In a nutshell….
Looks like a bit of an almost harmless scam. The developer is already accused of driving up the popularity of a mediocre (at best) game by having automated computers buying the App in the first place. Now it looks like he is getting another laugh! The phones that are "selling" are listed and "bought" by people that have little to no history on eBay (not proven as reliable or accountable to anyone).
The fraudulent flappy bird "sales" slide though becomes no one reports them..., because the "buyer" is part of the game (prank/scam), if not the same person. No money changes hands.
eBay will not let you sell your software preloaded on a device! Software is typically sold for the end user..., not for resale. This is their policy to cover their butt…, and in some cases may actually be a more stringent policy than the software/hardware designer.
So now the average user is trying to get rich quick (first tip off to a scam)! They pay to list their phone (this is the not harmless part), then people bid like crazy. Some of the bidders..., if not all will likely be the ones to report the sale to eBay and nullify it.
In the end this looks like another brilliant, albeit deceptive, marketing scheme for the makers of flappy bird. I can only imagine the hype over the re-release of the game after all of this or perhaps they will ride the wave of this into the release of another game. “Better get it now!!! Before our developer changes his/her mind!”
Looks like a bit of an almost harmless scam. The developer is already accused of driving up the popularity of a mediocre (at best) game by having automated computers buying the App in the first place. Now it looks like he is getting another laugh! The phones that are "selling" are listed and "bought" by people that have little to no history on eBay (not proven as reliable or accountable to anyone).
The fraudulent flappy bird "sales" slide though becomes no one reports them..., because the "buyer" is part of the game (prank/scam), if not the same person. No money changes hands.
eBay will not let you sell your software preloaded on a device! Software is typically sold for the end user..., not for resale. This is their policy to cover their butt…, and in some cases may actually be a more stringent policy than the software/hardware designer.
So now the average user is trying to get rich quick (first tip off to a scam)! They pay to list their phone (this is the not harmless part), then people bid like crazy. Some of the bidders..., if not all will likely be the ones to report the sale to eBay and nullify it.
In the end this looks like another brilliant, albeit deceptive, marketing scheme for the makers of flappy bird. I can only imagine the hype over the re-release of the game after all of this or perhaps they will ride the wave of this into the release of another game. “Better get it now!!! Before our developer changes his/her mind!”