ebay seller astra4646 avoid!!

[kds315*]

astra4646 has not just stolen my work and the photographic work of others to promote his sales,
he seems to also have sold "golden" lenses, see here http://photo.net/canon-fd-camera-forum/00bgN8

*** AVOID ***

P.S.: He also sells on etsy as "AstraLenses". he is listed as John K from Texas, USA

[calvin83]

Here is the old thread about the seller of making 'fakes'. I think we need to do something or more people may be fooled by the same seller.
http://forum.mflenses.com/modified-fd-ssc-50-1-4-or-rare-t63069.html

[kds315*]

Made a reverse image search using his etsy profile image, that seems to be him:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/azizjon-kutfitdinov.html

and Azizjon Kutfitdinov his name, lives in Spring, TX.

I also found several adresses.

[edri]

Will be punished by ebay? He committed two offenses:
1. He stoles your photo.
2. He cheated buyers by associating stolen photo with a certain lens.

[kds315*]

[kds315*]

Here is the ebay response. What a joke, as the seller has already removed those images he stole. The evidence I provided (screenshots) seem to have been ignored.

***
Dear Klaus,

Thank you for writing eBay's Verified Rights Owners (VeRO) Program in regard to reporting another member for using your image without permission.

We appreciate you wanting to protect your intellectual property and we will strive to help you. When we reviewed the item #121383964675 it does not appear to be using the image you provided. Its title is "Spiratone 35mm f1.8 by Mitake Soft Focus lens for Canon Sony M4/3 Fuji X Nikon".

Please check your records and submit a new notice if appropriate.

Thank you for your concern in helping to keep eBay a safe and reputable forum in which to conduct business.

Sincerely,

Elaine W.



eBay VeRO Team

***

[visualopsins]

[mo]

Its sad to say they are a toothless Tiger....words are meaingless unless backed up. at least you have made the rest of the MF world aware of this scam artist.

[kds315*]

Well, as a proof I had downloaded the html-code of the sellers offer as it was and sent it to them as proof. Let's see...

[calvin83]

[visualopsins]

I could have used more tact, in fact

Archive.org has a feature "save a page from the web". Saving the offending ebay item page there, before contacting anybody, would have provided the third-party-verified evidence, proof...

[calvin83]

[kds315*]

I cleaned up the thread. Some people have my PM.

[kds315*]

Last (of a few) message from ebay about that...

***
Dear Klaus,

Thank you for your quick response to the VeRO department. I can fully understand the frustration and concern you may have when you find infringing items on the site. Please know eBay is a free market place and acts only as a venue for sales between buyers and sellers. The VeRO program was created to help Right Owner's, such as yourself to have a means to report infringing items. Any issues pertaining to unauthorized resale or distribution of products is beyond the remit of the VeRO program.

If you find any other infringing listing on the site, we encourage you to report them on an NOCI and we'll be happy to review your report for processing.

Thank you for your concern in helping to keep eBay a safe and reputable forum in which to conduct business. We appreciate your participation in the VeRO Program.

***

So implicitly ebay does seemingly tolerate the use of stolen copyrighted work, as long as they don't know anything about it. And even if proof is being presented that it was there, they do not react to that. Only on what is CURRENTLY online on their site, they will / may react. There is no banning or blocking of sellers (what they had done a while ago) - no wonder, as they benefit from the seller's fees (in my opinion).


*** thread is locked ***