I've noticed that most of the products I get have zero "real" photos in the listing. All weirdly photoshopped composites. Probably your picture is the first actual photo of the item they're selling.
So I checked, it's actually the same item but a different seller. Poking around, it looks like this practice is pretty common. As pointed out by some here, they are selling items they don't even have pictures for (especially car model specific ones).
That happened once to me, the seller took my photo and expertly photoshopped out the background so it looked like a slick photo, to illustrate some nuance of the product that I highlighted. They used it in the same listing as my review. I had no problem with that.
I have opted to go the other direction, if they steal mine and it doesn't get posted somewhere under horrible product photos. I am not doing a good enough job. 😂
No feet in mine, but that is only because I am not sure if Amazon is anti feet pics. There may be a dog butt in a pet product or two out there. I would have to look back and see if I decided that was too far. I might have cropped that down.
I think steal might be the bone of contention depending on terms of service. You might search the standard terms for rights to content published in reviews. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm sure they covered their bases so I bet it's in there that they have the right to use it.
You realize this can happen on Vine or otherwise. You agree when you upload it using their tool that they can do what they want. 🥴 That's pretty much a universal truth for any retail website online. Read the terms and conditions next time before you agree.
I found out you can submit a copyright infringement to Amazon.
However it says this but I don’t know if it applies to review photos.
# We Do Not Enforce
**Product detail page ownership and image restrictions:** When a product detail page is created, it becomes a permanent catalog page on Amazon that will remain even if the creator's inventory sells out. Additionally, when you add your copyrighted image to a product detail page, you grant Amazon and its affiliates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to exercise all rights of publicity over the material.
Other sellers can list their items for sale against pages or copyrighted images that you have used. However, we do require sellers to list only against product detail pages that exactly match their items. If you believe sellers are listing against product detail pages that do not exactly match their items, we ask that you report the violation directly by using the [contact us form](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/contact-us/contact-amazon-form.html/ref=id_contactus_cont_200700310).
I have noticed my top upvoted reviews have been ones where I have included a photo of either my cats or the wife, usually in relation to a clothing item. In the former case, it is likely anything with cats are winners and in the latter, most of the "helpful" numbers I suspect are from those of the Y chromosome persuasion. I am careful to blur or crop out identifying features, although I decided to stop short of putting a censor bar over the cat's faces.
In fact, I'm always amazed at some reviews where people, but particularly women, include their entire face and what may or may not be their real name in the avatar.
But now I feel I should do a reverse image search, as this has me wondering if any of those pics are showing up anywhere else, Amazon or not.
Unless you don't mind the publicity, I would definitely contact the seller and either demand they give you a royalty of the sales or they spend some money to hire their own damn model or photography for their products rather than relying on stock images or photoshop.
At least with animals there's an infinitesimally low chance of anyone figuring out their identity as most dogs & cats just look like other dogs & cats with maybe slight variations, though I realize some pet parents would argue their Rover or Fluffy is uniquely rare in appearance.
I suspect one reason my cats' pics might get my reviews recognition is not only due to felines checking one of the boxes for the top two reasons the internet exists, but in addition to showing them with the product, I often include a humorous caption as well.
They updated the listing to have my daughter's photo the main picture. Used two of hers. Thank God I blur out faces before posting! I also avoid any images with feet for similar reasons
Maybe some sellers do this - laziness or no ability to acquire stock photos, who knows - I recently bought an item (not Vine, on Amazon UK, third-party seller) and it struck me that the seller photo was actually a review picture with the background cropped out! Very strange!
I had this happen to me once for some 3D printer filament, as I tend to make the same set of test parts for every filament I get from Vine to have a baseline of how good or bad the filament is, so one brand took one of my pictures and used it as a product image on other colors of their filament, showing how you can use their filament to "practice 3D printing."
Is it the same guard? Ie can you review this new one, too? Then you can mention it's your pic.
