Damnation!

Aug. 11th, 2007 02:22 pm
jan_andrea: (exist)
The eBay a$$holes are at it again.

I got another email from a disgruntled buyer who'd gotten one of my patterns in an eBay auction (this one). Apparently the PDF is a duplicate of my shopping cart cover directions. Looking at her other auctions, it seems likely that she's also ripping off at least two to three other patterns (this one, for the diaper/wipes case, and this one, for the sleep sack, and this one, for a high chair cover).

Un-effing-real.

I wrote to the seller. No response yet. The buyer wrote to the seller, requesting a refund, and was refused. She has opened a dispute with PayPal, which she should win. I've opened a VeRO dispute with eBay regarding the seller, which hopefully will light a fire under her ass. The buyer also sent me a copy of what she had received from the seller, and it's a copy-and-pasted version of the shopping cart cover directions... including Sophia's picture. I am PISSED about this. I mean, damn it, what part of copyright is so hard to understand? What kind of complete jackhole rips off free works and sells them as their own?

I'm trying to find a quick and easy way to add a watermark to my images. I didn't want to do that, particularly because most of the images in the patterns have measurements and things in them, and adding text over that will make them more difficult to use, but it seems that if I want to protect my free work from assholes, I just have to bite the bullet and do it. Unfortunately, I haven't found a freeware program that will batch add watermarks AND do so on GIFs -- most seem to be for JPGs. Does anyone know of a freeware one that will do watermarks in batches? I could probably get Fireworks to do it, but that's a lot more work than I really want to put into this. I am willing to pay for a decent program, but honestly, having to pay to mark my own damned images because other assholes can't stop stealing them is pretty obnoxious :(

ARGH.

ETA: The buyer sent me the file; it's word for word a copy of the pattern of my site... including Sophia's picture. Her paypal dispute was answered thusly by the seller:

Item sold was for instructions on how to make shopping cart covers - the document she received included directions on how to make shopping cart covers. I did not acquire the info from the website she indicates - I have have never heard of it until now. The site I obtained the info from told me I could do whatever I wanted to with it. I am sorry if she is upset with the directions, but what was advertised is what I provided. I feel it is unfair to demand a refund for digital information that has been received by the buyer & that is as described. I have received several threatning pieces of correspondence from this buyer, and do not wish to communicate further with her. I ask that you rule in my favor seeing the item she received is EXACTLY what was being advertised.

The "threats" were the buyer telling her she needed to remove the listings and that she was writing to me :P And of course, the seller absolutely does NOT have my permission to be selling my directions. I wrote to her and said that if she obtained them from another site, I needed their URL immediately. Of course, no reply.

I also bought the sleep sack and high chair cover directions, to see if they were also copied from my site. Well, guess what? There were no files available to download. I'm guessing that she panicked and removed them from her site, but didn't take down the auctions; this gave me the opportunity to leave negative feedback (which I did) and open disputes with PayPal (which I have done). I'm very curious to see how she handles that. It's pretty much damned if she does, damned if she doesn't as far as sending me the files, unless they aren't copies of my site; if they are and she sends them, I have ammo; if she doesn't send them, my dispute is still valid. The only way she can win is if they aren't copies, which I doubt.
jan_andrea: (wow)
... and bought the next Janome Memory Craft model. It's been out for a couple of years, and for a couple of years, I've been vacillating over whether to pick it up or not. I put it off for a long time, since my 6500 was pretty new when the 6600 came out, but now I wish I'd gotten it sooner! It's an amazing machine -- everything my 6500 has, plus a number of other great features, not least of which is a built-in walking foot. I've sewn a couple of thick slings with it now, and it makes a *huge* difference. It's really quiet, too. Shiny all around. I kept my 6500 rather than trading it in -- they offer only 10% of the purchase price for trades no matter what kind of machine you're trading in, and the 6500 is worth way more than that. So I'm thinking that if [livejournal.com profile] brunahildm wants to, she can sew for me on the 6500 while I sew on the 6600, and I'll be able to take more orders, which would make my potential customers happy!

The 6600 isn't inexpensive by any means -- I paid $1149 for it at my local sewing machine store -- but I figured it's an investment in my business. It's already saving me time, too: you can reprogram the stitches (something I *really* wanted on the 6500!) and since I was constantly changing between stitches and having to adjust them each time, it should cut at least 5 minutes from my sewing each day. Doesn't sound like much, but sometimes 5 minutes is the difference between comfortably finishing by 11am and having to rush down to get Sophia. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who does a lot of sewing! It's an incredible machine, and a big step from the 6500.

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Jan Heirtzler

January 2017

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