Unscrupulous ebay seller

[Rewton]

This was bound to happen eventually. Some images that I had posted on the figs4fun forum (Black Madeira and Figo Preto) last year have shown up in someone else's ebay listing for an entirely different fig. I know this thanks to a forum member who alerted me.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-fresh-Abebereira-Fig-Cuttings-Rare-black-Portuguese-variety-Portugal-tree-/151816822643?hash=item2358fcdf73&rmvSB=true

Here is my original post:

http://www.figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/black-madeira-and-figo-preto-comparison-7063585?pid=1288741997

Be forewarned about this seller. You can do what you want but I would NOT bid on anything being offered by a seller who steals images off the internet (of a different fig, no less) and passes them off has his/her own. It's a pain but but I guess I will need to watermark all images from now on.

[COGardener]

All places at all time bring in the scum, there is nothing that is safe nor sacred! When the leaches of society see a way to make a buck, they do not care how they do it.

[fitzski]

thanks for the heads up, Steve.

I think that's why Harvey and Wills started watermarking their photos.

[Charlie]

They are also using very similar wording in the description as Frank's recent Abebereira cuttings auction.

[Rewton]

OK, the images have been swapped out now. If the new images are legitimate I'm not sure why they weren't used to begin with? Lesson learned - watermark.

[COGardener]

Someone got caught. They obviously troll the forms.

Scum

Probably stolen pics from someone else.

Did you see the buy it now price, I about split a gut laughing.

[Altadena Mara]

$600 for tree prunings?

[WillsC]

Tis the season

[Blueboy1977]

He got caught and he trolls!!! LOL, what a douch!!!

[Hershell]

And greedy!

[Inkfin]

Oh, no it is the wife!

Pretending a potential buyer, I inquired the seller for the sudden change on fig pictures of his post while I had it on my watching list, he replied me this: "Okay, so sorry for the mix up, we were notified of the picture issue this afternoon, my wife runs this ebay account, and we had some issues with our listings. I am monitoring the messages now, if you have any more questions. The correct pictures are now showing of the tree and fruit from it."

[quackmaster]

$600!?!?!?! They could have at least put a best offer option!

[F. Bennett]

I sometimes watermark photos I post on the forums, just for this reason. It takes away from the natural beauty of the photo, but these days, it's almost a must.

[Rewton]

Frank, I just used an app for the Mac called Gimp. it works ok but I'm on the lookout for alternatives if you know of any.

[HarveyC]

I know that several folks, mostly from Thailand, were using my photos to sell cuttings. I posted a few photos in July without watermarks but after that just about every photo has a watermark. I may post some phone photos to my Facebook page but generally try to do that only if of lower quality, etc. In reality, there are enough photos out there for someone to pick from that we're not really able to change their ways.

I think the Photoshop watermark I'm using isn't too disruptive to the beauty of the fruits and it seems the best option for me so far.

[Bijan]

Steve, I had an idea while driving around today. You could create a unique and distinct design with a copyright mark on a plate at a DIY ceramic studio. Then take your fig pics on it. You could repeat a copyright mark on a presentation board to place behind the trees/limbs when taking those pics.

[Rewton]

Yes, that's a good idea. I guess there are a number of ways to combat this although the links you provided of someone using trees of joy pics suggests that the problem is hard to completely solve.

[F. Bennett]

Steve,

I use Watermark Factory. It hasn't been updated in years, it seems, but has lots of features. There are free ones out there, but just depends how detailed you want the watermark to be.

[AscPete]

Steve,
I doubt Unscrupulous Sellers will be deterred by watermarks, they can simply edit/crop photos, but I've been using MS Paint to resize my posted photos and the "Transparent" text seems to work well as a quick "watermark".

[don_sanders]

Yeah, it won't stop them if they don't have any other pics to choose from. It's pretty easy to remove any watermarks.

Might make them move on to images without watermarks though so that they don't have to update the image.

[eboone]

nice edit

[AscPete]

mmm.

[F. Bennett]

Good example, Don. As you mentioned, they may pass up a watermarked photo if they're in a hurry.
Even better is a tiled watermark that is all over the pic, but you risk making it sloppy looking. Transparency of the watermark would be a big factor.