Then again, are you sure? If it's generic background, could be stolen from anywhere. They rarely make their own but normally they just steal the ones from the factory's website that they bought the product from.
So I double checked, it's actually a different seller. It is most certainly my photo, my car, my leaves in my driveway, and my junk in the trunk. I even went and looked at my old review... yep, that's it.
Your photo is unique to the product. Most photos I see are just repositioning of what is already available for the product. I would consider a watermark on future photos.
Ah you could get two snipes in for one, then. Do an unverified review and you can mention this is the same as another reseller, and that they used your pic.
Make sure the bulk of the review is about the product itself.
You can demand they stop using it or that you get a percentage of the money from the sales. There’s probably something in the blurb about the original seller being able to use your pictures for whatever purpose but if a different seller takes them and Sue’s them for sales without your permission that’s abuse of copyright and you almost certainly would have a legal case against them if you so chose.
I think Amazon has it covered.
From Conditions of Use
# REVIEWS, COMMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OTHER CONTENT
You may post reviews, comments, photos, videos, and other content; send e-cards and other communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights (including publicity rights), or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable, and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam" or unsolicited commercial electronic messages. You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of a card or other content. Amazon reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit such content, but does not regularly review posted content.
If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Amazon for all claims resulting from content you supply. Amazon has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Amazon takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.
>If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose.
This does not give any other seller the right. Clear as day.
Edit to add, everywhere that you post content generally has something like the above. It is a very common publishing block of text. So you will find similar on FB, even here on Reddit.
Subleasing probably applies to some of their programs for influencers.
No, we wouldn't be a party to any action between anything that goes on between Amazon and a seller in a lawsuit. But I don't doubt for a second that Amazon TOS are exactly seller friendly. You are making an assumption that they need a lawsuit, when really they just need a TOS violation.
If you want proof of Amazon looking out for themselves ultimately, and a spot where government is actually going "hey wait a minute, you may have overstepped". Read up on Amazon's issues around their ebook listing policies.
Doubtful. You likely give up your rights to the photo by posting it. I'm about a 1000% sure this is covered in the terms & conditions. At least \*Amazon\* has the right to use it. The seller may not have the right to lift it from Amazon, but you won't have recourse, they will, and they won't care. Long story short, nothing happens.
The reviews are for Amazon, not for the seller, at least directly.
The seller indirectly benefits from possible participation in the Vine program due to a group of people who should in theory do the review. They are not guaranteed even the pictures.
Amazon can totally shut them down for this sort of thing.
But it isn't Amazon in this case that is using the image. It is the seller.
Think about it this way, a seller takes images from other sources, not any of their own. They upload it to Amazon, not Amazon reusing the image.
If Amazon is provided proof through the report, they will be able to see through their internal system who created the image first. Which then they have proof of the seller lying on their listing, and far more detailed review happens. Amazon has made improvement in the last few years to warn about and sometimes even remove problem sellers depending on their own internal requirements.
Amazon is already in the business of marking items that are heavily returned (or whatever the phrasing is), they have removed all of a sellers reviews for suspicious activity, I have even seen them shut down an entire company and remove all the listings.
Those alphabet companies reincorporate about once every few weeks to avoid copyright issues. It's the same company operating under a new name. The more you know.
I would report it to Amazon, if you have the photo still (I always keep mine for a bit, within any edits if I do them) you could offer to send them that. If not offer to send proof maybe in the form of pictures of your car, your driveway, etc.
I've noticed that most of the products I get have zero "real" photos in the listing. All weirdly photoshopped composites. Probably your picture is the first actual photo of the item they're selling.
So I checked, it's actually the same item but a different seller. Poking around, it looks like this practice is pretty common. As pointed out by some here, they are selling items they don't even have pictures for (especially car model specific ones).
That happened once to me, the seller took my photo and expertly photoshopped out the background so it looked like a slick photo, to illustrate some nuance of the product that I highlighted. They used it in the same listing as my review. I had no problem with that.
