There's a design thief on E-bay

[Janette]

Someone just notified me that there was someone selling intarsia pieces on e-bay of some of my custom designs. Not only that - they're selling them for about $40 bucks. I know they have also pirated at least one other person's designs as well. There are some others there too so any of you designers may want to check. Seller is artandcrafthouse Man this ticks me off. I sure hope it's no one from this forum.

artandcrafthouse | eBay

[playmeforafool]

Hi Janette,

Forgive my ignorance on this, but maybe I'm a little confused. By "custom designs", do you mean that you don't sell patterns for the things they are selling? If you do sell patterns of them, I thought that was the whole purpose -- that usually people could sell the things they made from the patterns -- just not the patterns themselves?

[KarlB]

I seriously wonder if these are being "hand" made overseas? It's also curious that a very high percentage of his listings sell. (check completed sales.) It makes me also wonder if the "sales" are being arranged.

I'm not accusing, it's just amazing to see that many sales for intarsia with practically no non-sales. (3 out of 410!)

It's also funny in the listings it says:

Hand-crafted by Mike P.

But in the sellers profile it says this:

Our works are from the hearts and the hands of our craftsmen & women.

And here's a neutral feedback:

Not handmade, looks like made in China. Not worth price paid. Beware!

Perhaps a cease and desist order would be an option Janette. Especially for the custom patterns.

Karl

[DWSudekum]

For certain report this seller to EBay. I agree with Karl I think they are being mass produced in China. The totality of the whole store inventory gives you a feel of that. Just my two cents.

DW

[Janette]

The custom ones are one of a kind pieces I have made for people of their pets - the pattern was never made available for sale. My corgi and another is there as well but I can't be sure if they purchased those patterns (I doubt it) but the patterns are available to be purchased.

[Janette]

There are other peoples designs on there as well - if you have your designs shown on your website - you may want to check.

[paul44224]

I just looked at the ebay stuff. I definately think China. I don't think there is an "original" thinker left in China. Everything they produce is a copy of someone else's idea. The quality absolutely shows. Odd, for a Communist country, there sure are a lot of multi-millionaires.

Paul

[NC Scroller]

I think it is funny that they claim the works are all "hand carved" so clearly they are a reseller since they don't have a clue how they are made.

Janette while I feel your pain I did not see in any of their write ups that this MikeP did the actual design. I did not look at all of the ads. It just says hand crafted by him which we are sure is untrue. Sure he did not give any credit to the real designers but since he is not claiming to be the designer I doubt you will have any leverage or grounds to report him.

[handibunny]

Jeanette,

The feed back seems to be bogus, too. I took a look at the feedback, which was suspiciously positive, and the same two phrases kept repeating themselves, regardless of the item that was purchased. That might be another area to pursue, since this is clearly an unscrupulous dealer.

[lefty1011]

i have a question about selling scrolled pieces, all the patterns i have , both bought and from some magazines, say copyrighted you can sell, give away as gifts etc but not the patterns, i have sold on another auction piece and listed a few pieces on other sites, i list the name of the person or shop that made the pattern, then post that it was cut by me, i add a tag on the back of the project, is this an acceptable way of selling or am i doing something unethical?

[NC Scroller]

i have a question about selling scrolled pieces, all the patterns i have , both bought and from some magazines, say copyrighted you can sell, give away as gifts etc but not the patterns, i have sold on another auction piece and listed a few pieces on other sites, i list the name of the person or shop that made the pattern, then post that it was cut by me, i add a tag on the back of the project, is this an acceptable way of selling or am i doing something unethical?

IMHO I would say you met all the requirements and more. You obtained the patterns through legal means, you are not mass producing the items, and you are not claiming to own the design. You actually take it a step further then is required, which I think is just great, by adding the tag to give the real designer the design credit.

[Forester21]

If you purchased a pattern/magazine that states you can sell the finished product then it is OK.
What this "person" is doing is taking patterns that have not been offered for sale and creating the project. So they must be taking pictures and copying those to get their patterns - which is not OK. And if they are taking "One of a Kind" patterns, this really runs into ruining the reputation of the designers. Janette makes these OOAK projects for her clients - what are they going to think when they see the same things on ebay? (and poorly made copies at that).

There are a couple of pieces there that are similar to my OOAK designs - it gave me a shock to see them, but they aren't the same as mine.
T

[Rolf]

Janette if you did not sell the design how would they get the pattern?
The price they charge would not even cover the cost of the wood.
Has anyone contacted the seller to ask where and by who they are being made.?
To my understanding it is fine for someone to sell the items made from a purchased pattern. But this looks more like a large scale operation cranking this stuff out.

[campasano]

I would contact e-bay just to hear what they have to say about this seller and if he is abiding by their rules.

Mike

[Janette]

Rolf - they are obviously copying the design from a photo on the web. Some are my patterns that I do sell (but didn't sell to them) so can't prove anything there - but ones like the ragdoll, dachshund, persian and black cat are all custom designs I did and made one of a kind pieces. EBay has been contacted. I contacted the seller and got no response - which I expected. All the corgis (except one that is mine) were designed by the person who told me about it - and she does not sell her designs. Not likely much that will be done - we'll see if e-bay removes the listings. So far they haven't.