I saw this happen last month with a car! A really nice 1980 MGB. I only caught it 'cause I'm an MG fan.
A classic car dealer had it on his website for sale. It then turned up on eBay, with the exact same photos. The jerk didn't even have enough sense to delete the dealer's tag from the photos-you know, those ones that advertise the dealer's name. It was a dead give-away.
I emailed the dealer & eBay-the auction was gone the next am.
Mary Kaminski Philly, PA
Snipped: Reminds me of an incident that happened to me about 12mths ago. I purchased a Colnago Master - X-Lite steel bicycle with Campy Chorus from a legitimate ebay seller 12mths ago. I was very happy with the transaction.
About 6mths after i acquired this bicycle i was browsing on ebay - as one does - and you wouldn't believe my surprise when the exact same photos that were used by the seller of my bicycle were being used to sell the same bicycle on ebay again by a not so genuine ebay seller. I know they were the same pics because i had already downloaded the originals from the original transaction. All the 6 pics that were used to sell the original bike were listed again to sell this fictitious Colnago. So this seller had actually listed this Colnago using the exact same pictures. I first thought that perhaps he had a similar bike to sell of the same colour etc etc and just couldn't be bothered taking pics so re-used these ones.
Though i became suspicious because firstly there was very little information on the auction about the bicycle and when i started to enquire about the bike (eg. size, running gear etc) the seller appeared to know very little about it. As i enquired further and further the sellers tone in his replies became more hurried in as far as he wanted a quick transaction and would be prepared to sell it to me "outside" ebay for a reduced price. I played along for awhile and asked him if the pictures were of the actualy bicycle he was selling. He replied in the affirmative. This is when i caught him out. I told him he was selling my bicycle and that i had it sitting in my garage and that i had more pics should he like them ;-) (the original seller sent me some more detailed pics during auction).
Needless to say i reported him to ebay and a day later his listing was taken down.
regards
Jeff
Brisbane, Australia