April 1st Ebay Listings Archive

Sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves (and others too, if we can get away with it). On April 1st for the last few years I've been putting some spoof listings on ebay (although if ebay continues the way it is going I may have to put them on oztion next year). Unfortunately after three months or so the listings are no longer accessible, but since 2007 I have been saving the original listing templates.

Revenge Is Sweet

Have you ever had someone copy your ebay listing or copy your images (or both)? Many of us have and it has happened to me perhaps a dozen times (that I've found out about!). When you contact Ebay Trust & Safety, the chances of Ebay doing anything about it are minimal and these days due to the hidden bidder system you cannot even warn the bidders away from what is an obvious scam.

However there is the rare occasion where you can get a bit of your own back. I had a nicer grade 2000 $1/10c mule listed on oztion.com.au. (Here's a copy of the listing). In April 2008 I noticed an ebay listing where the "seller" had an identical mule to mine. Not only that, but most of the listing was identical - including links to the images. Following the "Squirrel Method", the first thing I did was put a bid on the "item" so that the seller could not change the listing. Now since she had links to my images, all I had to do was edit the images. To give her a chance I first added a little text to the images - "Image of coin owned by emu666 on oztion" and "No-one else owns this coin or has permission to use the images" etc. I also contacted Ebay Trust & Safety which was the usual exercise in futility - no wonder there is fraud on that site! Almost a day later the "seller" had obviously not got the hint as the "item" was still listed, so I added the text in black across the images. With a bit of luck, the advertisements for oztion on an ebay listing would get her into big trouble. (Yes that's right, I do NOT like scammers).

A friend of mine then engaged in dialogue via email with the "seller" in which she maintained that she owned the coin. On hearing that, I followed advice I'd been given and added to the final image of the listing. That was finally too much for her and she ended the listing.

Here it is in all its glory; I believe it's the first ever M-rated mule listing.

Thanks to all who've made suggestions for the April 1st listings (especially all those who've said something along the lines of "how about.... but if you tell anyone it was my idea, I'll sue"). Also special thanks to those who gave suggestions during the "Stolen Mule Listing Episode".