EBAY BOOTLEGS the NY TIMES BEST SELLER LIST

Imagine going to the counter of your local bookstore with five best sellers.

You slap a $100 bill on the counter, and walk out. The cashier says, "Hey, this is counterfeit!" You say, "How do I know that? Looks good to me. I'm JUST a person, I'm not with the Treasury Department."

How far would you get before you were tackled by law enforcement?

That's the "real world."

On the Internet, EBAY gives the benefit of the doubt to anyone selling counterfeits and fakes. Despite having a rule AGAINST such things, EBAY did not stop the auction below, which is a fake, unauthorized, totally and blatantly illegal sale of copyrighted material:

Somebody is claiming to have the rights to toss THREE HUNDRED New York Times Best Sellers on a DVD and sell it? And EBAY doesn't do anything?

Can we see the fine print on this outrage?

This ad was reported and IGNORED by EBAY.

Why? They can hide behind Internet law that was created 20 years ago, before piracy. Websites are "just venues" people use. How do they know what's legal or not? They need to be told.

Compare that to your bookstore cashier, who can and WILL scan a $100 bill before accepting it. The cashier isn't saying "my bookstore is JUST a venue, I'll take anything that looks like a $100 bill, and even a coupon from somebody who says "This is from Random House and entitles me to $100 worth of their books for free."

EBAY has very few rules when it comes to digital versions of copyrighted books. The ones they have are skewed to misguided interpretation by their lowest-level employees, the ones who cast a sleepy eye at items bidders send in via "report this link," the obscure hot link faintly viewable on every eBay auction.

One laughable rule: offering eBooks via "download" or e-mail is not allowed...but if you put SEVEN THOUSAND of them on a DVD you made, that's fine.

Another laughable rule: if you claim "I own copyright" you won't be challenged. Also, you can state "I will send this item by mail" and not charge any shipping, and claim to be in Sri Lanka, and no red flag goes up, even when your feedback says "Great download, I got it an hour after I paid. Great seller! What a BARGAIN!"

This greedy seller's other ad offers, yes, SEVEN THOUSAND copyrighted mysteries for sale. All royalties and profits to HIM and EBAY.

These ads were cleverly designed so that the average VeRO rep wouldn't see any abuse...no name of a book company or author...that information hidden via a hot link to another website.

It's more than a shame that today, book companies, TV networks and even film studios are groveling in front of INTERNET GIANTS like GOOGLE, AMAZON and EBAY who control the world and make sure lawmakers do not pass any legislation against piracy and abuse.

This is why any eBook is easily available on the notorious "torrents," in private "forums," and often on impudent blogs owned by GOOGLE (Blogspot) or sometimes hosted by nose-thumbing Communists in Croatia somewhere.

This Irish bootlegger has a lot of nerve AND greed, because selling a 30 cent DVD for $12 isn't enough.

The ad includes "click here" links to THIS place:

HUH? This is just one of those mysterious websites, like Pirate Bay, that stay in business because Internet law has no teeth. What's the deal here? The "server" is in Russia or Croatia? The credit card money is diverted to a bank in Sweden or Switzerland?

Maybe Random House and Knopf and Bantam are sighing, "It's whack-a-mole, if we spend a fortune in suing some punk, he'll get a slap on the wrist and put the website back up again under a new name." Which isn't exactly true. Ask "Kim Dotcom" who ran Megaupload and is currently sweating out a life behind bars.

The good news?

A dedicated and experienced VeRO rep will find any abuse and remove it.

The "catch" is that the author or publisher has to have one.

Another problem is that in another few years, even more people will be Internet-savvy enough to find the FREE torrents and forums, ones with servers located in places where copyright is not enforced. Wait long enough and yes, eBay's cheap grifters won't be able to sell George R.R. Martin, E.L. James or Cassandra Clare (to name three fools who don't monitor the site properly) because $5 for the entire collection of an author is too much. FREE is better.

For the good of the economy, the future should see a law that lets an ISP block a rogue website, and international laws that can put a bootlegger in jail.

"Just a Venue" EBAY should be held responsible for aiding and abetting bootleggers. They should be obligated to answer red-flag queries and DEMAND to see the papers on sellers who claim "I own copyright, or the item is in public domain, or I'm an authorized re-seller."

