Years and years ago, probably close to 8 or 9 years now that I think about it, when I didn't know anything much about game soundtracks, many of the ones I bought were Son May or Ever Anime Bootlegs.

If I turn around and sell them on ebay, is it wrong?

If I specify in the auction, that they are not official CDs, and are in fact Taiwanese bootlegs, is it still wrong?

I know several people feel very strongly about this, as I have read seveal posts on this issue.

It's like reading a religious zealot's debate.

So, I just want to know, who feels it is wrong, and who feels it is okay?

Jason

My personal feeling is that if the CDs were for personal use, and you say that they are bootlegs, and the buyer knows that up front and decides to buy them anyway, I don't have a problem with it.  Buying/selling bootlegs on the secondary market (A) does not give any additional money to the bootleggers; and (B) if it's an out-of-print item, does not threaten the revenue stream of the legitimate artist/publisher.  The problems I have are with the sellers like gkworld, who are clearly selling new bootlegs for profit, and who will take the proceeds from sales and use them to buy more bootlegs.  If the bootlegs are part of a business model, I take issue with it, but who of us has never had a few scattered SM/EA discs?

I tried selling a few of my own  after replacing them with legit copies. I clearly stated what they were and offered them at low prices, $1-2. Not one of them sold. My best advice is to try to forget how much you spent on them and give them away to friends or as bonuses for other auctions (as a Buyt-It-Now incentive, for example).

I agree.  I think that's best.  Still, if you clearly say that they are bootleg, I don't think it's really wrong to sell them then.

cheers,

-avatar!

Wow, didn't sell, even at $1?

Hmm.

Morally wrong, no.  But the law will still say it's wrong.

Well, there's one good thing that could come out of (trying) selling them, and that is spreading the word about them. eBay is littered with bootlegs, and if you clearly equate your CDs to the rest of the Sonmay/Ever Anime/Taiwanese bootlegs being sold there, you might educate a few unwitting buyers who would otherwise gone and purchased those bootlegs. And in the end, if they do sell for a cheap price, you can be pretty sure that however's buying them knows what they're getting and the morals of it, and therefore they're either going to someone for cataloguing or other justifiable causes, or to someone who would have bought a bootleg anyway, yet your sales will be out from bootleg sellers.

So, my suggestion? Try to imitate the bootleg sellers' title style as closely as possible

Your auctions actually stayed up until the full 7-day (or however many days) listing despite the fact that you clearly stated they were bootlegs? I congratulate you. eBay had it in for me and cancelled all of my auctions in which I clearly said the CDs were bootlegged.