My Axis ebay auction cancelled by PRS!

[spkirby]

You guys won't believe this!

I had my blue Axis up for sale on UK ebay. My auction title read :

Ernie Ball Musicman Axis Electric Guitar. Gibson PRS.

Obviously the Gibson PRS part is to catch the attention of those searching for those (arguably) better known guitars. It certainly doesnt infer that the guitar is a Gibson or PRS...

Anyway I had less than 24 hours to run on the auction, 50+ watchers and several bids above the reserve and then ebay cancelled the auction because a certain Jim Cullen from PRS had sent a signed statement(!) to ebay to say my auction was infringing on their intellectual property rights!!

How pathetically pissy is that?

Methinks they are behaving like spoiled brats / playground bullys because Mr. Gibsons bunch got them to remove their singlecuts!!

Won't be adding a PRS to my collection now...or speaking too highly of them in future either!!!

Steven

 

[Dodgeball]

Dude that's unbelievable!!

You must be pretty cheesed off.

Hope your doing ok up in Telford now. Send us an email soon!

C

 

[koogie2k]

Goes to show that PRS is not driven by the art of the music, more so by the $$$. I won't even pick one up for the sake of it. Dude, sorry about your loss, but, I think you can re-post and get back in the game again.

 

[brentrocks]

i would be very mad too!!!!!

 

[Bassplyr]

If you check USA E-bay they add other names in to the desription line all the time to garner attention. PRS must have 1 guy they hire to just check E-bay auctions. Pathetic for sure.
1 time my auction wa pulled from E-bay because I was selling a non-authorized Dave Matthews sign. Since they weren;t making any money on it , It got yanked. You gotta love corporate America.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

It does say in the EBAY rules that you are not allowed to advertise your item the way you did, so it's not really fair for you to cry "foul"

I will say that I am suprised, tho, I have never heard of that rule being enforced.

I look at amplifiers on ebay all the time, and often find "like gibson" and "like marshall" and "not mesa" in the titles. Kind of irritating to have to wade through those auctions if I am looking for a Mesa and get a bunch of "not Mesa" listings.

Sorry, that's just my view on it


I think the Dave Matthews thing is a bunch of crap, tho.

 

[OrangeChannel]

I agree with Pete D-rock here...being an experienced ebay seller...I learned early that you CANNOT in any terms use the name of another product to promote one you are selling (if its not that item)...100% of the time those auctions get pulled early and told to revise the description and/or title...so you can't really complain because it's written in the ebay end user agreement, which none of us read when clicking...I Agree...

 

[jongitarz]

It does say in the EBAY rules that you are not allowed to advertise your item the way you did, so it's not really fair for you to cry "foul"

I will say that I am suprised, tho, I have never heard of that rule being enforced.

I look at amplifiers on ebay all the time, and often find "like gibson" and "like marshall" and "not mesa" in the titles. Kind of irritating to have to wade through those auctions if I am looking for a Mesa and get a bunch of "not Mesa" listings.

Sorry, that's just my view on it


I think the Dave Matthews thing is a bunch of crap, tho.

I agree. It pisses me off when I am looking for something, and have to wade through all the other auctions

 

[Bassplyr]

What are you guys doing on E-bay anyway?? It;s Evil!! I've got customers asking me to match E-bay prices....yeah, right!

 

[Raz]

I wish someone from EBMM would go around and pull all of the fake Ebay listings who use EBMM in their header, like OLP's and more that are too numerous to mention. So I think what you did was wrong...advertise the guitar for what she is, and be proud of it!

 

[Bassplyr]

Raz has a point. It seems to me that there is a certain group of people who are into MM's, and they look specifically for that. So I would agree you wouldn't need to add PRS or F*nder or whatever. But what do i know. I'm just the bassplayer

 

[Bassplyr]

Byt he way Raz, has anyone ever told you that you closely resemble Urkel? hehe.

 

[Warg Master]

It does say in the EBAY rules that you are not allowed to advertise your item the way you did, so it's not really fair for you to cry "foul"

I will say that I am suprised, tho, I have never heard of that rule being enforced.

