A A
RSS

eBay Bans Auctions Of Digital Goods

Wed, Apr 2, 2008

Games

It will be interesting to see if this will have any effect on the market for video game related virtual items (e.g., swords, armor, gold and land in MMOs).

eBay Bans Auctions Of Digital Goods: “We’ve pointed out more than a few times how digital goods muck up traditional markets that are based on the concept of scarcity, and it appears that eBay has come to the same conclusion. It’s now banned the direct sale of purely digital goods from either its auctions or its direct sales offerings. Instead, those who want to sell digital goods need to put up a classified ad on the site, rather than a transactional platform. The basic reason has to do with the (wouldn’t you know it?) infinitely reproduceable nature of digital goods. That allows eBay sellers to list the same product many, many, many times over, since they have an infinite supply. This practice is screwing up listings and (more importantly) is being used to manipulate feedback ratings, and so eBay has done away with it.

(Via Techdirt.)

Tags:

Leave a Reply

About

This site is edited by Michael Schneider, an attorney with the firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. When not working with clients on legal issues, Michael enjoys tracking and writing about emerging technology and the Internet.

Follow me on Twitter: @hivebrain.

Twitter Feed

This is Tech TV