'73 E3 being resold using my pics and documents

[billpatterson]

Hi there,

Kevin Wilson bought my '73 bavaria a few falls back thru the BAT auction. He said he 'absolutely loves the car; bought it for his wife'. The bav is now for sale on Ebay

BAT auction-

M30B35-Powered 1973 BMW Bavaria 5-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a M30B35-Powered 1973 BMW Bavaria 5-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #158,390.

bringatrailer.com

Ebay auction-

Pardon Our Interruption...

What pisses me off to no end is his use of my photos, documents (INCLUDING ONES WITH MY SIGNATURE), and copy/pasting the BAT description whicj=h I wrote with BAT advisers!

This happened to me once before with the sale and then soon after the resale of a '71 2002 Chamonix that I fully restored. Supposedly sold to an enthusiast that was going to keep and enjoy.

What can I do about this? Are there any lawyers on the Forum; is there any legal issues that should be addressed or just bad, inconsiderate, lazy behaviour?

From the Ebay auction site, https://ebay.us/m/MB9KLd

Pictures he used of my garage during my resto,



Pictures he used of the bav at at shopping centre by my house,

The link is his folder that contain MY pictures of my work and resto,

Bavaria

Bavaria album hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Appreciative again,
Bill

 

[boonies]

Hi Bill, I would reach out to eBay and let them know the issues that you described here. They may be responsive and ask the person to take them down.

 

[billpatterson]

Hi Bill, I would reach out to eBay and let them know the issues that you described here. They may be responsive and ask the person to take them down.

Hi Lance,

I found Ebay does have strict Infringement policy; sellers must use their own pictures, documents, etc. I submitted a claim against the seller explaining that the pictures and documents of the car and its restoration he was using to sell the car were actually mine and the exact files I used to sell the car on BaT August 2024.

Appreciated
Bill

 

[HB Chris]

You can save any photo on BaT like I just did to my iPad. There are upsides and downsides to this approach. For example, it is nice to copy a pic to help in a restoration but the downside is it is free for others to misuse such as the scams one sees on Facebook where stolen pics are used to take advantage of others.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

Bill,
Sorry this happened. Lots of unscrupulous people in this world...even car guys.

This was brought to our attention a few weeks ago...

Post in thread '1973 Bavaria on Ebay'

Dec 18, 2025

Most of the photos seem to be from the BAT auction in 2024.

That car was built by our own @billpatterson. He sold it on BaT in August of 24 for $19k. Way under what that car was worth.

• Dick Steinkamp

I wish you the best with your recourse through eBay.

 

[lip277]

That same thing happened to me several years back.

I sold my 2002 back in 2011 to a fella who flew in to Seattle to then drive it back to Philadelphia (in December of all times).
That fella had the car a couple of years then sold it on. That sale was featured on BaT (back before they did their own auctions).
OK - fine... whatever. I figured the guy that bought it would not keep it... but what bugged me was the new sale listing used all the pics and info from when I sold it originally.
And what I heard from folks (that reached out to me from the BaT link - after I chimed in) that looked at the car in person (In Philadelphia) then is that the car was in NOWHERE as good shape as it was when I sold it.

FYI - The pic on the BaT page of the Philadelphia CL sale shows the car in front of my house... LOL

Good luck.

 

[billpatterson]

Hi there
Thank you for the input and support!
Ya know...he could've simply asked for my permission to use my info, pictures, docs and reference me and my work. But since he didn't, screw him. I have filed a complaint with Ebay sighting he is not following their infringement policy. Basically, sellers must use their own pictures, docs, info to sell products; if they do not follow this policy their ad will be taken down.

Appreciated
-Bill

Ps. I have a new project! It is a very very original '69 2002. It is already a blask... (A big THX and HNY to Ken Blasko!)