How to report an Account Seller?

skrvbb10rd

Unfortunately, I've just seen someone advertising their ESO account for sale. This was done in a discord channel, and not in-game so I was not able to report the player in game.

I am no longer in the guild this discord is for, so I cannot find an account with the corresponding @name that way. However, I am able to /whisper@[name from discord]. I don't want to report an innocent player, though, if this isn't the seller.
I have screenshots of:
- The message sent to the discord channel, including the guild name, poster's name (which is identical to the /whisper able @ mentioned above) and link/URL to the account selling website.
- the account selling website featuring the account in question. This details DLC owned, Crown Store purchases, price of the account, end time to buy this account (March 30), characters and levels etc.

It also appears that this is being done through the selling of a steam account used to access the ESO account. A screenshot is posted on the site showing the steam ID of the seller on this website - this is included in the screenshots I took.

So, what (if anything) can be done about this? Is there a way to report this?

Taleof2Cities

Two options, @skrvbb10rd, which I recommend you do both:

1. Send in an Online Support ticket with the account name and details.

2. PM a Forums Mod or the Community Managers through the forums here.

ZOS_Adrikoth

Greetings,

We recommend reporting this via our help site, help.elderscrollsonline.com, via the "Report Player" category.

skrvbb10rd

Thanks both, will do!

xXMeowMeowXx

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

idk

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

They are not our accounts. We do not own them which is why we cannot sell them. This is typical for MMORPG games.

Just explaining why.

xXMeowMeowXx

idk wrote: »

show previous quotes

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

They are not our accounts. We do not own them which is why we cannot sell them. This is typical for MMORPG games.

Just explaining why.

Thnx @idk for explaining. It just seems a little confusing with all the money and years invested into my accounts but whatever ZOS says.

Haha, I won’t even let my bf play any of my characters in PvP ^^ So I guess I have my own TOS

BackStabeth

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

xXMeowMeowXx

BackStabeth wrote: »

show previous quotes

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

Nah, I would never sell my accounts too much love for ESO and my toons. Also, I spent way more then I said I would xD

Long_Distance

I guess there'll be many accounts for sale, soon.

skrvbb10rd

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

We don't own the account, plus it strikes me as a pretty scummy thing to do.

xXMeowMeowXx

skrvbb10rd wrote: »

show previous quotes

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

We don't own the account, plus it strikes me as a pretty scummy thing to do.

Not owning our accounts still seems weird and scary to me and my credit card

On the scummy thing, I can see where you’re coming from. Thnx for replying @skrvbb10rd

Jayman1000

BackStabeth wrote: »

show previous quotes

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

But you can legally sell access to the account, it's not illegal in most countries with decent human rights (most western countries). But it most certainly is against the TOS, and of course no doubt action can and will be taken against the account by ZOS if discovered. Why risk that?

I honestly dont understand why anyone want to buy an account, why not actually play the game? I have so many fond memories playing the game, leveling up. Same reason I wont ever understand the pay2win concept from the consumers viewpoint.

Chicharron

skrvbb10rd wrote: »

Unfortunately, I've just seen someone advertising their ESO account for sale. This was done in a discord channel, and not in-game so I was not able to report the player in game.

I am no longer in the guild this discord is for, so I cannot find an account with the corresponding @name that way. However, I am able to /whisper@[name from discord]. I don't want to report an innocent player, though, if this isn't the seller.
I have screenshots of:
- The message sent to the discord channel, including the guild name, poster's name (which is identical to the /whisper able @ mentioned above) and link/URL to the account selling website.
- the account selling website featuring the account in question. This details DLC owned, Crown Store purchases, price of the account, end time to buy this account (March 30), characters and levels etc.

It also appears that this is being done through the selling of a steam account used to access the ESO account. A screenshot is posted on the site showing the steam ID of the seller on this website - this is included in the screenshots I took.

So, what (if anything) can be done about this? Is there a way to report this?

Live and let die.

ManwithBeard9

Jayman1000 wrote: »

show previous quotes

BackStabeth wrote: »

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

But you can legally sell access to the account, it's not illegal in most countries with decent human rights (most western countries). But it most certainly is against the TOS, and of course no doubt action can and will be taken against the account by ZOS if discovered. Why risk that?

