So annoyed at a bloody cheeky copycat..

[BrokenFairylights]

I'm selling a lovely go cart that was my sons but was only used at most 3 times, he's now outgrown it so it's on eBay. I purposely listed it for 10 days rather than 7 so that there was as much chance of it being seen as possible. I wrote a lovely clear description and put up lots of photos, I know that it was a good listing because almost straight away I had a bid and I've been receiving lots of emails asking me to sell away from eBay - which I've declined out of fairness.

Anyway I've been surprised that no other bids have been placed so let night I did a search of similar items just to see if they're selling for much at the moment. So I was a bit - no a lot put out to see an identical item foe sale timed to end 30 mins before mine - but with identical description as me, they have just cut and pasted every single one of my carefully chosen words. So now I think that everyone thinks I've hijacked their listing because their
is ending first! To cap it all they have loads of bids and I've still only got the one.

do you have people watching it? Maybe people who don't win the first one will bid on yours?

That's how I do it. I find a few, bid on the one ending soonest and if I don't get it, then put a bid on the next one. I wouldn't bid on more than on at a time in case I won them all!

hmm well, if you want to pick a fight, you do technically have the copyright to your text - so you could contact ebay about it and see what they would do (probably no more than ask the other person to change their description), or you could be philosophical about it; only one bid will win the other go-cart, all the others won't and will then probably bid on yours. -and with a bit of luck they'll then be more desperate and hopefully bid more for yours?

I'd probably report them to Ebay and wait for the bidders to come across to my listing. I thought that you weren't allowed to copy someone else's listing.

Have they copied your photo? If so you can ask ebay to remove their listing I think. You might even be able to do this with description but I am not 100% on that. However as others have said, you will probably get bids any way. You could message them not to copy your listings. Won't change much but might give you some satisfaction!

Thanks for the replies I'm relieved that I'm not being pedantic over this. My husband thinks my annoyance is hilarious which is winding me up as well. I might report to eBay but it all ends tonight so not a lot of time.

Meant to add that they haven't copied my photos they did take their own. And yes I have lots of watchers about 25 so I know i will get bids. It's not a common type so the plagiarism stands out.

you can report them to ebay and they will remove the listing - copying photos of descriptions is not permitted.

also make sure if it is collected only take cash, never paypal.

Arrgh! Just put on a new thread about being asked to put a buy it now price on an item. Now you're telling me I should only take cash on collection, never Paypal - which is what I went for. Why?? I was hoping Paypal was more secure. Is it something to do with an unscrupulous buyer can get their payment back through Paypal somehow having collected the item?

I didn't realise you could report a listing for copying and after thinking about it I decided to report the listing. I'll leave it up to eBay as to what they decide to do. I probably wouldn't have minded if they hadn't been so blatant or hadn't timed theirs to end at a similar time to mine, it all just felt really calculated. They will probably hate me now though still they xan relist but this time using their own words.

because the buyer can claim not received and get their money back - you have no proof of delivery without a courier, so yes - cash only.

How do you prove they collected the item if it's cash? Do you get them to sign for the item when they pick it up? Only asking because I normally take Paypal for everything.

no - there is no need to prove anything if they pay cash. You just mark the item as paid in ebay and that is it. Getting anyone to sign on pick up is pointless and worthless anyway, means nothing. Anyone could sign a bit of paper and pretend the buyer signed it, not worth doing at all.

Although I reported it, I think it was too late for eBay to do anything about it. Auctions have now ended and hey my go cart sold for more than £20 more than the copycats - there is justice.