I was checking Ebay for a few games I was thinking about getting and I noticed a lot of them are (supposidly) new, but without the instructions and box, and usually the same person was selling several (sometimes quite a few) copies. Whats up with this? One of them said it was to save on shipping but they were already charging $7.50 for shipping in the US which seems high even if you do get both.
Not that it really matters I guess, you don’t save enough (imho) after the shipping to be worth the hassle and certainly not if you don’t get the instructions or box. I like collecting the boxes for my games and i absolutly hate trying to read instructions off the cd.
sorry if this has been mentioned before… my search button seems to be MiA :rolleyes:
In those cases you are dealing with pirated software (WareZ). The end product can be anything from a CD-R with a press on lable to a silver CD with holographic image on the front (They look like the real thing). Purchasing them is illegal. Just remember that whole thing of “If its too good to be true…”
They could be OEM games that come with some video cards or sound cards. One scenario could be a PC tech that installed a few high-end cards for some lab PCs, then sells the free games.
They could also be pirated copies as I’ve heard of people getting ripped off like this. The kicker would be if they don’t include a CD key but instead rely on a no-cd crack.
I’d considered maybe it was piracy but the VAST majority of the sellers have very high ratings and mountains of good feedback
Also alot of newer games have this too that afaik are not bundled with anything though I guess i could be wrong. It also seems too commonplace to be people snagging them from bundles.
There are websites that sell CD-ROM software for “free” plus a shipping and handling charge: these are original CDs (not copies) that come in jewel boxes or paper envelopes, sometimes without any printed documentation. I assume they’re something economically similar to remaindered books or cut-out music. I’ve also seen CD-ROM games offered as free bonuses in cereal boxes and such.
I have two things to add to this discussion:[ol][]Shipping those boxes with all the instruction manuals can get expensive. Ever buy a Sid Meier game? The guy can write some serious instructions. Sometimes, though, you’ll find the instructions included as a PDF on the disk, precluding the need for a separate book. This is usually the case with re-releases of “classic” games (see below).[]Classic games which have been out for a while are often packaged with hardware just like Anonymous Coward described. In other cases, they’re available just in the jewel cases for die-hard fans that need their fix of Sid Meier’s Colonization but whose copy on 5.25" floppy disks no longer works.Hi, Opal![/ol]
One of them said it was to save on shipping but they were already charging $7.50 for shipping in the US which seems high even if you do get both.