I look at amplifiers on ebay all the time, and often find "like gibson" and "like marshall" and "not mesa" in the titles. Kind of irritating to have to wade through those auctions if I am looking for a Mesa and get a bunch of "not Mesa" listings.

Sorry, that's just my view on it


I think the Dave Matthews thing is a bunch of crap, tho.

I agree also, I hate wading through the other auctions when I'm looking for something certain... I've seen it enforced though, as well it should, it's obnoxious.

 

[OrangeChannel]

I've got customers asking me to match E-bay prices....yeah, right!

Now that's ridiculous...!

 

[Raz]

Byt he way Raz, has anyone ever told you that you closely resemble Urkel? hehe.

That's it I'm changing my avatar

Oh and bassplayr, you should be praised for what you do, I'm not overly experienced in the music biz, but of the few auditions that I had, it was always the bass player who not only made me feel more comfortable, but also gave me the THUMBS up on my performance. I wish I had a best friend who was a bass player
...better yet, a wife who played the bass

 

[ripley]

I completly agree that mis-listed auctions on ebay are time consuming and annoying. but I would at this point equate PRS with Disney (the evil empire) when it comes to assinine litigation and complaints about "intellictual property infrengement." they're just cheesed that Gibson sued them over the single cutaway model (which was also a stupid move). it's like Fender suing every company who makes an offset double cutaway guitar.

I'd also feel more inclined to not be so annoyed by PRS's superior attitude if they still made superior guitars.

rather than focusing on returning their guitars to the state they were back in the early 90's, they pay people to screen the bloody internet looking for free lawsuit money or just to make trouble for people. PRS is a "nice guitar" for people who mostly don't know better these days. I wish that was different because I used to love their instruments.

 

[slukather]

I agree. It pisses me off when I am looking for something, and have to wade through all the other auctions

Yep l agree

Oh and bassplayr, you should be praised for what you do, I'm not overly experienced in the music biz, but of the few auditions that I had, it was always the bass player who not only made me feel more comfortable, but also gave me the THUMBS up on my performance. I wish I had a best friend who was a bass player
...better yet, a wife who played the bass

Yeah thats true, normally a bass player is easier to get along with than the rest of the band.

Scott.

 

[spkirby]

Yeah you'd think PRS would be happy about being mentioned alongside Musicman!

OK guys through my own ignorance I wasnt aware that I was breaking any ebay rules with the title, and yes it is annoying when searching listings for something to find other "not xxx or yyy" titled auctions being listed in your searches. The simple fact is, certainly in the UK at least, that Musicman is very low profile for guitars (basses aside) and sometimes the only way of getting people onto your MM guitar auction is to add these "links". Call it underground marketing for the MM range!! Morally right? No, but it does get people interested in an MM who otherwise would have lived in less than blissful ignorance!

If I was searching for a Gibson then found my auction I'd go for the MM

I also still think PRS are being heavy handed here and am amazed that they have someone taking time to search ebay and write letters about "copyright infringement"...

Lastly an ebay tip...add a "-(not,olp,xxx,yyy)" to your search text next time to remove those extra auctions using these titling techniques.

Peace,

SK

 

[Raz]

Yep l agree



Yeah thats true, normally a bass player is easier to get along with than the rest of the band.

Scott.

Hey I said that, about bass players, not Jon...

 

[Raz]

Yeah you'd think PRS would be happy about being mentioned alongside Musicman!

OK guys through my own ignorance I wasnt aware that I was breaking any ebay rules with the title, and yes it is annoying when searching listings for something to find other "not xxx or yyy" titled auctions being listed in your searches. The simple fact is, certainly in the UK at least, that Musicman is very low profile for guitars (basses aside) and sometimes the only way of getting people onto your MM guitar auction is to add these "links". Call it underground marketing for the MM range!! Morally right? No, but it does get people interested in an MM who otherwise would have lived in less than blissful ignorance!

If I was searching for a Gibson then found my auction I'd go for the MM

I also still think PRS are being heavy handed here and am amazed that they have someone taking time to search ebay and write letters about "copyright infringement"...

Lastly an ebay tip...add a "-(not,olp,xxx,yyy)" to your search text next time to remove those extra auctions using these titling techniques.

Peace,

SK

I did not know that, thanks!