Why does fiverr not delete fake accounts with stolen pictures?

[lauramadey]

You could ask them. Maybe you would get an explanation.

You could ask google why my name images and gigs are all over google while you’re at it.

You think the cs agent who has to follow the guidelines given to him will be able and allowed to tell me, why someone who clearly does not answer customer questions decided to implement those guidelines? Sure…

[misscrystal]

You think the cs agent who has to follow the guidelines given to him will be able and allowed to tell me, why someone who clearly does not answer customer questions decided to implement those guidelines? Sure…

Sorry I can’t be of more help then.

There are legal ways to go about complaining about a copyright infringement:

a cease and desist, DMCA take down notice , demand letter, or complaint that an infringement suit has been filed. You could research this on google and possibly find the answers.

[mariashtelle1]

As I said, they choose to do this the way they do for a reason and that reason is obviously money. Other market places have tools in place to prevent buyers from fraud, without this artificially high obstacles and that is a choice that I don’t understand. Just because you repeat what they does not makes me understand why they don’t want to protect their buyers. To take the gig down once the rights holder intervenes is the absolute minimum. And I know they could do better and choose not to do better.

To take the gig down once the rights holder intervenes is the absolute minimu

I actually already answered your question. They do take gig down after someone reports it and give a warning to seller.

It’s not in fiverrs control if they would create a new gig with another stolen pictures.

All it takes to report that person 2 times and their account will be gone.

To be honest I don’t think it’s a huge obstacle.

And I’m not sure why you ignored my answer and keep ranting that fiverr need to put things in place that already exists and I even described to you how it works.

[lauramadey]

To take the gig down once the rights holder intervenes is the absolute minimu

I actually already answered your question. They do take gig down after someone reports it and give a warning to seller.

It’s not in fiverrs control if they would create a new gig with another stolen pictures.

All it takes to report that person 2 times and their account will be gone.

To be honest I don’t think it’s a huge obstacle.

And I’m not sure why you ignored my answer and keep ranting that fiverr need to put things in place that already exists and I even described to you how it works.

It’s not in fiverrs control if they would create a new gig with another stolen pictures

How sure are you about that?

Because to me it looks like the exact same gig is still online (as in I click on a link and the gig is still there, only one picture of the portfolio has changed.)

If the gig was taken down and a new one was created, the link should not work anymore, but it does.

With tools in place I mean that fiverr could prevent those accounts from going online in the first place, or evaluate them after they were reported once and delete them.

[misscrystal]

It’s not in fiverrs control if they would create a new gig with another stolen pictures

How sure are you about that?

Because to me it looks like the exact same gig is still online (as in I click on a link and the gig is still there, only one picture of the portfolio has changed.)

If the gig was taken down and a new one was created, the link should not work anymore, but it does.

With tools in place I mean that fiverr could prevent those accounts from going online in the first place, or evaluate them after they were reported once and delete them.

When a gig is created they actually do check it somehow but they still miss a few.

I have no idea how ppl manage to copy my images on fiverr but they do.

They copy my PDF file I have with my reviews on it.

A gig right now is there with a copy of my gig and it has TOP RATED badge on it-- he’s a new seller.

[zeus777]

I’d like to believe Fiverr does try their best to get rid of bad gigs, it’s just that there are millions of gigs and hundreds of new ones are made everyday.
I have reported fake sellers with stolen descriptions/image etc, and usually CS act
pretty quickly.

[catwriter]

As I said, they choose to do this the way they do for a reason and that reason is obviously money. Other market places have tools in place to prevent buyers from fraud, without this artificially high obstacles and that is a choice that I don’t understand. Just because you repeat what they does not makes me understand why they don’t want to protect their buyers. To take the gig down once the rights holder intervenes is the absolute minimum. And I know they could do better and choose not to do better.

they choose to do this the way they do for a reason and that reason is obviously money.

Not just money, but yes, money plays a part in it. Is it ethical? Most certainly not. However, there are companies that calculate it would be more profitable for them to face an occasional lawsuit for unethical practices than to keep their practice ethical, so…

Also, the problem is huge. Fiverr does ban sellers who are reported for the same violation twice, but there are way too many sellers using images that don’t belong to them. Even if Fiverr could suddenly find them all, if they banned them all at once, the number of gigs and sellers that they advertise they have would get much smaller. It would look bad for Fiverr. Also, as @mariashtelle1 pointed out, in some cultures copyright is seen in a different way (that’s putting it politely; the claims we see on the forum by sellers to whom we point out that they shouldn’t use an image that doesn’t belong to them are beyond ridiculous), and if Fiverr suddenly banned a huge number of sellers from some cultures, they’d be accused of racism.

