Mar 03 2008
Selling Digital Products on eBay - Things You Should Know
Selling Digital Products on eBay - Things You Should Know
eBay makes it easy for anyone with a computer and Internet connection to sell things. Whether you want to get rid of unused household items or sell wholesale lots, it only takes a few clicks of a mouse and a small fee to list your offerings. What could be easier?
One of the most expensive things about doing business on eBay is the shipping costs. You can pass these along to the buyer, but some buyers don’t like the idea of getting a good deal on something only to have to pay more to get it shipped. That’s one reason why digital products are so popular.
Digital products consist of software, music, ebooks, or anything else that can be downloaded. The buyer can get them much faster than if he had to wait for them to be shipped to him, and shipping charges are eliminated. The seller doesn’t have to bother packaging the item and taking it to the post office or scheduling a pickup. These advantages make digital products attractive to both buyers and sellers.
There are a few things that a seller should be aware of before offering digital products on eBay. These include the following:
* The seller must own the copyright to any digital product he is selling, or have permission from the copyright holder to distribute the product. If you’re selling an ebook, for example, you must either be the legal copyright holder or have resell rights to it. If you’re selling MP3s, you must own all rights to them.
* If you are selling software, you must make sure that it will do no harm to the buyer’s computer. It can’t have a virus, spyware, or cookies. It also cannot cause the buyer’s computer to perform unauthorized actions, such as sending spam emails.
* Sellers who wish to list digital downloadable items must be PayPal Verified. This simply means that you have added a bank account to your PayPal account and verified that it is in fact your own. This is a means of confirming your identity.
* Digital products offered on eBay cannot be pornographic.
Sellers who violate these policies can be subject to various adverse actions at the discretion of eBay. If a listing that violates the requirements is discovered, eBay can remove it without refunding the seller’s fees. They may also limit or suspend the seller’s account or take away his PowerSeller status. If a copyright violation is involved, the seller can be referred to the rightful copyright owner, law enforcement, or both.
Selling digital products on eBay can be quite profitable. But it is important to understand and follow the site’s policies on such items. Doing so will ensure that your eBay reputation and privileges remain intact.
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On March 31st Ebay will no longer allow digital products.
Actually eBay does still allow digital products, they’ve just cracked down on their requirements.
Here’s a partial list of their digital products requirements:
Digitally Delivered Goods
Digitally delivered items are restricted on eBay. In order to list digitally delivered items, the seller must comply with the following requirements:
Digitally delivered items must be listed in the Classified Ad Format in the Everything Else>Information Products category only.
Any digitally delivered item may not be pornographic in nature.
The seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.
The seller’s item may not include software that harms the buyer’s machine (for example, a virus), uses it for malicious or unauthorized purposes (for example, sending spam emails or spreading a virus), or violates the buyer’s privacy (for example, spyware or cookies per the HTML and JavaScript policy).
To help verify the identity of sellers listing digital downloadable items, eBay requires that sellers are PayPal Verified.
Listings of digitally delivered items that violate any of these requirements are in violation of this policy.