UNAUTHORISED SALES OF FREEWARE (E.G. EBAY, QXL etc)

[jp4712]

Use this thread to report any unauthorised auction of freeware on internet auction sites or similar, and anything you have done to persuade sellers or bidders that freeware should not be sold on.

Please do not harass sellers or bidders. In the case of sellers, please remind them politely that the item is freeware and is specifically prohibited from resale, copying or other distribution without the express permission of the author, as stated in the read-me file. Therefore, it would appear that the sale is illegal and that they should withdraw the item from sale. In the case of bidders, please remind them (again politely) that they may be better advised to visit http://www.uktrainsim.com where they can obtain the item as freeware for the cost only of production and postage at £4.50, with a month's free subscription to UKTrainsim thrown in.

Do not use this thread to discuss the wider issues around copyright, intellectual property and freeware rights - please use it just to note MSTS freeware items appearing for sale that should not, or to report on any contact you have had with sellers or bidders.

[Easilyconfused]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11051&item=8155746503&rd=1

Seller has put a "buy it now" price of £4.50 including postage. Claims he has bought 2 copies by mistake. If the winner does not do the "buy it now" option then postage is £0.75

I have not contacted the seller.

[Lad491]

Ive e mailed the seller and advised him that it is illegal to sell on this software without the authors permission. Ive asked him to confirm in writing that he has this permission.

[allypally]

Thank you for the apology Depman.

Also, can this thread please be used as it was intended, to report sales, and action taken? Otherwise, moderation may have to come into use to keep the thread tidy.

Irrelevant posts have been removed. May I remind you that this thread is for factual information and reports, rather than opinions and comments.

Thanks

[SCOTTLOWES]

Sorry if this irrelivent

Looks like this man has genuinely bought a second copy by mistake this is a question that was sent to the seller:

Q: Hi Why are you only selling it for £4.50 You can get a lot more than that for it on here

A: Hi - Two reasons - firstly, I made a genuine error - there were two CDs in my basket when I clicked pay... (stupid I know) - and it is cheaper for me to sell it here than try and return it. Secondly, the stuff on the CD took someone hours to write - and it is freeware (but not public domain) - and I don't like to think someone is making money from their hard work - and I agree. These CDs can be purchased from http://www.uktrainsim.com - for £4.50. Kind regards.

[allypally]

No, that post is fine. Its reporting on what you did. No one will dress you down for that.

[rwaceyw]

Sorry if this irrelivent

Looks like this man has genuinely bought a second copy by mistake this is a question that was sent to the seller:

Q: Hi Why are you only selling it for £4.50 You can get a lot more than that for it on here

A: Hi - Two reasons - firstly, I made a genuine error - there were two CDs in my basket when I clicked pay... (stupid I know) - and it is cheaper for me to sell it here than try and return it. Secondly, the stuff on the CD took someone hours to write - and it is freeware (but not public domain) - and I don't like to think someone is making money from their hard work - and I agree. These CDs can be purchased from http://www.uktrainsim.com - for £4.50. Kind regards.

Well done that man . Nice to see theres more honest citezens around

David

[chalkstorm]

Hi all

Sorry for the 'uproar' this has caused. I am that ebayer (chalkstorm) - I did buy two copies by mistake - on the 14th of December, after seeing Cannock Chase sell on ebay for £15+. I did a search, found you guys, found 'bigant' and emailed him directly. He told me it was available here, for £4.50 - and here I am. Foolishly, I did the 'add to basket', then went browsing a little more, then 'add to basket' again - now giving me two copies.

I appreciate the massive amount of work you guys put into route creation, and as I had already lurked here for a while, was no way I wanted to 'piss you off' and jeopardise my subscription here by trying to cash in on the CD (I hope you believe that). Maybe I should have emailed 'Atomic Systems' directly and asked if I could return it for a refund....?

I do spend far too much time on ebay, and over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a lot of add ons for sale - now realising much of it has come from here, and selling for silly prices. Why do you not put yourself a 'store' on ebay and sell them directly - or is that when you run into 'legal issues'?

Kind regards

Simon

[NeutronIC]

The option of putting a store up on ebay to try and counter this has been raised as an option but there are a couple of reasons why I'm holding off on it for now.

Currently our entire process of taking orders is automated right up to producing a downloadable list of who needs to be sent what, even in the case of a cheque/postal order being received it's just a tickbox once the cheque arrives to complete the order.

Via ebay, very little of it can be automated, so it becomes necessary to monitor each sale, make sure the correct moneys change hands, make sure we get correct details and then add them to the ordering system so they can get their CD.