[miiila]

Why does fiverr want to keep those fraudulent accounts?

It’s not like they accidentally used a copyrighted photo for a cover, but they are pretending that children’s books illustrations were drawn by them, when they clearly were not.

Are these fake accounts violating any of Fiverr’s Terms of Service? Are they violating copyright laws by using fake photographs?

According to my knowledge using someone’s image isn’t violating any copyright laws unless the person in question or a photographer owns the copyright to the image.

However, it is against Fiverr’s Terms of Service to create gigs (not profiles) that mislead buyers, or gigs that infringe on Copyrights and Trademarks.

Of course, if anyone feels their intellectual property is being infringed on they can always file a DMCA infringement here:

https://www.fiverr.com/intellectual-property

Doing this may cause Fiverr to take the case seriously and suspend the account. But, most times anyone who creates these “fake accounts” has studied the rules, finding loopholes in the Terms of Service that allow them to operate without any adverse consequences.

But, all the best trying to get Fiverr CS to listen and help.

However, it is against Fiverr’s Terms of Service to create gigs (not profiles) that mislead buyers,

Profiles too. I know, this thread is about deliverables, just saying, not that anyone who thinks relying on forum posts is a viable shortcut to reading the ToS oneself takes this as it’s okay to create misleading profiles.

Authentic Fiverr Profile - You may not create a false identity on Fiverr, misrepresent your identity, create a Fiverr profile for anyone other than yourself (a real person), or use or attempt to use another user’s account or information; Your profile information, including your description, skills, location, etc., while may be kept anonymous, must be accurate and complete and may not be misleading, illegal, offensive or otherwise harmful. Fiverr reserves the right to require users to go through a verification process in order to use the Site (whether by using ID, phone, camera, etc.).

[uk1000]

I’d like to believe Fiverr does try their best to get rid of bad gigs, it’s just that there are millions of gigs and hundreds of new ones are made everyday.

I have reported fake sellers with stolen descriptions/image etc, and usually CS act

pretty quickly.

I have reported fake sellers with stolen descriptions/image etc, and usually CS act

pretty quickly.

Though surely it would be better (less reporting etc.) if the system automatically checked gig descriptions (maybe titles too but some people have said there could be an issue with that).

Surely checking gig descriptions automatically could work fast (things are already indexed for the search option) and it could also check the percentage or number of duplicate words and if it’s above a certain percentage/number then it could flag it for CS to check.

.

A similar thing could probably be done with images. Though I thought for gig images it already was. Maybe not with profile images.

[lauramadey]

The thing is that I know that there are existing tools that would prevent those accounts from being created in the first place and I don’t like that they are not being used.
I personally think that fiverr would gain a lot of credibility if they chose to delete a big number of fraud accounts to protect their customers.

I am an author and the self publishing industry is a huge potential customer. But within the self - publishing community you are always warned to never use fiverr, because together with the service you buy, you will need a copyright and trademark lawyer.
If you use the work that you buy here in your published book and this work violates someone else’s rights, the loss is completely on you.
Fiverr might return you the money you paid for the gig itself, but taking your book off the market and facing the consequences for using illegal materials or in some cases facing a lawsuit is all on you.
And fiverr could easily prevent this from happening.
And I really don’t understand why there is a two strike policy for fraud in place. You brake the law, you should be out. Period.
So not acting more aggressively on those fake accounts does not only take away work from credible sellers, by giving it to fraudsters, but it also prevents a lot of customers from ordering on fiverr in the first place.

[catwriter]

The thing is that I know that there are existing tools that would prevent those accounts from being created in the first place and I don’t like that they are not being used.

I personally think that fiverr would gain a lot of credibility if they chose to delete a big number of fraud accounts to protect their customers.

I am an author and the self publishing industry is a huge potential customer. But within the self - publishing community you are always warned to never use fiverr, because together with the service you buy, you will need a copyright and trademark lawyer.