I honestly dont understand why anyone want to buy an account, why not actually play the game? I have so many fond memories playing the game, leveling up. Same reason I wont ever understand the pay2win concept from the consumers viewpoint.

Plenty of people don't want to "waste" time by leveling up and learning everything. Plenty of people don't/won't want to try to get crown store/crate stuff themselves so they'd rather buy an account with it. It all comes down to people being to lazy to play and would rather just buy/scam their way into the game.

Toanis

idk wrote: »

They are not our accounts. We do not own them which is why we cannot sell them. This is typical for MMORPG games.

It's typical, yes, but it could be interesting if someone with too much spare time and money went to court about this: Our accounts are linked to software licenses we bought, and at least in the EU it's actually illegal for the company to prevent resale of licenses, used or not. Valve and Microsoft had to learn that the hard way.

So in the end, it's perfectly legal to sell the game and every DLC linked to the account, but what the game company is free to do is deleting all progress from the account, or providing new keys to activate all the resold licenses on a new account. Without such a system in place, it's really just the small monetary value and a general scorn for gaming that prevents folks from going to court over acount sales, or perma bans in general, and actually having a good chance to win.

albertberku

I find it really odd that people take time for this kind of stuff. People grinded an account and want to earn money through it, buyer probably has no time to do it self, wants to play the game, buys the account. Just because of one person chasing them like he has nothing better to do, they are going to lose what wouldnt give anyone any harm if they had it. Buyer happy, seller happy, and it does literally no bad to anyone else. Not your business. Like, what good are you going to do with doing what you do? And on top of everything, seller is not even doing this as a job, he is just selling his own account to earn some money. Maybe he needs some money atm or maybe he is not going to play game anymore and all time he spent, he wants to get some money for his work. You want to get the account banned. I would recommend thinking again before reporting them. There is a rule but it is a highly questionable one. If ZoS wants to own all accounts, they would better not make us grind or spend money for them, then.

This reminds me a video, where USA police busting a couple in a public toilet cabin having sex, when all other cabins are empty and they are not occupying anything. Who called the police? Why did they call the police? And why cant they just mind their own business?

ManwithBeard9

albertberku wrote: »

I find it really odd that people take time for this kind of stuff. People grinded an account and want to earn money through it, buyer probably has no time to do it self, wants to play the game, buys the account. Just because of one person chasing them like he has nothing better to do, they are going to lose what wouldnt give anyone any harm if they had it. Buyer happy, seller happy, and it does literally no bad to anyone else. Not your business. Like, what good are you going to do with doing what you do? And on top of everything, seller is not even doing this as a job, he is just selling his own account to earn some money. Maybe he needs some money atm or maybe he is not going to play game anymore and all time he spent, he wants to get some money for his work. You want to get the account banned. I would recommend thinking again before reporting them.

This reminds me a video, where USA police busting a couple in a public toilet cabin having sex, when all other cabins are empty and they are not occupying anything. Who called the police? Why did they call the police? And why cant they just mind their own business?

Found the account seller.

gatekeeper13

Why do you care so much if someone wants to sell his account?

indigorune

for all you know, the person doesn't plan to play anymore and is in need of the extra cash. i doubt they have sinister intentions. and even if they did, why is it anyone else's business? let ZOS discover and worry about it. If they really cared, they'd bust all the websites with ppl selling accounts daily...

skrvbb10rd

I don't care in any deep way. I saw it, came here to ask if it's even reportable and described what was going on. lmao relax

Acrolas

Toanis wrote: »

It's typical, yes, but it could be interesting if someone with too much spare time and money went to court about this: Our accounts are linked to software licenses we bought, and at least in the EU it's actually illegal for the company to prevent resale of licenses, used or not. Valve and Microsoft had to learn that the hard way.

Valve is appealing one case in France. So it's not a final ruling, and it doesn't impact the entire EU. Paris Court of First Instance went with a line of thought that selling something digitally means you're transferring the ownership rights as well. I don't think that will hold up in a higher court because it fundamentally challenges the rights of intellectual property owners.

The Microsoft related cases basically say that you can resell original, tangible versions of lawfully obtained software, but you can't sell duplicates or backup copies. Not the same as reselling digital licenses.

[Deleted User]

Hello everyone,

Recently we've had to remove a few posts for baiting, which is against the Forum Rules. For further posts be sure to stay constructive and respectful to avoid action on one's own account.

