eBay giving virtual item auctions the boot
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Jan 26th 2007 at 7:45PM }
Those hoping to make a quick buck from their level 70 World of Warcraft characters had best find another bay to barter in -- eBay has put the kibosh on any and all virtual item auctions. Zonk over at Slashdot writes that the online auction giant has implemented a new policy which has them delisting all manner of polygonal pets, in-game gear and web-based wealth. Offending auctions have been quietly canned since last month.The new rule arrives as a means of protecting eBay from becoming embroiled in dubious legal matters. In essence, it's a reworking of an existing policy which states that all digitally delivered goods sold must be the intellectual property of the seller, unless said seller is specifically authorized as a distributor. When it comes to user-created content in games such as City of Heroes and World of Warcraft, the line between that which belongs to the publisher and that which belongs to the user is somewhat blurry.
Of course, eBay's implication that user creations belong to the developer or publisher is a topic that has seen many reams of internet debate. If Blizzard decided to auction off a special WoW item, would eBay allow it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nintendofan @ Jan 26th 2007 7:52PM
Yes if Blizzard gave the go ahead it would be okay. If you read the EULAs you would see that the data is the property of the company.
Basically users are just renters of the companies data.
Kestrel @ Jan 26th 2007 7:56PM
About time.
Seifer @ Jan 26th 2007 8:41PM
Shhh... did you hear that loud thud? That's the sound of thousands of goldfarm sweatshop owners fainting simultaneously.
WOW @ Jan 26th 2007 9:12PM
I actually have a WOW account that I was thinking of selling on eBay until I saw this. Can someone refer me to a popular forum site for buying/selling accounts?
nintendofan @ Jan 26th 2007 9:22PM
You are not supposed to sell your account that is the point. It's not yours to sell.
You just pay an access/management fee to it.
Be thankfull that the law doesn't make these sellings have the same penalty as the selling of stolen goods which means both and you the buyer get several years in jail.
chenli926 @ Jan 27th 2007 9:52PM
If you're talking about buying game gold or a level up (through a powerleveing service), then there are many sites out there that you can pay people to level your character fast:
http://www.warcraftgolds.com is one.
warcraftgolds @ Jan 27th 2007 9:52PM
If you're talking about buying game gold or a level up (through a powerleveing service), then there are many sites out there that you can pay people to level your character fast:
http://www.warcraftgolds.com is one.
gotjpeg @ Jan 26th 2007 9:50PM
Oh I'm pretty sure theres ways around it. Can't you make an auction saying hey I'm selling this can of soda for 400$ and it comes with with this free level 60 orc shamen too.
kyle @ Jan 26th 2007 9:56PM
that or people are going to turn to less secure means of buying accounts and gold.
Cabcru @ Jan 26th 2007 9:59PM
"there are many sites out there that you can pay people to level your character fast:"
I'm wholly confident you'll find your characters/gold/equipment completely intact when you regain access to your account too. If you're still interested, I have some swampland I be willing to sell you.
scott @ Jan 26th 2007 10:08PM
glad i got rid of my account a month before expansion came out
Lighttech @ Jan 26th 2007 10:40PM
I can see why they are doing this. There are too many unscrupulous dirt bags who are stealing from naive nerds. I have no problem with gold farmers as long as they play fair. They actually benefit in game economies. They grind mobs for loot and cash. They sell the loot via auction houses in game to make most of the gold they sell and other players are capable of buying these better weapons/items from the farmers. But since Blizzard (and other MMO's) frown upon these perfect examples of capitalist enterprises, all I will say is don't get caught.
TopaZ @ Jan 26th 2007 11:34PM
Wait about Second Life items? Users own them. feEbay, choking the free market since 1998. I can't wait for Google to kick them in the ass with an auction site.
Kevin @ Jan 27th 2007 12:06AM
I am glad Ebay is putting their feet down and putting a stop to this. I been looking for a cheap copy of Guild Wars but when I type in Guild Wars, I got a crap load of digital content ppl are trying to push. Who even knows if they will honor the deal they made. Their are countless sites where MMO fans can sell their "wares" online. Not to mention in game solutions. Blizzard, the uber company that is now, should have it on marketplace for those who want to sell the items via Paypal with fraud protection. I am Ebay purist and I believe if it isn't solid and can't be mailed. It doesn't belong on the site. Period, exclamation point, and semi colon.
