Ebay removed my Negative to fake seller without informing me. (1 Viewer)

[The Military Workshop]

Hey Guys,
Ebay does a great job in protecting dodgy sellers.
A month ago I posted about a UK seller selling fakes and that I bought one and left a Negative.
Latest update is he has started relisting again multiple times (he currently has three listed). Not only that he has created a third "fake". Have again reported them to Ebay (total waste of time - like sending an email to a brick wall). However the most frustrating part is that Ebay have removed my Negative to him without my knowledge. His comments on my Feedback can still be seen which tends to make me look like a non payer. Have written a long complaint to Ebay but now 24 hours and no reply.

My previous post (for background to this was as follows)

"I recently bought an item knowing I would not be paying for it and would be leaving a negative (I think that may have some guys interested !!).

Basically an Ebay seller in the UK was selling two Australian SAS prints which were obviously fakes (I know as I know the artist and sell the same prints) . Had copied image but everything underneath was false (ie, title, no mention of signatures, S/No etc). Was informed about this on 1 DEC and he removed them and said that was how he bought them. I also reported the items to Ebay.

A week later he relisted them (totally three prints). I again reported each to Ebay but realised nothing was going to happen before items ended. I bought one at Buy It Now and started bidding on the others. As soon as I bought the BIN I asked a number of questions since seller indicated buyer would be totally satisfied. These were questions he could not possibly answer (ie who signed, size, did it have S/No etc). Soon after Ebay cancelled my auction bids on the basis I was not likely to pay (the logic of Ebay on this is interesting). One of the auction items did sell.

Seller never answered my questions or contacted me. I did receive a request to cancel the transaction which I turned down and in my reason indicated seller was selling fake prints and knew it. After asking the questions 3 x and getting no reply I finally left a negative indicating he was selling fake SAS prints (note both prints were published by the Australian SAS Association to benefit members). "

Plans are in progress to tackle this another way since Ebay appears happy to let this continue. I have a feeling a few of those fakes will be heading to Oz soon and that there may be some "unhappy" customers when they receive them and compare them to the real versions.

Thought you guys might find this one of interest.

Regards
Brett

 

[jazzeum]

No offense Brett but if you told ebay that you bid on them with no intention to pay and that you intended to leave a negative, what would you expect them to do?

If that's what you did, you might have gotten better results (although probably not) had you been factual in your claim that they were fakes and why.

 

[Deitz]

Do you have a link to the item.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Brad,
No offence taken. You raise an intersting point. I know they are fake. However seller in his description says (his words in capitals , mine in brackets):

LIMITED EDITION

AUTHORISED BY THE SAS (not this one)

SPECIAL AIR SERVICE

PRINT

"THE SAS EXISTS TO GIVE THE ENEMY SOLDIER THE BEST CHANCE TO DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY! " (no SAS Association would use such words on a print)

PRINT NUMBER 22B (No 22 although meaningful in the UK SAS but has no meaning in the Aussie SAS - no such print reference)

FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS THE FULL PRINT IS NOT SHOWN IN FULL ( ? - he is the one copying it !)

IT WILL BE SEEN ONLY BY THE BUYER!

GUARANTEED TO BE COMPLETELY SATISFIED

THE PRINT WAS COMMISIONED BY THE AUSTRALIAN SAS BY THE FAMOUS SAS ARTIST IAN COATE (not this version of the print)

THE PRINT IS ONE OF A LIMITED EDITION (no number mentioned)

THE PRINT COMES READY FOR FRAMING AND WOULD MAKE A GREAT PRESENT!

THIS PRINT IS PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW AND ALL RIGHTS REMAIN WITH THE ARTIST ! ( ! )

ONE OF A SET OF TWO LIMITED EDITION SAS PRINTS-PLEASE SEE MY OTHER AUCTION FOR THE OTHER PRINT! (he has now made a 3rd)


He also does not indicate the size. I am guessing it must be very small. He quotes 3 UK pounds for international postage. For a proper print it would be at least 3 x as muc.
After buying I took him up on his offer to see the image and be satisfied and asked him some questions about size, number etc. He never replied despite me asking three times over 2 weeks. He did however try to cancel the transaction.

