Indie games illegally on ebay?

[BantamCityGames]

What is this about?

Ebay Listing (http://cgi.ebay.com/Ultra-Arcade-Games-Pack-More-than-350-Games_W0QQitemZ8214727894QQcategoryZ11048QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[digriz]

I'm guessing that he's just selling a dvd full of trial versions.

Either that or he's got hacks for all of the games. Either way it's not very fair on the customers or the developers.

If people aren't happy with this, you can request that ebay stops him selling it.

[sparkyboy]

Well I think it's obvious!!The guy has made up a Disc with all the games, PLUS the cracks needed to unlock them!!Take a look at his recent selling history:-

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&since=30&userid=arshadnm6&include=0&rows=50&sort=3&completed=1

I'd expect this from someone with a low rating but 234!!!! :mad: What the hell is ebay up to allowing this blatant piracy!!!!!

And here's his feedback!

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=arshadnm6


All the best


Mark.

[papillon]

ebay barely has the energy to respond to complaints; certainly not to actively prevent everyone who's come up with a brilliant idea to Make Money Fast by selling pirated software/mp3s/movies. They've slimmed down their reporting structure to make it faster to submit bad items, but also to prevent you from adding any explanation or proof that the item in question is, in fact, pirated... all you can do at the moment is submit an item number.

If enough people do it, though, they'll probably notice.

And if you own one of the games listed, you can use a different option which gets slightly more attention - the "My copyright is being infringed" button rather than the "Counterfeit or unlicensed software/games" option.


(Also, pirates will generally give you your money back but let you keep the 'item' if you complain - which keeps people from bothering to leave negative feedback (since the pirate might then leave them bad feedback in return.))

[Addictive 247]

Going off the description it definately looks like it's full versions. . . .

"The original PC DVD games include over 350 of the following full deluxe edition arcade games. They can be easily unlocked following a few simple instructions (included with the games)"

Just sent the seller an email telling him to remove the listing or a lot of angry game developers are going to come a knocking.
For fun why don't we just all bid on the listing. I think I might start my bid at a cool million :cool:

[Addictive 247]

Just realised it's a "buy it now" item not an auction - bugger :(

[papillon]

They usually are, with multiple copies available. That's one of the telltale signs :)

[Ciperl]

Ebay does have the Ebay VeRO Program that allows people who own Intellectual Property to sign up through a faxed statement into the program. Then once you are on the program you can have items / auctions removed if it infringes on your copyright / trademark / IP

I think this is the link to sign up at: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-rights-owner.html

We're in the process of having this ebay auction removed right now, since several of our games are listed.

[sparkyboy]

Just wait 'till POPCAP and the likes get a wind of this!!!! :D
Methinks I'll shoot thme off an email with the details!!! :) Hang on, anyone know the Screen name on here for Jason Kapalka/Kapolka?

Save me searching!!!

All the best

Mark.

[DangerCode]

I'd expect this from someone with a low rating but 234!!!! :mad: What the hell is ebay up to allowing this blatant piracy!!!!!

And here's his feedback!

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=arshadnm6


The feedback looks like it comes from the same half dozen or so "people". carella67 easily makes up half of the feedback alone.

[sparkyboy]

Email sent to Jason!! :)


All the best


Mark.

[Addictive 247]

Item has ended . . .

"The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale."

Hurray !

[Addictive 247]

Just had this in an email from the actual seller . . .

Many Thanks for your E-Mail. In fact all the games we are selling are demos versions (trial versions) of the games (you can actually download them from the game developer sites for free, for your info). Therefore the games we are selling have to be registered with the companies to aquire the full versions of the games. We are allowed to distribute these games since the companies have allowed this, if you visit any number of sites of these game developers. Also you have to pay for the full versions of the games (ie. Unlock them, for which we supply them information on who to register by visiting the developers sites on the internet). Selling Trail verisons of these game is NOT illegal, but we have only temporarily removed them since we are making sure that all the games are trial (ie. demos) and also that selling of demos and trial versions of these games is allowed. You are more than obliged to report us to E-Bay but they will get the same message we are sending you. These are NOT the full versions, they have to be unlocked, we have answered an array of questions previously regarding this. It is nice to see Game developers checking for illegal selling of full versions of Games on E-Bay, but you are mistaken this time, these are hardly full versions, since you have to register with the developers (including a small payment) after which they send you a registration key to unlock the full game.

