Paradise for Dubious Software?

Good points - I guess it's hard for them to differentiate - I've bought both legal and dodgy software on eBay - both types work but only 1 type gets money to the original developers...

Some software doesn't sell on eBay - sellers of Esri's ArcView get their Auctions closed down apparently. I wonder why?!

R2

Actually you could probably argue that there is no software sale on eBay which returns anything to the developer/publisher. There is one PowerSeller in particular who makes an elaborate song and dance about legal/non-pirate/will prosecute/everything guaranteed etc. but only sells OEM software...

AutoCad auctions suffer the same fate as Region 2's example above, with total illogicality from eBay regarding where the ax drops. I guess any product which retails at £3,700 and can be bought on eBay at £30 is liable to attract the more colourful buyers/sellers....

Some sellers (Search = Autocad on ebay.co.uk) have resorted to setting up one-bid-wins auctions with a couple of hours lead-time so everything is done and dusted before eBay UK wakes up and snips them out - you have to admire them; sort of; the sellers I mean.

eBay has a few rules about this kind of stuff. This is how I understand it.

Pirated software is against policy to sell, but to close the auction down they must have a complaint by the copyright holder. That's not you or me, so our complaints about >This< are ignored. Clicking report at the bottom gets you nowhere.

It's also (generally) against policy to sell any recordable media that is not blank. One might have better success at shutting down an acution from >Here<, as this has less to do with copyright.

... but to answer your question... eBay does their best to pretend they don't know.

Ebay tends to turn their head especially if the seller is a "big bucks" customer! No matter what is being sold, I believe, is ok if the money keeps rolling in for them.

I agree totally with Puppy & Mrs. M. My attempts to stop auctions in the recordable media arena have been 100% unsuccessful. Although, Lexie has had some success in getting these auctions ended. Who ever says crime doesn't pay doesn't know about ebay.

I have no clue why you guys cant get auctions shut down.

Last week alone I got 4!! auctions shut down and 2 of the users are now deregistered, due to illegal copies in auctions.

Not too many weeks go by when I dont report auctions that have copyright violations and I have only had problems ONCE getting something pulled. After numerous reports, I went to the relevant ebay location (these copies were in germany) and reported it there and 10 minutes later the auction was gone.

I am quite anal about illegal copies of stuff on ebay, it must be my pet peeve

I have emailed sellers and asked if the programs were copied from TV and they replied YES. I sent those emails to ebay and they did nothing. Oh well, like they say "the best man for the job is a woman". You have proven that to be true in this case Lexie. Keep up the good work!

SUCCESS at last! I got an illegal auction closed down. I just wish I knew what I did differently this time.

Lexie...Is this the message you get after you have gotten auctions closed down?
Invalid Item
The item you requested (4187076948) is invalid, still pending, or no longer in our database. Please check the number and try again. If this message persists, the item has either not started and is not yet available for viewing, or has expired and is no longer available.
I got this message when I clicked on the item I was watching in 'my ebay' watch page.

Great, Jake!!!!

WOO HOO Jake - looks like you got one of the auctions pulled!!