What gives?
December 11, 2010 1:17 PM Subscribe
What's the story with ebay listings like this one?
I've seen a few sellers like this, who are flogging software. They have a lot of feedback from selling small, cheap items like makeup pencils, then begin selling things like Windows 7, usually a whole lot of the same program.
Presumably the software fell off the back of a truck. But what's the full story? All I can think is:
*Seller has a large amount of software which s/he came into by fair means or foul.
*Seller wants to sell it (not to rip off purchasers with a dodgy profile). In order to build consumer confidence, seller sells a large number of small items first to build up a good feedback rating.
*Seller then sells the software and moves on before ebay catch up with him or her?
(I am absolutely not considering trying this myself! I just got curious after seeing a few listings like this.) What's the story?
I've seen a few sellers like this, who are flogging software. They have a lot of feedback from selling small, cheap items like makeup pencils, then begin selling things like Windows 7, usually a whole lot of the same program.
Presumably the software fell off the back of a truck. But what's the full story? All I can think is:
*Seller has a large amount of software which s/he came into by fair means or foul.
*Seller wants to sell it (not to rip off purchasers with a dodgy profile). In order to build consumer confidence, seller sells a large number of small items first to build up a good feedback rating.
*Seller then sells the software and moves on before ebay catch up with him or her?
(I am absolutely not considering trying this myself! I just got curious after seeing a few listings like this.) What's the story?
I assume the software is either counterfeit or stolen.
posted by Nelson at 1:36 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by Nelson at 1:36 PM on December 11, 2010
Response by poster: These are not German listings - there are heaps in the UK. (Maybe I confused you with my link from ebay.nl which had headers in Dutch? The listing itself was in English though.)
The company license idea makes sense though. Thank you!
posted by rubbish bin night at 1:37 PM on December 11, 2010
The company license idea makes sense though. Thank you!
posted by rubbish bin night at 1:37 PM on December 11, 2010
The German story pharm tells is believable but looking at that seller's history - they sold 15 eyeliner pencils for 99c then moved on to a high-price, easily counterfeitable tech product? My scam alarm is going off for sure.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:40 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:40 PM on December 11, 2010
Response by poster: I assume the software is either counterfeit or stolen.
Well, yeah, probably. What I'm curious about is the way that these listings always seem to go - selling a bunch of small makeup items and then starting with the software. Is it to make sure that ebay doesn't catch on, and then moving on fast?
posted by rubbish bin night at 1:40 PM on December 11, 2010
Well, yeah, probably. What I'm curious about is the way that these listings always seem to go - selling a bunch of small makeup items and then starting with the software. Is it to make sure that ebay doesn't catch on, and then moving on fast?
posted by rubbish bin night at 1:40 PM on December 11, 2010
What I'm curious about is the way that these listings always seem to go - selling a bunch of small makeup items and then starting with the software.
Yeah this is classic scammer behaviour to quickly create a "good" seller rating.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:42 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah this is classic scammer behaviour to quickly create a "good" seller rating.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:42 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
And it's not about getting past eBay, it about convincing buyers to part with the cash ("Oh he has a bunch of good sales, he can't be a scammer" vs "Hmm, this guy is selling an expensive tech product as his first ever sale, seems dodgy").
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:43 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:43 PM on December 11, 2010
From my own personal experience, ebay doesn't really care all that much about the sale of bootleg software. What I see happening here is that this dude is trying to build up a handful of positive reviews before moving on to selling software.
So a few months back I needed to compile a bunch of time series images into a quicktime movie so I could throw it into a keynote presentation. Googling suggested that Quicktime Pro 7 would do it. I figured I could get a cheap license on ebay from a reseller. The guy I bought this from had over 100 positive reviews.
When I paid and got the license, I was horrified to see that he just sent me a pirated serial (one that could be obtained by googling "Quicktime Pro Serial"). It was even registered to the person that cracked the software. So I called him out on it and he quickly gave me a refund and said that he would talk to his "supplier" about it. A handful of other buyers also noted in his feedback that it was just a pirated serial.
I informed ebay and Apple and ebay sent me an email saying they would look into it. But I just checked today and he still sells the exact same thing. So unless a software manufacturer actively polices the site then no. But nobody catches on because it's a positive feedback cycle (he has over 100 positive reviews so it must be legit).
posted by special-k at 1:48 PM on December 11, 2010
So a few months back I needed to compile a bunch of time series images into a quicktime movie so I could throw it into a keynote presentation. Googling suggested that Quicktime Pro 7 would do it. I figured I could get a cheap license on ebay from a reseller. The guy I bought this from had over 100 positive reviews.
When I paid and got the license, I was horrified to see that he just sent me a pirated serial (one that could be obtained by googling "Quicktime Pro Serial"). It was even registered to the person that cracked the software. So I called him out on it and he quickly gave me a refund and said that he would talk to his "supplier" about it. A handful of other buyers also noted in his feedback that it was just a pirated serial.
I informed ebay and Apple and ebay sent me an email saying they would look into it. But I just checked today and he still sells the exact same thing. So unless a software manufacturer actively polices the site then no. But nobody catches on because it's a positive feedback cycle (he has over 100 positive reviews so it must be legit).
posted by special-k at 1:48 PM on December 11, 2010
There's been a lot of ebay sales recently of people reselling Windows 7 MSDN licenses -- these are normally given out to software developers and Microsoft partners and are not meant for resale. Add to that the large amount of commercially produced (usually in China) counterfeits out there (which may use these keys) but otherwise look like full retail packages. While initially these keys did validate and pass WGA (windows genuine advantage) testing, a number of them were recently invalidated by Microsoft, leaving a lot of people who bought cheap Ebay copies out in the cold. Lots more info over in Microsoft's Windows 7 Genuine Advantage Validation Issues forum; this thread is a good start.
posted by reptile at 2:08 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by reptile at 2:08 PM on December 11, 2010
It could be as people say--a seller sells a bunch of crap for cheap to build up a profile.
Or, it could be that the person who sells the crap's profile has been hacked.
posted by dobbs at 5:36 PM on December 11, 2010
Or, it could be that the person who sells the crap's profile has been hacked.
posted by dobbs at 5:36 PM on December 11, 2010
Long ago I worked at an Academic institution, and our workstations would get upgraded and taped to the side was an OEM copy of XP, all original, but the machines were all formatted by IT with the univeristy-wide edition of XP or whatever. I could have easily taken a dozen copies and no one would have cared. Instead we all took a few and gave them to friends and relatives.
posted by glip at 7:16 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by glip at 7:16 PM on December 11, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
IIRC the Germans were very strict with the anti-bundling restraints on trade when it came to software. If you buy a PC in Germany and it comes with Windows, you get to resell that Windows licence if you want to, no ifs, no buts, no messing around with the vender asking for a "refund".
So it may be legit. Companies buying PC upgrades, but sticking with their existing company wide-licences would be able to resell the licences that came with those PCs for instance. The seller may have simply acquired a pile of them from such a company at a discount for the hassle factor of re-selling them
(The above is my personal supposition, not known fact: I bought an XP licence from a similar seller a few years ago & MS verified it as genuine however.)
posted by pharm at 1:30 PM on December 11, 2010