eBay Wants to Use Pictures We Take in THEIR catalog

I don't know about any of you but I go to quite a bit of trouble to take good pics of my sale items. eBay wants to have the right to use OUR photos in THEIR catalog so other people could choose to use them to sell THEIR items.

Sure, they would give US the chance to use other people's pictures, but they would have to be super good to entice me to use them and most aren't.

Now if eBay wanted to Pay for that right it might be a different story and you could bet it would be .10 a pic or less.

Anyway, here's the email I received and maybe you did to. It gives instructions on how to opt out since they have automatically opted us in.

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Like most sellers, you may have enjoyed the convenience of automatically adding a photo to your listing from eBay’s vast catalog. The robust catalog of great photos benefits the marketplace and helps attract buyers and close sales.

As you may know, according to the eBay User Agreement, any photos uploaded to listings through eBay picture services may be added to and made available through the eBay product catalog—unless you change your photo preferences in My eBay to opt out of sharing.

During a recent technical update, the photo-sharing preference in My eBay may have been inadvertently reset for some sellers. We have temporarily stopped collecting photos until we could notify you and give you the opportunity to check your preference.

If you are fine with sharing, there’s nothing you need to do. If for any reason you prefer not to share, please opt out now through your "Site preferences" in the account tab in My eBay. Look for "Share your content" under "Selling Preferences". On March 12, eBay will again begin to collect photos.

We apologize for any inconvenience. As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

Sincerely,

eBay Seller Team

I personally hate it when someone uses a stock photo.  Anybody can Google something and see a stock picture.....I want to see a picture of the item I am buying that shows it's true condition and any potential flaws BEFORE I spend my money.

I personally hate it when someone uses a stock photo.  Anybody can Google something and see a stock picture.....I want to see a picture of the item I am buying that shows it's true condition and any potential flaws BEFORE I spend my money.

To me it really depends on the item. As a buyer? If it is a brand new item in retail packaging. Do I even really need a photo? Let alone a phot of the exact item. I guess it can give me a warm fuzzy. But, as a seller, if I have several hundred of an item that are all identical, Do I really want to take the time to photograph and track each individual item? No, A few example photos and a statement in the description stating that what you will receive is most likely not the exact item in the photos, I think that is good enough. Used items are a different story. That being said, my example photos are of 1 of my actual items, not stock photos.

Thanks for posting this. Really not that crazy considering basically any site instagram, pinterest, facebook basically claims rights to your pics you post on their site. That said this is kinda wierd since currently ebay lets you report people for using your pics and its a pretty serious violation of their policy but now they are going to actively help people use my pics. My pics are my brand, I seriously go after people who use them because I have actually had people come complianing to me only for both of us realize they didn't buy from me they bought from someone else using my pics and thought it was me. This hurts my brand and also steals my sales. I'm going to opt out right now. Thanks.

If it bothers you to have your pictures used, then watermark them with your username. That way they'll either be rejected or you'll get free advertising at other people's stores.

If it bothers you to have your pictures used, then watermark them with your username. That way they'll either be rejected or you'll get free advertising at other people's stores.

Several years ago I got a few hundred wooden aquarium covers(in boxes) (with liftable lid section) at $1 each...no way I could lose at that price and I sold them at the flea market and on eBay. Christmas prices were outrageously profitable.

A guy used my pics (AND my text) to try to sell his. I reported him immediately. His item was taken down and he was admonished by eBay. Too friggin' lazy to take his own pics or write his own text.

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Edit:

Last year I was selling a piece of electronics on eBay. I had gotten 100 of them for $50, in boxes ready to mail. I put them on eBay and a fellow from 50 miles away who had gotten some too was using my pictures.  I turned him in too. They took him down. I immediately put nice big RED letters across the pics and didn't have any problem with anybody after that.

Apparently these things became available nationwide in bulk because half a dozen people were selling them nationwide on eBay. I got them so cheap I was able to undercut them. I sold mine for $20 each while most of them were asking $35 and up.

I have gotten in the habit of signing every one of the pictures I put  online. I simply go into my draw program and put my name in the bottom corner. I always take a lot of time and consideration into taking my photos. It really pisses me off when someone else uses them without my permission.

I have gotten in the habit of signing every one of the pictures I put  online. I simply go into my draw program and put my name in the bottom corner. I always take a lot of time and consideration into taking my photos. It really pisses me off when someone else uses them without my permission.

Some people would just lay a black stripe over the edge where a signature is sitting. Putting a diagonal signature corner to corner helps with that but obstructs the view a bit. I used red letters in different pictures, in different positions in a given item listing. Sometimes I used my full seller name, other times just some initials that related to me and hopefully not to them.

If it bothers you to have your pictures used, then watermark them with your username. That way they'll either be rejected or you'll get free advertising at other people's stores.

Many people don't know this but watermarking your pics is against ebay terms of service. I know many people do it and it's smart to do it so others dont use your pics but its against the ebay TOS. I was just talking to an ebay rep about this. Apparently there's a feature within your listings where you can have it watermarked with your store name, I never knew about this but doing it yourself in paint or something could get you penalized on ebay