What's up with this? Digitally delivered items

[abcdee3d]

I have read many messages in this forum where people have had auctions pulled, some say for unknown reasons. This is to let people know eBid doesn't allow electronically delivered items to be sold. That means emailed or downloadable items-or does it? Buyer beware, some downloadables are being sold, but not being delivered.

I had a funny situation and the auction is still up, even though I did report it to eBid. I also see that there are many items such as the one I bid on that are still up and running.

I found a listing for website templates. Against my better judgement, I placed a bid-which was actually a buy it now. I paid for it, but never got any response from the seller, even after emailing him. I even contacted him at his other auction site and he did nothing.

So, I rescinded the payment and reported the seller and product to eBid. This is an item that any smart person wouldn't buy and it is obviously an electronically delivered item (if delivered) since it says info will be emailed right after payment is made. eBid said to contact the seller that I no longer required the item. Uh huh. Anyway, the item is still there for sale (it was listed as having multiple items for sale) as are many similar or disparate downloadable items.

My purpose here is two-fold: To gripe-sour grapes and maybe to inform members and eBid, so members won't get taken and eBid will take care of one questionable item.

When I first started with eBid, I listed downloadable easel plans which I have copyrighted with the US Library of Congress. I never got a notice from eBid, but got told about it by several eBid members and so voluntarily removed the item. I didn't know it wasn't allowed. I even asked eBid about it, but received a cryptic response that electronically delivered items aren't allowed due to intellectual property concerns-they maybe copyrighted by someone else.

Apparently, others are having some similar problems but are having listings removed and not knowing why, while other listings are up there and state flat out that the item will be delivered electronically. Why wouldn't someone have removed the item I had problems with, especially when told that the seller didn't deliver, wouldn't respond to questions, and when told the item violates eBid policy? Then, too, why wouldn't eBid look at the other items in that same category that are electronic items? I assume time constraints, but these are easy to find.

I say this, because I do sell a serious product with real value to it as do many others, but I am not allowed to sell it here or on crapBay, because of people who sell garbage electronically or who steal other's intellectual property. In a world increasingly concerned with saving paper and where major software developers prefer buyers download their products rather than buy hard copies, small honest sellers are being told they can't do so, even when it's their own copyrighted product. But some dishonest sellers are allowed to continue. Hmmmm....

[well-tech.ltd]

Here goes....another forum posting to be removed LOL

EBid are the worst auction site for removing items for no good reason while allowing law breakers to continue selling. (Read if fast, it'll get deleted).

I'm not allowed to sell I items that I own the copyright on (and neither are you) but grey import and OEM software is allowed. If you report an illegal software sale, it gets pulled but the rest of the sellers similarly illegal items remain.

EBid's attitude and action with intellectual property is pretty much laughable.

[buckhysen]

I can't comment on Ebid but Greedbay are exactly like that. They remove the genuine items and keep the obvious fake/counterfeit stuff.

What's laughable is that if a fellow trader on Greedbay reports you for no good reason, they don't even ask/check or look to see if your items are copyrighted, they just remove them. Years ago I had my store emptied of stock on three occasions for no good reason and I later found out it was another seller who was reporting me because he thought I was pinching his trade (Not keyrings or magnets btw). It took me months to get Greedbay to admit their mistake.

The daft thing was that I was selling personalised items (i.e. Using Images from sellers themselves/personal photos, etc) whereas he was selling obviously fake/copyright items.

I'm hoping Ebid is not the same.

[deltadelta48]

I can't comment on Ebid but Greedbay are exactly like that. They remove the genuine items and keep the obvious fake/counterfeit stuff.

What's laughable is that if a fellow trader on Greedbay reports you for no good reason, they don't even ask/check or look to see if your items are copyrighted, they just remove them. Years ago I had my store emptied of stock on three occasions for no good reason and I later found out it was another seller who was reporting me because he thought I was pinching his trade (Not keyrings or magnets btw). It took me months to get Greedbay to admit their mistake.

The daft thing was that I was selling personalised items (i.e. Using Images from sellers themselves/personal photos, etc) whereas he was selling obviously fake/copyright items.

I'm hoping Ebid is not the same.

Sadly that was how feebay operated, allowed backstabbing etc, and as a result lost lots of us to ebid. Hurray! Lets never get that way here.

[deltadelta48]

Here goes....another forum posting to be removed LOL

EBid are the worst auction site for removing items for no good reason while allowing law breakers to continue selling. (Read if fast, it'll get deleted).

I'm not allowed to sell I items that I own the copyright on (and neither are you) but grey import and OEM software is allowed. If you report an illegal software sale, it gets pulled but the rest of the sellers similarly illegal items remain.

EBid's attitude and action with intellectual property is pretty much laughable.

I am not sure there is a conspiracy brewing. Just almost 3 million auctions and few people in admin to police them. They rely on us to report items, and most of the time instead of reporting the items, people come back to the forums and complain about the items instead! "I see fakes, I see fakes"!!