If they're trial versions why not say that! Me thinks he's lying and is trying to cover his arse.

[Jack Norton]

He is lying, I can tell that ! :rolleyes:
But if he post it again, why someone don't ask publicly if "there are crack of the games included on the DVD"? just to piss him once more :D

[BantamCityGames]

I'm glad you guys had a chance to follow up on this... I just happen to notice it while I was at work and didn't have time until now to do anything about it. Just for the hell of it, type your game name into ebay (check the box to search within descriptions) and there might be even more on there... I'm trying it now.

[Sybixsus]

If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have to say the same thing three times and take two hundred words to do so. You can always spot liars. They talk too much.

[soniCron]

If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have to say the same thing three times and take two hundred words to do so. You can always spot liars. They talk too much. That's why lawyers talk so much...

[sparkyboy]

Just had this in an email from the actual seller . . .

Many Thanks for your E-Mail. In fact all the games we are selling are demos versions (trial versions) of the games (you can actually download them from the game developer sites for free, for your info). Therefore the games we are selling have to be registered with the companies to aquire the full versions of the games. We are allowed to distribute these games since the companies have allowed this, if you visit any number of sites of these game developers. Also you have to pay for the full versions of the games (ie. Unlock them, for which we supply them information on who to register by visiting the developers sites on the internet). Selling Trail verisons of these game is NOT illegal, but we have only temporarily removed them since we are making sure that all the games are trial (ie. demos) and also that selling of demos and trial versions of these games is allowed. You are more than obliged to report us to E-Bay but they will get the same message we are sending you. These are NOT the full versions, they have to be unlocked, we have answered an array of questions previously regarding this. It is nice to see Game developers checking for illegal selling of full versions of Games on E-Bay, but you are mistaken this time, these are hardly full versions, since you have to register with the developers (including a small payment) after which they send you a registration key to unlock the full game.



If they're trial versions why not say that! Me thinks he's lying and is trying to cover his arse.

Well if the above is true then I'm sure he OBTAINED PERMISSION from all the games Authors' didn't he? ;)

I don't think so somehow....do you? :D



All the best


Mark.

[mooktown]

i love how he said "backup DVD", as if that makes it any less illegal :rolleyes:

[Sybixsus]

That's why lawyers talk so much...

LOL!



... this message is too short.

[ErikH2000]

I've had my game on e-Bay at least twice this year with 2 different sellers. It's hard for me find any kind of proof that infringement is going on. In my case, the game was sold by itself instead of in a collection. So in theory it could have been a legitimately purchased CD and resold by the buyer. But looking at the current seller's large list of items for sale all at $1 or $2 it's pretty obvious he's running a pirate shop. I tried posing as an interested customer and asking questions that would give away that it was a copy, but never got any response. Even if I did have "proof", I imagine it doesn't help much when talking to e-Bay, so don't see much I can do about it.

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=broadcastworld2525&completed=0&sort=3&since=-1

He's also selling Zuma Deluxe with 2 bids on it.

-Erik

[James Gwertzman]

We have found that out customer service team needs to patrol ebay on a regular basis looking for pirated copies of our games. We flag quite a few items, but ebay is generally very responsive to taking down posts that we flag.

[ErikH2000]

Ah, and now after some searching around on eBay I've found:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-rights-owner.html

...which gives me a little hope about eBay doing something. And I was inspired by what James said too. So I'll try faxing this thing off to them and see what happens.

-Erik

[digriz]

Just out of curiosity. Has anyone ever tried selling their own games through ebay?

[Robert Cummings]

He said:

We are allowed to distribute these games since the companies have allowed this

Popcap actually don't allow you to host demos of their games or distribute them. Nor would I, as that would give a green light to people like him.

[ManuTOO]

hello,

a few days after I released Tennis Elbow 2005, a belgium guy sold a few copies of the full version ("key included", etc...).