If you use the work that you buy here in your published book and this work violates someone else’s rights, the loss is completely on you.

Fiverr might return you the money you paid for the gig itself, but taking your book off the market and facing the consequences for using illegal materials or in some cases facing a lawsuit is all on you.

And fiverr could easily prevent this from happening.

And I really don’t understand why there is a two strike policy for fraud in place. You brake the law, you should be out. Period.

So not acting more aggressively on those fake accounts does not only take away work from credible sellers, by giving it to fraudsters, but it also prevents a lot of customers from ordering on fiverr in the first place.

The thing is that I know that there are existing tools that would prevent those accounts from being created in the first place and I don’t like that they are not being used.

What tools? I’m curious.

I personally think that fiverr would gain a lot of credibility if they chose to delete a big number of fraud accounts to protect their customers.

They’d gain some credibility, sure. There would also be an uproar if they suddenly left a huge number of people from poor countries without means to feed their families (plus they’d get accused of racism).

the self publishing industry is a huge potential customer.

I guess that someone did the numbers and thought that other industries would bring them more income.

But within the self - publishing community you are always warned to never use fiverr

Authors do use Fiverr, though, for numerous services (book title brainstorming, blurb writing, editing, proofreading, ghostwriting…).

And I really don’t understand why there is a two strike policy for fraud in place. You brake the law, you should be out. Period.

Do you get instantly fired from your day job if you break a rule? You might, depending on the rule, but you could also get punished and still keep your job. It’s the same with Fiverr. As for “why”, remember that Fiverr is a global marketplace and that different cultures have different views on how things are done; on top of that, there are many sellers here who don’t speak English well, they find the Terms of Service too difficult to understand (if they read them at all), so they rely on others from their region to explain the rules to them (and those others could easily be misinformed).

Oh, and just in case: I don’t like it that Fiverr allows sellers with stolen pictures (or stolen any kind of work) to stay here, either; I’m just offering possible explanations as to why they’re doing it. I’m certain that many sellers would love it if Fiverr kicked out everyone who steals from others.

[uk1000]

The thing is that I know that there are existing tools that would prevent those accounts from being created in the first place and I don’t like that they are not being used.

What tools? I’m curious.

I personally think that fiverr would gain a lot of credibility if they chose to delete a big number of fraud accounts to protect their customers.

They’d gain some credibility, sure. There would also be an uproar if they suddenly left a huge number of people from poor countries without means to feed their families (plus they’d get accused of racism).

the self publishing industry is a huge potential customer.

I guess that someone did the numbers and thought that other industries would bring them more income.

But within the self - publishing community you are always warned to never use fiverr

Authors do use Fiverr, though, for numerous services (book title brainstorming, blurb writing, editing, proofreading, ghostwriting…).

And I really don’t understand why there is a two strike policy for fraud in place. You brake the law, you should be out. Period.

Do you get instantly fired from your day job if you break a rule? You might, depending on the rule, but you could also get punished and still keep your job. It’s the same with Fiverr. As for “why”, remember that Fiverr is a global marketplace and that different cultures have different views on how things are done; on top of that, there are many sellers here who don’t speak English well, they find the Terms of Service too difficult to understand (if they read them at all), so they rely on others from their region to explain the rules to them (and those others could easily be misinformed).

Oh, and just in case: I don’t like it that Fiverr allows sellers with stolen pictures (or stolen any kind of work) to stay here, either; I’m just offering possible explanations as to why they’re doing it. I’m certain that many sellers would love it if Fiverr kicked out everyone who steals from others.

What tools? I’m curious.

Maybe something like the “TinEye API” - for finding existing images? Assuming they don’t already use that/something like that.

According to their website, they provide, through the programming interface:

a count of the total number of matchesa direct URL to each matching imagethe URL of the page where each match was foundif the source is a collection or stock sitethe score for the individual matcha link to the ‘compare images’ overlay image

[lauramadey]

If I do something illegal, then yes, I would be fired from my job instantly and I honestly think it should be that way.
This is not a minor mistake we are talking about. There could be someone’s existence at stake, who does not know that the work he bought on fiverr is copyrighted. And I feel that the risk is transferred to the wrong side of this.
If fiverr is so afraid of being called racist, it would help to provide the tos on different languages and other methods to ensure that people know what they can and can’t offer.
And just saying “oh yeah, in other countries people don’t care about the law and copy rights, and we don’t want to discriminate them, so good luck with your maybe legal work you paid for,” does not make sense to me at all.
I know that a lot of authors use fiverr. And I know that a lot of them needed a lawyer afterwards. And I know that this prevents a lot of other authors from ordering on fiverr.

