eBay bans virtual items but gives exemption to Omidyar investment Second Life

[mandy]

Seeking Alpha on eBay's ban of virtual items:

The move is short-sighted. eBay's market power stems from the defensibility of its network effect - buyers come to eBay because the sellers are all there in what for eBay is an ongoing virtuous circle. Breaking that circle for a specific category of goods or services is probably not a reversible decision - once a network effect has established itself at a new marketplace within that category the same defensibility that secures eBay's wider business is very likely to prevent eBay clawing back a share of that market segment.

The secondary market for virtual assets was estimated at a value of $900 million in 2005, with forecasts for it to reach $7 billion by 2009. As long ago as 2002 Edward Castronova, an expert in the economies of virtual worlds, posited that Norrath (the Everquest gameworld) had an economy that made it the 77th richest "country" on earth. eBay is turning its back, probably irreversibly, on a vast and growing market...

full article: http://internet.seekingalpha.com/article/25605

[mandy]

Stepping in to fill the void left by eBay...

iOffer Welcomes MMORPG Gamers

While other major online auction services have banned the sale of virtual gaming items, iOffer welcomes any type of RMT’s ("real money trading") for online games such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Second Life, City of Heroes and others.

iOffer provides a friendly and safe environment for online gamers seeking virutal gaming items: everything from gold and fantastic armor, weapons, and equipment, in the case of World of Warcraft to "neopoints" for the popular kids game Neopets.

iOffer also features a rich social-networking environment in which users can join clubs and chat, as well as connecting in a buyer-seller relationship. The iOffer Community allows users to connect and build relationships, therefore providing a medium in which buyers and sellers can do business with confidence.

http://www.ioffer.com/info/welcome_gamers 

[amy]

iOffer Welcomes MMORPG Gamers after eBay bans Virtual Items

I think it's a bad move by iOffer.  The legality of selling virtual items is still up in the air (which is why eBay banned the items) and the game owners could step in at any time and try to enforce their copyrights.  iOffer is already being sued in France (along with eBay and Yahoo Auctions) due to the huge counterfeit problem on iOffer (which is even worse than on eBay)--can they really afford to set themselves up for another lawsuit?