EBAY is the "just a venue" site that doesn't feel obligated to police itself.
"It's up to YOU the author to tell us if some guy does NOT own your copyright and does NOT have permission to make an obvious bootleg of your book."
That's EBAY.
They actually do have a rule against "digital delivery" of books, but again, it has to be reported to them. THEY don't have a "bot" checking for jerks who sell EPUB MOBI KINDLE EBOOK items.
Here's an item on eBay today (April 13th) with a seller's LIES ABOUT ILES.
LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LYING AD COPY:
Ah, "I have full resell right or master resell right of this product."
In the virtual world, this is fine.
In the real world, this would be considered FRAUD.
This is an outright LIE.
It should be worth taking this jerk to court and suing him for everything he's got.
He's got more nerve:
"Full resell rights are Granted by the copyright owners to sell this product with Resell Rights or Master Resell Rights Granted!"
On eBay, that entitles somebody to steal.
If you hit "REPORT ITEM" and "COPYRIGHT" and point out to eBay how ridiculous this ad is, and ask eBay to literally CALL this seller on this lie, THEY WON'T DO IT.
They'll only stop this blatant abuse if the author or his publisher file a takedown (VERO) complaint, OR if a fan knows to hit "REPORT ITEM" and "DIGITAL DELIVERY."
The seller of course does "not contravene available copyright" by stealing from Greg Iles or a dozen other authors. Oh, not at all.
If a seller like this gets caught, the seller usually gets a second and third chance to do the same thing over again. "Just pick a different victim," eBay essentially suggests.
With luck a seller can keep going for many more months before suspension.
In which case, the seller shrugs and keeps all the money he's made so far. Which includes...
Of course, when The Publishing Industry throws FOUR MILLION DOLLARS at Caitlyn Jenner to write a book, you can't blame parasites for getting the idea that all book companies and all authors are rich, and therefore, shouldn't mind a little Internet thievery on one of the most popular and famous websites in the world.
Too often, THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. Where is their Digimarc or Web Sheriff to patrol eBay and find auctions that have PDF, EPUB, KINDLE or EBOOK in the title? Especially on brand new books like Greg's title?
HARPERCOLLINS, Greg's publisher, at least has a "report piracy" link on their website. This is especially helpful for the parasites on eBay who stick their books on CD-R or DVD-R media and smugly announce, "I am within eBay policy because I am not sending this file by PDF, but by regular mail." (Yes, eBay allows this insane loophole).
(UPDATE, April 23rd: HARPERCOLLINS was using Digimarc. They are now with Link-Busters.)
HARPERCOLLINS is actually in the minority of big publishers who care about piracy. Doubleday-Bantam-Dell does NOT have a "report piracy" link. Neither does Scholastic, among others. What's the message? "Oh, we're all right. We take our two hour lunches, we all make money off the fat of George Martin and E.L. James, and give four million dollar advances to idiots like Caitlyn Jenner. All is right with the world." Right, and they pay crap advances to the average writer, don't nurture new talent, and stand by while bookstores and libraries crumble. Real smart.
It's bad enough, isn't it, that conspiratorial creeps crawl around in forums, and sniff around the cracks of blogs, and weasel their way around the torrents. EBAY should not be allowing ANYONE to write ridiculous caveats and get away with it.
EBAY should not be saying "we're just a venue" but should have a "REPORT ITEM" link for: "Ridiculous Caveats." Before anyone can list an item with such a brazen lie, they should be able to prove it's NOT a lie.
"Show us your signed agreement and your licensing," is what EBAY should be saying. Because hypocrite two-faced EBAY forces rights-owners to do just that. Greg Iles can't get this item removed unless he signs up with Ebay's VERO program (vero@ebay.com) and signs a legal document stating he IS the rights owner and acting to protect his copyright or intellectual property.
The thief who bootlegs him with this sale? He is under NO obligation to sign ANYTHING or prove ANYTHING.
And he can take the money and buy his beer and pizza with any profits he's made before getting caught.
