I have yet to hear back from ebay myself.  If they ask for further help with finding proof, I am sure I can give it to them in terms of measurements as well as other things like that.  

Most electronic photographs have the original date created somewhere embedded into the file.  So it's pretty easy to show who had the file first.  It's very easy to measure stone sizes in a editing program to give actual pixel sizes once both photos are the exact same size.

Only inexperienced people to the digital era don't know that it is easy to see exactly when a photo was taken and by which camera and all that jazz.  The same photos are just different sizes but the summary says the exact same information.

I would guess David could easily tell us that the listing for this ring was created on DBL somewhere awfully close to March 9, 2010 (when the photgraph was taken per the information embedded).  And e-bay can confirm that the photos were updated on April 22, 2010 so David would have listed this photo before the ebay person even had it up.


I am sure also that David can confirm the camera he used and show proof of ownership of the camera.  In fact I bet David could take a picture of the ring next to the camera in question by borrowing someone else's camera or even using a cell phone in good lighting.

The digital age leaves thumbprints everywhere.  I am sure the seller has no idea that this is all easy to find.

Like I said I haven't heard back from them yet myself and if they do reply I will keep bugging them until they are sick of me.  I'm a pest like that though

I think that David should take this information and contact the seller again though.  Again I'm a pest

Get this one.  I sent this question to the seller:

Dear gems4you_usa,

Is the item pictured the actual item being sold?

- djm195

Here's her response:

Dear djm195,

Yes, this is the actual ring.

Kind regards,
melissa
(Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile)

David, did you include the URL from the website that shows where the pic was stolen from?  That used to suffice as proof of ownership.  You used to be able to put it in the comments section and as long as the owner reported it, *bay would remove the auction.

Another forum I am on has these issues all.the.time.  One of the posters has said that joining VERO is the only way to get pics pulled now.  What a PITA  They recommend watermarking everything, though apparantly scammers will still use the pics. 

David, I do know two other vendors that they have stolen from. 

Hey David,
I know one used to be an ebay seller, now I just get emails from him every now and then...the other one I think is on ebay.  I will send you their information in an email. 

http://www.facebook....98358&ref=search

Here is the owner's Facebook page!

Here is what was posted on the Facebook "wall" of the offending eBay photo-stealer-fraudster (as of 8/11//2010, 6:40 p.m.) :

"Melissa is such a thoughtful farmer and just fertilized Scott's farm in FarmVille!"

I think that we might already have guessed that such a mountebank would, indeed, have ready access to an  AMPLE  supply of "fertilizer" !!

-- Piglette

I say we post something on facebook.

We could post the link to David's page and then her ebay page and let her friends see the truth. 

I never heard from e-bay so I reported it again.  I might have my husband use his ebay to ask her if the moons have 2 prongs at the base or 3. 

I really wish ebay would allow more characters than they do for a report.  It's kind of hard to give evidence in the first window with like 100 characers.

I have bought from e-bay before quite a few times.  Mostly gold items that didn't have any or many stones on them.  I found a great deal on a solid gold chain for my husban dtoo when he hated the one that came with his necklace.

My pretty vintage ring is from ebay too.  So I do think you can find good deals, you just have to go in with eyes wide open.  I also do not believe in buying from e-bay for high amounts unless there is a physical store attached where you can view their website or something like that (much like DBL).  Those are the more trustworthy to me than the fly by the night people.

Granted most of what I buy is used estate pieces, so that is a whole other ball game anyway.  Ebay gives me the ability to find a larger selection of what I wouldn't find locally anyway.

David, did a sales rep set you up with your eaby store?  It seems you could get in touch with them! They would freak out if you threatened to pull your store.

So, the problem is that the photo was lifted directly from the DBL site, not eBay. *SIGH* Semantics.

Still, regardless of eBay's willingness or unwillingness to step-up here, there is a HUGE problem with using a DBL photo WITHOUT PERMISSION for ADVERTISING purposes. It goes beyond eBay.