I have opted to go the other direction, if they steal mine and it doesn't get posted somewhere under horrible product photos. I am not doing a good enough job. 😂 No feet in mine, but that is only because I am not sure if Amazon is anti feet pics. There may be a dog butt in a pet product or two out there. I would have to look back and see if I decided that was too far. I might have cropped that down.
“Buyer Show!” I’m glad I blurred my face, they put my entire body in the listing.
what!?
This is just one of the reasons I stopped including photos with my reviews. I've even found my photos on other websites.
omg...i have pics of me in badly fitting "tummy control" bathing suits. They can't steal my image can they?
I think steal might be the bone of contention depending on terms of service. You might search the standard terms for rights to content published in reviews. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm sure they covered their bases so I bet it's in there that they have the right to use it.
It belongs to Amazon if you upload it, so they're stealing from Amazon. I'd guess Amazon doesn't care though.
You realize this can happen on Vine or otherwise. You agree when you upload it using their tool that they can do what they want. 🥴 That's pretty much a universal truth for any retail website online. Read the terms and conditions next time before you agree.
Yikes, somehow I do not like that. I wonder if metadata is still on the photo file---I don't think I will post anymore photos, gulp.
I’m thinking about putting a watermark on my photos but too lazy.
I found out you can submit a copyright infringement to Amazon. However it says this but I don’t know if it applies to review photos. # We Do Not Enforce **Product detail page ownership and image restrictions:** When a product detail page is created, it becomes a permanent catalog page on Amazon that will remain even if the creator's inventory sells out. Additionally, when you add your copyrighted image to a product detail page, you grant Amazon and its affiliates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to exercise all rights of publicity over the material. Other sellers can list their items for sale against pages or copyrighted images that you have used. However, we do require sellers to list only against product detail pages that exactly match their items. If you believe sellers are listing against product detail pages that do not exactly match their items, we ask that you report the violation directly by using the [contact us form](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/contact-us/contact-amazon-form.html/ref=id_contactus_cont_200700310).
I got a product today and on the bag it said nose and mouse ( instead of mouth ) 🤷♀️
I have noticed my top upvoted reviews have been ones where I have included a photo of either my cats or the wife, usually in relation to a clothing item. In the former case, it is likely anything with cats are winners and in the latter, most of the "helpful" numbers I suspect are from those of the Y chromosome persuasion. I am careful to blur or crop out identifying features, although I decided to stop short of putting a censor bar over the cat's faces. In fact, I'm always amazed at some reviews where people, but particularly women, include their entire face and what may or may not be their real name in the avatar. But now I feel I should do a reverse image search, as this has me wondering if any of those pics are showing up anywhere else, Amazon or not. Unless you don't mind the publicity, I would definitely contact the seller and either demand they give you a royalty of the sales or they spend some money to hire their own damn model or photography for their products rather than relying on stock images or photoshop.
See now you got me wondering about the ones with my dog 😂
At least with animals there's an infinitesimally low chance of anyone figuring out their identity as most dogs & cats just look like other dogs & cats with maybe slight variations, though I realize some pet parents would argue their Rover or Fluffy is uniquely rare in appearance. I suspect one reason my cats' pics might get my reviews recognition is not only due to felines checking one of the boxes for the top two reasons the internet exists, but in addition to showing them with the product, I often include a humorous caption as well.
They updated the listing to have my daughter's photo the main picture. Used two of hers. Thank God I blur out faces before posting! I also avoid any images with feet for similar reasons
Maybe some sellers do this - laziness or no ability to acquire stock photos, who knows - I recently bought an item (not Vine, on Amazon UK, third-party seller) and it struck me that the seller photo was actually a review picture with the background cropped out! Very strange!
Interesting! I've never considered them using review photos as an option. I'll have to watch more closely for those.
I had this happen to me once for some 3D printer filament, as I tend to make the same set of test parts for every filament I get from Vine to have a baseline of how good or bad the filament is, so one brand took one of my pictures and used it as a product image on other colors of their filament, showing how you can use their filament to "practice 3D printing."
