Ebay seller using my photo's to sell their product, should I be annoyed?

[CJT]

Stumbled across this tonight while searching Ebay;

Landrover Discovery Series 2 11 2002 2004 Xrox Comp Bull BAR Washer Bottle in Rothwell, QLD | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251465884646?nav=SEARCH)

This seller has taken one of my build thread photos straight from Aulro and used it in their Ebay add.

Should I be annoyed?

I think I will give them a call tomorrow.

[George130]

Did they ask?
Send them a bill.

[Mr.Bear]

Bloody right you should be annoyed.

Could have at least contacted you to ask if he could use the photo

[CJT]

Nope, nobody contacted me.

I was searching eBay and saw the photo of my D2...

[Judo]

Maybe you should check the pick-up address on the ad in case it's your house. Checked if your bullbar is still there?

[101RRS]

If you google "Pics Discovery 2" your pic is in there, so maybe lifted from Google.

[Judo]

Yeah I imagine they just got it from Google. Some sections of the forum are public and can be found via Google searches.

I tend to think that taking stuff like that from the Internet is generally OK for personal use, but if they're making money from it, then it becomes a bit different.

[Distortion]

That said those guys do make some nice gear. Mate had some sliders made up for himself and they did excellent work.

[Disco Muppet]

Annoyed because it's your pic not so much.
Annoyed because it's a pic of your house and displays your rego, more so.

[Jojo]

This has happened to me too. I contacted the chap, he told me he just typed in the details into the search engine and my truck was the first to appear... Fancy that ;).
He turned out to be a nice guy, actually, and asked me if he still could use the pic, which I agreed to. He even invited me to visit him, if I ever would pass through his neck of the woods. Several years later I took on his offer as I was traveling by (he lives abroad). We were given a warm welcome, food and beverages and staying were on him. Made another friend... We are still in touch and he is due to repay the visit somewhen soon.
My advice: don't get angry, drop that chap a mail. He might have good explanation why he just chose your truck and, who knows, you may meet a new friend?
Cheers

[Mick_Marsh]

A fellow used an image of mine without permission to advertise an event. The image had nothing to do with the event.
I had to laugh. You see, a few years earlier he threatened to sue me for using an image that wasn't even his, on the letterhead of a letter I wrote to him (in his capacity as club secretary). I knew he was on a power trip so I just told him to contact my lawyers.
He has no idea the image he used is mine. Now, that is a laugh.

If you're not a professional photographer and someone uses your photo, be proud someone thought your photo was worth using.
If you use someone else's photo, a by line would be nice.
If you don't want your photo's used, put a "copyright" on them as a watermark.

[Phil HH]

Not just some bloke who wanted to sell a bar, however. The vendor is in the business of selling bars and other 4WD accessories, and maybe could be more ethical about where he sources his (or maybe her) photo stock.
Notwithstanding that, it's a good reminder that once you put something on the net you can't always take it back, and you have no control over who sees or uses it.

[Homestar]

Let ebay know - click on the 'report item' on the bottom RHS of the listing and tell them that the listing is breaching copyright. A line like 'if legal action is taken then ebay will be pursued for allowing copyright infringement to remain on their site'.

[Vern]

Its been on there for ages! I just assumed you had some connection with the company, guess not:(

[RHS58]

Same issue has arisen on the PradoPoint forum.

I have also had similar issues in The Trading Post - dodgy ad selling a vehicle I had nothing to do with, pic wasn't a vehicle the seller owned, seller was "overseas", dodgy email address, and MY mobile number had been randomly selected and placed in the ad.
Trading Post quickly pulled the ad when I contacted them, thankfully. But I got a lot of calls for a few days...

[CJT]

If they have lifted the picture from Google than that is fair enough, however I would have appreciated it not to have shown the rego or house as they are using it as an example for their business.

On a side note, I contacted the seller last night through Ebay asking if that is a D2 they fitted an XROX to and the reply was "Yes it is..."

