topic Re: Selling things sent by email in Buying

Selling things sent by email

luvvyluv — Tue, 05 May 2015 13:38:27 GMT

Hi everyone.

I was looking at buying some prints to put around the house and was just wondering if sellers are allowed to sell prints with things like 'free postage' when they're not sent at all. They're just emailng a picture I have to print myself?

Here is an item number

191573301774

- all of their prints are the same, you have to get them in email and get them printed yourself.

Re: Selling things sent by email

lyndal1838 — Tue, 05 May 2015 14:10:34 GMT

No, digital delivery goods cannot be sold on ebay AU.

Some other sites allow it but not here.

You can report it if you want to.

Re: Selling things sent by email

getnikd — Wed, 06 May 2015 00:10:18 GMT

When Ebay refer to the selling of digital items, they are talking about copies of things such as ebooks or music which people don't own the rights for and are therefore breaching copyright laws. As the seller of this item, I have spoken to Ebay to make sure, and these items are allowed to be sold 🙂

Re: Selling things sent by email

luvvyluv — Wed, 06 May 2015 00:52:05 GMT

I thought people still had to send something though? Why do you say free postage but not actually post anything? It's misleading for me.

Re: Selling things sent by email

digital*ghost — Wed, 06 May 2015 01:02:13 GMT

@getnikd wrote:
When Ebay refer to the selling of digital items, they are talking about copies of things such as ebooks or music which people don't own the rights for and are therefore breaching copyright laws. As the seller of this item, I have spoken to Ebay to make sure, and these items are allowed to be sold 🙂

While it doesn't surprise me that someone working for eBay would give incorrect advice, I'm afraid that it very much is incorrect, at least for eBay AU.

The policy re: digitally delivered goods is a blanket ban - you can check the policy in question here:

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-no-item.html

Expand the "Listings with no item" link and you'll see that digital goods is first on the list, with no exceptions - despite what you may have been told, it's not a matter of copyright laws, and there are specific policies re: copyright in place to cover that sort of thing.

You can get around this either by listing the items on another eBay site that does allow goods to be delivered digitally, eg US ebay, or by selling a physical item - either an actual print, or a hard copy (on disc, or memory card) and offering a digital copy as a back-up if preferred. I would suggest thinking about changing to either one of those things, as while you can cruise along fine for a while, sooner or later there will be someone who'll report your listings rather than seek or offer advice about them, and ebay could pull the rug out from under you in a matter of seconds. 😞

Re: Selling things sent by email

digital*ghost — Wed, 06 May 2015 01:01:02 GMT

@luvvyluv wrote:
Why do you say free postage but not actually post anything? It's misleading for me.

There is no way to list with $0 postage without eBay labeling it as 'free postage', even on the US site where digital goods are allowed.

Re: Selling things sent by email

getnikd — Wed, 06 May 2015 01:24:08 GMT

And unfortunately you were correct and I was given the wrong information. This is allowed on international sites but not in Australia so I will have to up my prices and offer a physical print 🙂 I've sent a 'suggestion' to Ebay Australia that they review the policy - no reason why we should miss out in Australia!

Re: Selling things sent by email

lyndal1838 — Wed, 06 May 2015 06:42:13 GMT

@getnikd wrote:
When Ebay refer to the selling of digital items, they are talking about copies of things such as ebooks or music which people don't own the rights for and are therefore breaching copyright laws. As the seller of this item, I have spoken to Ebay to make sure, and these items are allowed to be sold 🙂

And what makes you think that pictures are not covered by copyright?

While you were given the wrong advice by ebay, you obviously did not think it through either.

Re: Selling things sent by email

phorum_junkie* — Wed, 06 May 2015 07:53:49 GMT

I've sent a 'suggestion' to Ebay Australia that they review the policy - no reason why we should miss out in Australia!

That is never going to happen, I hope. The reason they do not allow digitally delivered goods is becuse there is no buyer protection, something that a lot of buyers found out to their cost when sellers were allowed to list them for digital delivery. If you do have copyright rights then you can put the digital file on a disk and then you have something to post and the buyer has protection.

Re: Selling things sent by email

cherry*135 — Wed, 06 May 2015 08:06:57 GMT

@getnikd wrote:
When Ebay refer to the selling of digital items, they are talking about copies of things such as ebooks or music which people don't own the rights for and are therefore breaching copyright laws. As the seller of this item, I have spoken to Ebay to make sure, and these items are allowed to be sold 🙂

No, it included ebooks etc that people write themselves...not a blanket copyright issue, more a no tangible item being sold issue.

Unscrupulous sellers were also selling ebooks etc for 1c or low price - buying feedback.

Re: Selling things sent by email

getnikd — Wed, 06 May 2015 08:13:00 GMT

It was a genuine mistake. Of course images are covered by copyright, but my point was that I wasn't trying to distribute someone else's work. As for buyer protection, I certainly wasn't trying to rip anyone off, just offer a different service that other Ebay sites do allow. For some people buying a digital image is far more cost effective and convenient. I realise that by fessing up that the original listing that this post refers to was mine opens me up to some criticism, but as with anything on Ebay, I don't think it's fair to punish the majority for a few sellers who may have done the wrong thing in the past. We live in a digital age with technology constantly changing and I don't think it's unfair to request that Ebay review their policy to reflect this.

Re: Selling things sent by email

luvvyluv — Wed, 06 May 2015 10:36:04 GMT

I would be happy to buy a physical print that's what I was looking for, I don't have a printer.

Re: Selling things sent by email

digital*ghost — Thu, 07 May 2015 00:19:54 GMT

@phorum_junkie* wrote:
I've sent a 'suggestion' to Ebay Australia that they review the policy - no reason why we should miss out in Australia!

That is never going to happen, I hope. The reason they do not allow digitally delivered goods is becuse there is no buyer protection, something that a lot of buyers found out to their cost when sellers were allowed to list them for digital delivery. If you do have copyright rights then you can put the digital file on a disk and then you have something to post and the buyer has protection.

No eBay / PayPal buyer protection on a certain type of item doesn't automatically mean that type of item is significantly more risky to buy, and it also doesn't mean people can't get their money back if something goes wrong.

People buy and sell digital goods every day, never once heard a warning about it (at least, not one that doesn't apply to general trading, and/or general net safety). If it was a bad thing for eBay, then that would make it eBay's fault, since all of eBay's major competitors provide digital goods in one form or another without drama.