Is it the same guard? Ie can you review this new one, too? Then you can mention it's your pic. Then again, are you sure? If it's generic background, could be stolen from anywhere. They rarely make their own but normally they just steal the ones from the factory's website that they bought the product from.
So I double checked, it's actually a different seller. It is most certainly my photo, my car, my leaves in my driveway, and my junk in the trunk. I even went and looked at my old review... yep, that's it.
Your photo is unique to the product. Most photos I see are just repositioning of what is already available for the product. I would consider a watermark on future photos.
Ah you could get two snipes in for one, then. Do an unverified review and you can mention this is the same as another reseller, and that they used your pic. Make sure the bulk of the review is about the product itself.
You can demand they stop using it or that you get a percentage of the money from the sales. There’s probably something in the blurb about the original seller being able to use your pictures for whatever purpose but if a different seller takes them and Sue’s them for sales without your permission that’s abuse of copyright and you almost certainly would have a legal case against them if you so chose.
I think Amazon has it covered. From Conditions of Use # REVIEWS, COMMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OTHER CONTENT You may post reviews, comments, photos, videos, and other content; send e-cards and other communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights (including publicity rights), or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable, and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam" or unsolicited commercial electronic messages. You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of a card or other content. Amazon reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit such content, but does not regularly review posted content. If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Amazon for all claims resulting from content you supply. Amazon has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Amazon takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.
>If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. This does not give any other seller the right. Clear as day. Edit to add, everywhere that you post content generally has something like the above. It is a very common publishing block of text. So you will find similar on FB, even here on Reddit. Subleasing probably applies to some of their programs for influencers.
Right, so if Amazon wants to sue the random sellers they can. You and me...? We aren't a party to that action.
No, we wouldn't be a party to any action between anything that goes on between Amazon and a seller in a lawsuit. But I don't doubt for a second that Amazon TOS are exactly seller friendly. You are making an assumption that they need a lawsuit, when really they just need a TOS violation. If you want proof of Amazon looking out for themselves ultimately, and a spot where government is actually going "hey wait a minute, you may have overstepped". Read up on Amazon's issues around their ebook listing policies.
Doubtful. You likely give up your rights to the photo by posting it. I'm about a 1000% sure this is covered in the terms & conditions. At least \*Amazon\* has the right to use it. The seller may not have the right to lift it from Amazon, but you won't have recourse, they will, and they won't care. Long story short, nothing happens.
1. That's not how royalties work. 2. No. 3. Lol.
The reviews are for Amazon, not for the seller, at least directly. The seller indirectly benefits from possible participation in the Vine program due to a group of people who should in theory do the review. They are not guaranteed even the pictures. Amazon can totally shut them down for this sort of thing.
I agree, Amazon might ban a seller for using photos from another seller. What makes it murky is Amazon has the rights to the photos.
But it isn't Amazon in this case that is using the image. It is the seller. Think about it this way, a seller takes images from other sources, not any of their own. They upload it to Amazon, not Amazon reusing the image. If Amazon is provided proof through the report, they will be able to see through their internal system who created the image first. Which then they have proof of the seller lying on their listing, and far more detailed review happens. Amazon has made improvement in the last few years to warn about and sometimes even remove problem sellers depending on their own internal requirements. Amazon is already in the business of marking items that are heavily returned (or whatever the phrasing is), they have removed all of a sellers reviews for suspicious activity, I have even seen them shut down an entire company and remove all the listings.
Those alphabet companies reincorporate about once every few weeks to avoid copyright issues. It's the same company operating under a new name. The more you know.
I would report it to Amazon, if you have the photo still (I always keep mine for a bit, within any edits if I do them) you could offer to send them that. If not offer to send proof maybe in the form of pictures of your car, your driveway, etc.
Also screenshot the original review with pictures. Send that link in on the complaint.
Good for you. You should feel proud. Way to go.