Posted by Csaba Gabor on 09/30/26 11:53

Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> rasiel@dirtyoldbooks.com wrote:
> > I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm a researcher in need of
> > developing an automated database and would like to see if someone here
> > is willing to consider putting together for me a simple website. I'm
> > not expecting a freebie of course, I'll pay if you're interested.
> >
> > This is the outline of the project:
> >
> > This would be a website that pulls records from closed eBay auctions
> > and stores them in predefined categories. The data would be formatted
> > by keyword. For example, if we were to pull all auctions over the
> > course of a year in ebay's categories for shoes I could ask that the
> > programming place them based on shoe colors black, blue and brown and
> > ignore all other auctions that do not have those keywords in the
> > auction title. I would then have on my site a database of shoe auctions
> > that grows each day and a link for each of the three colors of shoes.
> >
> > I can be reached at rasiel at dirty old books dot com but I'll follow
> > the thread in case I'm waaaay out of line asking for this sort of thing
> > on this NG.

> No, I don't think you're way out of line asking here in the newsgroup.
> But I think what you're asking is a lot more than a "simple website".

....

> Additionally, do you have permission from EBay to use their information
> in this way? All of it is copyrighted, and using it without their
> permission can get you and the developer in a lot of trouble.

I'm no lawyer, but...
Don't you mean ->distributing<- it without their permission. To make a
copy isn't illegal, as far as I know. Anyone can save a web page
without fear of retribution as far as I'm aware, unless the material
itself is illegal.

Now a more substantial issue (on the assumption that copyright is not a
substantial issue here) is automated access to ebay's web pages. Of
course we know that sniping happens all the time whether ebay likes it
or not, but that doesn't remove any responsibility from the would be
researcher.

So the question is, may the researcher, without any agreement, access
ebay's pages each day on an automated basis. My sentiment is (without
regard to actual fact) that if the person on the other side cannot tell
the difference, then what difference does it make whether it is
automated or not? Aren't computers all automated to a certain extent?
And aren't servers the epitome of automation? There's a lot of pot
calling kettle black here. End of sentiment.

So the question for me boils down to one of: (1) May the researcher
(with or without agreement) access ebay's pages on a daily basis? (2)
May the researcher distribute results?

It would be real interesting for me to hear about actual cases. Ummm,
make that get links to reports of actual cases.

> Of course, if this is for valid research, I would think they would be quite
> willing to grant that permission. And any responsible developer would
> want to ensure this is in place before starting.

The researcher hasn't indicated whether he is researching for his own
improved buying/selling experience (which I would argue everyone does
to a certain extent) and seems to me to be within the bounds of ebay's
agreement, or whether he is engaged in academic or other research.

Csaba Gabor from Vienna

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