I contacted eBay. There were a bit slow to answer (more slow than the 24h annonced), but after a bit more than 2 days, the item was not listed anymore.

The item which generated this topic has already been removed ! ;)

@digriz :
yup, someone tried this, a bit more than 1 year ago, if I remember good, and didn't sell any.
Try to do a search in the Dexterity Archives (http://www.indiegamer.com/archives/index.html) (or maybe these forums, i'm not sure :p )

[digriz]

It's a shame that you can't put their credit card number as the unlock key. Maybe that would help stop people giving away the games they purchase.

I guess a lot of people still see modern downloadable games as shareware, which isn't necessarily the case anymore.

[soniCron]

It's a shame that you can't put their credit card number as the unlock key. Maybe that would help stop people giving away the games they purchase. Check out this thread (http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=3786&p=50227#post50227).

[papillon]

I sold a few 'games' on ebay successfully Way Back When, but the key to doing so was being able to use search terms that would get a lot of attention (and therefore involved things I wasn't technically supposed to be doing on ebay.)

Every now and then I check the 'market' by typing in search terms that I think people MIGHT use to find my sort of games if they were interested but didn't know the titles - and while I find auctions, I find auctions with ~0 hits/bids. So I get the general idea that this isn't really the right place to be selling.

Besides, when *I* go for games on ebay, I'm looking for Used and Very Very Cheap. If I wanted to pay a new price, I wouldn't be there! :)

[ErikH2000]

I am guessing that if you have some successful auctions for your game on eBay, it could encourage other people to try the same thing, but with pirated copies. Or merely creating an expectation that your game can be found on eBay will make more customers look there which will generate bids for the pirate sellers. As it stands now, I think pirate sellers aren't getting any bids on my game, so eventually it could be identified as an item that loses them money to list it, and they'd stop.

-Erik

[Nexic]

Looks like that's Reflexive's or BigFish's entire library. I'm glad that item has now been removed. Really ebay should ban that user entirely.

Take a look at his old sale:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11048&item=8208538400

In this one it is obvious he is selling trials with cracks...

[ErikH2000]

Update: The seller who was listing my item and PopCap's was shut down. He immediately created a new account and listed the same items (http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZbenavictoria) again. I think it at least costs the guy money upfront to list his items, so this technique would lose him money at least. It is interesting to me that Zuma again has 2 bids on it even though it's a fresh auction. Maybe it's just coincidence, but it seems possible that the same bidders moved over to his new auction.

I filed another complaint with eBay for the "new" seller. The 1st complaint had to be faxed, but now I can e-mail it, and I've made a quick template to use for that. So it's not so bad.

-Erik

[Sybixsus]

I filed another complaint with eBay for the "new" seller. The 1st complaint had to be faxed, but now I can e-mail it, and I've made a quick template to use for that. So it's not so bad.

Glad to hear they listen to some developers. They didn't even respond to my complaint.

[Adrian Cummings]

I found a guy selling my warez on there in jewel cases many years back now in mass produced form. I contacted eBay VERO program and after many faxes went back and forth although the guy was suspended from trading he still came back some months later reckoning he had a licence to sell my warez in the first place in Germany!!!.

Turns out he had a dodgy sub-licence contract which stated 5yrs instead of the 2yr period I actually singed for - similar thing happened with eGames (not their fault mind) until I brought it to their attention!.

Just goes to show that you cant keep you eye on everything all of the time when there are monkeys like this about - really pisses me off that sort of thing!.

Cheers,

Adrian.

[Ryan Clark]

A user reported this to us:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHUZZLE-BEJEWELED-2-ZUMA-LUXOR-BOOKWORM_W0QQitemZ8741405905QQcategoryZ8174QQssPag eNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Looks like they're selling 5 games for the price of one. Fizzwizzle is on there, as is Chuzzle, Bejeweled 2, Zuma, and pretty much every casual game in existence.

Has anyone here already signed up for the eBay "VeRO" system? If so, could you please report this? I'd rather not have to go through the hassle of signing up myself, but I suppose I might have to.

