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Images and text policy

If you intend to sell on one or more of eBay's international sites, you will need to accept, and we encourage you to carefully review, the User Agreement, policies, and other requirements of that site. You can continue to reach out to the relevant customer service teams on the respective eBay site of your listing or transaction, as may be applicable to the nature of your query.

Policy overview

We don't allow our members to use images—including photos and other pictures—or text they didn't create themselves. The only exception to this policy is if the owner of the image or text, its agent, or the law has authorized the member to use the text or images.

You can use images and text descriptions from the eBay product catalog in your listings without violating this policy. The product catalog may include, at our discretion, select seller-generated images or photos from seller listings. The inclusion of seller-generated photos in the eBay product catalog and the use of catalog content by eBay sellers in their eBay listings is authorized under the User Agreement.

If you choose not to use photos or product descriptions from eBay's product catalog, you must take your own photos and write your own descriptions. This will help you avoid the risks of using someone else's pictures or text, and you won't need to worry about getting permission from any third parties. Learn more about adding photos to your listing and writing a good title and description.

Make sure your listing follows these guidelines. If it doesn't, it may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

What are the guidelines?

If you're not using pictures or text from the eBay product catalog, use your own when creating a listing. If you're using someone else's photos and text, make sure the owner has authorized you to do so.

Allowed

Allowed

  • Photos and text you created yourself

  • All eBay product catalog photos and text

Restricted

Restricted

You can use the following only if the owner, its agent, or the law has authorized you to do so:

  • Stock photos and text

  • Information from product packaging

    • Measurements, weight, or other item specifications that are necessary to describe the item that you simply can't say any other way. However, avoid using any other text from product packaging unless you're authorized to do so by the owner, its agent, or the law.

Not allowed

Not allowed

You're not allowed to use the following if you don't have permission from the owner, its agent, or the law:

  • Photos and text from other eBay users

  • Photos and text copied from websites

  • Scans from catalogs or advertisements

 

Here are some examples of things we don't allow our members to do:

  • A member likes part of a product description from the product packaging and copies and pastes it into their listing. The member didn't receive permission from the original writer to use the product description.

  • A member uses a picture from another member's listing without first getting permission to use it.

  • A member is unable to take photos of the item so instead copies a photo from another website without prior permission.

 

Member reports

Members can't copy pictures or text from another member's listing unless the owner, its agent, or the law has authorized them to do so. 

If you believe that another member is using your photos or text in violation of these guidelines (for example, the pictures aren't included in the eBay product catalog and you, your agent or the law hasn't authorized the member to use them), please follow these standards when contacting us:

  • Make sure you are the original owner and creator of the picture or text.

  • If reporting text, the copied text needs to be in the description. Because of the limited space in which to describe items, some similarity will occur in titles and subtitles for the same merchandise, so we won't typically remove a listing for similar text in these areas.

  • Provide an item number from your account that clearly shows you were the first to list an item with the photos or text you created. If you reuse your photos and text in many of your listings, give us the item number of the earliest possible instance of using the photos or text.

If you believe that you have a valid report for someone using your image or text, you can contact us to report it.

 

VeRO reports

We developed the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program to facilitate cooperation between eBay and rights owners protecting their intellectual property rights. 

Learn more about how rights owners can report intellectual property infringements.

Other reports

If you're not the original creator of the picture or text or if you don't own the rights to the material, don't send a member report or report the listing through the VeRO program. However, you may consider contacting the rights owner directly with your report. 

You can find many rights owners by reviewing the list of VeRO Program Participant pages.

 

Copyright law protects original works of authorship—which may include certain pictures or text—from being used or copied without authorization from the person or company that owns the copyright, its agent, or the law.

 

eBay members aren't allowed to use images or text they didn't create themselves. The only exception to this policy is if the owner, its agent, or the law has authorized the member to use the text or images. Be sure to follow all our guidelines.

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