Some anti-piracy organizations are filing suit against abusers. That should happen on eBay. There's no reason why, when eBay is in cohoots with Paypal, that sellers should be allowed to keep the money they stole. After a VeRO report proves a seller has no rights to the money, that money should be given to the rights owner, or to charity. Right now, creeps like this bootlegger of the NY TIMES list and SEVEN THOUSAND thrillers, can laugh at all the illegal money in his bank account.

But right now people on eBay can easily, unwittingly buy from bootleggers because they figure "if it's on EBAY it must be legal." They type in a favorite author, or they check what's new in the eBook category, and they find items like the above...or items similar to ones chronicled in previous posts.

It is VITAL that publishers not rely on DIGIMARC or WEB SHERIFF if it means ignoring abuse. "I can't afford to pay them $2 every time they file a DMCA" is NOT an excuse. Go get an intern to do it. EBAY is a big website and should NOT have bootlegs on it. Guarantee: that Intern will be saying, "anything else for me to do?" because if he's good, he'll eradicate 90% of the abuse in a week or two on everything the publisher is trying to sell.

Literate, quivering bunnies in the publishing world are saying, "We're in a SEA CHANGE, and we don't know the PARADIGM, or the SCHADENFREUDE." And I say take the dictionary out of your gob and face the real world. Get organized, get laws passed, and use the DMCA currently available to remove blatant abuse on EBAY.

WINNING - authors are beating EBAY book bootleggers

This could be a poster of an author, not Charlie Sheen.

Charlie's infamous "WINNING!" line, was a brag about his quality of life.

Well, the quality of author lives gets a lot better when they don't see scabs and parasites bootlegging on EBAY, which is the highest profile Internet site for STEALING BOOKS.

Many "happy" bidders never heard of "digital downloads" or "cloud lockers" or even pdf, mobi and epub files...until they searched for a favorite author and discovered a "wonderful bargain price" on a book. Huh? $1.00 or $2.00 to own the latest best seller? And I can read it on my laptop? Whee!

SUSPENDED:

ALSO SUSPENDED:

Not suspended, but no longer abusing authors, is Clint in Tennessee. He had the nerve to say "I own copyright...I am an authorized re-seller..." on dozens of bootleg auctions. Unfortunately this is a new caveat-gambit that many parasites are using now. BUT...

...after a few VeRO complaints sent to Ebay he pulled the dozens of offending auctions. Like so:

Gosh, a guy in Tennessee pulled all his auctions because he suddenly realized there was an "error" in his listings.

The "error" was stating "Attention EBAY, I own the copyright or have re-sale rights or the item is in public domain."

It would be nice if, when an auction like this is reported, eBay would call or PM the author and say, "OK, fax us the signed document stating you are authorized." But they don't.

They expect authors to do the work of sending in a DMCA to vero@ebay.com.

It's unfortunate that it's a burden on authors, but we all must use "vigilance." The good news is that anyone can be a VeRO rep. An author who is too busy or too disgusted to check eBay once a week can authorize a friend or relative. I rep dozens of authors, actors and actresses (FREE) because I have perfected easy ways to find and remove the auctions. (If you want my help or advise, e-mail me at CYKOTTICK at HOTMAIL.COM)

We're WINNING because more authors are now aware of the problem and are routinely taking a few minutes a week to check Ebay and type in their name and add EBOOK or KINDLE or PDF to find the abusers.

Publishers unfortunately don't seem so motivated, because they seem to use professional "Web Sheriff" type companies that charge a few bucks per stoppage. You'd think they'd at least get an intern to help. Thing is, if the biggest names were covered (Rowling, Patterson, King, James, etc.) as well as anyone on the Times best-seller list, these parasites wouldn't have anyone to exploit.

And if eBay didn't allow these parasites to use caveats like "I am the copyright owner" with impunity, or "I will send this PDF file by mail, not digital delivery," this problem wouldn't even exist.

Cynics and apathetic loafers will say, "oh, it's WHACK-A-MOLE, it's not worth the effort."

