Headsup re: eBay auction & seller

Berkley

Berkley

Joined
May 5, 1999
Messages
3,065
A seller using the name pow305 , located in Miami Florida, has an auction on eBay for what appears to be a Himalayan Imports kothimoda. I have NOT provided a link to the auction, but if anyone happens to come across it and is tempted, be aware of the following facts: Although the seller is careful never to use the full name "Himalayan Imports", the entire text is a paste from the HI website description of the HI kothimoda, down to and including the use of Kami Sherpa’s name!:mad: The picture of the item allegedly being offered is in fact the copyrighted image from the HI website, including the Himalayan Imports watermarks!:thumbdn:
What, if anything, this person is attempting to sell is anyone’s guess. The “lifetime guarantee" referred to in the text would be from the seller, whoever he is, not from HI.
As the proud owner of the very first HI kothimoda, hand-carried back from Nepal by Uncle Bill (which I had to sell with great reluctance to keep from being put in Uncle Sam’s tax-debtor prison), I can attest to the beauty and value of the real thing. Whatever is being offered for sale on this auction is unknown and unknowable from the seller’s pirated description and photos. CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!
Berkley
P.S. – same seller is offering a “Himalayan Ang Khola” of uncertain size with the same pirated HI text but no HI watermark on the pic.
P.P.S. – seller is also offering a “Ten Commandments gold bracelet”. Apparently seller does not inspect his merchandise too carefully, as the Seventh of said Commandments appears to have a bearing on the auctions previously mentioned above.
 
while it is in poor taste to use anyones images without asking permission (i dont know if such a thing has been done or not), it may be that this seller is actually selling the same model shown in the HI photo's.

i would suggest contacting him before passing immediate judgement on the validity of the auction itself.

obviously i would be careful with any such auction that copies and pastes information or images from any website without mentioning its initial source, or without nameing the actual item shown, or posting a picture of the actual item shown, or posting exact dimention of the items shown - but it is possible that the person is just very, very inept at putting up ebay auctions....

but ya, i'd be careful.
 
SethMurdoc said:
while it is in poor taste to use anyones images without asking permission (i dont know if such a thing has been done or not), it may be that this seller is actually selling the same model shown in the HI photo's.

i would suggest contacting him before passing immediate judgement on the validity of the auction itself.

obviously i would be careful with any such auction that copies and pastes information or images from any website without mentioning its initial source, or without nameing the actual item shown, or posting a picture of the actual item shown, or posting exact dimention of the items shown - but it is possible that the person is just very, very inept at putting up ebay auctions....

but ya, i'd be careful.
Click to expand...

Seth, that's a good point, but the odds that this guy would have the exact same knife that was used by Uncle Bill God knows how long ago to post on the HI store site are almost impossible to calculate. It's far more likely that he just took the easy way out and bootlegged the photo. Unless he stated in his verbiage that what was for sale was the _exact_ knife as shown in the pic, then I think he's got some 'splaining to do! :rolleyes:

Thanks & regards,

Norm
 
i mean the model, specifically the kothimoda and the chiruwa ang khola. as in he has a new edition of those two models, and took the old standard photo off of the HI home site.

you are right though, it should be made much more clear then it is
 
This post was reported to me with the suggestion that it be moved to the Good,Bad,Ugly forum. I certainly agree that many more folks than just Cantinistas need to know about such potential fraud.

However, I also believe that this topic is *fundamental* to the HI business and customer.

I will post a copy of it to TGBU as a courtesy to other BF members.
 
I sent an inquiry to the "gentleman" asking if the picture was of the actual knife for sale. He responded "Yes it is. Good luck!" I replied asking him how that could be, when it was the same picture as on the HI website, and still had the HI watermark. A reply would surprise me. :thumbdn:

Steve
 
i did the search on "kami sherpa" as hinted, found the listings. no worries even if they are fakes... the starting bids are wicked high - no temptation at all ;) that said, everyone should write the guy and ask for "actual photographs" - i can't imagine that someone lifting copyrighted photos is selling exactly the same thing... yangdu might want to notify ebay that she is being infringed on, if not by actual plagiarism, then by outright misuse of materials she has rights to (text, photos, reputation/etc...)

bladite
 
Question... where the photos on the website ever registered with the Copyright office? If so, then punative damages for unauthorized use are tremendous.

You don't have to register them to hold the copyright, but doing so gives you much more horsepower to pursue theft of the image.

It isn't hard to get them registered from what I remember... just a thumbnail sheet of photos sent to the copyright office (I think) and a small fee.

Just a thought...

Alan
 
The up side of this sort of stuff is that it *can* steer folks directly to HI...since they only have (maybe) one knife, others may see it, follow the spoor and end up here as new Cantinistas!
 
Hi all. I'm new to the forum, but have been admiring (nearly memorizing is more like it) the HI website for at least three years. Didn't know how to use a forum until recently. Also just recently bought my first khuks from HI.

Now, to the point, which is:

Damn it. That joker is at it again. I had hoped that since some of the forum members had contacted him and called him out on his activities he might cease and desist. Too much to hope for. The only difference is that now he has stolen pictures from the "BirGorkha Factory" page: specifically, pictures of "master kami Nara Bishwakarma making a khukuri...".

Not only that, but he copies text from the HI website wholesale. This is way beyond "fair use for informational purposes." There is no mention of HI, just implications their stuff is what is being sold. If he included a link to HI I wouldn't object, since his opening bids, as someone else pointed out "wicked expensive," and it would send more people to the HI homepage. But as it is, won't some people who have visited the site in the past, and then run across this joker's auctions and bid because they think it is actually HI selling?