At no point has Ebay contacted me. In fact he claimed last night in response to a question from an Ebayer that I was under investigation by Ebay and that he was suing me for defamation !!! First I was aware of it.

It is now 48 hours since my detailed complaint to Ebay and still no response. Hence my other action.

In order to see the prints and a genuine one go to Ebay UK and search on SAS Print (original version is almost next to his).

You can probably understand my frustration.

Regards
Brett

 

[Gideon]

Hi Brett,

I'm confused a little.

Are you directly related to or represent the artist?

Why didn't you complete the transaction and then leave feedback? eBay won't allow you to do so otherwise.

Even though this user is selling counterfeit prints, the burden of proof is on the accuser.

If you can prove that he is copying and then selling copyrighted material then you need to settle it in court or appeal to eBay with your proof. In the latter, the may still opt to ignore your request unless hit with a subpoena for the contact information of the user selling what you claim to be fake.

Imagine if you were selling Britains figures on eBay and Richard Walker or someone else working for Britains said they were fakes and you have no right to sell them. What do you think eBay would do? They don't know who Richard or the employee are, they don't know if its a fake figure or not, they just don't know until something can be proven.

Just my 2 cents on the issue.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Gideon,
When I bought one the seller already knew I was on to him and never issued an invoice. In hindsight I should have paid straight away and then left the ball in his court. I would have thought he would have got the idea probably better not to relist as I did suggest further listings might be bought. Just shows how brazen he is.
I know he has been receiving questions about authenticity from others but he generally does not answer their questions.
Another aspect is that he makes those items "private" so you can not see the bidders and can not see which ones they are in his feedback.
I have known the artist for ten years and published some of his prints but not the ones being copied. Have approached the SAS Assoc since they are the publisher.
As I said I sent a very detailed complaint to Ebay and still no reply.
Any form of legal action would be a bit difficult and costly.
Regards
Brett

 

[The Military Workshop]

Couple of other points. If Ebay are going to remove Negative feedback (and leave his comments on mine) you would think they should inform me.
Likewise when I started bidding on two of them Ebay cancelled my bids. How did he get my bids cancelled ? Did he say this guy is accusing me of selling fake prints ?.
Hard to understand the logic of Ebay but certainly they appear to be on the side of the faker and not keen to ask me for more details or reply to my complaints.
Regards
Brett

 

[The Military Workshop]

Another twist to the tale.
One of the people who brought this to my attention has turned out to be a similar type of Ebay seller as the person I am complaining about.
But get this : my "target" bought 4 of this other guys items last year and gave him negatives for "selling fake copies". The seller responded by saying buyer was a competitor doing same thing. The Negatives are still there on his feedback but his retaliatory comments have been removed from my targets feedback.
I think Gideon is right. Need to buy and receive item before give feedback.
Regards
Brett

 

[Gideon]

A seller can cancel bids on items.

I have done this on more than a few occasions when I noticed shifty bidding activity taking place, ending listings too to sort out who was related to who and blocking the names from my auctions.

There was once a guy in Belgium with two id's placing what looked like competitive bids on one of my items. Then he sent me emails from both ID's with the exact same grammatical and spelling errors, insisting I was wrong and that he was two different people who happen to be from Belgium and don't know english very well. This guy was bidding with both id's and was cancelling his own bids to bring the price down.

I alerted eBay to it but they never did anything to stop him.

This seller can add you to his blocked list, he can omit your bids, etc. But you can't leave feedback for him unless you have completed a transaction.

If you send an eBay member an aggressive email stating that you won't pay for an item because you claim something wrong with the item, I can understand why eBay would remove a bid and feedback.

It's best to stay quiet and do what you will after the listing is over. Maybe you can get a few people together to buy prints and hit him with negatives all at once. 3 consecutive negatives from 3 different users will raise a red flag on him and eBay will investigate.

 

[damian]

Brett
Why don't you send the SAS off to sort him out.
You know pay him a visit he won't forget.
That would be easiest and leave ebay out of it.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Damian,
I would love to but can't claim to have such resources at my disposaal. If I did I would use them to better piurposes such as converting all Treefroggers into buying from Down Under !! For the benefit of the moderators that was a joke.
Lets just say the information about this guy is being passed around via email quite a bit including with additional info about his UK SAS items.
Regards
Brett