Ebay scam?

[Mels]

I've managed to stay off of ebay for years, but now I decided that I needed some php scripts (to make resources) and templates (to let my free hosting members use) for my free webmaster resources site. So then I purchased a set of them for 9.95. But now it seems fishy. A lot of them say that they came with master resell rights, but some of them I think didn't. Now I don't know if I should even use the scripts and the templates on my site, because I don't know if the package was legal. I asked the person who had sold it to me, but he said he had bought the same package. I should of read between the lines when it said "MASTER RESELL RIGHTS." Now I have been contemplating what to do. Should I just delete what I downloaded? Or might it actually be legit? Help.

 

[RJ]

You're right to think the deal is fishy. What these php scripts with 'master reseller rights' usually are is GPL/free software.

Under the GPL licence, the software is completely free but it is legal charge a fee for distributing it. It is required that you pass on the GPL license agreement to anyone you sell or give the the software to..

If this is the case, it is not illegal to resell it. But selling it with so called 'master reseller rights' is misleading at best, outright dishonest at worst.

 

[Mels]

Well, I had planned on using the php scripts on my site in the first place. So if they were suppose to be free in the first place that itsn't the problem any more. But I am still unsure of the templates. I don't want to use them (even though I wouldn't be gaining any money from them) if it isn't legit.

 

[Elefekt]

You probably got what a lot of ppl have and give away for free or sell in bundles. There is like a set of psd templates ppl sell everywhere or give away...I wouldnt be worried about it much.

 

[CoolGuy]

what's your site?

 

[RJ]

Originally posted by emeri
Well, I had planned on using the php scripts on my site in the first place. So if they were suppose to be free in the first place that itsn't the problem any more. But I am still unsure of the templates. I don't want to use them (even though I wouldn't be gaining any money from them) if it isn't legit.

Look for license notes, or files like gpl.txt that come with the scripts. Often you can see what terms the scripts are distributed under.

Templates are a tougher one to track. There is widespread distribution of templates right now that do not respect the creators' original copyrights. It's harder to locate the creator of a design template.

 

[Anthony]

I'd suggest reading through the readme.txt files included with each script, or a similar info file, which should contain such info.

 

[Mels]

That it actually what I been doing. It is a long process, though. Of course, as it turns our, a lot of it is free in the first place.