Yellow 8 egg!! (excuse my Chinese)

James
 
Berk's initial instincts on the matter were dead on target (ought to be, Berk ain't nobody's fool), if you catch a fellow lying or cheating on one thing, you can't put much stock in anything he says. Thanks for smoking a rat out of the barn Berk.

Sarge
 
ebay doesn't take fraud casually. if someone (yangdu?) were to report the offensive post, it would probably be removed... and the person selling might lose their account as well.

while it's remotely possible that the person selling is just just lazy and is actually selling as pictured, mixing pictures and text from two different web pages sounds sketchy. reporting them is the best policy if they've ignored people writing them.

bladite
 
jefptw said:
Hi all. I'm new to the forum, but have been admiring (nearly memorizing is more like it) the HI website for at least three years. Didn't know how to use a forum until recently. Also just recently bought my first khuks from HI.

Now, to the point, which is:

Damn it. That joker is at it again. I had hoped that since some of the forum members had contacted him and called him out on his activities he might cease and desist. Too much to hope for. The only difference is that now he has stolen pictures from the "BirGorkha Factory" page: specifically, pictures of "master kami Nara Bishwakarma making a khukuri...".

Not only that, but he copies text from the HI website wholesale. This is way beyond "fair use for informational purposes." There is no mention of HI, just implications their stuff is what is being sold. If he included a link to HI I wouldn't object, since his opening bids, as someone else pointed out "wicked expensive," and it would send more people to the HI homepage. But as it is, won't some people who have visited the site in the past, and then run across this joker's auctions and bid because they think it is actually HI selling?

Yellow 8 egg!! (excuse my Chinese)

James
Click to expand...

James, welcome! and thanks for the info. This is good information. Please let us know how you find the forum, and what knives you end up getting.

Norm
 
ferguson said:
I sent an inquiry to the "gentleman" asking if the picture was of the actual knife for sale. He responded "Yes it is. Good luck!" I replied asking him how that could be, when it was the same picture as on the HI website, and still had the HI watermark. A reply would surprise me. :thumbdn:

Steve
Click to expand...

Good catch Steve! It would be interesting to see what he comes up with as a response.

As Nasty pointed out though, any mention of HI does have a positive side effect of perhaps sending people our way.

Norm
 
Nasty said:
The up side of this sort of stuff is that it *can* steer folks directly to HI...since they only have (maybe) one knife, others may see it, follow the spoor and end up here as new Cantinistas!
Click to expand...

Or...Hi can update their photo location and post a message like "this seller has used our photo of our knife without permission" at the original address.

n2s
 
The auctions have ended - without any bids.
I remember that this problem has been going on for a long time, so I looked back through the archives. Uncle Bill himself was of two minds about how to deal with this sort of thing, but I think maybe his latest post is a good one::
Almost by accident I stumbled across a website which offered the following:
"Khukuri Knives imported … from Kathmandu, Nepal. Look for ads soon in knife magazines throughout the US, or order on-line via this site in the near future."
Along with this advertisement was a picture of some Himalayan Import khukuris taken right off our website. This company is not representing us and it is not selling Himalayan Imports khukuris although the picture certainly implies this. I emailed them and asked them to stop using Himalayan Imports khukuris in their ad. At this writing our khukuris are still there.
I want to emphasize there is only one Himalayan Imports. All our khukuris are trademarked with our HI logo in Devanagari. But who knows? I've been waiting for somebody to infringe on our trademark and try to pawn off second rate khukuris as ours -- it hasn't happened yet but it looks like it might.
So, be careful. I realize that imitation is the strongest compliment but I don't want any consumers to get ripped off, thus the reason for this message.
Double check before you buy!
Bill
01/29/99 01:23 AM

If they are showing our pix and selling something else people should know about this.
Bill
02/03/99 02:23 PM

==========================================================

I will fight no more forever

Many years ago when I was a young man I studied Aikido and at that time the basic precept of the art was this: THE MAN WHO NEVER FIGHTS ALWAYS WINS. It took me some time but I finally came to understand the wisdom of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido
I claim to be a Buddhist although I am quick to admit not a good one. The rules of conduct for Buddhism are about the same as for a Christian or most other major religions. Love God and thy neighbor as thyself and the Golden Rule.
But I am a product of my time and my culture. I remember WWII like it was yesterday. I served in the Navy during the Korean War. Because of this and many other things there are times when my first impulse is to do battle.
I have given myself time to seriously consider those who try to use Himalayan Imports inappropriately and I have come to this conclusion:
Like Chief Joseph, the great Nez Perce Chief and warrior, "I WILL FIGHT NO MORE FOREVER."
I know many of you who are young and have the fire of youth in your blood will disagree with this action and I can well understand your feelings. I was once young and full of fire myself. But consider this. If I spend my time trying to put out fires this is time I lose from my main endeavor which is trying to supply the best khukuris from Nepal and trying to supply my customers and friends with the best possible customer service I can give them. Plus, trying to moderate three forums to the best of my ability.
So, if you see someone use our name or our pictures do not bother to tell me about it. If they need to do this they must be lacking so we need to extend them our sympathy rather than doing battle with them. Of course, you are free to act as you wish. There is nothing I can do to stop you but I have decided I will do nothing and will remember that the man who never fights always wins!
Bill
03-09-1999, 11:53 AM
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