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Recordable media policy

Policy overview

Only copyright owners or persons authorised to sell the product by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law are permitted to list their products copied onto recordable media (includes items such as VHS tapes, audio tapes, CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, flash drives, and any other recordable media type) on eBay. When you list any type of recordable media, you must state your copyright ownership or license to resell these items in your listings.

Make sure your listing follows these guidelines. If it doesn't, it may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

What are the guidelines?

Allowed

  • Media where the seller is the copyright owner or authorised to sell the item by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. The listing must clearly state that the seller is authorised to sell the item. For example, a band releasing its latest album on CD-R can list the album on eBay as long as they follow our guidelines.

Not allowed

The following are examples of items that aren't allowed on eBay:

  • Compilations of multiple e-books or audio books on one DVD-R or other recordable media

  • Music compilations on CD-R

  • The entire first season of a television series copied on one DVD-R

  • Compilation of multiple 'freeware' and 'shareware' programs on one CD-R

  • A VHS copy of a movie taped off of television

  • CD-Rs containing scanned pages from a book, magazine, manual, or other copyrighted written materials that weren't written by the seller

  • Bootleg recordings (unauthorised recording of concerts or live performances) Read the bootleg recordings policy for further information.

  • If you buy an album or recording on eBay that was released by a local band on CD-R, you're not allowed to list the album on eBay even though the band released the album on CD-R, because you're not the copyright owner.

Since the sale of unauthorised copyright items is illegal, we don't allow those items on eBay. This policy helps protect buyers from purchasing illegal merchandise and helps intellectual property rights owners protect their rights.

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