This is just awful

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

This sort of thing really ticks me off:mad This is a free pattern I found on the net the other day and someone is selling it. You can go to cpc and find the link for the free one:irked

 

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...eName=WDVW

[Empress Busy Bee]

And these, you can get them at CPC or freepatterns.com

 

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...22313&rd=1

 

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...97537&rd=1

 

I'm sure there's more, she has 12 pages of stuff.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Grrrr I wish I could rat on her if it's even something that's not allowed She should be ashamed of herself :mad

[wrenlover]

Someone should add a little comment on there that they are selling something that is free on the web.

 

Can we do that?:<> Should we do that? It irks me to no end that people do this and get away with it. Is it her pattern?:mad

 

Lisa

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Here's the free 1 it doesn't say who made it

 

members.optusnet.com.au/w...ledog.html

[antara]

I just emailed the lady who bid on the Fluted Flowers afghan. I hope she gets it in time, the auction ends soon. :fc

[Stacey]

Although it does look bad, I couldn't help but notice that the photo of the dog sweater on the auction listing is bigger than the one on the web site--bigger as in the one on the web site was cropped somewhat (in the ebay photo, you can see more of the football and there's more leaves and stuff near the dog's paws--on that web site the same image has been cropped to take the extra stuff off the edges). My conclusion from that (not to accuse the web site owner of anything, but it's what it looks like to me) is that the photo is from a commercial pattern, and *both* of them appear to have scanned the photo. Have a look at both pages and look very carefully at how much room there is at the edge of the photo:

members.optusnet.com.au/w...ledog.html

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...eName=WDVW

 

Like I said, it looks bad, but given that there are a few patterns she's selling that are available at freepatterns.com and given that those patterns are from various crochet magazines, it seems possible to me (no way to be certain, but it's a definite possibility) that she's selling pages out of old crochet magazines and whatnot (I have no clue whether that's legal or not) as opposed to printing off free patterns from the internet and selling them. She may not realize she's selling patterns that are freely available on the internet...

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

It still irks me that people can get it for free and she's selling it :irked

[Stacey]

Yeah, that is really annoying. I'd be *so* mad if I bought a pattern and then found out I could have gotten it for free. Just wanted to point out what I noticed and give her the benefit of the doubt that she might not realize they can be had for free (if what she's doing is selling old patterns/leaflets). )

[antara]

I never even thought of that. Even so, aren't those patterns too new to be in the public domain? I may be mistaken, but I think that's copyright infringement. Like you said, though, she may not realize what she's doing. I guess that's why you should always check copyright laws before you try to sell patterns and whatnot.

[threeolivemartini]

well girls.. you can report them to ebay... and you can email thenm directly and tell them how big of a scumbag you think they are..

lol

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

I thought about that but I don't want to give my email out to someone I just told off and I don't have an ebay acct it asked me for that when I tried to report it.

[HollyM]

If (and I do say if) she is selling the actual, orginal physical pattern (magazine, booklet etc) and NOT a photocopy or a computer print out, she's really not doing anything wrong. It's no different than selling a used book or piece of clothing. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing ilegal about that. Tearing pages out of a magazine and selling them individually might be on the iffy side, because it's not being sold as originally published. Anyone know the answer to that?

 

Overall IMHO, it's buyer beware. People pay too much for things all the time. As long as the seller isn't deceiving them or misrepresenting the item, it's the buyers repsonsibility to research if they are getting a good deal or not.

 

Would I personaly be annoyed if I paid for something I found out later I could get for less/free? Yes, but at myself for not checking it out better. I wouldn't be angry at the seller.

 

Holly

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Sure people jack up prices on things when there's a hurricane and take advantage of people all the time that still doesn't make it right. I just don't understand why people need to rip people off to make a measley buck or 2 :irked just my :twocents

[Ambersafghans]

That kind of thing urks me as well. But maybe someone should email the seller and just ask if they know that that pattern is available for free? I don't buy a lot of patterns, but I wouldn't like it if I paid for one I could have gotten free!

