Having fun with eBay.

[brian.mark]

I'm having fun with eBay sellers again. Here is an example. I'm using a script to take a look at the referrer data for the images and modify them as needed for external references.

Any suggestions for other ways to have fun with these people?

Anyone have a strategy for creating a link from their page to ours? I'm considering making a 1x1 image that won't show up on our site but will be a link to our page and will show up on their site if they don't modify the features / specs.

Oh, and I'm also recording the first IP to view the image (normally the seller) and serving up the original without alteration to that IP. I find it amazing how many of our images are used outside of our site.

Brian.

[wrmineo]

I'll have to give this some thought and send you a PM on my ideas for having fun ... don't want any traces ... :)

But, this is tacky as hell!

I see images from my website all over the web which isn't cool, but not that bad. BUT, to have the image "stolen" AND linked from your site - that's tacky!!

First thing I would do, is send them a hosting bill, then a usage fee, then a notice to eBay as they are not depicting their item for sale, but yours - false ad.

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by wrmineo

I'll have to give this some thought and send you a PM on my ideas for having fun ... don't want any traces ... :)

But, this is tacky as hell!

I see images from my website all over the web which isn't cool, but not that bad. BUT, to have the image "stolen" AND linked from your site - that's tacky!!

First thing I would do, is send them a hosting bill, then a usage fee, then a notice to eBay as they are not depicting their item for sale, but yours - false ad.

We tried that. Yahoo required us to send a DMCA notice, which they would investigate. They would then give the person 48 hours to comply. I figured it's better if I can just start including links (higher IBL count, right?) and then let eBay customers know where the image is from and our price (which in many cases is lower than or just a few dollars more than a used one).

Brian.

[steve0]

We've had the same problem with ebay sellers and others... I like what you've done..

The nice thing with ebay is once you fill out the form they have.. ('vero program' or something like that) .. you can get all their auctions shutdown, and their accounts closed.. then they need to rebuild their precious 'feedback'.

[brian.mark]

We added a bit more here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4392754151

The text next to "Features" is actually an image that shows up 1x1 on our site, but the text gets added when it is viewed on another site. Very simple with image::magick, and I'm going to make it so we can customize the text on a per-page basis. This could be fun.

I guess that link that they posted is a big no-no. You can't link to another source for purchasing said product or you lose your "Power Seller" ranking. That's too bad, isn't it? ;-)

Brian.

[steve0]

That kicks butt.. !

As a followup up to my other post..

http://pages.ebay.in/help/confidence/programs-vero.html

Now you can torpedo them too..

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by steve0

That kicks butt.. !

As a followup up to my other post..

http://pages.ebay.in/help/confidence/programs-vero.html

Now you can torpedo them too..

Thanks. We're starting to see traffic from those images, so I'm going to sit back and see what happens.

Brian.

[webhost1]

I will remember not to cross you Brian. What you did looks like it will get more customers for you. Sure wish I could do something like that.

[Ne0]

Originally Posted by wrmineo

I see images from my website all over the web which isn't cool, but not that bad. BUT, to have the image "stolen" AND linked from your site - that's tacky!!

First thing I would do, is send them a hosting bill, then a usage fee, then a notice to eBay as they are not depicting their item for sale, but yours - false ad.

Hey Rob ;) I don't know if you have server access, if you do you should hotlink protect your sites with the pictures. I agree with what your saying it is tacky as hell! And Brian if you're getting traffic from the images way to make lemonade! Thats what I love about this site there are truely great minds among us!
And Rob if you need help with the hotlink protection pm me on Yahoo and I'll help ya out ;)
L8 M8's
NeO1

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by NeO~1

Hey Rob ;) I don't know if you have server access, if you do you should hotlink protect your sites with the pictures. I agree with what your saying it is tacky as hell! And Brian if you're getting traffic from the images way to make lemonade! Thats what I love about this site there are truely great minds among us!
And Rob if you need help with the hotlink protection pm me on Yahoo and I'll help ya out ;)
L8 M8's
NeO1

Not only do we have some traffic lemonade (sugar free I hope - otherwise I'll be dead by Tuesday), we're seeing sales from that little trick. We're selling one of the items (a $20 brad nailer that a guy had been selling fairly well on eBay for $30 with our image) much better than any previous month. I'm going to add a cookie when someone is referred by an eBay link so we can really track the sales, but it's looking good from our webstats so far.

Oh, and who is this great mind that you speak of? Are you talking about Mike again? ;-)

Brian.

[webhost1]

How many of these pics of yours are on eBay? This is really a neat idea you have. Wonder if anybody else has done this?

[brian.mark]

72 current auctions. Quite a few closed auctions (9 I think) that are still getting views. That all ads up to some decent amount of advertising.

Brian.

[webhost1]

I take it that most of these are not by the same person. As you said that is a lot of free ad's to get to users you might not otherwise have access to. It also means something else to me if I was to be on eBay and looking at ad's. Why not check out the source instead of this aution.