[eoinfinnegan]

The thing as mentioned before, is in some countries it’s quite ok to have a business selling pizza called Pizza Hat with similar logo and colours to Pizza Hut. The standards of what is and isn’t ok is different the world over.

However, Fiverr does make it clear that using other people’s images isn’t ok. I think regardless of the effects on those who do this, a zero tolerance approach would ensure that the message gets across. In some of these countries there are government sponsored “freelancing schools” and I’ve seen some graduates of these being the worst offenders. There isn’t really any reason to make allowances for these sellers. Perhaps a pop up message for everyone which was to warn everyone that if their images are not theirs, not unique, or they don’t have permission to use them, then they will be banned.

I don’t believe there is a lot of money coming to Fiverr from these sellers by the way, most of the offenders don’t have an awful lot of sales and it’s likely they cause more issues for support than they are worth.

[catwriter]

The thing as mentioned before, is in some countries it’s quite ok to have a business selling pizza called Pizza Hat with similar logo and colours to Pizza Hut. The standards of what is and isn’t ok is different the world over.

However, Fiverr does make it clear that using other people’s images isn’t ok. I think regardless of the effects on those who do this, a zero tolerance approach would ensure that the message gets across. In some of these countries there are government sponsored “freelancing schools” and I’ve seen some graduates of these being the worst offenders. There isn’t really any reason to make allowances for these sellers. Perhaps a pop up message for everyone which was to warn everyone that if their images are not theirs, not unique, or they don’t have permission to use them, then they will be banned.

I don’t believe there is a lot of money coming to Fiverr from these sellers by the way, most of the offenders don’t have an awful lot of sales and it’s likely they cause more issues for support than they are worth.

I don’t believe there is a lot of money coming to Fiverr from these sellers by the way, most of the offenders don’t have an awful lot of sales and it’s likely they cause more issues for support than they are worth.

Any idea why Fiverr allows them to stay, then?

[eoinfinnegan]

I don’t believe there is a lot of money coming to Fiverr from these sellers by the way, most of the offenders don’t have an awful lot of sales and it’s likely they cause more issues for support than they are worth.

Any idea why Fiverr allows them to stay, then?

Fiverr have rarely been proactive in any type of thing which would require manpower to make happen.

I think it’s a case of not wanting to swamp CS with work when it already takes 24 hours to get a response.

[misscrystal]

I don’t believe there is a lot of money coming to Fiverr from these sellers by the way, most of the offenders don’t have an awful lot of sales and it’s likely they cause more issues for support than they are worth.

Any idea why Fiverr allows them to stay, then?

Any idea why Fiverr allows them to stay, then?

Fiverr has to listen to it’s legal team. This is purely a legal matter and fiverr doesn’t want to take sides in disputes. That’s why they follow googles lead and require proper documentation before they take action. This is all about legalities, and fiverr’s role in it, which is described in detail in legal terms.

While we are all talking in terms of moral outrage, fiverr has to follow legal proceedures. Fiverr has a crack team of lawyers it listens to in this type of matter.

[lauramadey]

Any idea why Fiverr allows them to stay, then?

Fiverr has to listen to it’s legal team. This is purely a legal matter and fiverr doesn’t want to take sides in disputes. That’s why they follow googles lead and require proper documentation before they take action. This is all about legalities, and fiverr’s role in it, which is described in detail in legal terms.

While we are all talking in terms of moral outrage, fiverr has to follow legal proceedures. Fiverr has a crack team of lawyers it listens to in this type of matter.

This is just not true.

Fiverr could of course change their rules, tos, seller verification process and content management system.

And I don’t understand why you keep comparing google and fiverr.

They are nothing alike.

[misscrystal]

This is just not true.

Fiverr could of course change their rules, tos, seller verification process and content management system.

And I don’t understand why you keep comparing google and fiverr.

They are nothing alike.

This is just not true.

What part isn’t true? That they have a crack legal team advising them on this? I’ve explained why they don’t do it. If you don’t understand it I can’t do anything more.

