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eBay seller sent me pirated CDs

macaddict23

macaddict23

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2006
382
1
MacVille, USA
I bought a software app from this seller last week. Before bidding, I was a bit suspicious because all of his previous items did not include any images. 99% were software. Anyway, right when I opened the package this morning, they were obviously pirated copies. I emailed the seller and told him "you have one chance to refund my money or I will report you to the proper authorities." He will honor my refund in return that i give him back the CDs. Should i go ahead and get the refund fron him and call it a day? Or, report him to eBay and Paypal and then get my money back by filing a claim? Is it worth the trouble?
 
Definitely report him to eBay .. :apple:

Normally the price indicates "pirate" copies, although if you have any doubts then email the seller before bidding.
 
Another vote for report him and file a claim for reimbursement. Of course, the guy will open another eBay account...
 
make him refund your money.
send him back the cd's if necessary.
take pictures of everything and report him to the companies affected by the pirating.
report him to the fbi. they have somewhere a website.
ask if the companies have a reward for exposing criminal piracy.
then report him to ebay and paypal.

this guy is not a student who works with a illegal copy of MS Word. This is a professional criminal.
 
This is why I never buy software on ebay. There are too many scammers around.

You can sometimes tell from the feedback wheather they are dodgy, though most people seems happy with dodgy stuff from the feedback I've sifted though, but there's usually someone who leaves a negative or maybe a neutral and tells you the truth. Or course this can ony help if they've been there for a while.

Reporting him is a must, I just wish ebay would take things like this more seriously. From my experience they do the minimum and he will probably continue selling dodgy stuff on ebay. (ebay get fees from the transaction wheather or not it is legit).

Ebay used to be a nice place to get hard to find stuff and bargains. These days it is a nasty place full of scammers. (and don't get me started on the people selling information that is freely available on the net)
 
many software companies will give you a free version of whatever you purchased if you return the pirate copy to them and give them information on where you purchased it. i know MS does this for sure. so in addition to reporting them to eBay and authorities, i'd report them to the software vendor too.
 
The piracy is one thing

The refund is another.

You have demanded, and the seller has offered, to refund your money on return of the product. If you now do not return the product, eBay / PayPal will likely not back you up on getting a refund through a claim. The first thing they ask is "Have you contacted the seller for a refund?" If you answer "Yeah, he offered, but I want to jam him up so I am not returning it" they're going to say "Shoulda taken the refund offered, can't help you on that."

You'll need to send it back and document it, get a signature on delivery.

Now the legality of the product etc. is a different story and should be reported. There is a chance that eBay will instruct you to keep the disks and not send them back.... however when the same thing happened to me, eBay didn't give a rodent's posterior about the legality of the product when I filed a claim. I didn't get a refund, either (my auction did have photos and said geniune, too. eBay's position was that I had gotten something and it was up to me to negotiate with the seller if it wasn't up to my expectations).

odinsride said:
Didn't you check the seller's feedback first??
Click to expand...
That means very little. The account could be hijacked, it could be full of shill feedback, and the largest Pirates on eBay have thousands of good feedback from greedy pirate software buyers who know d@mned well that their $40 copy of Adobe CS3 isn't real. Also, it is easy as pie for a unethical seller to get any negative feedback erased.
 
CanadaRAM said:
That means very little. The account could be hijacked, it could be full of shill feedback, and the largest Pirates on eBay have thousands of good feedback from greedy pirate software buyers who know d@mned well that their $40 copy of Adobe CS3 isn't real. Also, it is easy as pie for a unethical seller to get any negative feedback erased.
Click to expand...

What :eek: Really?!?
That stinks. What's the point then?
Damn you, eBay...
 
iSee said:
What :eek: Really?!?
That stinks. What's the point then?
Click to expand...
Ooohh, grasshopper... I see that the world is a nastier place than you imagine.

... to encourage the maximum number of listings and revenue for eBay through a false sense of security and lowest-cost, laissez-faire, minimal management. eBay makes just as much money from a seller of bogus goods as they do from a good seller.

Sorry to shatter an illusion ...
 
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