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pengipete · March 27th, 2008, 06:06 PM

A "certified copy" would just mean that the copy was produced with the permission of the copyright holder which would not alter the legality or otherwise of this sale on the basis of this seller's description.

I can't see anything in that description that could be taken as constituting outright lies or be argued as being deliberately misleading. The description of the picture as a "preprint" is debatable - "print" or "reprint" would be a more accurate description and you may have a case if you can establish that "preprint" is deliberately used to confuse or to hide the true value of the item but you would then have to explain why you didn't query the description before bidding.

Whatever our feelings about the quality of the item that was sold, it was very clearly described as a preprint in the item's title and the description. The seller also gave a money back guarantee so it's even more difficult to point fingers at their business practise.

There's also the fact the seller already had negative feedback such as "BETRAY..sells xeroxcopies as signed pictures.." which would have given them a feedback score of 82.5% at the time (1 negative in 8 sales) which should have been checked before you purchased. It doesn't mitigate any potential wrongdoing on their part but does suggest that you may not have taken sufficient care before bidding.

The only possible grounds I can see for a complaint to eBay is the fact that the title and description describes the item as both a preprint and a photo and you might be able to argue that it can't be both at the same time.

The part of the description that might support that argument is the line that reads "This photo comes with a Certificate Of Authenticity detailing that the signature shown here on the photo is certified authentic" and you could argue that this part of the description suggests that you will receive "This photo" rather than a copy but the problem here is that every photo is only a copy of the original film or digital data.

Sorry to say this but I don't think that you've got a leg to stand on and I'm not even sure that you are justified in leaving negative feedback as the seller doesn't appear to have set out to mislead. It looks more like you bid without reading the description properly.

March 27th, 2008, 06:06 PM	#21 (permalink)
pengipete Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gloucester U.K. Age: 47 Posts: 770	A "certified copy" would just mean that the copy was produced with the permission of the copyright holder which would not alter the legality or otherwise of this sale on the basis of this seller's description. I can't see anything in that description that could be taken as constituting outright lies or be argued as being deliberately misleading. The description of the picture as a "preprint" is debatable - "print" or "reprint" would be a more accurate description and you may have a case if you can establish that "preprint" is deliberately used to confuse or to hide the true value of the item but you would then have to explain why you didn't query the description before bidding. Whatever our feelings about the quality of the item that was sold, it was very clearly described as a preprint in the item's title and the description. The seller also gave a money back guarantee so it's even more difficult to point fingers at their business practise. There's also the fact the seller already had negative feedback such as "BETRAY..sells xeroxcopies as signed pictures.." which would have given them a feedback score of 82.5% at the time (1 negative in 8 sales) which should have been checked before you purchased. It doesn't mitigate any potential wrongdoing on their part but does suggest that you may not have taken sufficient care before bidding. The only possible grounds I can see for a complaint to eBay is the fact that the title and description describes the item as both a preprint and a photo and you might be able to argue that it can't be both at the same time. The part of the description that might support that argument is the line that reads "This photo comes with a Certificate Of Authenticity detailing that the signature shown here on the photo is certified authentic" and you could argue that this part of the description suggests that you will receive "This photo" rather than a copy but the problem here is that every photo is only a copy of the original film or digital data. Sorry to say this but I don't think that you've got a leg to stand on and I'm not even sure that you are justified in leaving negative feedback as the seller doesn't appear to have set out to mislead. It looks more like you bid without reading the description properly.