A few months ago I started an e-commerce business and it has steadily been growing in sales. I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone tried to sell a similar product (I'm selling a customized product), however I didn't expect someone to also steal my website and advertising copy.
I'm wondering if I have any options here. I would definitely say this business is copying mine (not just inspired by it). It seems relatively new and honestly I'm all for the free market and if they want to compete with a similar product, however I don't appreciate them stealing verbatim copy, for images, they used their own images but copied alot about my site, for instance the backgrounds of the images, the way they are laid out, etc.
From what I understand shopify may actually take action against websites that do this and I was considering contacting them. Before doing this I was considering contacting the offending business and asking them to remove verbatim copy from their website (I'm not sure what options I have for the images and massive similarity to the aesthetic - including the copy on the facebook page).
I was wondering from other experienced members how they would approach this situation:
- would you contact the offending store or monitor them without them knowing you know that they are copying you?
- would you contact shopify / facebook / instagram?
- any other options I haven't considered?
Thank you for helping me through the ugly side of business. It's frustrating to me the laziness of other "entrepreneurs" and the ease at which copying takes place. It took me several iterations (while spending budget and getting visitors) to tweak my copy and the look of the website as well as the product. If someone can just copy it they bypass all my work and expense.
I'm wondering if I have any options here. I would definitely say this business is copying mine (not just inspired by it). It seems relatively new and honestly I'm all for the free market and if they want to compete with a similar product, however I don't appreciate them stealing verbatim copy, for images, they used their own images but copied alot about my site, for instance the backgrounds of the images, the way they are laid out, etc.
From what I understand shopify may actually take action against websites that do this and I was considering contacting them. Before doing this I was considering contacting the offending business and asking them to remove verbatim copy from their website (I'm not sure what options I have for the images and massive similarity to the aesthetic - including the copy on the facebook page).
I was wondering from other experienced members how they would approach this situation:
- would you contact the offending store or monitor them without them knowing you know that they are copying you?
- would you contact shopify / facebook / instagram?
- any other options I haven't considered?
Thank you for helping me through the ugly side of business. It's frustrating to me the laziness of other "entrepreneurs" and the ease at which copying takes place. It took me several iterations (while spending budget and getting visitors) to tweak my copy and the look of the website as well as the product. If someone can just copy it they bypass all my work and expense.
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