Ben @ Jan 27th 2007 1:28AM
Kevin, now that we know you are a purist and have heard your opinion, any debate of progress has been officially squashed. Buddy, it's purists that keep the world stagnant and uninteresting, and if it weren't for a whole lot of other non-purists eBay wouldn't exist in the first place and you'd find yourself at a real-life auction with a bunch of smelly old people any time you wanted to sell something of yours.
Anyway, I think this simply shows that we need better, more comprehensive legislation dealing with virtual property since it will become more and more of a reality with each passing year. I find it to be a pretty substantial abuse of power if Blizzard can say you can't sell your account or to classify it as rented or whatever. I don't play the game so I can't speak to exactly what they call it, but if this is an accurate description then it's an abuse of the consumer if something that they put their time, effort and money into is not even considered their own. There definitely needs to be a better description of what virtual property rights actually are so that consumers can have the same rights and protections in this market as they would in any other.
Velops @ Jan 27th 2007 2:43AM
It's not virtual property when players do not have absolute control over every aspect of the characters. The moment players are given legal rights over virtual content, a whole nest full of problems will arise. Banning hackers and other troublemaking players will not be possible because companies will have no authority over characters they do not own. This problem could be fixed with more legislation but that will only set the ball rolling for more red tape to kill all the fun that these games are supposed to provide.
The characters only exist on Blizzard's servers. How can someone own something that can never exist independently of Blizzard's servers?
At some point, Blizzard will decide to end the game and shut down the servers. All of the characters will then cease to exist. Can you own something that no longer exists?
virgolds @ Jan 27th 2007 4:41AM
your best choice here, http://www.virgolds.com , ever been there, uh, to c is to believe...lol
Leto @ Jan 27th 2007 10:07AM
Isn't this old news, or is Ebay simply revamping their stance against virtual property? I remember that in 2006 Ebay took down my auction once when it was just an hour away from completing. I still got the last laugh though, I put the auction back up and I managed to sell it for an even higher price.
Kevin @ Jan 27th 2007 10:17AM
Ben, thanks for the reply on the subject. Yet, I agree that Ebay was built about dreamers with ambition and heart. Yet, I don't like seeing digital content clogging up the listings. I sell Maple Story items on Basil Market all the time, but I don't post a listing on Ebay selling a Maple Bow or Claw for 20 bucks. I believe in the sale of real and actual products. I don't see the point in spending 40 bucks for an item, when you have no guarantee for that you will get it. That's all I'm saying.
Darrien @ Jan 28th 2007 2:21AM
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=60%20Priest
boneyard @ Jan 28th 2007 5:46AM
first off can someone delete the goldfarmers ads?
thats is also one of the issues with this, sure if it works out no more gold selling on ebay. but the big companies already sell from their own sites anyway. and ebay has been doing this before from time to time, but it never works out over the long time.
Topknot @ Jan 29th 2007 6:02AM
...and yet they wont stop ticket touts and people selling pre-ordered consoles.... what a world.
Bryan @ Jan 29th 2007 12:56PM
I don't think Blizzard has to worry about eBay's policy, because I seriously doubt they'd ever sell any in-game item themselves, for charity or otherwise.
They can auction off all the autographed games and customized computers/laptops/hardware they want, but I don't ever see when they'd ever auction an in-game item for the same reason argued in the article: do players truly own their in-game items? By auctioning an in-game item, Blizzard would be acknowledging that the players have ownership of their items and would be going completely against eBay's efforts.
Karsun @ Feb 21st 2007 9:18AM
Well, actually it is legal to sell a MUD character. Because you don't sell anything itself. You neither sell ACCESS to something... In fact you only give someone else passwords to something that the seller is allowed to use. It's like selling e-mail accounts or selling nice numbers for cellular phones. Nobody cares who is the user, nobody will really know. At least it's legal according to the polish law, maybe some other countries forbid it. It's just the point that you don't sell data, you sell access to it, and the company (WOW for example) got what they wanted any way.
oli-t @ Mar 12th 2007 10:32AM
I guess only time will tell how this all ends up.
I know of a site thats being created atm that intends to take over where ebay left off.
www.gamerauction.net