12-12-2012, 05:41 PM | #1 |
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Is this site legitimate?
I recently found a site selling books [mod: removing direct link to bookbuddie pirate site] and it seems too good to be true (which probably means it IS too good to be true!)
I have ignored it for a few days thinking it must either be a scam to steal my credit card details or a pirate site that charges but I'm about to buy several new release books and the idea of getting them for at most $1.49 is very appealing. I can't find very much information about it at all - does anyone here know anything about it? Thanks. Last edited by pdurrant; 12-12-2012 at 05:51 PM. Reason: removed direct link |
12-12-2012, 05:53 PM | #2 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Yes, of course it's a scam. They don't have permission from the copyright holders to sell any of those books, and not a penny of any money you give them will end up with the authors.
Apart from the ridiculously low prices for mainstream books, the 'smoking gun' is the presence of the Harry Potter ebooks. Those are not available form anywhere except Pottermore. Please don't give your money to crooks. If you're going to pirate ebooks, at least do it in a way that doesn't reward criminals. |
12-12-2012, 05:55 PM | #3 |
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It's interesting how on the front page they show a lot of popular book titles, but when you go to browse in their catalog (ie, fiction), almost everything is public domain. The whole thing seems really fishy. I tried signing up for the free two-book download, but I balked at the spot they wanted me to enter credit card details.
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12-12-2012, 06:02 PM | #4 |
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Yes I guess I knew it had to be a scam but I so wanted it to be real...
Sorry about posting the link but I didn't know how to find out otherwise. Thanks for removing it. |
12-12-2012, 06:51 PM | #5 |
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Anytime the topic of a thread is something like "Is This Site Legitimate?" . . .
99.9999999999999999% of the time, it is not. |
12-12-2012, 09:15 PM | #6 |
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12-13-2012, 03:15 AM | #7 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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12-13-2012, 07:20 AM | #8 |
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The thing I'm confused about is why are they even there. Why haven't they been ordered to be taken down?
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12-13-2012, 08:19 AM | #9 | |
Nameless Being
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Quote:
Anyhow, I get your point: if it's too good to be true it probably is. On the other hand, at least people have the decency to ask before (presumably) using such a site. In the rare case that it does turn out to be legitimate, it also gives us a chance to learn about new legitimate sources for ebooks. (As an example: how many people would look at a site full of indie books and think that it is illegitimate because the prices are much lower than sites that focus upon selling books from the big publishing houses?) |
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12-13-2012, 12:07 PM | #10 |
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The thing about pirate sites is they seem to get booted off of one spot on the net and then pop back up somewhere else. That genie is well out of the bottle I think. I think most of them would vanish if a) books that everyone wants to read as ebooks but aren't yet available were available and b) if said ebooks were available at a reasonable price. The Legitimate vendors cut their own throats when they charge more than the pbook copy of the same book for an ebook copy. Of course both are very old arguments. I can't help but wonder if when the net was 1st built anyone foresaw the problem that would develop.
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12-13-2012, 01:56 PM | #11 |
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12-13-2012, 02:05 PM | #12 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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12-13-2012, 03:16 PM | #13 |
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12-13-2012, 03:22 PM | #14 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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That'll teach you to buy expensive coffee!
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12-13-2012, 03:38 PM | #15 |
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No charge for that coffee snarf! The first one's on me.
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