No more virtual items on Ebay

[Isca]

Just saw this for Neopets: http://www.gametab.com/news/798581/

Might apply to the VMK items as well...

 

[PrinceLegolas]

No because most things sold on ebay are quest cards. So I don't think this will affect us.

 

[Maleficent2]

as of right now they are still there.

http://search.ebay.com/vmk_W0QQfromZR41


and I can not see them going anywhere since they make big bucks for sellers and eBay.

 

[Xpdtion-futureWDI]

Doesn't matter if they make big bucks for sellers and eBay, it's still illegal. I'm surprised Disney/VMK hasn't taken more action on thismatter.

 

[Maleficent2]

Doesn't matter if they make big bucks for sellers and eBay, it's still illegal. I'm surprised Disney/VMK hasn't taken more action on thismatter.

who said it was illegal? Just because example:

eBay says they will not allow this or that does not make it illegal. It means that eBay has chosen not to allow said.

It is like if a restaurant says you are not allowed to chew gum in their establishment, it does not make chewing gum illegal it just means they do not allow it.

 

[aliceblue]

Wow! I never thought this day would come. Now to see if Ebay actually enforces it.....

 

[Xpdtion-futureWDI]

who said it was illegal? Just because example:

eBay says they will not allow this or that does not make it illegal. It means that eBay has chosen not to allow said.

It is like if a restaurant says you are not allowed to chew gum in their establishment, it does not make chewing gum illegal it just means they do not allow it.

It's Disney's intellectual property. Selling something you don't own is illegal.

 

[Disneychick74]

Considering that Disney and VMK just had a contest partnered with Ebay and the fact that Ebay was added to the VMK dictionary seems to me that Disney is enjoying the publicity and residual income from sellers posting their items on Ebay.

As for the legality of it, it is in the values that images are not to be sold and it also states on the back of the code cards that they are not to be traded or sold.

It has been over a year now since the first VMK Item has been sold on Ebay, you have to know Disney and VMK are well aware that they are there.
Either they can't legally figure out a way to stop it, or they just dont care.

 

[Nanoer]

It's Disney's intellectual property. Selling something you don't own is illegal.

They are not selling it though. People on their site are.

No one really enforces the intellectual property thing unless they get big bucks if they enforce it.

 

[Nanoer]

They are not selling it though. People on their site are.

No one really enforces the intellectual property thing unless they get big bucks if they enforce it.

Also. Technically you own the item. Since you control it. If everything made by someone else was not yours then everything in ebay would be illegal.

 

[cowboys_girl]

I won't hold my breath on this one. To be honest Ebay has been in the practice of letting people sell actual illegal items for years. If they tackle this before all the other things people have complained about being sold they are rocking the wrong boat IMHO.

-Stacey

 

[Xpdtion-futureWDI]

Also. Technically you own the item. Since you control it. If everything made by someone else was not yours then everything in ebay would be illegal.

I'm just stating what it says in the TOS. The virtual items in VMK are not owned by you, they are Disney's intellectual property.

When you buy a real item, you buy the rights to it.

 

[Nanoer]

I'm just stating what it says in the TOS. The virtual items in VMK are not owned by you, they are Disney's intellectual property.

When you buy a real item, you buy the rights to it.

What about stuff like email addresses? When gmail came out there was a huge boom in special emails like harrypotter@gmail.com. Technically their selling users not even items.

Also if it's that illegal then VMK could have made a big issue of it with ebay.

 

[dizanimator]

I think this may be a way to not have virtual items traded on eBay, but I think people may still be able to trade the cards, because those are physical items, not virtual property. People may not be able to sell Inferno magic pins or other virtual items, but the cards are real items, even if they do say not for sale or trade.

 

[Xpdtion-futureWDI]

What about stuff like email addresses? When gmail came out there was a huge boom in special emails like harrypotter@gmail.com. Technically their selling users not even items.

Also if it's that illegal then VMK could have made a big issue of it with ebay.

They can take action, they just haven't. Exactly.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...Technically you own the item...

No, you don't.

 

[Maleficent2]

It's Disney's intellectual property. Selling something you don't own is illegal.

If a person spends money to go to WDW and does a quest and receive a card with a code on it then they own it, what they do with it is up to them.

All that said ebay may remove the sale of said items in the game(codes already entered and you have to meet up with someone to pick up item) but I seriously doubt they will remove VMK cards from their auctions.

Just my opinion.

No, you don't.

if you are saying once item gets into the game then I agree with you. If you are saying the physical cards with codes then, yes you do own them and as such can do with them what you want.

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Technically, you are not selling intellectual property at all here. This does not fall into the definition of such. If you were COPYING the item and then selling a picture of it, yes, that is a violation of copyright law. If you made a game and included Disneys images, yes, that is a violation of copyright law. Selling the transfer of an item within Disneys game, on Disneys site? No, not a violation of copyright law. It is only a violation of the VMK Terms of Service and Disneys only recourse is to terminate said account.

and this actually isnt a new ebay rule, but an old one. One which they have ignored for years, one which they also have a policy which completely contradicts it (umm, they actually have a Virtual Gaming Items category) so, just because Neopets has asked them to crack down on Neopets items, does not mean a thing. You wont see any changes, and actually, it is a stupid move on ebays part, and on the Property holders part. A) it is bad publicity and B) all it will do is force the sales "underground" over to websites not controlled by ebay and where disney really has no authority. Can you imagine the backlash Disney would get if it sued some single mother struggling to take care of two kids because she sold a few VMK items? I would love to see that. Front page of the New York Times: "Multi-trillion dollar corporation sues single-mom waitress"

 

[Blumonkeyboy]

- gets pen, paper, and keyboard piano-

Now im writing a rewrite of Ebay by Weird al for virtuals lol

 

[Nanoer]

They can take action, they just haven't. Exactly.

Exactly could. They have not for over a year. The only reason the Neopets stuff has been taken off is because Neopets told them to. So why are we arguing then?