I’m going to once again try to spell it out for you.

Google has a legal team that tells them how to handle this.

Fiverr has a legal team that tells them how to handle this.

This is a purely legal matter with laws telling them how to handle this.

Just because it seems so obvious that it’s wrong to let it go on does not mean that LEGALLY fiverr can involve itself, unless the LAWS and PROCEEDURES are carefully followed on how to do this.

Fiverr is now a publicly traded company and can’t just go at things half a**ed and do whatever it wants to do. It has to be sure it follows the laws that govern this. And it does.

Fiverr has to avoid appearing to be the one who arbitrates disputes like this. For legal reasons.

When there is a dispute between two parties of this nature, it’s a matter for proceedures to be followed. Otherwise fiverr will end up being a party to lawsuits. And as a publicly traded company that won’t be good.

I have a feeling that most people are surprised when they learn that businesses have business laws they need to stay aware of and follow.

[lauramadey]

This is just not true.

What part isn’t true? That they have a crack legal team advising them on this? I’ve explained why they don’t do it. If you don’t understand it I can’t do anything more.

I’m going to once again try to spell it out for you.

Google has a legal team that tells them how to handle this.

Fiverr has a legal team that tells them how to handle this.

This is a purely legal matter with laws telling them how to handle this.

Just because it seems so obvious that it’s wrong to let it go on does not mean that LEGALLY fiverr can involve itself, unless the LAWS and PROCEEDURES are carefully followed on how to do this.

Fiverr is now a publicly traded company and can’t just go at things half a**ed and do whatever it wants to do. It has to be sure it follows the laws that govern this. And it does.

Fiverr has to avoid appearing to be the one who arbitrates disputes like this. For legal reasons.

When there is a dispute between two parties of this nature, it’s a matter for proceedures to be followed. Otherwise fiverr will end up being a party to lawsuits. And as a publicly traded company that won’t be good.

I have a feeling that most people are surprised when they learn that businesses have business laws they need to stay aware of and follow.

If you really believe this, that companies this huge, have lawyers to make sure that they follow the law, I agree, I will never understand you 😂

[misscrystal]

If you really believe this, that companies this huge, have lawyers to make sure that they follow the law, I agree, I will never understand you 😂

Huh? Don’t be so naive. Of course they do. I’m shocked that people don’t know this.

[lauramadey]

Huh? Don’t be so naive. Of course they do. I’m shocked that people don’t know this.

I’m not the one being naive here.

[misscrystal]

I’m not the one being naive here.

If you really believe this, that companies this huge, have lawyers to make sure that they follow the law, I agree, I will never understand you 😂

So you seriously don’t know this? Or are you joking?

Do you realize there are laws governing how business can operate? And there are huge law firms businesses hire to help them follow those laws? Law firms that specialize in business law?

I think I’m wasting my time trying to explain all this in this case.

[lauramadey]

If you really believe this, that companies this huge, have lawyers to make sure that they follow the law, I agree, I will never understand you 😂

So you seriously don’t know this? Or are you joking?

Do you realize there are laws governing how business can operate? And there are huge law firms businesses hire to help them follow those laws? Law firms that specialize in business law?

I think I’m wasting my time trying to explain all this in this case.

I do exactly know how this works. I don’t know how often I have to tell you that I worked in this field. And what we are talking about here is a business decision they make. Not the best legal course. It’s the minimum their lawyers tell them they need to do to not get in trouble.

And that you really think that there is the possibility that they’d want more protection for their customers but are legally not allowed is really scary.

[misscrystal]

I do exactly know how this works. I don’t know how often I have to tell you that I worked in this field. And what we are talking about here is a business decision they make. Not the best legal course. It’s the minimum their lawyers tell them they need to do to not get in trouble.

And that you really think that there is the possibility that they’d want more protection for their customers but are legally not allowed is really scary.

And that you really think that there is the possibility that they’d want more protection for their customers but are legally not allowed is really scary.

It’s scary how many people don’t understand and can’t begin to comprehend how these laws work in spite of having it spelled out in detail.

They cannot set themselves up as judge and jury between two parties. Does that explain it yet? Can you see why? Does it make any sense to you?

The ONLY WAY they can do that legally is if the proper legal procedures are followed.