All it takes is one mention of "If you do not do _________ by this and such time, I will be turning this over to my attorney for further action."


But yeah, I wouldn't let them get away with it.

True enough, but more importantly, what are you doing *up*?!

My combo answer is: Contact them with the charity suggestion, and if they don't comply, sick your agent on them. :D

And I like to click boxes.

Report it to eBay

Trust me, anyone who reads this who's published something, it's been bittorrented. (I know this for a fact for several of you whom I know personally, as that sort of thing tends to leap out at me.) (No, I'm not going to tell you what I use bittorrent for, because it's none of your business and entirely beside the point. I love you all and I buy your books, dammit.) (Sorry, feel crappy today. And highly, highly parenthetical.)

Uh. Where was I? Oh. Yeah. The theory most of the sharers (is that a word?) operate under -- at least nominally -- is that people will check out a freebie scanned copy and if they think it's cool, they'll buy it, whereas otherwise they wouldn't (presumably the people who've always bought things without seeing a freebie copy first are still buying them.) I don't know that I endorse this wholeheartedly, and it certainly says nothing about the legal issues, but I figured it's worth noting.

Seriously, I am on drugs today. Sorry about the rambling.

Don't contact them. Look at their items for sale, all they are doing is selling ARCs. Better just have your agent contact Ebay directly.

The book is unread...

Putz didn't even bother to read it before putting it up?
I say cap him.

Looking at the guy's listings, it looks like he has a line on ARCs (I guess on a mailing list or something?) and just flips them onto eBay immediately after getting them.

I wonder if it might be worth it to find out how he's getting them (I imagine the publisher keeps records of who they sent things to?) and get his supply line shut down...

*snugs*

I clicked on the "Other" box.

I clicked Comments on the poll.

I'd tell your publisher, or ask arcaedia to notify them. If this guy receives ARCs to review, and sells them en masse, the publishers who sent him those ARCs should be told. If he's getting them from another reviewer, or a bookstore, or wherever, let the publishers track it down. Assuming they're interested enough, which may be a discussion for another day.

I especially like it when the folks selling these things post pics that show the "Uncorrected Proof--Not for Sale" warning to its best advantage.

while i like the idea of telling him to donate it to charity, i'd also drop a note to ebay.

let ebay handle it rather than your lawyers. cheaper for you and likely to have a bigger effect on the seller since they'll deal with all the listings.

As a multi-faceted person, I recommend a multi-faceted approach.

1) Report to eBay. The "not for sale" thing will get it taken down fairly quickly, I think. They seem fussy about such carryings-on.
2) Let the agentess make the "Hey, you don't care that [so-and-so] is auctioning off your ARCs, do you?" call. More businessy and less using of your valuable corresponding with me time.
3) Come to think of it, you might consider having She-Who-Earns-Her-10% contact eBay for bonus inciting fear of potential legal action.
4) Stop being flattered by it. This isn't a misguided fan trying to share the love, this is a punk trying to hustle a few extra bucks.
5) Then move on. The most likely customer is an impatient fan who would buy a final copy anyway.

contact ebay. period. once the sale has gone through there is nothing that you will be able to do. even though the charity option is a good one, you will have no control over the end results. ebay, on the other hand, is rabid about intellectual property rights and they will pull the auction.

I agree with the 'contact ebay' folks. I clicked other for that, and I clicked to tell your agent. From the cheap seats of people who would love to be honored with an ARC and never, ever are... I don't think that this guy, who has an in on them and is taking serious advantage of it, is 'flattering' at all.

I put the clickity boxes, but honestly, I'd at least contact E-bay. Not sure if you fall within the 'members community' they seem to be referring to, but it can't hurt.

I'd check with your agent.

My perspective is probably weird; my dad used to own a company that did pretty much nothing but print ARCs. (Well, galley proofs back then, but yeah.) To me, they feel like collector's items -- people are not buying 'em to avoid paying full price, they're buying 'em because they think they're going to be worth money someday. But I see Powell's or whoever selling ARCs and it's just another facet of the collector market to me.

Of course, in this case it's probably just catering to people who wanna read the book early. And I only have one random perspective -- arcaedia would know for sure.

Actually, I don't care in the least if people *buy* them, or have them. It 's that I object to people *selling* them. That may or may not make sense, but the really relevant bit is that I do not get one red cent for ARCs sold: that all goes into the pocket of the seller, and that's what pisses me off.

I was less snitty before I looked to see that this guy's entire stock is ARCs. Sometimes I see ARCs that've gone up but it's just one that somebody got ahold of, and that doesn't annoy me so much. Seeing that this guy's got 40+ ARCs for sale, that pisses me off.

It IS flattering, so sure, be flattered. And maybe tell your agent that you'd be willing to give the proceeds to charity, etc, if it comes to that. But definitely do something about it because as much as it might just be a fan, it might also be someone who gets ARCs from many books and makes a lot off them from people who don't know any better, and might not even know it isn't legal.