So, Will EBay' S New Policy Have The Effect Of Eliminating Piracy On The Auction Site

Business, E commerce.

Ebay issues new digital product rules - acknowledging higher demand for digitally delivered products, from ebay, mara holian' s product marketing team said that ebay is tightening the rules for egoods in an effort to" improve the way these items are bought and sold on ebay" . Listings for digital products will now include: System Requirements.

Sellers will now be required to identify digital items during the listing process and provide additional information about each product. - file size. Details about any additional software that may be required to use the digital product, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader for. pdf files. File Format. I know what you' re thinking: "Shouldn' t the listings already contain this info? " Of course. Some sellers in fact, do not make this basic information prominent in their listings. But, have you ever browsed auctions for an ebook?

Buyers will now find the relevant info in the same place and format in every listing, instead of it being scattered about or omitted altogether. - does this mean that you can' t sell digital products unless you use paypal or set up complicated software using ebay' s api? According to eBay' s site, sellers of digital goods are now required to use a" PayPal Verified Premier" or" Verified Business" account or eBay' s" Checkout Redirect functionality" in order to collect payments. Probably not. An inquiry to one of the largest auction checkout& payment services, was not immediately, Andale answered. Third - party services may still be an option. But they, are likely to, and others make updates which include this new, required functionality. eBay also said that buyers will no longer see" unnecessary information, such as shipping costs" .

Some sellers have been known to list digital items with unnecessary charges like these, in their enthusiasm, and many buyers to purchase one of these products, overlook these fees only to be disappointed upon checkout. - which leads one to believe that the days of a 99 cent ebook with$ 12 in" shipping and handling" charges are gone. In addition, sellers will now be required to state that they are" legally authorized" to sell the product. While the legitimate online auction marketplaces police these types of listings and remove them promptly when they are reported or noticed, occasionally an item may slip through leaving those involved open to legal action by the copyright owner. Research shows that everything downloadable: ebooks, whole music CDs, mp3 songs, even movies, are being offered as illegal downloads via online auction services. So, will eBay' s new policy have the effect of eliminating piracy on the auction site?

Often, sellers mistakenly believe that they have purchased" resale rights" to the digital products they' re offering for sale. - don' t bet the farm. So naturally, they will agree that they have the" legal" authority to re - sell the product. An inexperienced or hasty ebook publisher may unintentionally omit the information or a" pirate" may have removed or edited the author' s copyright/ resale notice. Many egoods do not contain a copyright notice or resale agreement. While the new guidelines are certainly not a foolproof solution to digital piracy, eBay should be commended for taking a step in the right direction. For more information on eBay' s new digital goods requirements, see: http: //pages. ebay. com/ choosingformats/ digitalitems/ faqs/