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Thank you everyone for your input. Guess I’m just old school when it comes to plagiarism. Of course, I don’t mean the inclusion of relevant details but the creativity and personality that many sellers work hard to create. Loss occurs when someone else gets the sale using MY words! I’m not losing sleep or wallowing in anger but I am human.
Jay, to answer your questions…I don’t actively seek plagiarized listings. But I research almost every item I sell and in the process, often look at other sellers’ listings. That’s when I stumble across the plagiarism. The problem seems to be rampant on eBay because no seller has the time or tools to police their own work and the ethics bar has been lowered to the point that some people see nothing wrong with this. (I’m remembering every grade school and junior high teacher continually repeating “keep your eyes on your own paper”!)
There’s no objective way to know how often this occurs but I find theft of my own work at least once or twice a month. It is most likely to occur on unique items that are challenging to describe. A bit of humor, a clever phrase or a colorful description can really help sell these items and those words are the most recognizable when they are stolen. (Again, I’m not talking about size, dimensions, fabric, color, etc….generic things you must say to describe an item.)
Just imagine the legal consequences if I decided to launch a campaign using a phrase such as “You Deserve a Break Today” or “It’s the Real Thing” or “A diamond is forever”! Words can be a powerful part of advertising and should be protected whether you are McDonalds, Coke, De Beers or a lowly eBay seller.
