Ebay crackdown by GW

[GalakStarscraper]

GW went Blood Bowl hunting this month and there was a lot of carnage in the wake. Many auctions cancelled ... warnings issued .... accounts suspended and then un-suspended.

Bottom line ... for the upcoming future if you are looking for the full range of BB goods on Ebay ... do this for your search.

"Blood Bowl"

(yes do it in quotes)

and then make sure to click the search Titles and Description box.

===

Bottom line ... according to Ebay's policies we cannot list the word Blood Bowl in the auction titles but we can say in the description that a figure is suitable for use in Elfball, Blood Bowl, and Death Bowl.

Just a heads up. In the UK version of Ebay there is a Blood Bowl category which helps ... but in the USA Ebay there is no Blood Bowl category so this method of searching could help you find what you are looking for.

Galak

[Digger Goreman]

Ah, yes, GW: making sure that hubris never vanishes on the continent of England!

[jollyork]

Thanks for the heads up. I was wondering why the selection had dipped from 5 or 6 pages to just 1. Once again GW attacking Internet instead of embracing it.

[ZanzerTem]

Further reason why I wont give them another dime.

[Xtreme]

Thanks for the heads up. I was wondering why the selection had dipped from 5 or 6 pages to just 1. Once again GW attacking Internet instead of embracing it.

As was I but I figured it was a sign that I should stop spending money on a silly game.

[Kyrel]

Oh for crying out loud! NOW what's GW's problem??? That people re-sell their miniatures on e-bay? Or that someone uses the term "Blood Bowl" when describing what a miniature might be used for???

I can understand Intellectual Property and all that, but this just sounds so bloody ridiculous!!!

Oh well. Aside from White Dwarf magazines, I've pretty muched stopped buying anything from them anymore. It's just become too bloody expensive IMO.

[Tritex]

Thanks Galak for your heads up on this. I have as you can expect come a victim of this and am currently taking legal councilling on the basis of what I believe is GW overstepping the boundry of its IP control.

This is E-bay policy:
"Brand name owners are justifiably concerned about how and where their names are used. eBay has developed some basic guidelines for how sellers can compare their products to brand names. We advise that sellers should never compare an item to a brand name item in the listing title. Sellers can accurately compare their item's performance (but not its appearance) to a trade marked item in the listing description.

Correct: Comparing your item to a brand name in a listing title is not allowed. Sellers may only accurately compare their item's functions (but not its appearance) to a brand name in a listing description. Making comparisons to brand names in a title can mislead buyers, and in many cases, can be a trade mark infringement."

The problems that have been reported on my listings recently I believe are part of a crack down from Games Workshop to hit out on any manufacturer of fantasy football miniatures, kind of like the big guns trying to monopolise the industry, They can not take any action legally against any of these other companies as they essentiall only own the game named ‘Blood Bowl' or sometimes stated as ‘Bloodbowl' They do not own ‘Death Ball'. Death Bowl' ‘Elf Bowl' Elf Ball' ‘Razor Bowl' or the term ‘Fantasy Football' They also have no IP control over the use of words such as ‘Blood' or in fact ‘Bowl' as that would be just silly.

They therefore cannot and should not be able to have any influence on any listing that is not sold under the title ‘Blood Bowl' but E-bay is a great platform for them to lord over when a whim suits!

With respect to my listings for the past few years you will understand I have at times sold lines under the prefix of Blood Bowl as most other sellers do because that's what buyers and consumers want to purchase and relate to. An example of my listings prior to the amendments are:

Shadowforge Nun Recievers x 2 BLOOD BOWL
Impact Heresy: Chaos Beast Team x 12 'BLOOD BOWL'

I was advised a few weeks ago were no longer acceptable and after discussions with my e-bay account manager and after reviewing e-bay policy I set about amending these as such:

Impact Miniatures: Dark Blood Elf Runner 'Elf Bowl'
Shadowforge Blood Nun Reciever x 2 'Death Bowl'

I removed from the listing description the reference to ‘BLOOD BOWL' and instead used references to games such as ‘Death Bowl' or even just positional titles as Throwers, Blitzers etc which again Games workshop have no IP on as these are American football positional descriptions.
In the description I put references such as:

“The figures are very detailed and suitable for painting and collecting.
These figures are designed for Fantasy Football but they are easily adaptable for games and formats such as:
Blood Bowl, Death Dowl' Elf Ball, Fantasy and Science Fiction Games.â€

[browwnrob]

sure you could always sell indie minis with a free blood bowl extra, such as a ball, or a cheapo mini

[MerchantDragon]

I know this is not going to be popular but I take GW action on E-bay as a good sign.