Thank you for your understanding and vigilance!

zaria

WOW has an evil genius solution to this, the account creator could at any time restore his account and reset it the state he last played the game.
it was not legal to sell your account but it was not policed much.
However buying an account is idiotic dangerous as you had no rights if the seller wanted it back at the next expansion.

Iarao

ManwithBeard9 wrote: »

show previous quotes

Jayman1000 wrote: »

BackStabeth wrote: »

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

But you can legally sell access to the account, it's not illegal in most countries with decent human rights (most western countries). But it most certainly is against the TOS, and of course no doubt action can and will be taken against the account by ZOS if discovered. Why risk that?

I honestly dont understand why anyone want to buy an account, why not actually play the game? I have so many fond memories playing the game, leveling up. Same reason I wont ever understand the pay2win concept from the consumers viewpoint.

Plenty of people don't want to "waste" time by leveling up and learning everything. Plenty of people don't/won't want to try to get crown store/crate stuff themselves so they'd rather buy an account with it. It all comes down to people being to lazy to play and would rather just buy/scam their way into the game.

yeah i had a niece and nephew that used to level and sell wow/eq accts when they were teens.

grkkll

Is it OK to give it away?

tmbrinks

It'll probably be bought by somebody who was banned for hacking/exploiting on their main account and want another pre-leveled account to continue to play on

(has already happened multiple times I know of, reported multiple times through the game, nothing was done... so, why bother, if ZoS isn't bothering?)

Captain_Slaymore

Actually, France recently ruled that France users are allowed to sell steam accounts, so, if the owner of the account is in France, then he is within his rights according to the Law and Courts over there to sell said account and games on the account. Should just kinda live and let live, reporting someone should be reserved for exploits, black market issues and cheats IMO. You may be reporting someone who has the right to sell their steam account.

JamilaRaj

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

No, the reason is that a) ZOS does not get its cut from these RMTs between players and, what is worse, b) these RMTs directly compete with and undermine RMTs between ZOS and players. Why pay ZOS a few hundreds of dollars if one can buy an entire account with a few hundreds of dollars worth of stuff on it and much, much more for a few bucks, right?

Jayman1000 wrote: »

show previous quotes

BackStabeth wrote: »

xXMeowMeowXx wrote: »

Why care tbh. I think ZOS should let us sell our accounts.

I mean did they do anything malicious on the account ?

It is against TOS but not sure why, except to protect the buyer maybe. Perhaps because people can get their accounts back.

Not attacking or arguing with you, just curious

You pay for a license to play the game, regardless if you think or feel that an account is yours, it doesn't actually belong to you it belongs to ZoS. So legally you cannot sell an account.

EVE Online allows for characters to be sold between accounts using in game currency. I think it would be interesting if ZoS could figure out a way for people to sell individual characters between accounts for crowns.

But selling accounts for money comes with all kinds of legal issues that prevent this being possible.

But you can legally sell access to the account, it's not illegal in most countries with decent human rights (most western countries). But it most certainly is against the TOS, and of course no doubt action can and will be taken against the account by ZOS if discovered. Why risk that?

I honestly dont understand why anyone want to buy an account, why not actually play the game? I have so many fond memories playing the game, leveling up. Same reason I wont ever understand the pay2win concept from the consumers viewpoint.

That is easy. A P2W game is cleverly designed to be an utter crap and thus "players" rather pay than suffer playing it. Now you might say ha, why do they bother with it all then? If it was an utter crap, they could just not play it for free instead of not playing it for hundreds or thousands of dollars, but they choose to p(l)ay, therefore it must be at least partially fun! Naturally, it can not be entirely ruled out a game is indeed partially fun due to some serious glitch or design oversight, but the main reason is that players are largely gullible simpletons who can not distinguish between getting REWARDs under whatever silly excuse (you logged in! what glorious feat, to log in, no, seriously, sometimes it is, here, take your LOGIN REWARD!) and having some actual fun.

SeaGtGruff

Last I knew, a Steam account is not an ESO account, and vice versa. You can have one without the other, and you can have one and the other, but they are not the same things. If France were to say it's okay for someone to sell their internet account, does that mean they can sell their HBO account that they're using to stream HBO's content over their internet connection? Nope, it doesn't work that way.

CritsTheBed

Lotta Karens up in here