Crappy photos that you gotta see to believe (1 Viewer)

[bospress.net]

Hi,
These are priceless. The guy buys a book for $5. Scans the photos and then offers them as 8x10 Glossy photos at $6 a piece.

Here are the auctions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHARLES-BUKOWSK...9QQihZ018QQcategoryZ14280QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHARLES-BUKOWSK...1QQihZ018QQcategoryZ14280QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHARLES-BUKOWSK...ryZ14280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A COUPLE THINGS THAT ARE priceless about these shitty ebay listings:

1) Copyright violation. (you know how I'm a stickler for this!). This person could be sued by Linda Bukowski, Harpercollins, Jim Christy (author of The Buk Book), ECW Press (Publisher of the book), The heirs of Claude Powell (The photographer), Tina Darby (The nude woman in the one photo). A lot of liability for $6

2) Look at the small print regarding negative feedback. He/She states that they will leave reciprocal negative feedback for anyone that leaves it for them. I have had some negative feedback posted against me. When it was warranted, I let it go. When it was not, I left reciprocal negative FB. The fact is that sometimes it is warranted and I have occasionally given buyers good reason to leave neg FB. I always try to make it good, but sometimes that is impossible. Anyone that would actually list this on their auction is an ass and is used to selling shit and then having people be unhappy. They use the threat of negative FB to keep their negative FB lower. Many people will not spend the $2 to return a $6 photo when the seller will not reimburse the postage. Here is the scam. You buy the photo for $6 plus $4.50 shipping. you get it and it looks like shit. You contact the seller and find that you can return the photo for the $6 that you spent on the photo once you return it. Do you spend another $2 sending it back? If so, then you have still spent $6.50 for NOTHING. ($6 for photo + $4.5 postage to you +$2 postage back - $6 refund = $6.50 that you cannot get back.) You do nothing and instead throw away the photo and leave positive Feedback as you are scared that doing anything else will get you a negative feedback. I bet that this guy throws the photo in a manilla envelope and spends all of $1 getting it to you, thereby makling another $3.50 off of the overpriced postage.

Am I reading too much into this? YES, of course, but these people that sit in their room printing images off of the internet on crappy little printers and making a living off of other people's work really piss me off.... This guy seems to be the worst of the worst ebay whores...

Bill

 

[bospress.net]

Followup:

I sent him an e-mail letting him know that he is taking a great risk in selling these. Also, notice in his "ad" that he says that the $4.50 Shipping and handling charge does not even come close to covering the cost of sending the photo, piece of cardboard and the envelope FIRST CLASS. That should cost him less that $1.50....

These people really rub me the wrong way. Of couse, if you look at his hundreds of auctions that close with no buyer vs the 2 or 3 that sell, I can only assume that he is loosing his ass and that one day his house of cards will come down and he will realize that he is spending WAY more on auctions that no one buys....

Bill

 

[Bukfan]

Anything for the allmighty buck - forget about morals. It would be cheaper and easier to find the pictures on the net and print them out on foto paper...

 

[bospress.net]

sho nuff!

 

[mjp]

That particular guy has been around for years, and there are dozens (hundreds?) of others doing the same thing.

It's easy to report bootlegs to eBay because they can see, "okay, that's not really a Dumb and Dumber DVD," but copyright on photos would have to be reported by the copyright holder or their representative.

I read last week that eBay has 3000 people working on complaints and fraud, but the times I have tried to deal with them it seemed that there were a couple teenagers working on it for an hour or two after school every day.

 

[bospress.net]

Hi,
One thing is sure. whoever gets these "photos" will get a true piece of crap. The guy is scannng a photo and enlarging from an original that is about 2" x 3". No doubt there is such graininess that you can make out individual pixels. Not exactly something that anyone with any sense would frame and hang up...

Yes, ebay can say that there are 3000 people working on fraud, but I think may be a case where half of the company is TECHNICALLY in charge of fraud investigations. This may be to protect themselves against suit. If they provide due dilligence, then they can't be held accountable, but a company that size, with that type and volume of fraud would lose their asses in court if it was revealed how few employees are actually involved in fraud and how many of them turn a blind eye to it under the direction of their powers that be... Ebay, in my opinion, could care less about fraud or their customers being defrauded. As long as Ebay keeps getting paid, then they are happy.

BIll

Bill

 

[nymark]

Not to mention the beautifully designed site. He must have gotten an advanced degree in graphics from Mr. Haney's school for artistes.

 

[bospress.net]

ha! You are right. Kinda like what a ten year old would do to a website...


Bill

 

[theeffects]

this is a guy that has NO ability to create anything. What kind of person STEALS someone else's images and makes crappy blown up 8X10's?
I couldn't even IMAGINE wanting to do this... How much/many could he possibly sell!? I guess a handful and he's made MONEY. Considering the QUALITY going into 'his' (i.e. someone else's) work, even one and it's money in the bank, he has almost ZERO overhead (i.e. PAYING FOR RIGHTS!).
SCUMBAG.

 

[bospress.net]

The seller just replied to my e-mail letting him know that he could very easily be sued for these. He said that he is cancelling the listings. I see that they were just relisted, so I'm not sure what the hell he is talking about... Interesting.

Bill

 

[theeffects]

he probably 'thinks' he's outsmarting you...
remove one auction and immediately start up another one; he's thinking~ "that'll get rid of him!!!".
He's not a BUK fan (he wouldn't be selling these if he was), so he probably doesn't understand some of us check eBay a couple times a day, we get to know the sellers (good-Waterrow, Soheyl, Scott, Bottle, etc....) and the BAD (i.e HIM).
The onus (spell check!) falls directly on eBay, but bootlegs, rip-offs contribute a LOT of money to their profit, so they seem to overlook this s***.

 

[bospress.net]

Hi theeffects,
He said that he was taking them "both" down. Funny thing is that he had three "photos"up for auction. I do think that he will just list them again next week.....

Now to mess with the sellers of the crappy tshirts, lighters, mugs, poker chips, shoe horns, tie clips, cock rings, etc....

Bill

 

[BilkoJoe]

Lay off the cock rings!

 

[theeffects]

yeah Bill, don't get crazy; the cock ring is my prize 'item' in my collection, I'll trade away HORSEMEAT, IT CATCHES... any day before the mighty ring goes....

 

[bospress.net]

Hello.
He keeps relisting these crappy scans. I suppose that he is selling them and has a hard time keeping his word to remove them. I know, I know. I'm an asshole.... Here is what I sent to him. This was right after I contacted ECW Press.
Bill


Hi,
I see that they keep showing up again and again. I have notified the publisher (ECW Press) that you are selling scans of their copyrighted photos on eBay. For your sake, you should hope that they just threaten to sue you, or invoke VeRO though eBay and have you removed as a seller, which they can do as the copyright holder.

You said that they would not be re-listed and then listed them exactly twice. I check eBay daily for Bukowski and see them each time they show up.

I hate to be a pain, but there are people that make their living writing books and taking photos. To just scan their photo and then attempt to mass sell and pad YOUR pockets it is not only illegal, but just plain wrong.

Best,
Bill

 

[nymark]

Not an asshole. You did the right thing. It's the very thing I should have done but for the fact that I am too fucking lazy to get off my ass and act. Bravo to you, Bill.

 

[bospress.net]

Hi,
He just sold it. If he relists it again, I'll post his e-mail address so that we xan all send him our thoughts....

BIll