I recently started using eBay to sell some items. I did not expect to sale many items but I thought I would give it a shot. I sold shirts that I had designed. I bought a website that I also sell my shirts on. The shirts are a bit controversial but as Americans we have the right to free speech (no nudity, no cursing, nothing inappropriate).
Well I started getting threats from ebay users, so I went to the ebay help forums asking for advice on what to do about it. That ended up making things worse. I then started getting threats from ebay employees stating that they would have me banned from ebay. We'll without any cause I was banned from ebay shortly thereafter. Big deal, that is no skin off my back.
The funny thing is that shortly afterwards, multiple people started selling shirts with the image that I created with the exact statements that were on my shirt. I contacted ebay stating they were allowing people to sell my company's property and that they were using my same image. I gave them proof and gave a link to my website where you can obviously see I am being ripped off and you can see when my site went online. EBay contacted me back saying that I must show official court documents proving the item is trademarked by me.
My point is that I am came up with an idea before anyone else, the item started getting exposure on well known websites like youtube and many more. EBay then kicked me off, and now allows many people to sell my image on a shirt without my authorization and will not force them to stop.
In my opinion ebay employees may have saw the ability to make money and stole my idea, if not them then maybe they got someone else to sell them. They have now sold hundreds of the items and many other websites are now selling my intellectual property and ebay started it all. They will no longer respond to my messages and are probably laughing all the way to the bank. EBay is a crock of crap and enjoys bullying the little guys.
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