eBay followup
Aug. 13th, 2007 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jan_andreaI thought I'd just make another post instead of trying to reply to everyone's comments individually :)
First off, thanks to all who replied for your support! It really means a lot to me.
The seller refunded my payments (of the files that weren't there). I don't know whether the VeRO process means that the other buyers got refunds for their stolen goods; I'm not sure how that works, and while I emailed eBay to find out, they haven't gotten back to me yet. She sounded rather hostile in terms of voluntarily refunding the buyers, which does piss me off; I'm always telling the kids "If it's not yours, don't touch it!" and I think that applies equally well to this situation: "If it's not yours, don't sell it!". Should be fairly obvious, in my view. Seller claims that she found the patterns on some free baby crafts site that labeled them free to use, distribute, copy, change, or "do what you like with them", so (according to her) not on my site. This is the same thing the previous seller claimed, but she did not produce the site in question. I've emailed this seller a couple of times for the URL; as with the previous one, she's "too busy" to find it and doesn't seem savvy enough to check her history (which I suggested but haven't heard back yet). I told her I'd withdraw my negative feedbacks from her if she could find it for me, so there is some incentive there!
Now, the question is, if this site exists, what the heck can I do about it? Because, if they've been giving away copies of my (and other people's) work like this, "free to distribute etc." it seems possible that there may be dozens of places my patterns are now being distributed for resale, and that making major changes to my own site to keep people from selling the patterns is closing the barn door after the cows have been rustled. I might be able to get the originating site (if the seller can point me to it -- I have spent literally hours searching for such a place and keep coming up empty, at least the way she describes it) to take down my work, but that's not going to help with any others that might be out there.
I'm pissed that this little industry exists in the first place. Pissed for me, and for the hundreds or thousands of other people whose work is being ripped off and resold. It's amazing what some scumbags will do for a buck :( If anyone has any leads about this kind of site (where not just links are posted -- I think those are fine, provided they make clear that the works being linked to are not for sale -- but to places that offer "free" PDFs for resale), please let me know. I guess my google juju isn't as strong as I thought it was, or I'm searching for the wrong terms (or looking in the wrong places -- after all, I have "moderate safe search" turned on...) but I just can't find anything like what the sellers have described. I wouldn't be surprised if it existed, but I am surprised that two people as totally un-computer-savvy as the two sellers seem to be could both find this site, when I (an internet user since 1992) cannot.
First off, thanks to all who replied for your support! It really means a lot to me.
The seller refunded my payments (of the files that weren't there). I don't know whether the VeRO process means that the other buyers got refunds for their stolen goods; I'm not sure how that works, and while I emailed eBay to find out, they haven't gotten back to me yet. She sounded rather hostile in terms of voluntarily refunding the buyers, which does piss me off; I'm always telling the kids "If it's not yours, don't touch it!" and I think that applies equally well to this situation: "If it's not yours, don't sell it!". Should be fairly obvious, in my view. Seller claims that she found the patterns on some free baby crafts site that labeled them free to use, distribute, copy, change, or "do what you like with them", so (according to her) not on my site. This is the same thing the previous seller claimed, but she did not produce the site in question. I've emailed this seller a couple of times for the URL; as with the previous one, she's "too busy" to find it and doesn't seem savvy enough to check her history (which I suggested but haven't heard back yet). I told her I'd withdraw my negative feedbacks from her if she could find it for me, so there is some incentive there!
Now, the question is, if this site exists, what the heck can I do about it? Because, if they've been giving away copies of my (and other people's) work like this, "free to distribute etc." it seems possible that there may be dozens of places my patterns are now being distributed for resale, and that making major changes to my own site to keep people from selling the patterns is closing the barn door after the cows have been rustled. I might be able to get the originating site (if the seller can point me to it -- I have spent literally hours searching for such a place and keep coming up empty, at least the way she describes it) to take down my work, but that's not going to help with any others that might be out there.
I'm pissed that this little industry exists in the first place. Pissed for me, and for the hundreds or thousands of other people whose work is being ripped off and resold. It's amazing what some scumbags will do for a buck :( If anyone has any leads about this kind of site (where not just links are posted -- I think those are fine, provided they make clear that the works being linked to are not for sale -- but to places that offer "free" PDFs for resale), please let me know. I guess my google juju isn't as strong as I thought it was, or I'm searching for the wrong terms (or looking in the wrong places -- after all, I have "moderate safe search" turned on...) but I just can't find anything like what the sellers have described. I wouldn't be surprised if it existed, but I am surprised that two people as totally un-computer-savvy as the two sellers seem to be could both find this site, when I (an internet user since 1992) cannot.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 01:51 pm (UTC)o_0
Date: 2007-08-14 01:43 am (UTC)What is wrong with some people? I just...it isn't...GAH. My brain can't wrap itself around this, it's such a simple concept. If all she had to do was give you a website and she won't do it then she has to know you're on to her.
Again, GAH. Stupid people annoy the hell out of me! (Driving to/from DC this morning is probably tainting my mindset though. But still!)
Re: o_0
Date: 2007-08-14 01:52 pm (UTC)I found about 5 more listings of the diaper/wipes case directions, and have reported those to VeRO. That, at least, guarantees that the buyers get a refund of their purchase price.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 09:46 am (UTC)... prefer, but it does baby cover for grocery cart the job and Sophia likes. the Hello Kitty print More complicated Here are the dimensions ...
grocery-cart.keckins.be/baby-cover-for-grocery-car... [Found on Ask.com]
(plugged random phrase in dogpile in quotes... found only one site duplicating your work, the site is now gone to search engine spam and the archive does not show the copyright data.)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 09:51 am (UTC)Simple cart cover The very simplest cart cover, at least in terms of its shape. Remember to make a note of where on the seat back the safety ...
covers4everything.com/how_to_make_a_shopping_cart_... [Found on Ask.com]
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 01:53 pm (UTC)