So, I sell something on ebay about five or six times a year. I'm a casual user of the site at best. When I decided recently to upgrade from my Sony Digital 8 Handycam to a minidv model, I figured I'd go ahead and list it and see what I could get out of it. I still have everything... the manuals, the software, I even have the original box!

So right off the bat, I log on to see exactly how much these bad boys are selling for, and soon I see a guy that has one going for $300! Same situation as me. He has the box, manuals, everything and a picture that shows the whole lot. So... as I've done a million other times on ebay... I ganked the picture... the description (which I doctored a bit) and applied it to my item. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm sure that ebay has rules against taking someone elses pictures, but let's face it... once his auction was closed, did he need the pics? No. Is it dishonest for me to portray my items as the same as those pictured? No, they are the EXACT same items!

Anyway, the seller of the original item gets all worked up because I used his original photo and starts threatening to cry "fraud" to the ebay cognoscenti and harrass anyone who bids on my Handycam. Then, I start getting emails from a bunch of his ebay buddies.

As it turns out, I am a "lazy" ebayer. True, I guess. So, to rectify the situation (and drive the point home that it was completely stupid for me to take a picture of my own) I staged an original picture of my own items up for auction. I had to clear out space in the library to match up the wooden floor in the original, but it was worth it. The ganked pic is on top. My interpretation is on bottom. Similar stuff, no?

As of my last check of the ole inbox, the guy even got the winning bidder of his own auction in on the action. It's weird and funny to think of people getting so worked up about this type of stuff. With this as a major disruption to thier world, I can only imagine that their holidays are gonna be pretty dismal and lonely. I'll keep you posted on how this all turns out. It's bound to be idiotic.

Labels: ebay