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Did You Buy Stolen Merchandise?

– by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
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In a recent article, I wrote about how owners of ebooks,
software, CDs and other intellectual property can keep from
getting ripped off through online auction sites such as eBay
and Yahoo auctions.

By popular request (a slew of emails), we’ll now discuss how
buyers can avoid receiving stolen, “pirated,” or
“bootlegged” merchandise via online auction sites.

Nobody wants to knowingly receive stolen merchandise and the
following tips should help you avoid trouble.

Digital downloads such as ebooks, MP3 audio files, and
software represent the easiest products to sell illegally on
an auction site.

The seller obtains a copy of the file, puts up an auction
listing, and then delivers the file to the successful
bidder(s) via email or website download.

Because it’s so easy, that’s where many people start their
lives of online crime.

Unfortunately for the buyer, this can lead to hot water with
the rightful product owner.

** Smart Buying Tips for Digital Download Products:

First, if the person you’re buying the product from didn’t
create the product (they aren’t the author), immediately
become skeptical.

Do a little research on the author, name of the ebook, and
any other information you can find out (Google.com makes a
great starting point).

See if you can find where the author is actually selling
resell rights to their product and, if in doubt, contact the
author to see if others have permission to sell their
product at online auctions.

Second, when you see an auction with verbiage such as
“Attention eBay Staff: I have full resell rights to this
product” get suspicious.

The only reason someone puts that on their auction is if
they’ve gotten shut down before or they’re worried they will
get shut down if anyone notices them.

A real business person doesn’t need to place such a
disclaimer on a legitimate auction.

Third, check the seller’s feedback. Sometimes, the rightful
owner of the ebook or software will purchase the product
being sold illegally and then leave negative feedback
advising people not to buy from that seller.

** Physical Product Purchase Tips:

Illegal CDs and DVDs represent one of the biggest illegal
sellers at online auctions when it comes to music, software,
movies and educational courses.

An excellent rule of thumb: if they are selling more than
one copy (or have held more than one auction for the same
product) you need to dig a little deeper.

Ask the seller how they came into possession of more than
one copy, especially if it’s an expensive software package
or educational course.

Also, ask if the advertised item is an original. If it’s a
copy, steer clear and do not buy it.

Another warning sign involves a seller with multiple
quantities of never-been-opened merchandise selling for
pennies on the dollar.

For example, someone selling 20 brand-new Dell computers
that regularly go for $1,500 with a “Buy Now” price of only
$200 should raise your suspicions.

If you suspect someone of selling stolen merchandise or
illegally selling downloadable products, report your
suspicions to the auction service immediately via their
support link.

Nobody wins when seller theft on auction sites goes
unreported and unchallenged.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
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Auction Sites Trafficking Stolen Goods Online

– by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
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Ah yes, eBay! The online auction giant that makes all your
dreams come true for finding that special something you
can’t find anywhere else.

It’s like a giant garage sale in the sky.

Unfortunately, eBay’s size makes it easy for people to sell
stolen or unauthorized merchandise and not get caught.

To their credit, I think eBay does as much as humanly
possible to police their site and shut down any offenders
quickly.

However, I recently discovered that plenty of mischief still
occurs, especially with downloadable products.

When checking my email yesterday, I found two messages that
disturbed me.

The first was an automated message from eBay telling me
about an auction selling an ebook about writing ebooks.

Another email came in from a good customer who sent me a
link to another auction on eBay that, to them, “looked
suspicious.”

I clicked on the links for both auctions and found identical
postings by two different sellers.

Though they did not mention my ebook, “How To Write and
Publish Your Own eBook… in as little as 7 Days,” the
blatant similarity between the wording on the auctions and
my www.7DayEbook.com website aroused my curiosity.

Since they didn’t reference the ebook they were selling by
title, I decided to go ahead and buy from both sellers to
see what they sent me.

Imagine my horror when they both delivered my own ebook,
which they were selling illegally.

I immediately got the auctions shut down, but the damage was
already done.

Plenty of stolen merchandise gets sold via online auction
sites.

People call it “bootlegged” or “unauthorized copies” to
soften the wording for what they really know is “stolen
merchandise.”

Of the two sellers mentioned above, I believe one knew he
was illegally selling my ebook and didn’t care, while the
other person was just ignorant and thought she could sell it
because she’d bought it from someone else. Regardless of
their true intentions, their actions were illegal.

Now, let’s discuss how you protect yourself and your
intellectual property against illegal sales and
“bootlegging” on eBay and other online auction sites.

First, set up automated searches on the major online auction
services.

Set them up to automatically notify you whenever an auction
gets posted that includes your name or the name of your
product.

You can also set them up to email you whenever an auction
gets listed with certain keywords in it, in my case “write
ebook.”

Second, if you find someone has stolen your intellectual
property (sales copy, ebooks, photos, graphics, software,
etc.) you should first contact the seller and politely, but
firmly, ask them to remove it.

If they don’t, or if they take more than a few hours to
respond, you should contact the auction site directly to
request an immediate takedown of the offending auction.

eBay’s “Vero” program, for example, enables you to simply
fax in a form or send an email to get an auction removed.

You should also go back and check periodically to make sure
that an offending seller doesn’t start selling your product
again once they think the uproar has died down.

Third, pay attention to emails from customers and prospects
for signs of anything strange.

Watch for comments like “I saw your ebook for sale on eBay,”
or “I saw it cheaper on eBay.”

Also, make sure to compare customer service inquiries to
your customer database.

Anyone who asks specific questions about a product and
appears to possess it, but never bought it from you, should
immediately raise a red flag.

Always try to find out where they bought the product and get
them to send you a copy of their email receipt, because all
roads to the thief usually lead back through the credit card
processor.

Finally, trust the never-failing boomerang of karma to come
full circle and ultimately whack any thief in the head!

—-

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an incredible new ebook that will teach you how to
write and publish your own highly profitable ebook in a week
or less… even if you failed high school English class!

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