Odd, isn't it...

[ffutures]

...that when I sell a fairly heavy camera lens on eBay I can get it to the USA in a week, with insurance and tracking, for £17.....

...but if I want to buy a fairly light bit of software from a US vendor on eBay (a disk plus manual in a plastic bag) they quote me up to $50 depending on delivery speed, with delivery at that price still taking up to a week.

Are the US postal options really that crap, or do US vendors just not want to do business with British buyers?

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's the full version of Acrobat that comes bundled with some scanners. It's technically a breach of the license to sell it on its own, so they also include some unspecified piece of hardware - probably a case screw or something - but they seem to have sold a lot of them without problems.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say that you're probably at least partially right about the post office thing. In the UK it's different; I can send most of my international stuff (apart from the occasional insured package) without going to the post office, provided it'll fit in the letter box slot, I just have to put the right stamps and a customs label on. I'd have to go to the post office even for an inland insured package.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

"but they seem to have sold a lot of them without problems."

Which makes it OK? Apply that logic to someone selling your FF CD on eBay.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Interesting point. Presumably, though, these are copies which Adobe has already sold on to scanner manufacturers or whatever - does it hurt them if I get the software instead of someone who buys a scanner?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Belated answer - Considerably less than if I buy one of the hundreds of completely illegal copies that are on offer at a fraction of the price.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Please consider the phrase "completely illegal." You know what you're doing is wrong, but you're doing it anyway.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

"Illegal" and "wrong" are not synonyms.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

You're making exactly the same argument as people who scan in games and post them on the Internet: they can't see the harm in it either.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I disagree, but since it seems unlikely that I'm going to buy one of these packages anyway it's going to have to remain theoretical.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sorry, forgot to address your original point. If that happened (and I do have a search running on ebay) I would check the list of registered users, see if it was one of them, and if they were selling one copy or lots. If it was a registered user selling lots they'd be blacklisted, e.g. I wouldn't let them have future copies. I would also put a few copies on sale at a "buy it now" price below the price the vendor was listing it at, point out that unlike the bootleg copies you'd get an update eventually, and wait for the shit to hit the fan.