eBay User ‘mc16v’ of Isle of Man and Copied Images

mc16v of Isle of Man, United Kingdom stole our 2011 Isle of Man -Turkish Angora Cat Gold Coin photograph to use on eBay, without our permission, to try to sell his own. Totally dishonest.
Image theft is endemic on eBay, and most sellers appear not to care whether their buyers are deceived.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member’s feedback was 1251 with 100% Positive Feedback according to eBay.

eBay Copyright Thieves
Many eBay vendors use our coin photographs to sell inferior quality coins on eBay. These eBay members are dishonest and should be avoided.
We believe eBay profits from IP rights infringements (copyright theft), and does so knowingly, only removing infringing items reluctantly, if at all.

What’s Wrong?

We invest a great deal of time, effort, and cost into creating some of the best photographic coin and gold bar images on the internet. We strongly object when lazy and dishonest people decide to use them without a by your leave or thanks, doing so in competition with us.

Copyright theft is dishonest. We recommend you avoid doing business with dishonest dealers.

It is always possible, even likely, that sellers who steal photographs do not own a similar bar, and have the intention to totally defraud potential buyers.

The vendor is not only cheating us by stealing our copyright images, he is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.

Sample Listing

“The new 2011 coin depicts two Turkish Angora cats. The Turkish Angora cat is an old breed, named after the Turkish Capital of Angora (now Ankara). The Turkish Angora is an active breed, medium in size with long hair, slender build and delicate features including distinctive pert ears and lovely bright eyes. These cats are very affectionate and require a lot of attention. The design features two Turkish Angora cats in a relaxed pose; one sitting and one laying and also includes in the background the original Manx cat from the first cat coin. Different size coins available from drop down box above. This is a Proof Fine Gold coin supplied in a plush collectors box.”

Seller ID:  mc16v
Item Number: 110759821476
Date: N/A
Description: ISLE OF MAN 2011 TURKISH ANGORA CAT GOLD COIN

Price: Buy It Now: £99.95 – £1404.95

Price
The seller was asking for a Buy It Now price of £99.95 for a 1/25 oz coin and up to £1404.95 for a 1oz coin.

Even after eBay’s greedy 10% selling fees, and possible PayPal charges, the seller would almost certainly have been much better off selling the coins to us, instead of stealing our photographs.