Ebay knockoffs and scams - who has stories?

[Andymac]

Early in the month, there was a warning thread regarding some guy making knockoff inkjet prints. I'm including a bit about this in my Screenprinting magazine column.

what is the complaint process on Ebay? Is it effective?

is there more or less of this type of thing going on? (unauthorized reproduction and sale of work)

what steps do you take if this happens to you?

Do most rockposter artists keep an eye out for other's work being used without authority.(do people give you a heads up?)

Any favorite/funny scam?

If you answer any of this and want your name included, please say so. I may or may not use it, but I will not include names unless you want me to.

[alexfugazi]

Whenever I catch someone bootlegging my images, I always email them with an offer to license it from me. They never accept, but it always gets taken down. It doesn't happen too often, though.

[RichieGoodtimes]

I've started making screen printed bootlegs of giclees.

[27designco]

Found this chick eBay My World - cambrias-boutique777 the other day selling my and others' posters on eBay. I was more surprised and irritated than mad. Surprised that she'd attempt to sell my print for almost 3x what the band and I have/are [I'm still selling off the edition] sold it for. And irritated that she didn't even take her own pictures, just lifted the images along with the specs from my website. I'm only assuming her prints are legit and she's just flipping them.

[40ozGraphics]

27disignco, this may be one of those scams were the seller doesn't own the print yet. She just found a collectible that she can order on-line and posted it on her ebay store. If some sucker comes along and buys it from her, she'll turn around and order from your site and then have you ship to her customer. She never has to handle the merch, she makes money for nothing, the customer get's hosed on the price and you do all the work. At least it's not bootlegging.

[epicproblems]

Found this chick eBay My World - cambrias-boutique777 the other day selling my and others' posters on eBay. I was more surprised and irritated than mad. Surprised that she'd attempt to sell my print for almost 3x what the band and I have/are [I'm still selling off the edition] sold it for. And irritated that she didn't even take her own pictures, just lifted the images along with the specs from my website. I'm only assuming her prints are legit and she's just flipping them.

She's probably just going to buy it from you if it sells. Definitely put her's in the "priority shipping" stack if you see someone buys one of your posters from her.

[crosshair]

27disignco, this may be one of those scams were the seller doesn't own the print yet. She just found a collectible that she can order on-line and posted it on her ebay store. If some sucker comes along and buys it from her, she'll turn around and order from your site and then have you ship to her customer. She never has to handle the merch, she makes money for nothing, the customer get's hosed on the price and you do all the work. At least it's not bootlegging.

There's a ton of this going on with the Black Keys print I just released.
It is irritating, but it isn't bootlegging.

There are things artists can do, if not to avoid it entirely, then to avoid making it easier for the flippers:

-limit to a maximum of two posters per customer
-insist that all orders for multiple items will ship together in a single tube. Often these guys will make multiple single orders, so that you will essentially pack their ebay auction items for them. F that.

I'm sure there are other things.

[johnny]

Same thing is going on with my Black Keys poster. Didn't think to limit them, didn't think I'd have to. It's weird, I've got a bunch for sale but at least 2 people have bought them on ebay for more than 2x what I'm selling. The simplest google search would inform the buyers that they're getting hosed, but maybe they don't care. Maybe it's just flippers selling to flippers? I don't know. Never had to deal with this stuff before. Not the worst problem to have, but it does seem a little shady.

[27designco]

Much thanks guys. I'm sad to hear about these stories but glad to be aware.

[crosshair]

Not the worst problem to have

That is true.

The thing about flippers and aftermarkets is, it's a free country. People are going to do it. And while it can be galling to see some douche turn around and sell for $100 something you just sold them for $35 and haven't even shipped yet, there isn't much point getting pissed about it. You can't stop them, but you can avoid helping them too much.