Trademe and "entrepreneurial" people

[Angry Puppy]

ive seen some real cons on that site , ive seen fuckers selling tools of my trade for the wrong purposes and more than retail.
i just couldnt be fucked with bidding and the conmen , id rather get a t and e or loot ring , negotiate and pick up when i want

If you want to see some real cons, check out www.alibaba.com. I was looking at buying and importing 2nd hand sports bikes. this one guy in Italy was trying to sell me a 2001 CBR 600 F4i at a very reasonable price. provided loads of pics and the vin number. later, I went to ebay to see what was available in the states. Fuck me, I found the same bike, VIN number and all for sale on ebay! the MF had just copied and pasted all the details out of ebay.

THis wasn't an isolated incident, I had a couple of potential deals that were just seemed too dodgy for words. amazing how some people clam up when you suggest using an eskrow service.....

FB

[Motig]

Whats the problem? You got what you wanted, probably at a bargain price.Methinks your just a little pissed of to find thay you already had it,otherwise I doubt very much if you would be complaining. You could always have asked your dealer to get one for you then we wouldn't have to hear your bleating

[Virago]

Buying something like that - the buyer should be aware that the seller could perfectly reasonably have copied the file hundreds of times. Takes them no effort, no time, and costs them nothing to do. Totally illegal and ripping someone off bigtime at the same time, but there you go.

Having said that, TradeMe is full of similar little money making schemes. At the end of the day quite a few people are willing to make a quick buck without being entirely honest about it. I work at Noel Leeming. Without going into what my job's like, I know RRP prices of cellphones, and they're a prime example of TradeMe ripjobs. Panasonic VS2 mobile phone - we were selling these BRAND NEW from a retail store with a good reputation for $199.99. I've seen these very same phones go on TradeMe for over $300. Stupid, isn't it? But they get away with it. And by buying from a seller over trademe gives the buyer no recourse - not even the 12 month manufacturers warranty.

There are some things people just shouldn't buy off TradeMe.

My $0.02

Here's a classic example:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...n-42907555.htm

(I mentioned this in another thread).

This guy is trying to sell a second-hand Yamaha Virago 250, with over 10,000Km on it. He wants $8,000 for it.

A brand new one, complete with a two-year factory warranty, costs $6,995....

[M1CRO:Me]

I do see the point about copyright protection, but surely that is the copyright owners concern, not that of an innocent third party?

So, I guess your saying that I shouldv'e kept quiet?

Let me ask another similar question... Not sure if you were at the trackday, but if someone (not the original taker of the photo) was selling trackday photo's from the KB site (downloaded and printed out on their printer), and you found out.. you wouldn't let, say, Felix (being the copyright owner) or other people on this site know what was happening?

[M1CRO:Me]

Whats the problem? You got what you wanted, probably at a bargain price.Methinks your just a little pissed of to find thay you already had it,otherwise I doubt very much if you would be complaining. You could always have asked your dealer to get one for you then we wouldn't have to hear your bleating

An excellent view Motig.. But my gripe was really about whether or not you keep quiet when you learn that people are "selling" downloaded copyright material..

I'll put you down for the "i'll just keep quiet" vote...

[erik]

I reckon it's wrong that he's selling copyrighted stuff like that. Sharing information is one thing, selling it is another.

But like RantyDave pointed out, it doesn't look like he's making much money from it. In a way he is providing a service to people that are unable to find the manuals on the net themselves.
At least he is giving you a refund.
It still bugs me though, there is no way I'd sell pirated stuff like that.

[M1CRO:Me]

This guy is trying to sell a second-hand Yamaha Virago 250, with over 10,000Km on it. He wants $8,000 for it. A brand new one, complete with a two-year factory warranty, costs $6,995....

Thank you for the observation, but not quite the point I was making...
My gripe was really about whether or not you keep quiet when you learn that people are "selling" downloaded copyright material.. So whats the vote? Stay quiet or tell all or

[M1CRO:Me]

I reckon it's wrong that he's selling copyrighted stuff like that. Sharing information is one thing, selling it is another. But like RantyDave pointed out, it doesn't look like he's making much money from it. In a way he is providing a service to people that are unable to find the manuals on the net themselves. At least he is giving you a refund. It still bugs me though, there is no way I'd sell pirated stuff like that.

So if anyone wants a Service Manual for a Hayabusa, let me know cos I am selling them real cheap jj

[erik]

Thank you for the observation, but not quite the point I was making...
My gripe was really about whether or not you keep quiet when you learn that people are "selling" downloaded copyright material.. So whats the vote? Stay quiet or tell all or

I reckon stay quiet. I don't think the guy deserves to go to court or jail for breaking copyright infringements.
But I do think it is good to let people know what they are buying off him.

It's a very grey area if you ask me. (if you want to be really morally righteous or law abiding, I guess you could say it's black and white - he is breaking the law and should be punished. But I don't agree with that personally.)

[M1CRO:Me]

I reckon stay quiet. ... But I do think it is good to let people know what they are buying off him.

Thanks for that.. Stay quiet but let people know.. Got it!
jk.. appreciate your comments

[Biff]

I bought a copy of Office 2005 Pro from E-Bay once. When it arrived it was obviously a copy of an original copy, or a copy of a copy etc etc. Despite my slight surprise I followed the included instructions (phone register - don't register online etc), and it worked a treat ( I've since de-installed it because I'm appalled at the fact that it wasn't an original Microshaft yeah right).

Anyhoo - I mailed the guy (before I red blinged him on E-Bay), expressed my mild disappointment upon realising that I'd received a hooky copy and asked for a refund. He said ok, and I received a refund the following day. This despite the fact that in his response to my mail he reminded me that I'd only paid £40 for a piece of software that would have cost several hundred ££ had I bought a legit copy. And had I read the advert properly I would have seen that he did, in all due fairness, point out the fact that his advert clearly stated, "Copy Of Microshaft Orifice Pro".

Oh - and I still have a copy. Anyone want to buy if from me for £150? It is a genuine copy after all.

[Beemer]

Someone emailed me the link to someone selling a BMW F650CS manual - again, on CD with Adobe Acrobat included. I wasn't interested but it looks like the guy has downloaded heaps of different manuals, copied them onto CD and is trying to hock them off on Trade Me. He could sell the same thing over and over again. It's the old case of caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

[gav]

Whats that latin term "Caveat Empore" or something, "let the buyer beware"?
You could have asked him a question before bidding, his ad does say its on a CD. Maybe an email to him first rather than your response on Trade Me, could have been a better response.
But hey, it pays to shop around, apparently Bond and Bond and Noel Leeming are owned by the same company, and yet quite often the price on an item will be different between the two shops, guy at work said there was something like $15 difference on a $100 item, between the two stores, and the employee admitted that the same company now owns both stores. You could argue why are they allowed to do this? Shouldn't the prices be the same in both stores?
Personally I've found Trade Me great for both buying and selling, but I've just had my first sell, where it looks like the buyer aint coming to the party, oh well, his loss I guess, so long as I get my selling fee refunded by Trade Me.

[Quartida]

I have to say M1CRO, I'm a bit of an idealist myself, and I say SPEAK UP. I think it's wrong to onsell freely available information in such a way, regardless of how much he's making off it.
And although you were on the wrong side of 'caveat emptor', I think by speaking up you are allowing other people to make an informed choice.

[Korea]

How about this analogy:
"I've just downloaded the King Kong movie and burnt it to CD for nothing! I'll sell it hundreds of times to anyone who's keen to pay me $20 a pop. Takers???"
Personally, I agree, it's one thing to 'share' stuff but it's bloody cheeky to try and flog it off for a profit.