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