
A couple of days ago, I received a message in one of my shops that was a very professionally written, stern, take down notice from a stamp company. I was told I was in copyright violation with their company because I had one of their stamps listed as a "commercially made wood mounted" rubber stamp.
What?????
It was their stamp, I'm sure of it , and it was mounted on wood.
Anyway, I deactivated the listing they referenced, and every other stamp of theirs I had listed, and responded to the take down letter. I apologized for any errors I may have made, assured them it was unintentional, and asked them to please clarify exactly what I had done wrong.
Their responses were well written, easy to understand and I learned a lot in just a few back and forth messages with them.
If you sell anything made by someone else, you need this information:
The stamp I was selling was originally sold as an unmounted stamp and
had been cut and mounted to a wood block by whoever had purchased it. It was no longer a commercially made stamp now, the company considered it handmade.
I had referenced the line that made the stamp, but not the parent company or the artist who designed it. This particular company requires all three in the listing.
The fix is really simple. I have to credit the parent company, the line, and the designer for the rubber stamp itself and make mention of the fact that it was hand mounted by the previous owner.
At first read, all of this might seem a bit much, but think it through. Your reputation as a seller depends on how you run your company and I choose to run mine openly and honestly.
It will take me all of five minutes to write the required information, and even less than that to copy and paste it into the listings to be in compliance.
It's the right thing to do, it's the law, and I'm ok with that.
What?????
It was their stamp, I'm sure of it , and it was mounted on wood.
Anyway, I deactivated the listing they referenced, and every other stamp of theirs I had listed, and responded to the take down letter. I apologized for any errors I may have made, assured them it was unintentional, and asked them to please clarify exactly what I had done wrong.
Their responses were well written, easy to understand and I learned a lot in just a few back and forth messages with them.
If you sell anything made by someone else, you need this information:
The stamp I was selling was originally sold as an unmounted stamp and
had been cut and mounted to a wood block by whoever had purchased it. It was no longer a commercially made stamp now, the company considered it handmade.
I had referenced the line that made the stamp, but not the parent company or the artist who designed it. This particular company requires all three in the listing.
The fix is really simple. I have to credit the parent company, the line, and the designer for the rubber stamp itself and make mention of the fact that it was hand mounted by the previous owner.
At first read, all of this might seem a bit much, but think it through. Your reputation as a seller depends on how you run your company and I choose to run mine openly and honestly.
It will take me all of five minutes to write the required information, and even less than that to copy and paste it into the listings to be in compliance.
It's the right thing to do, it's the law, and I'm ok with that.