It is worth the effort, and sellers DO get suspended, and others DO cease and desist. I've seen it in my FIFTEEN YEARS as an eBay VeRO rep.

Some months ago, there were over 40 sellers from Sri Lanka (or pretending to be) throwing every Stephen King, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling book on eBay. You could get an "entire collection" of an author's work for $3.99. Now? Most are gone. Most weren't suspended, they just gave up because they kept getting reported.

REPORT auctions. Join VERO (vero@ebay.com). Fans who see auctions that boldly state "I'll send your file by e-mail" or "free shipping item will be sent to you" can use the "report auction" link, and report the item as a violation of "digital delivery."

It works.

EBAY: "I'm HAPPY" you let a guy in Tennessee rape Philippa Gregory

Talk about cheap lying bastards. Here's a guy in Tennessee who raped Philippa Gregory for 99 cents.

Raped her intellectual property, that is. And he got a "HAPPY" comment for it, too.

From his feedback:

One of the latest scams on EBAY is sellers insisting they OWN THE COPYRIGHT to every best seller on the NY Times list.

Oh, and they own the copyright on anything else they think they can bootleg for a dollar or two. Like Stephen King:

It's pretty obvious that this is a violation of EBAY's own rule on "digital delivery."

He says "WE WILL EMAIL BOOK..."

DUH.

According to EBAY, "We have priorities." Meaning, it might take up to a week before a complaint is acted upon.

The person at EBAY I spoke to also admitted that sometimes the item is NEVER stopped. "Report it again."

You see, they are very busy at EBAY, and it's not that they ignore or trash complaints they just, well, say "REPORT IT AGAIN."

They might also not even want to talk to you, and instead put you on hold for literally a half hour, while blasting music and constant "Your call is important to us, stay on the line" messages.

Meanwhile, the HAPPY customers of this HAPPY seller can go check and see who else he's raping with his lies about owning their copyright. Yes, that OWNING COPYRIGHT line is prominent (red lined for your benefit)

A seller like this also gets the benefit of many "warnings" and then "restrictions" (ie, seller can't post for a week or a month). Ultimately there's suspension. But the suspension would come a lot faster if authors get involved and send DMCA's through the vero program (vero@ebay.com).

While it's not going to hurt Stephen King much if some cretin in Tennessee offers up $1 or $2 copies of HIS books, the more that "HAPPY" EBAYERS get for chump change, the less they buy.

Worse, if they do buy, they'll "be sure to buy again" from the cretin in Tennessee, who will surely have something on his list of 30 or 40 books that will be worth the $1 bid. If not, he'll happily take requests, and go to the sneaky torrent sites or forums where he can get his free downloads of most anyone's book, and then bring it over to eBay.

Meanwhile new authors, mid-list authors, and others who rely on people buying their books, get nothing. Potential readers are too busy reading bootlegs and bragging how they just finished the new Andy Weir and the latest masterpiece from E.L. James.

You'd think that when a creepy liar blatantly says of Stephen King, Andy Weir, Paula Hawkins and everyone else, "Attention Ebay Staff: I am an Authoried Reseller..also the copyright holder..." authors would literally call him on it. Just out of pride of copyright. It's the BEST way to handle it.

I've called EBAY. I've said, "He's telling YOU, EBAY STAFF, that he's authorized. Why don't you call him and demand that he fax you that authorization?"

Because EBAY would rather get a commission on a dollar from a redneck thief in Tennessee, and because EBAY doesn't want to pay employees to lose sales. Ebay would rather have the serenity of being "just a venue," that acts only when they absolutely have to.

Andy Weir, Philippa Gregory, etc., you may have your hands full with writing new books, answering fan mail, Tweeting, playing with your websites, doing phone interviews, etc. etc. But you still can deputize a relative or a fan to be your VeRO rep. That person would be glad to check eBay once a week for ANDY WEIR eBook or ANDY WEIR kindle and take a minute to forward the auction numbers for removal.

I've seen eBay piracy of mp3 files and music dwindle to near nothing. The same can happen with this new phenomenon of digital theft of copyrighted books.

"HOLY CRAP!" Plagiarizing romance author Becky McGraw

"Based on a novel by a man named Lear, and I need a job, and I want to be a PAPERBACK WRITER..."

