright Theft
Many eBay sellers, including dealers steal our copyright images, we suspect some of them may also be fraudsters. Does eBay care?
Is eBay Really a Lottery? - Is This Seller a Crook?
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has failed to deliver the goods after being paid, buyers have complained to eBay or the police, and his membership has been revoked.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.
Power Sellers - Pillars of the eBay Community?
Yet another dishonest eBay PowerSeller.Feedback 334 - 100% Positive.
In our growing opinion, it just goes to show, that not only can you not trust eBay sellers, you should be particularly wary of eBay PowerSellers, and do not trust the eBay feedback system, or the PowerSeller symbol, even 100% feedback is no guarantee of honesty or integrity.
Copyright Theft is Dishonest - Can You Trust This eBay Vendor? Using other people's copyright images is against eBay's rules, it is illegal, it is dishonest, and it is unethical. Using the hard work of a fellow dealer to sell the same goods in competition with him demonstrates an extremely low standard of ethics. We would not recommend anybody to transact business with this person or company.
7 Listings £36,278
As at 18th February 2009, we could find 7 distinct listings from this seller using our images, some for as many as 7 items, and the total value at his selling prices was £36,278!
In every case, our own selling price is lower than his, even after our recent price increases. Collectors who bought from us on our usual pre-order basis would have saved even more money, and been able to deal with an honest, professional company, instead of this dodgy eBay character.
Rip-Off Prices?
Just because it's on eBay doesn't mean it's competitively priced!
We compared M. J. Hughes Investments 2006 prices with our own.
2009 UK 3 COIN GOLD PROOF SOVEREIGN SET - RM SEALED!Chard Price
Here we have a 2009 UK 3 COIN GOLD PROOF SOVEREIGN SET.
The set is still Royal Mint sealed!
Dispatched as soon as they arrive (I am told next week!).
The three coin collection contains a gold proof two-pound piece (£2), a sovereign and a half-sovereign.
Queen Elizabeth II's fourth portrait can be seen on the obverses of all three coins (Designed by Ian Rank-Broadley), and the famous portrayal of St. George slaying the Dragon can be seen on the reverses (Designed by Benedetto Pistrucci).
All three coins are in perfect proof condition, and are housed in their original Royal Mint presentation box.
The set comes with a Certificate of Authenticty (sic) (COA).
With a mintage of just 750, buy yours now!
As an extra, I will be throwing in a 2009 proof sovereign and half-sovereign!
Here are some facts about each coin:
DENOMINATION
DIAMETER (MM)
WEIGHT (G)
Two pound
28.4
15.98
Sovereign
22.05
7.98
Half-Sovereign
19.3
3.99
Each gold coin has been struck to the highest quality (Some may say ‘perfection’), and are made of 22 carat gold (0.917 fine).
MINTAGE: 750
GOLD CONTENT: 25.59 GRAMMES/0.8225 OUNCES
This is your chance to own a piece of numismatist (sic) history!
Coins such as this will only appreciate in value, as more and more collectors, as well as investors are seeking rare quality pieces. (Actually we will almost certainly be selling them for less, or at a lower gold premium in future).
Gold prices have increased by 50% in the past year. This trend is set to continue into 2009. Now is the time to invest!
The pictures I have uploaded do not do these coins credit! (The cheeky b*****d, not only is he too lazy to take his own photographs, but criticizes ours)
If you win this item, and do not want it, I will give you a full refund.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any enquiries.
Buy It Now Price £1,080.
Our current prince on these gold 3 coin proof sets is only £795 each, and that was an increase on our original price which, from memory was only £675 each.
2009 UK 5 COIN GOLD PROOF SOVEREIGN SET - RM SEALED!Chard Price
DUE TO VERY SMALL MARGINS ON THIS ITEM, I CAN ONLY ACCEPT PAYMENT VIA CHEQUE OR BANK TRANSFER. (This breaches eBay's listing policy) I APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.
Here we have a 2009 UK 5 COIN GOLD PROOF SOVEREIGN SET.
The set is still Royal Mint sealed!
The Royal Mint have now SOLD OUT! The set has an RRP of £1995!
Dispatched as soon as they arrive (I am told next week!).
A picture of the set can be found at:
http://www.royalmint.com/store/BritishGold/SV509.aspx
The five coin collection contains a gold proof five-pound piece, two-pound piece (£2), a sovereign, a half-sovereign and the new quarter sovereign.
Queen Elizabeth II's fourth portrait can be seen on the obverses of all five coins (Designed by Ian Rank-Broadley), and the famous portrayal of St. George slaying the Dragon can be seen on the reverses (Designed by Benedetto Pistrucci).
All five coins are in perfect proof condition, and are housed in their original Royal Mint presentation box.
The set comes with a Certificate of Authenticty (sic) (COA).
With a mintage of just 1750, buy yours now!
Each gold coin has been struck to the highest quality (Some may say ‘perfection’), and are made of 22 carat gold (0.917 fine).
MINTAGE: 1,750
GOLD CONTENT: 64 GRAMMES/2.05 OUNCES
This is your chance to own a piece of numismatist (sic) history!
Coins such as this will only appreciate in value, as more and more collectors, as well as investors are seeking rare quality pieces.
Gold prices have increased by 50% in the past year. This trend is set to continue into 2009. Now is the time to invest!
The pictures I have uploaded do not do these coins credit! If you win this item, and do not want it, I will give you a full refund. (We aren't surprised because the image shows a 3 coin set, and the cheeky b*****d, is not only too lazy to take his own photographs, but criticizes ours)
Please feel free to contact me if you have any enquiries.
Buy It Now Price £1,899.
Our current prince on these gold 5 coin proof sets is only £1,795 each, and that was an increase on our original price which was only £1,495 each.
2009 ROBERT BURNS GOLD PROOF TWO POUND PIECE - SEALED!Chard Price
Here we have a 2009 ROBERT BURNS GOLD PROOF TWO-POUND PIECE (£2).
The two-pound piece commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
The coin is in perfect proof condition. It comes in its original Royal Mint presentation cases, with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) - Still sealed!
All gold two--pound pieces weigh 15.98 grammes, and are made of 22 carat gold (0.917 fine). They have a diameter of 28.4 mm.
MINTAGE: 1,000
GOLD CONTENT: 14.65 GRAMMES/0.47 OUNCES
This is your chance to own a piece of numismatist (sic) history!
Coins such as this will only appreciate in value, as more and more collectors, as well as investors are seeking rare quality pieces.
Gold prices have increased by 50% in the past year. This trend is set to continue into 2009. Now is the time to buy!
The pictures I have uploaded do not do this coin credit! If you win this item, and do not want it, I will give you a full refund. (The cheeky t**t, not only is he too lazy to take his own photographs, but criticizes ours)
Please feel free to contact me if you have any enquiries.
Buy It Now Price £525.
Our current prince on these gold £2 proofs is only £475 each, and that was an increase on our original price which, from memory was only £425 each.
BNTA Members, Ethics, & Failures
We notice with surprise that Hughes is now a BNTA member (as at January 2010). Apart from the above indiscretion, we understand that Hughes is not VAT registered, yet the BNTA "History" page states that members must be VAT registered. A curious inconsistency!
"Application for membership of the BNTA is restricted to dealers and auctioneers in numismatic goods who are based in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, registered for VAT".
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
m-j-hughes-investments-2006's eBay Item 370154831508
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