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Competitor stole my item description
 

Hi guys

I have been selling a particular product for the past month or so and it is proving to be a good profitable item for me. Until recently I was the only seller on eBay selling the item.

Over the past week another seller has starting listing the item too but has stolen my item description word for word which took me a while to write some weeks ago.

I have asked the seller to alter his item description as he is in breach of eBay rules but he claims that my item description was copied from a seller 2 years ago and that his isnt a word for word copy of mine. This is complete bulls**t. His wording and even font are identical to mine.

what can i do? I reported him to ebay yesterday but they have done nothing yet.

Your advice would be appreciated.

I

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

contact ebay by chat, they should help you, as they will see your listing has been up longer than his and his will get taken down.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Thank Bunneh. I will give that a go.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

It is against the rules, so it should get removed for you :thumb:

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

This happened to me about 4 years back. I had an item listed, someone bought it...couple weeks later the same guy that bought it turned around to sell the item. At that point he copied my entire listing and even posted MY pictures. I reported it to ebay and it was removed the following day. He ended up reposting it but writing his own description and posting his own pictures. Since then, depending on the item, I will watermark it with my username.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

This has happened to me more than once. Years ago, someone copied my entire listing including the pictures. He even kept my website as the URL to pull the pictures from.

So...

I went to the web and found the most disgusting X-Rated pics I could find. Not the normal stuff, but things that really would sicken most people, Those pics were TERRIBLE!

I copied the pics on my website to new names and modified my listing to pull the new pics. Then, I uploaded the X-Rated stuff and changed their names to the names I had originally in my listing.

So, my competitors ad was coming up with all of the truly disgusting pictures and his account lasted for about an hour. Then he got NARU'd.

:pound:

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Brilliant :lol:

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

:bounce: he got what he deserved haha!!

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

That's hilarious!!

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Solid creativity jeffweico $ you gave him what he deserved...

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Haha. Love it.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Two girls one cup always gets me chubbing :typing:

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

OK I have spoken to eBay on eBay Chat and reported the seller for copying my item description. The listings still remain on eBay though. Hopefully they will be taken down soon.

I also noticed that he is selling the same item now over 2 accounts with identical pictures and item descriptions too.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

I hate when people copy your listing.

I take hours taking professional pictures. And upload them and alter it.
What I have started to do is watermark my pictures.

I also report anyone who copies me.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Yes it is a good idea to watermark the photos. Sadly you can't do this with item descriptions...

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

They never take the listings down, just so you know. Only if you are a long term power seller.

Photos are the same unless they are watermarked, even then, it takes a few attempts.

Just get used to it, happens to me all the time. You will actually find it is other 'stealthers' stealing them, I could list about seller accounts on ebay in my field that are all stealth.

You can always alert PayPal lol

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

TBH that wouldn't surprise me.

In my experience the 'Report an item' button and eBay chat have been useless and a complete waste of time.

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

Have to keep at it :( they can be very slow for any action

Re: Competitor stole my item description
 

build a bridge and get over it.