Selling Sky Boxes On Ebay Confusion

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

I referred a couple of friends to Sky in December under the free Sky+ box each deal. I've just received a call asking if I want the Sky+ box or the £50 M&S vocuhers. I was thinking of taking the Sky+ boxes as they're worth more and then keeping one as a spare and selling the other one on ebay.

I've seen some really contradictory viewpoints on whether it is ok to sell a Sky box on ebay though and I'm a bit worried about trying it. Some people say that the box actually still belongs to Sky and therefore it's illegal to sell it on ebay and Sky can then get ebay to pull your listing if they spot it and warn you under the VERO program. I read this HERE on the ebay forum. I find it pretty strange though as there are always hundreds of people selling Sky boxes on ebay and they clearly don't all get pulled up for this - is it just that they are in the wrong but there are too many so most get away with it?

I saw a contrasting view on AV Forums though as this poster is saying completely the opposite that once you get a Sky box you own it so I'm confused

Basically I'm being ultra cautious as I've had Sky remove a listing of mine before and ebay sent me an email under their VERO program so I don't want to do anything to get another one of those as I was so taken aback by the whole thing! I think you can get banned if you repeat offend and I would never want to do anything wrong on ebay - I've been a member for 8 years and this is the only thing that has ever gone wrong like that (I hadn't even heard of VERO before then!) I'm a very occasional seller though and generally just buy stuff. I emailed Sky Vero at the time to ask for an explanation of what I'd done wrong but received no reply from them which was annoying as there were many similar listings to mine.

It's just a bit annoying as I feel like I'll be forced to take £50 vouchers when the box is worth more :mad: I don't feel it's worth risking trying to sell it on ebay though as people do seem to have had listings removed - I'm curious to know if any ebay experts on here know what the right information actually is as regards selling Sky boxes though. Thanks.

Regards

Michelle

pinkgem

if sky give you a sky+ box will you not enter in to a new 12 month contract to pay x amount per month for sky? i know i did when i had a new sky+ box and again with sky hd box.

mleonard79

pinkgem wrote: »

if sky give you a sky+ box will you not enter in to a new 12 month contract to pay x amount per month for sky? i know i did when i had a new sky+ box and again with sky hd box.

Hi Pinkgem,

Not as far as I know - the person I talked to on the phone didn't say anything like that. I have a main subscription and 2 multi-room subscriptions all of which I have a Sky+ box for so I don't think I would be getting put on a new contract. When I said I would be keeping the box as a spare he said that was fine. I'm sure I would need to sign something or I would be sent out a contract if that was the case as well.

They seem to be calling up individually for each referral; they haven't phoned me yet about the second referral but I think when they do I'll just take the vouchers to be on the safe side. I'm just curious to know what the truth is as regards selling them on now really.

Regards

Michelle

pinkgem

you could phone sky and ask if you need to sign up to a new contract and then make your decision about what to go for

was it a sky box that you tried to sell before that was removed? if so, i would be wary about listing one again.

mleonard79

pinkgem wrote: »

you could phone sky and ask if you need to sign up to a new contract and then make your decision about what to go for

was it a sky box that you tried to sell before that was removed? if so, i would be wary about listing one again.

Hi Pinkgem,

Apparently they'll be sending me out a letter from which I will need to call and quote something to claim my Sky+ box anyway so I'll make sure I ask them when I get the letter.

No, it wasn't a Sky+ box or I wouldn't have even thought about selling another one. I was actually just browsing the Sky boxes on ebay one day as mine was playing up and I wanted to see what it would cost to replace it and by chance I saw a number of auctions for refer a friend vouchers - Sky send you out a couple of vouchers every so often as an existing customer that gives you the chance to refer a friend who would get a free Sky+ box and you would get some vouchers. I referred the odd friend I knew from time to time but usually they ended up in the bin so when I saw people were listing theirs on ebay with a nominal 1p price I thought it was a good idea!! It's something that would never have crossed my mind but I just assumed it was ok to do it since there were quite a few of them listed on there. I guess the moral is don't assume it's ok just because it's already on there as when I put my auction up, after a few days, ebay pulled it and sent me an email about contravening VERO and, as I say, I was totally taken aback as I'd never even heard of it.

This was some time ago now and since then I've found the great Sky Referral threads on here and just post on there now if I ever get the odd voucher - I'd never attempt to put them on ebay again! There's a round of vouchers at the moment, though, and I just looked on ebay and there's plenty of listings for them so I guess it's just luck of the draw whether you're pulled up or not. I never found out what was specifically wrong with doing it as ebay don't explain; they just give you the Sky Vero email address and tell you to ask them but they don't reply! I think they should at least be obliged to give you a proper explanation as I was aghast that I'd done something wrong on ebay and I still don't know exactly what it was :rotfl:I'm guessing it was using Sky's name or something as VERO seems to be about image rights.

Anyway that's why I'm very cautious about selling a Sky box as I don't want to get into any more trouble especially if it is also not really allowed; even although there's millions of them on there, if there's something wrong with it I'm sure, with my luck, I'd be the one to get pulled up and I'd end up loosing my ebay account or something!

Regards

Michelle