Now I know that is not the case as it is not a standard fitment bar and I fitted it myself.

I checked out the other items for sale and all of the XROX photos are straight from Google from what I can tell, they all look familiar. Some have rego plates shown, others do not.

I will give the guy a call shortly, I have no issues with him using a photo, but I do believe it should be a better photo and not show personal vehicle details.

[isuzurover]

Very rude...

This is a good reason not to post images with your rego number...

[DiscoMick]

Probably got it off Google. Once a pic is on the internet anywhere it would be pretty hard to enforce copyright, whatever the law says.

[CJT]

I spoke to the retailer and all is good, they are going to change the photo.

As I said to him, my only concern was that is showed the vehicle details and my house (old house anyway) in their advertisement.

[Mick_Marsh]

I spoke to the retailer and all is good, they are going to change the photo.

As I said to him, my only concern was that is showed the vehicle details and my house (old house anyway) in their advertisement.
While you were chatting, did you get a discount on some of his products?

[frantic]

I had a double take a few years ago looking in the paper as the picture of the "view" from the block for sale was from my front yard across the park to the lake. The blocks actual location was over the hill looking into a +65 retired demountable village. The agent got a serve from me and actually all the local realtors have had to use the line in bold local/location shot x Min walk

[101RRS]

As I said to him, my only concern was that is showed the vehicle details and my house (old house anyway) in their advertisement.

As your vehicle is plastered all over the net for all to see - including vehicle details and your old house, I am not sure what getting this seller to pull the pic down will achieve with respect to your concerns.

The reality is that you have to assume that anything posted up on the net is available for anyone to use - irrespective whether copyright is attached.

Garry

[chopper]

That's why you should always comb your hair tuck in your shirt and clean and repaint your sandshoes.

[Naviguesser]

And have clean underwear :)

[gossamer]

the photo on google is from opposite lock???
Discovery 2 Xrox Bar | Xrox Bars | Opposite Lock (http://www.oppositelock.com.au/catalogue/xrox/discovery-2-xrox-bar)
your on their webpage as well :)

[Mick_Marsh]

the photo on google is from opposite lock???
Discovery 2 Xrox Bar | Xrox Bars | Opposite Lock (http://www.oppositelock.com.au/catalogue/xrox/discovery-2-xrox-bar)
your on their webpage as well :)
No. The ebay fellow has already changed the image.

[Basil135]

As your vehicle is plastered all over the net for all to see - including vehicle details and your old house, I am not sure what getting this seller to pull the pic down will achieve with respect to your concerns.

The reality is that you have to assume that anything posted up on the net is available for anyone to use - irrespective whether copyright is attached.

Garry

Note quite...

We had some photos taken for work, that were used on our company website. About 2 years later, I found those same photos on another company's site.

They just happened to be one of our competitors. :eek:

A quick phone call, telling them to expect a letter from our lawyers, and their site was pulled post haste.

It turns out that their web designers decided to take a few short-cuts. However, when you are stealing pictures from a very large, multi-national company, you really do need to be careful about what you do with them.

[CJT]

As your vehicle is plastered all over the net for all to see - including vehicle details and your old house, I am not sure what getting this seller to pull the pic down will achieve with respect to your concerns.

The reality is that you have to assume that anything posted up on the net is available for anyone to use - irrespective whether copyright is attached.

Garry

Garry,

I understand that and I am aware of the use of image from Google / internet etc. being common and that almost all images posted to forums / web pages can be found.

The only real concern I had, was the principle and courtesy of using my image. I felt that if they where going to take random pictures of the internet to use to sell their product that is fine, but courtesy to me would be to at least black out the number plate irrespective of it can be found elsewhere.

Also, when the seller replied to my question on Ebay saying that yes, it was a vehicle that they did...

And besides, it was a dodgy photo of the D2 only half done :p It could have at least been a good photo...

I'm not worried either way, the guy was nice to deal with and happy to use another photo instead and has.