Laura Harner's written 75 books in the past five years. Except...some were "based on a novel" by SOMEBODY ELSE.

That includes Becky McGraw, who gave out with a "HOLY CRAP!" when she found out.

I've been plagiarized too, Becky. I've gotten lawyers involved and gotten settlements. I remember the first time it happened, my lawyer said, "Well, what are your damages? Can you prove the plagiarism interfered with sales of your book?"

I said, "No, of course not, the books aren't in competition. My damages are that I'm pissed off, and I don't like being somebody's unwilling partner or ghost-writer. I did the research and somebody else gets a paycheck for it? I want half his advance...and how about punitive damages?"

My cases involved non-fiction. The authors couldn't find information so they went to my books and copied everything off, changing a word here or there and making the big mistake of not crediting me. A few lines of "according to author Ronald L. Smith" or "as quote in Ronald L. Smith's book..." would've made a big difference.

As for fiction, there are hack genres (romance, erotica, sci-fi, westerns) where you're expected to simply knock out purple prose or a load of cliche-ridden drivel WITHOUT resorting to the arduous task of copying/adapting/plagiarizing someone else.

It's quite pathetic when you can't simply make-up stuff (maybe steal the plot line if you must) and instead go about "adapting" every paragraph.

I'm not plagiarizing. Am I? I'm giving credit to the original source, the Daily Mail. I'm also not profiting in any way, as this website has no advertising.

Harner's excuse would be, what, that her market is "gay" fiction and so she's not competing with McGraw? True, but she's using McGraw's creativity and making her an unwilling partner. Ethics and morality aside, what Harner's done involves illegal financial gain.

It's fortunate that social media helped Becky McGraw become aware of the problem. Back in the old days, an author might not spot plagiarism except by pure accident. In one case, I was browsing a book on comedians and noticed my own writing. With no credit. In another, it was my father who bought a book and said, as a compliment, "This author obviously read your book!" HUH??

What is most unfortunate, is that the Internet is destroying book sales and allowing parasites to prosper. Why would Harner be tossing out 75 books in 5 years, except that volume is the only way she can make money? Sites such as Amazon, that might pay a dollar in royalty on an eBook, are not going to be selling more than a few hundred or a few thousand copies of somebody's niche novel. The odds keep getting lower as more and more amateur idiots flood the site with badly written garbage, and "novels" that are often less than 10,000 words.

It's possible Harner would've been less blatant if she didn't have to knock out so much for so little.

A related problem is that on EBAY, self-publishing authors are throwing their titles out there hoping for sales, and many "authors" are simply taking public domain material and putting their name on it. Some grab every article they can Google, cobble it together as an e-book or print-on-demand title, and figure no author is going to notice or be able to do much about it.

In my two cases, after all, my lawyers were dealing with actual published books from real New York-based companies. They weren't trying to track down somebody offering eBooks from a tiny town somewhere, or by somebody on eBay muddying the waters by using Sri Lanka as an address. Today? A lawyer would probably try to shake down Amazon for aiding and abetting theft (which could possibly be defended with the Digital Millennium Act's "we're just a venue" excuse). A lawyer might also be able to go after the credit card company that was accepting payment, as well as the author, and have that money re-directed to the injured party.

Oh. As for punitive damages, I was disappointed to learn that this is a gray area. "You have to prove malice," I was told. "You have to prove that it was not just some kind of mistake or innocent error in judgment." Then again, don't judges sometimes award such damages, as a warning to others that ignorance of the law is no excuse?

Re-writing pulp fiction? Oh, for shame, Laura Harner, for shame.

What next, copying stuff from Nora Roberts? "HOLY CRAP" indeed.

40 Authors suffer from SYLOSIS on EBAY

What is SYLOSIS?

It's actually a name of a HEAVY METAL BAND. They have an album called "Dormant Heart."

And in tribute, a worthy on EBAY is flooding the market with cheap dupe bootlegs of every author he can find.

Why? Well, heavy metal music does appeal to the "evil" side, heh heh heh. Har har har.

Let's see SOME of the books Mr. Sylosis is stealing:

More? Sure.

