Well it seems that a seller in China called ''Bestdavid'' who sells on wholesale site DHgate has stolen my photos, removed my watermark and added their own! They took the images of the Tangerine Evening Dress that I posted in November
http://morningstar84.blogspot.com/2012/11/marilyn-monroes-tangerine-dress-gpb.html
I have contacted the seller as well as the website about their theft and have been assured they will look into it...we shall see. I will have to start placing my watermark in a less removable area. I hate when there is a big watermark blocking a detail, but i'm going to have to do it. I honestly didn't think that many people saw this blog. Who knew some factory in China was out scouring the internet for seamstresses to rip off for their own profit! Sigh, you learn something new everyday.
So if you happen to post things you have made online I strongly suggest you too start watermarking your work in a way that is hard to remove, lest you be stolen from as well. I looked into this issues particularly with DHgate sellers and found many other people who have had the same thing happen to them, a lot of them Etsy sellers. Unless you can prove you had the photos first then there doesn't seem to be much you can do.
Update!
DHgate is reviewing the issue and the dress is no longer available to purchase. I also got an apology from the seller BestDavid reassuring me they are a respectable and honorable business...
Luckily I was able to prove my photos were posted before the item was listed on their site. So it looks to be getting sorted out thank goodness!
Update 2 !
The photos have been removed!
Ugh what a nightmare! I think this happens a lot more than people realize and not just by unscrupulous Chinese sellers! I recall a similar situation that happened to the seamstress who runs Trashy Diva a while back, and that theft was by a US repro company. Shameful!
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