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Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Some of the pictures Ive used recently were reused from previous auctions of mine. I do however remove personal info from the img properties, as well as load them onto my auction with the web hosting option. I open a new photobucket account per ebay account so they couldnt link accounts that way.

But is it possible they can link it just by the image itself rather than the data information, sort of like how google's reverse image search engine works?

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

hmm.. possible... if so it maybe your competition

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Sure they can.
Why not to change image size,not to mention metadata to start with

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

YEP THEYT SURE CAN... I recently had an account crashed bcuz I did the same as you.. I used a picture from an old account that got suspended so they MC999 me indef. and gave me the message saying... "we've noticed similarities in your auction that has caused problems in past auctions blah blah blah so to keep ebay a safe place we have removed your listings and credited your account blah blah blah.. ( thats how I read it.. a bunch of b.s lmao)

so what Im thinking is they are keeping a log of Pictuers, descriptions etc of auctions that have had such problems ... that have cause an MC999 Suspension in the past!!!

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

It has been established that linking via photo specifics does occur - modify and/or take new photos

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

If you happen to be on a Mac....imageoptim is what I use to wash all my photos.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

I agree with john competition is most likely cause they remember the pics from a different account Then they just report you and BAM toasted

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

maybe its not the actual image that caused the problem, but the size and the name of the file itself. I just take new photos just to be safe. >.<

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

I've been wondering if using the same storage location for pictures can link too? Someone who operates a website would be able to tell me... when you upload a picture to eb, can they see the path/directory it is in (such as C:\Pictures\)? Would it be unreasonable to think that two distinct users with the same exact picture storage location could be linked?

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Yes, Yes and Yes!!!

Eb will see the file path from where you upload it from. You will be linked.
I learned this from years of selling on CL. Then when I started selling on eb I notice there tracking methods for users are very similar.

You can take the pictures with your phone, send them to your email, upload them on computer and save to a different file locations. Theres other ways too.

Getting around there picture screening/linking bots is very easy. If you need any help just send me a pm.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

I always remove all metadata, rename and move to a different folder on my desktop before uploading.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Yes, I lost several accounts because of this in the past...... Now i clean everything as peterspike said... and no problems since..

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

So what your saying is, that if 100 people have their photos saved on C:\ that eventually all those 100 people will be linked to each other?

I do honestly feel that your a bit paranoid, I have been selling on Ebay for 4 years (Stealth wise) and use my Flashdrive for ALL my pictures and yet I don't think I've ever had to go to extremes for uploading my pictures. I do agree that that all images should be runned through exif metadata remover.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

[QUOTE=MM78;627530]So what your saying is, that if 100 people have their photos saved on C:\ that eventually all those 100 people will be linked to each other?

No thats not even close too what I'm saying

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Then please elaborate.....

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

What if your using stock photos?

There are so many sellers on feebay that use stock photos they cant ban everyone using them.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

My question is if you change the photo at all like say resize or crop. Or edit the background can it still be linked by Ebay?

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Thanks everyone for letting me know about BatchPurifier. I have never had problems being linked via pictures but I feel a heck of a lot better running everything through there. Never really realized how much data was stored on a simple JPEG image.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

It's crazy how much info can be stored within a simple JPEG file. Hackers can put PHP (or any other server-side scripting language) scripts within an image's EXIF data, so the script is automatically executed when uploaded to a server.

The possibilities for EXIF exploitation are limitless..

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

So to summarize:

1) Clean all EXIF data, with a programe like Exif Purge.

2) Load it via a flash drive

It it possible to upload them another way, ie send them to image hosting like Imgur, Photobucket?

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

Yes.....

Doesn't matter where they are loaded from as long as you followed step 1 from above.

Not 100% sure but I think it's possible in classic upload mode but again, not 100% sure.

Re: Picture linking, a possible cause for suspension
 

as someone said- size matters too.
From personal experience reusing the pics- if all pics size is 1200x1600 (as most photos are), than no problems, just purify them and good to go. I guess to many options to track it as there are tons of 1200x1600 photos around.
But make a size more specific, and even worse- specific for each picture, and 99% you will be linked- like one pic 1253x1452, second one 1340x1420, and so on.. I do resize every non-standart size photos and leaving size as is if it is something standart like 1200x1600.
Learned it hard way with lots by burning lots of accounts :(