Yes, some guy in Naples, Florida (many parasites are in the South where it's very low rent) is selling out any author he can find.

For NINETY NINE CENTS.

After EBAY and PAYPAL take their cuts (they are partners in this crime) he's getting maybe 60 cents.

Still, if all he has to do is supply a download link, or e-mail the file, then ha ha. Cheap BEER MONEY!! Sell a few books, and have a beer.

Why is he still on EBAY?

Because none of the authors or publishers have noticed his auctions. Yet.

As a VeRO rep, I spot HINKY very easily. But Napoleon Hill, if he has a VeRO rep at all, can't even spot an auction that has EBOOK in the title.

UPDATE OCT 8: seller removed the dozens of auctions, probably as each individual author complained, and the seller was facing suspension. Each auction now has this notice:

UPDATE NOVEMBER 11: The seller has changed his eBay user name. Of course, if the seller stupidly tries to go back and bootleg authors who have reported him before, he will be SUSPENDED.

GOD BLESS THIS BOOK THIEF

EBAY confirms a seller that has FIVE different aliases. This is one of them.

Note the happy people who praise this "seller" for offering illegal dupes. Do they realize the stuff is illegal? "Gosh, how can it be illegal if it's on lovable EBAY?"

Isn't that lovely feedback? "GOD BLESS THIS SELLER" for providing a cut-rate collection of EVERY Paul Coelho book for under $5.00.

Note this seller preys mostly on the usual suspects: Dan Brown, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Terry Pratchett, J.R.R. Tolkien and George Martin. With those bringing in the most money, the seller also branched out to abuse dozens of others.)

Why have FIVE aliases? Easy. If one is suspended, or "restricted" for a month, the other accounts can roll merrily along.

Like so:

Sometimes this seller has had to abandon an account because of a negative that gives the game away.

Yes, FIVE aliases confirmed. Only ONE is, as of this writing, suspended. And it's none of the above.

UPDATE: NOV 2

The good news is that several of these IDs are now SUSPENDED, and the others are dormant.

How PAULA HAWKINS is pick-pocketed by "clever" Illiterates. Say what?

Paula Hawkins, best-selling author.

Both her ebook AND her audiobooks are being sold for chump change on EBAY.

If it can be copied, it can be stolen. That's the way it is.

Here's an illiterate who is "smart" enough to know where to find free mp3 files on torrents and hidden internet forums...which he then sneaks onto EBAY so he can make some money.

Duh! "This is a downloadble" audio. "I sent it to your paypal email."

You think the ad is stupid? So are a lot of EBAY employees. It's 50-50 on whether a Hawkins fans can report this and get it removed.

Some EBAY employees would say, "Uh, it doesn't say it's a "digital download" so it's technically not in violation of our rules.

That means Paula, her lawyer, her publisher, or a designated friend or relative has to stop it as a VeRO (verified rights owner) violation.

Ever have someone come up to you and pull a con?

I have. Like: "Hey man, do you know what time it is?" "No, I'm not wearing a watch." "You wanna buy one???"

On EBAY there are some sellers like THIS:

Most any VeRO rep seeing the header on EBAY would pass it by. As in, "Oh, somebody is selling a used copy of the book and starting it at $1.99."

But read the copy for the ad:

Yes, this con-artist flashes his fake and hopes somebody will buy.

Again, it's 50-50 whether EBAY would stop the auction if it was reported. After all, this fine seller is stating he's offering an eBook, but is not saying he'll deliver it via e-mail or a "cloud" locker or some other download service.

EBAY makes sure to tell sellers how to beat the system. As in: "Your auction was stopped because you stated you were offering a digital delivery. In your ad, state you will send the file by postal mail." Or, don't state anything at all. Heh heh heh.

Again, it's up to Hawkins, her lawyer or her publisher to take a moment each week to stop this crap. Some publishers will frankly admit that they don't have the staff to bother with this. They rely on others to report auctions, as in: "Oh, let Rowling or Stephen King's people go after him. He'll get suspended if three or four people complain. So why should I be one of those?"

The answer is that the quicker these parasites are stopped the better. You don't see them pulling this with mp3 music files. For some reason, they get the idea that authors are easier victims than rock stars.