[ErikH2000]

A user reported this to us:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHUZZLE-BEJEWELED-2-ZUMA-LUXOR-BOOKWORM_W0QQitemZ8741405905QQcategoryZ8174QQssPag eNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Looks like they're selling 5 games for the price of one. Fizzwizzle is on there, as is Chuzzle, Bejeweled 2, Zuma, and pretty much every casual game in existence.

[quote]Has anyone here already signed up for the eBay "VeRO" system? If so, could you please report this? I'd rather not have to go through the hassle of signing up myself, but I suppose I might have to.
Only you, Popcap, and the guy that made Chuzzle (forgot his name) can put in the VeRO claim. It's just for whoever is getting infringed. Really, I'd recommend going to the trouble. The first time is a pain since you have to fax it in. After that it's just e-mail, and pretty easy to do. eBay has taken down listings without any hassle each of the 4 times I've sent them a complaint.

-Erik

[ErikH2000]

EDIT: I misunderstood titles that the listing contained.

-Erik

[cliffski]

I'm almost dissapoijnted they arent listing my game, as I enjoy tracking these swine down and getting them blacklisted, and hopefully prosecuted...

[Emmanuel]

Okay, for people here, there is at least..

Daniel: Legend of Aladdin, Bricks of Camelot/Egypt/Atlantis
John: Hamsterball, Chuzzle
Midnight synergy: Wonderland
Gabriel: BBB
Mike: Water bugs
Indiepath: Geom
Alawar: Snowy Treasure Hunter
James: BKR, Ricochet
Ryan: Prof. Fizzwizzle
Matthew: Glow Worm
Ourselves: Atlantis, Fairies

I might have missed some games produced by people here, sorry.

Warming up the fax now..

Best regards,
Emmanuel

[Drake]

For anyone who doesn't know, you can define "favorite searches" in your eBay account. Create a search for each of your game titles, and eBay will perform the searches for you automatically every day. If there are any matches, you will get them listed in an email. That at least makes this unfortunate process a little more painless.

[Tom Gilleland]

It's a shame that you can't put their credit card number as the unlock key.

We've done some products that the unlock code is the customer's name with a number behind it. The name is exactly as they have it on their credit card. The number is calculated from the characters in the name. That way we can check the validity of the unlock code from within the program. Then if the customer starts posting their unique code all around, then at least we know where it came from. And I think hackers wouldn't give out thier real name to the crack lists.

Tom

[zKing]

Using a "personally valuable" key as a password to deter key sharing is patented, BTW. ;)

#6,745,328 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,745,328.WKU.&OS=PN/6,745,328&RS=PN/6,745,328)

Dumb patent? Yes.

Would you get caught? Highly unlikely.

If you got caught, would the schmucks who hold it (I used to know them well) sue you if they thought they could make some quick cash?
In a heartbeat.

Could you get it invalidated with a challenge? No problem... if you have a spare $X0,000 to fight it out in court.

Welcome to the wonderful world of US IP law.

[Tom Gilleland]

Actually, we have prior usage on this. We made our little "Registration Code Maker" application in Feb 1999. They didn't file till Oct 1999. I guess maybe we could sue them ;)

Patent laws need overhauled.

Tom

Using a "personally valuable" key as a password to deter key sharing is patented, BTW. ;)

#6,745,328 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,745,328.WKU.&OS=PN/6,745,328&RS=PN/6,745,328)

Dumb patent? Yes.

Would you get caught? Highly unlikely.

If you got caught, would the schmucks who hold it (I used to know them well) sue you if they thought they could make some quick cash?
In a heartbeat.

Could you get it invalidated with a challenge? No problem... if you have a spare $X0,000 to fight it out in court.

Welcome to the wonderful world of US IP law.

[zKing]

Actually, we have prior usage on this. We made our little "Registration Code Maker" application in Feb 1999. They didn't file till Oct 1999. I guess maybe we could sue them ;)

Patent laws need overhauled.

Tom

I don't doubt that there is mucho prior art. As I said, the hard part is someone willing to fork over the tens of thousands of dollars to invalidate it.

And I completely agree with the needed overhaul.

Obviously some reasonable cost method of challenging patents is necessary.