The costs via ebay are greater too given the listing cost and the completion cost (though there are ways to mitigate it, there's no telling that ebay might not put a stop to such measures at some point so I have to consider all possibilities - you can't build a "business plan" on best case scenarios).

Add to that a simple personal dislike for ebay (used it twice, got burned both times) and a serious dislike for paypal (tried to use it for a week, their support offered no assistance at all) I just don't have any desire to be linked with either company.

I also think that it blurs the distinction about where is a good and where is a bad place to buy the CD's, right now it's simple - get them from here only. If they go up on ebay then it's ok on ebay as long as you get them from us, suddenly the lines get blurred.

As far as a refund or a replacement for the extra CD that is of course no problem at all.

We're keeping the idea of trying our own store in our back pocket for now, someone has graciously offered to set it up and run it for a little while to get things moving for us, so if other options don't work I may bite the bullet and give it a try.

Matt.

[chalkstorm]

.

As far as a refund or a replacement for the extra CD that is of course no problem at all.

Ok, thanks - I'll email you directly if that is OK, to return the CD. I have also closed my auction.

Again, I thought I was acting responsibly by listing the CD - and honestly did not mean any harm by it. By not 'making money' on it (Buy it now for £4.50), I thought that would be OK.....

Hopefully you won't all treat me as an outcast - as I'd like to be around for a while longer yet!

Kind regards

Simon

[allypally]

Laurie, as requested, your posts are gone

Simon, cheers for help and things in this matter, if there are more ebayers like you, then hopefully our task will be that much easier. Feel free to browse the forums, post the forums etc, no one will harrass you or anything. At first we may have been a bit stiff on this thread because we have had several EBay idiots selling the CDs lately, as you noticed.

Thanks again
Alex

[bravedan]

Just to make things clear as far as my Uploads and contributions to Route CD's are concerned (and that's quite a few), I would NEVER agree to Freeware products containing items bearing my copyright being sold on for profit, either by Route Authors or third parties, the sole exception being first time sale for fund raising by registered charities and the like as per the ELR CD, and that only by prior and specific agreement.

I trust Matt and the UKTrainsim crew to do the right thing with regard Freeware CD sales, but would never agree to any scheme whereby others profited from my endeavours. I don't, they won't.........

An awful lot of my time and money has gone into the stuff I have made freely available here...so if you see it being sold for profit, please feel free to advise the seller to stop, as I will NOT have given permission!!!!!

Regards,

Dave Bran

[bravedan]

Don't know the history of this one:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :B:WN:UK:1


I politely asked the Seller who the Author was, and did not get a response..........

Dave

[bravedan]

This you might find interesting................

I used the link I had made above to check it and I got :-

Train Simulator - Smashes and Crashes Item number: 8157675767

Bidding has ended for this item. (8206dan is the winner)

The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price.

Winning bid: £0.99
Ended: 01-Jan-05 21:17:23 GMT
Start time: 28-Dec-04 00:47:07 GMT
History: 2 bids (£0.99 starting bid)
Winning bidder: 8206dan ( 0 )



NOW...........this was not what Ebay had just informed me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

e.g.


Dear *********,
Hurry! This watched item will end within the next 5 hours.
(as of 01-Jan-05 19:13:48 GMT)
[AD]
Watched item ending in the next 5 hours View all in My eBay


Train Simulator - Smashes and Crashes

£12.49 (8 bids) Ends 02-Jan-05 00:47:07 GMT


MMMMMMMMMMM, Errrrrrrrrrrr

Dave

[sleepie]

I saw this a month or so ago at a the weekly 'puter fair at Bowlers, Old Trafford, Mancs. Looked genuine, proper box and CD - not paper - the back of my mind thinks PopTop were the producers, but the front of my mind tells me that was Railroad Tycoon. Though it was a bit of a sick product really. Train crashes cost lives, so why set out to make them happen????

What maybe of interest to yourselves (myself only being a newbie - my lad played MSTS for years without letting me get an eye in) was that the same seller selling "crashes and smashes" in their Train Simulator section also had some "warehouse clearance" UK Trainsim routes - though not at the silly prices the EBayers have been paying - think I paid about £3 for Blackpool and £4 for the Deltic Collection (these purchases were how I originally found out about this site from the CD labels - sorry guys). The seller had loads of routes, and many copies of each. However, you don't get the membership for the site with them so I've since made sure that I'll buy all the CDs from the site. And tell my friends (well my sons friends....)