If you report on nothing, nothing gets pulled. If you report on ONE item, ONE gets pulled, the rest remain. If you report on ALL items that are wrong, they ALL get pulled. We are never willing to do that last step, so items remain. And we assume that ebid has the time to pull one and check the 3 million for more like it. I don't think so.

Banned products is ongoing issue. Some were banned because something is wrong with selling them, be it copyright, non delivery, whatever. Seems to me if you can solve the problems, the issue will be reviewed and the ban lifted. But leave it the way it is and the stuff stays out of the auctions. Just complaining does not do anything to solve any problem, figure out a solution and propose it to administration!

[deltadelta48]

I have read many messages in this forum where people have had auctions pulled, some say for unknown reasons. This is to let people know eBid doesn't allow electronically delivered items to be sold. That means emailed or downloadable items-or does it? Buyer beware, some downloadables are being sold, but not being delivered.

I had a funny situation and the auction is still up, even though I did report it to eBid. I also see that there are many items such as the one I bid on that are still up and running.

I found a listing for website templates. Against my better judgement, I placed a bid-which was actually a buy it now. I paid for it, but never got any response from the seller, even after emailing him. I even contacted him at his other auction site and he did nothing.

So, I rescinded the payment and reported the seller and product to eBid. This is an item that any smart person wouldn't buy and it is obviously an electronically delivered item (if delivered) since it says info will be emailed right after payment is made. eBid said to contact the seller that I no longer required the item. Uh huh. Anyway, the item is still there for sale (it was listed as having multiple items for sale) as are many similar or disparate downloadable items.

My purpose here is two-fold: To gripe-sour grapes and maybe to inform members and eBid, so members won't get taken and eBid will take care of one questionable item.

When I first started with eBid, I listed downloadable easel plans which I have copyrighted with the US Library of Congress. I never got a notice from eBid, but got told about it by several eBid members and so voluntarily removed the item. I didn't know it wasn't allowed. I even asked eBid about it, but received a cryptic response that electronically delivered items aren't allowed due to intellectual property concerns-they maybe copyrighted by someone else.

Apparently, others are having some similar problems but are having listings removed and not knowing why, while other listings are up there and state flat out that the item will be delivered electronically. Why wouldn't someone have removed the item I had problems with, especially when told that the seller didn't deliver, wouldn't respond to questions, and when told the item violates eBid policy? Then, too, why wouldn't eBid look at the other items in that same category that are electronic items? I assume time constraints, but these are easy to find.

I say this, because I do sell a serious product with real value to it as do many others, but I am not allowed to sell it here or on crapBay, because of people who sell garbage electronically or who steal other's intellectual property. In a world increasingly concerned with saving paper and where major software developers prefer buyers download their products rather than buy hard copies, small honest sellers are being told they can't do so, even when it's their own copyrighted product. But some dishonest sellers are allowed to continue. Hmmmm....

Again, if you sell a good product but can't sell it in its present form for various reasons, why can't you sell it in a another form? Why can't the electronic product be disked, and sold with a printed "instruction" manual (a sheet or two w/ your copyright info etc) and/or a printed guarantee that you own info, disk will work, you replace it etc? You move from selling an electronic download that looks like it belongs to the host of people cheating others, to being a legit seller of data who is careful to make sure the data arrives and is useable. You are selling a visible product in an informative package. No different than selling a book or CD.

If THAT is forbidden, you at least have a case with ebid in getting it allowed. You are selling an actual product, not a download, and you are mailing it and guaranteeing that it is what you advertised.

More trouble for you, yes, but at present you cant sell anything like that. Will the situation stay like that (mailing disk), probably not. Someone is going to solve the problem and allow safe purchases, but that is down the road. You have to deal with right now.

At this point with all the cheats out there, it has come down to having to go back to basics to prove you are not one of them. Cheating on sending electronic downloads has gotten so bad that the practice has been banned! You found out why!

Hey it takes a while to get a disk in the mail, but if I pay $25 and get zip, i would rather wait for a disk to arrive with seller's guarantee, rather than throw my money away. I dont know if that solves the problem; it is unfortunate that good sellers got their honest products banned along with a bunch of cheats.

[abcdee3d]

I can't comment on Ebid but Greedbay are exactly like that. They remove the genuine items and keep the obvious fake/counterfeit stuff..........
The daft thing was that I was selling personalised items (i.e. Using Images from sellers themselves/personal photos, etc) whereas he was selling obviously fake/copyright items.

I'm hoping Ebid is not the same.

feeBay still does the same thing-there are all kinds of things listed that are obviously against policy, but I had something removed that was up before a policy change.

[abcdee3d]

I do sell hard copy items. The thing is selling digitally allows one to sell all over the world. Postal rates to some countries as well as possible damage and LONG delivery times which can result in heat-damaged or cold-damaged disks and/or angry customers, even compatibility issues with systems make it not cost-effective for me and my customers to send disks.

Not to mention that one must wade through customs laws for all different countries and never be sure a customer won't have to pay at their end.

I used to have customers from Latvia to Australia and New Zealand to Russia and the UK. I can't do the same with hard copy product. So, I now sell to the US, and Canada for some items.