One other thing I'd like to see is the requirement that a patent holder "pursue" a patent in order for it to remain valid. In other words, you have to be actively using the patent in some way... making a product that uses it, do research using it, whatever. This would eliminate holding companies and other squatters. It would be more in line with the orginal idea that patents were to reward the inventor for bring the invention to the public. Not to squat on it until some other poor slob comes up with the same idea and then you club them over the head once they take the risk of bringing it to market and start making some money.

[Arthur]

...back to the topic of somebody selling illegal copies of our games on ebay.

In addition to his popular and lucrative software reselling venture, he also appears to sell web hosting via Ebay. This is a link to the contact info at the [his?] webhosting company:
http://www.fairhoster.de/en/IMPRESSUM.html

It's really shocking to see this kind of thing on Ebay. I would love to know what reg codes you would end up getting if you bought his warez. I suspect he just bought an Armadillo-wrapped copy of each game and is providing his own reg codes.

Or is there any chance he is doing this under some kind of 3rd-party arrangement legitamitely? We do have one legit Ebay reseller for some of our PDA games who is reasonably effective.

[Arthur]

The latest Ebay pirate appears to be making a killing from our games.
I have just initiated delisting of Fish Tycoon.

He is selling for $7.95:

Fairies
Fish Tycoon
Feeding Frenzy
Bonnie's Bookstore
Hexalot
Gold Miner
Word Slinger
Aloha Solitaire
Rainbow Web
Flip Words
Alien Shooter
Aloha Tripeaks
Magic Inlay
Granny In Paradise
Gemshop
Adventureball
Mahjong Adventures
Mystery Case Files
RollerRush
Tumblebugs
Bricks of Atlantis

[ErikH2000]

Honestly, I think the only way to approach this is to just make it an ongoing task to search for your title on eBay and fire off a VERO boilerplate e-mail to eBay each time it happens. It's not worth spending a lot of time thinking about it. If you are consistent and quick about sending the infringement claim to delist your title, the offender should eventually stop bothering with your particular title.

eBay alerts on my title's name don't work for me. I have to search eBay manually. But still, it only takes a minute to search, and if I find something, three more minutes to send the VERO e-mail. I shouldn't have to do it, but, there's a lot of crappy things I shouldn't have to do. The best thing is to streamline the whole response so it takes as little of your life energy as possible.

-Erik

[Arthur]

I got Fish Tycoon delisted from EBay, and the seller immediately relisted it in a new auction.

In addition I found that other previous pirate guy selling just about every casual game in existance on the internation ebay sites. Find YOUR game HERE:
http://search.ebay.de/_W0QQsassZfairhoster

Seems I could be doing this all day if EBay won't even ban him or do anything to slow him down from relisting.

[ErikH2000]

I got Fish Tycoon delisted from EBay, and the seller Seems I could be doing this all day if EBay won't even ban him or do anything to slow him down from relisting.
Arthur, I'm not saying I'm the biggest expert, but I recommend to keep sending the VERO e-mails. I did it for another guy about 3 times, and I don't know what happened exactly, but I haven't been listed in a few months. If it is any consolation, it's more of a pain in the ass for him to set up another listing than for you to send a boilerplate to eBay. Just give it a try for a while. Maybe I'm wrong and the guy will continuously relist your game, but I think it's more likely he'll stop.

-Erik

[papillon]

Ebay's very uncommitted when it comes to software piracy. I can talk to them til I'm blue in the face pointing out that someone is selling the unreleased English beta of PM2 burned to CDR... that there IS no English license holder, that their buyer feedback comments about receiving burned copies, that every item listed by that seller has huge amounts available of old software at ridiculously low prices with no pictures of packaging.... and ebay just tells me to stop bothering them about it, it's not their problem until and unless a VERO person shows up.

[ErikH2000]

Ebay's very uncommitted when it comes to software piracy. I can talk to them til I'm blue in the face pointing out that someone is selling the unreleased English beta of PM2 burned to CDR... that there IS no English license holder, that their buyer feedback comments about receiving burned copies, that every item listed by that seller has huge amounts available of old software at ridiculously low prices with no pictures of packaging.... and ebay just tells me to stop bothering them about it, it's not their problem until and unless a VERO person shows up.
I agree that seems to be the state of things. They're geared towards settling disputes quickly, and nobody is going to actually think about what is going on. It doesn't really matter to them if something illegal is happening on their servers. They just do the bare minimum to stay out of trouble.

