Starting on August 31st, eBay is going to institute a new policy where
photos you upload to any listing are put into a “catalog” of online images
that any eBay user can then use for their own listings. The default setting
for this is opt-in, which is a problem if you, like me, consider your
photographs your property and want to control how they are used and by whom.
A copyright notice is posted with a link to your user profile, but no
additional information is given, and the link is quite
small.

Since the default setting is opt-in, and eBay has not sent messages out
about this, a lot of people are going to be caught flat-footed by this new
policy.

Again, the default for this setting is YES, you have opted in. Meaning “Yes,
I will allow eBay to make my photos available for anyone to use.”

If you do not want eBay to make the photos you upload to all of your future
auctions available to other users in a sort of catalog process, you need to
go change your settings now, before August 31st. If you opt out after then,
any photos you upload between the 31st and when you opt out will still be
eligible for inclusion in their “catalog.”

In order to opt out of this so-not-okay process, do the following. I’ve
broken it down exhaustively. Hopefully your eBay pages look like mine. (I followed this easily)

1) Go to your eBay summary page (“My eBay”).

2) On the left-hand side, there are three tabs that say “Activity,”
“Messages,” and “Account.” Hover over the “Account” tab.

3) A drop-down list will appear. Move your mouse down to “Site Preferences”
and click.

4) You will be taken to a page with a list of site options for selling,
shipping, and listing. About the sixth from the top is “Share your Photos.”
Click on the word “show” on the right hand side next to this option.

5) The box will expand, and if you are opted in, “yes” will appear. If you
are opted out, “no” will appear. A small “edit” link will appear below the
“show” link. If you want to change the settings, click “edit.”

6) You will be taken to a new page with the following text: If you’d like to
opt-out of this program, please do so by checking this box and clicking the
“submit” button below.(If you opt-out before August 31, 2009, none of your
photos will be considered for inclusion in this program unless you opt back
in at a later time. If you opt-out after August 31, 2009, any photos we
select for inclusion in this program prior to your opt-out may continue to
be used in the catalog)

7) If you want to opt out of the program, check the ticky box on the
left-hand side next to the text, then go down and click the “submit” button.
You will go back to the settings screen you were just on, and there will
be a green checkmark and a confirmation message. Go down to the “Share your
Photos” option again and click “show.” Your setting should now appear as
“no.”

I am sure that this will be a useful feature for some people, for some
items, but the automatic opt-in is not okay with me at all, as I don’t want
my photographs used to illustrate someone else’s auction for a different
item, not for any reason whatsoever.

I thought you should all be warned. Please spread the word. This is a slimy,
underhanded thing to do, and I hope it bites them in the butt!