The White Dwarf magazine (UK) has had Blood Bowl pictures and advertisements for Blood Bowl Events (Yorkshire Rosebowl IV & Blood Bowl Grand Tournament).

Just a thought they may be clearing the way for a new box set release.

And no before you ask I don’t work for GW.

[wesleytj]

I think I will try to organize a parade the day GW finally goes under.

[Tritex]

Just a thought they may be clearing the way for a new box set release.

As if......

[ZanzerTem]

I think I will try to organize a parade the day GW finally goes under.

I'll attend, but isn't it sad that it's come to this, because more and more people I find feel this way.

[Kyrel]

Personally I believe that one of the problems with GW is that the company simply has become too big and as a result has to focus too much on making money. As I see it, the result has been that the quality of their games has dropped, and their actions seem to be striving a little too much towards attaining a monopoly like situation.

From a pure business perspective I can't fault them, but as a hobbyist I'm getting a little tired of it.

If people can't quite relate to what I'm trying to say, let me clarify.

40K was simplified to a level of stupidity IMO. Result, the game now caters to a younger audience and people with lower demands for "realism" (as in just a few logical natural laws applying...). Arguably it made 40K more accessible to a greater number of people, and hence increased the customer base. It also provides a sort of logical progression from a fairly simple game as 40K towards the more complex rules of WFB, once the players get older.

The introduction of the Tau in 40K again is an IMO radically different style army, from a visual perspective, and arguably is more "mangaish" in style. Again this arguably opens up a new venue of customers.

Generally I see a trend across games, where many races tend to resemble someting from another game system, thus providing recognition and possibly attracting people to collecting specific armies from other game systems.

WFB 7th ed. claims to be looking to focus more on the entire process of collecting an army. GW lives and dies with it's sales of miniatures.

Prices have gone up by a ridiculous amount since the early 1990's.

Boxed set miniatures for the main line games rarely, if ever, provide anything resembling a standard size unit. 2+ boxes per unit you want is commonly required.

Plastic miniatures are replacing metal ones. I'll grant that the quality of these new plastics are pretty good though. I just have a hard time believing that the cost of the plastic should be as high as the cost of the metal used for the miniatures.

Etc.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. It's just been annoying me for a long time.

[GalakStarscraper]

Plastic miniatures are replacing metal ones. I'll grant that the quality of these new plastics are pretty good though. I just have a hard time believing that the cost of the plastic should be as high as the cost of the metal used for the miniatures.

As a mini maker now ... I can respond to this.

Plastics is a rich man's bet.

If you know you can sell 1000s of a figure. Plastic is a great way to go ... if you are only going to sell 100s of it ... then plastic is MUCH more expensive than metal.

This is because the moulding cost on plastic is about 100x higher for plastic compared to metal. But the plastic is much cheaper so if you are selling many pieces you can easily recover the mould. Then your profit margin per a piece is much higher.

Galak

[Odium Khan]

E-Bay has grown too large. GW has grown too large. They will inevitably handle situations like this [geekmode] like the Imperial Guard rather than the Adeptus Astartes. Or maybe more like that famous 40k dude who virusbombed a whole planet to root out an insurrection. [/geekmode]

Over all, I think it's a good thing that the Blood Bowl trademark gets protected. It was about time with all those recasts and random pieces of lead all termed BB OOP RARE. Of course, because of their methods, they will ruin loads of honest salesmen in the process, and since I am generally not fond of this typical mega-corporate behaviour, I find this dispeccable.

I feel sorry for you guys who lost out on this whole thing. They probably did more harm than good this time, but if the restrictions have grown harsher I think we will see a lot less of the real problems in the future.