Amber

[HollyM]

Wulll....I see a huge difference between price gouging on emergency supplies and selling a crochet pattern online. Regardless of how addicted we are, crochet patterns aren't quite essentials <img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif" />

 

There's an old saying - A thing is worth what someone else will pay for it. Maybe the bidder collects vintage patterns. Maybe she wants the full diagrams and pictures. Who knows?

 

I don't agree that it's a rip-off if the seller is representing it honestly. I guess I don't understand the anger directed towards the seller. If the buyer is shopping on Ebay, they obviously have access to the internet and could find these patterns with a simple search if they were so inclined.

 

I know there have been cases where some Ebayer's were selling photocopies of patterns, that is a clear violation of copyright laws and certainly should be reported.

 

Just my

<img border=0 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/twocents.gif" />

 

Holly

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Just because you can make a buck doesn't mean you always should. What about common decency.Ok so you don't understand the problem with this but I don't understand not seeing a problem with it.

[ZingyZoid]

As an occasional ebay seller I just want to say that I wouldn't dream of going out of my way to see if each and every one of those patterns is available free on the net before I listed them. Yeah I think it's cheesy to rip magazines apart and sell off each individual pattern but as a frequent buyer I know people are trying to make a buck any and every which way they can.

 

I also think (now don't hate me) that if someone's willing to bid on it they all the better for the seller. Ebay has become a business. Sometimes a shady one. As long as the lady's not selling internet copies more power to her. It doesn't look like she is. Her feedback is good and the people she's dealing with have enough feedback to know to turn her in if she is being shady. They'd know if they got a computer printout.

 

Personally I'm more offended at her shipping charges, lol. $1 a pattern? For a $.37 stamp and a $.01 envelope? Plus another $.25 for any additional pattern? Ok that's not too bad but I'm a huge fan of charging actual shipping.

[wrenlover]

I know I'd have a serious problem if someone from this group had found a free pattern on the web and shared it with everyone here, as we all do. And someone new to the web and this site, is offered this free pattern for a price. One that is free and has already been shared by all the others. Still not a big deal? Its called taking advantage.:nono If a person has a conscience and some decency they'd see the problem.

 

My:twocents

 

Lisa

[Sue89]

I don't really see the problem either. I can download Wuthering Heights off the internet for free, but if Amazon.com wants to sell copies of it I won't consider them shady or unethical. Now if the seller had presented it as their own original pattern, that I would have a problem with. Instead they clearly state that these are patterns taken from leaflets and magazines, so they're being upfront. If the bidders don't want to search the net, or if they don't have a printer and don't want to write out the patterns they find, then it's their choice if they want to buy the hard copy with the protective plastic cover. I don't think it's the seller's responsibility to tell people which patterns can be found for free on the internet any more than it is the bookstores' to tell people to check out Project Gutenberg before shopping with them.

 

A better question would be if the sites who posted them for free had permission to do so.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

If the seller doesn't know that it's out there free that's one thing. Maybe she doesn't

 

I still believe just because you can do it doesn't make it the right thing to do.

[labcrazyland]

I can totally see and understand both sides. Not all folks have as good of friends as we do here that look out for each other.

 

Ebay, and business in general is a tricky business, and I am betting there are loopholes to get around all kinds of things. Thats why I am a nurse, lol.

 

I think we just do what we do best. Take care of each other, keep each other informed, etc . . . I know if I ever have questions about things, I know right where to come for the info!!! lol

 

Kelly

[Stacey]

A better question would be if the sites who posted them for free had permission to do so.

The one I'm wondering about is that dog sweater--if it is a commercial pattern (and for the ebay seller to have a more complete photo of it it's got to be, right?) the chances that the web site owner had permission to post the pattern are probably pretty slim. I don't know all the facts, so I don't know, but it seems possible that the site owner posted a copyrighted pattern without permission...