Indian Dealer Ripping off Pictures from Platener.eu

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Hello,

I encourage folks to report the fraudulent use of photographs taken from Piotr Feret's website at platener.eu. This new Ebay seller based in India is using this work for several of their advertisements.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... Swa~BYO0om

[Mlanteigne]

A sadly normal practice for some of them.

[Paladin74]

I requested actual pictures of the item in question since I recognize Piotr's work.

[losthelm]

The photos are likely being used as a stock photo on alibaba or other site.
At this point adding watermarks will help with future work
It will take a lot of work reporting issues to keep other sellers from using it on ebay or other sites.

[Paladin74]

The response I got:

Hi sir,
This is the actual picture which you have seen......we are made the same......it hasbeen already sold 3 pcs....which had an special order to a buyer from australia....


Thanks....
Armore Replica

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Paladin,

They all say something to that effect every time someone actually confronts them. You can simply report the item to ebay with a direct link to the website where the image from was taken from, and time has proven that Ebay will usually remove the auctions.

And yes, it takes a bit of time to do this each time an auction comes up using stolen images, but I find it worth the effort. The men who craft these original objects are skilled and their reputation deserves a bit of respect. So again, please take the time to report these auctions if you can. Cheers!

-Gerhard

[Antipodes]

Its not just shameless for ripping off someone else's pictures, but also that it misrepresents what you would actually be getting, if you bought it. Piotor's work is top notch, raised helmets, heat treated and authentic, whilst I can't imagine the stuff getting pumped out of India comes anywhere near his quality.

[Klaus the Red]

I saw these listings today as well, and even without recognizing the original source, I knew the seller was full of shit. Nothing remotely that nice for that kind of lowball price has ever come out of India.

[Paladin74]

If someone can send me a link to the platener site that shows this piece, I'll be happy to report it.

[Gerhard von Liebau]

I said it was "platener.eu" in the very first post, Paladin. That particular auction has already been removed, but the seller has several others up with images from Piotr's site as well. I plan to report them later today. Hope you'll join me!

[Piotr Feret PLATENER]

I just read this subject...and I'm very grateful you all for your action for blocking this fraud from India and for establishing this topic. Here are links to auction which are presented by photos of my work:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... 2479373137
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... 2479373137
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... 2479373137
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... 2479373137
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... 2479373137
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... Sw5cNYHhRJ
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-NORMAN ... SwKOJYHhH8
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOUR ... SwB09YHhOP

I really doubt that there are able to make above patterns, becouse they even can't describe them properly.
On my website http://www.platener.eu all photos have simple watermark, so above photos were stolen probably from my Flickr album (which I already secure and change all albums and photos into private only).

What I shall do now with it? Should I report all these auction directly on e-bay? Or rather all such action are "fighting windmills"?

[Gerhard von Liebau]

Hello Piotr,

I'm sorry that your images were targeted this way! It is, as you say, a bit of an uphill battle against these anonymous swindlers. However, I believe that reporting the individual auctions on a regular enough basis will begin to dissuade people from stealing images and descriptions of crafted goods that they do not have a right to advertise. I just reported all of the items you listed above.

As a note, I recommend reporting these items as counterfeits that infringe upon copyright regulations.

Good luck to you!

-Gerhard

[bartholomew]

wow, that fifth one is mine! Only wish I could have had Piotr make it for $59.00

[Piotr Feret PLATENER]

Hello

Again some Indian dealer on eBay used stolen photos from my website to sell his crap - and not only from me, be aware of this swindler https://www.ebay.com/usr/diving-manufacturer Here some auction on which there are photos of my work:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOU ... SwB09YQ~9k
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-ARMOU ... Sw44BYQ-y1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEVAL-NORMA ... OSwMstYQ-U~

And here are stolen photos of Robert MacPherson armour made for Dr. Tobias Capwell:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Stee ... Sw-0xYT8QD

Some photos from his site on eBay are authentic like this one here https://www.ebay.com/itm/18-GA-Medieval ... SwqgRZtjCq which look like attempt to copy my reproduction of close helmet from Nuremberg http://www.platener.eu/close_helmet_numberg_1520_3.html and more photos you can find here http://www.platener.eu/helmy_en.html and compare them with above.

All the best and look out for frauds.

[Ian L]

This one was just brought to my attention. Your work of course Piotr, and my photos of it - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Armor-Knight-M ... Swzx9Zw03M

I get my photos stolen a lot by Ebay users from India and there seems to be no legitimate recourse. I've gone through the rigmarole of reporting the listings as fraudulent and they never seem to get taken down. I've also tried going the route of 'these people are stealing my copyrighted photographs' but ebay doesn't seem to care about that either.