Are you using their VERO form, P? You should at least be able to get your listings taken down without any fuss.

-Erik

[papillon]

I'm complaining about someone else's game, not my own. :) I've never been pirated on ebay as far as I know - I'm so low on the radar pirates barely know I exist.

But as a huge Princess Maker fan always keeping an eye out on the odd chance that a copy will turn up on the western market - being unwilling to pay the huge gobetween fees to get someone to buy me a copy of something available only in Japan - it drives me nuts when I see people peddling pirated copies and getting away with it.

Sadly, I *can* get listings canceled if they're selling ripped copies of hentai games - because ebay is much stricter about banning porn than they are about banning piracy. Which stinks, because they make it so you can't buy such games on ebay *legally*.

[ManuTOO]

eBay is making a lot of money, right ?

Hopefully, one day or another, PopCap or any bigger studio will sue them for millions of dollars coz they let this kind of auction happens to easily, without banning the pirate...
After, we should be all better... ;)

[soniCron]

Yeah. That'll happen the day NewGrounds goes under...and that probably won't be happening anytime soon, despite the fact that there is enough copyright infringement on the site to drown a small country. ;)

[Jack Norton]

Is really fun anyway how ebay seems to protect more pirates than legitimate copyrights holders. I really hope someone big sue them. They can't check all the listing for sure, but some of them are really so clearly illegal... :o

[Anthony Flack]

What's a VERO email? Is it one that talks about how great it is to be using Softimage? That's what I usually hear about when that Vero person shows up.

[ErikH2000]

"eBay is committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of third parties and to providing its users with a safe place to trade. eBay created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program so intellectual property owners could easily report listings that infringe their rights."

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/programs-vero-ov.html

-Erik

[Repton]

We find contacting vendors using Ebays internal contact system works well - auctions are usually withdrawn within 24 hours and they don't tend to re-list.

Anyone know this guy?
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZmikebi19740502

[Jack Norton]

Haha that user rules:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mystery-Case-Files-Huntsville-PC-Game_W0QQitemZ8254099986QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNa meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

he says that he is authorized seller, but I think that the official price of huntsville is a bit more than $8 no? :D

[Arthur]

He is saying he is an authorized seller to confuse Ebay. This was his delay tactic when I asked Ebay to delist Fish Tycoon--and it worked. Ebay hesistated and he finished that batch of auctions.

He is simulating a legit experience for the customer, by making them register the game (with HIM), and he's creating codes using an illegal keygen.

[cliffski]

jesus, these swine need sorting out. Surely if ebay have handled any payments to these people, they can be tracked down and arrested. I'm sick of this "we will ask them to remove that webpage" attitude of most ISPs and so on. If they have data on a customer doing illegal business, they should be prosecuted if they dont hand it to the authorities.
grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[FunkiDave]

Here is what I've found to be a good way to keep cracked games off eBay.

First, get a VERO account. That will let you submit requests to pull down listings.

Then, get EBay to set up your account that puts a Reporting Button on the listing. I believe you have to request this.

Then, set up auto-searches for your games. You can set up EBay to send you a list of listings that matches your search criteria.

So now, you are all set to go.

You get an email from EBay once in a while with listings that match your game.

You usually can eye them to know if they are legal or not from the email. I won't go into the ways here just in case on of the 'bad guys' are reading this.

Then you can click on the link from the email and go right to the possible offending listing, and then, you have a report button right on it. Press the button, and it pops up a quick form, and you send to EBay and that's that. Quick and easy.

I've seen EBay be pretty responsive to these reports, and the more you do the more it keeps the 'bad guys' away from at least your games. As I believe when EBay catches something like this, they shut down the account, thus making the 'bad guy' have to set up a new account and losing all of his positive 'hey great cracked games!' thumbs up rankings.