Gold/Crown Sellers (real money): is it worth reporting?

DreamyLu · April 2

Hello All

Since about one week, gold/crown sellers (for real money on the internet) are back and invading zone chat every day at same time (precisely!). They have "improved" their chat notification, in a way that probably fakes IA or whatever automatic control there is on chat.

The first days, I did report it. However, at least for now, it keeps going. What surprises me, is that it's always the same "names" (no real name, but combo of letters as usual). It seems to mean that those doing that don't even bother changing their names... Seriously?

That raised a lot of questions for me: Is it so easy to sell gold and crown? They don't fear controls anymore? And why do they keep doing? Are there so many players purchasing, that it remains worth it? Those purchasing don't get caught/banned? And at the top of it: Does it make sense reporting?

Would be glad about feedback to my mess of questions (

) and if anyone knows about those "bots" (are they bots?) and can explain a bit how it's done?

Thank you

Note: edited to precise I talk about selling on internet for real money.

Amottica · April 2

@ZOS_Bill OR @ZOS_Kevin or one of the others may be able to give a generalized answer to this.

I will say I can understand the frustration. Long ago i came across a group of bots farming. It was so obvious based on their names, appearance, and actions. I took video, reported it to Zenimax and even sent the video to a notable person at Zenimax which I will not name. A checked the area a few times a week and they were still going at it, following the exact same path, a couple weeks later.

Eventually they disappeared. Eventually they disappeared so it would seem Zenimax will do something but may not be fast about it.

Good luck and thanks for trying.

silky_soft · April 2

No point reporting golf sellers, same with guild invite spammers. You always get an email back saying nothing found. You can even give evidence in reply and they still come back with nothing wrong. They won't even say anything is wrong when you show evidence of people exploiting the relic through walls.

Aliniel · April 2

I have similar experience with reporting exploiters in battlegrounds. ZOS just doesn't seem to care about these things.

Also, crown trading is not against the rules if they trade crown items (gifting) for gold.

Hapexamendios · April 2

The latest thing I've seen are people selling EXP. Don't know how they do it. Just sounds like a scam. As with similar things, just think it's a waste of time reporting it as I really don't seen any tangible results.

XSTRONG · April 2

Its not against rules to gift Crowns for Gold, anyone cant gift crowns either you have to be accepted by Zos. Takes a few days and they look over your account.

Sell crowns for real money I dont know how that would work if that whats you mean.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · April 2

Hapexamendios wrote: »

The latest thing I've seen are people selling EXP. Don't know how they do it. Just sounds like a scam. As with similar things, just think it's a waste of time reporting it as I really don't seen any tangible results.

They are selling carries, they are asking for gold so they will then group with you and kill enemies extremely fast in a high XP yield location such as Blackrose Prison allowing you to level to 50 in a very short amount of time.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · April 2

You know if they made it so they cannot speak in zone chat until their account is a month old it would lay waste to a lot of these gold sellers, they cannot advertise in zone if they cannot talk in zone.

frogthroat · April 2

I think ZOS has already addressed many things in this thread.

Selling crowns, selling XP, farm runs, or achievement runs is perfectly fine if the payment is gold.

The moment real money enters the picture, then you start to violate the TOS.

Gold for real money is what these bot farmers do. Farm mats, sell in guild stores, sell gold for money.

Crowns for real money is what scammers/thieves do. Buy cheap from a cheaper country, sell in a more expensive country. Or buy crowns with stolen credit cards and sell the crowns for money.

So, if they are asking for gold it's fine. But the moment you see anyone asking for real money, report them.

DenverRalphy · April 2

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

You know if they made it so they cannot speak in zone chat until their account is a month old it would lay waste to a lot of these gold sellers, they cannot advertise in zone if they cannot talk in zone.

The gold sellers would just have a revolving door of accounts that are already a month old before sending them forth to do their work in zone chat. Similar to what they already do with the bots that farm resource nodes that have a lot of backups ready to jump in the moment one of them gets banned.

Thysbe · April 2

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

You know if they made it so they cannot speak in zone chat until their account is a month old it would lay waste to a lot of these gold sellers, they cannot advertise in zone if they cannot talk in zone.

that would be desastrous for real new players who can´t interact and ask for help. Just imagine you start a new MMO and are prohibited from using chat for a month.

ImmortalCX · April 2

What is the difference if some chinese kid is farming all day to make gold, vs a western player?

The transactions are legal, the only potential problem is botting.

I think you should report bots, not sellers.

tmbrinks · April 2

I have reported about a dozen gold sellers over the last few days (I'm doing a lot of surveys/writs as I recover from shoulder surgery), the ones that link to a shady website and are clearly trying to evade the chat censers.

Each time I have reported them I have gotten a follow up e-mail to my initial report showing that a ToS violation WAS found and "appropriate action" was taken.

They're blocked automatically when you report them, so I don't see if they continue to post.

As far as selling XP... that's easy, you just do it grouped and they run you through Blackrose Prison

Gold for Crowns is legal as well.

I know it's a losing fight, but it has to help some... right?

tomofhyrule · April 2

It does seem there’s been another uptick in gold sellers. They all have the same message and tell you to google the same website (but different discount codes lol)

I report every one I see and then immediately unblock them. I don’t need my block list stuffed with throwaway accounts. Let ZOS decide what to do - I don’t need an email to tell me what happened.

Sarannah · April 2

A while back I reported some of them during the free account period, but every report results in a ticket. I feel bad for spamming customerservice with tickets, and am afraid this may even lead to infractions on my account. There really should be a better way to report players like this.

Few weeks after those reports ZOS closed them all at the same time, as I was online when it happened. Not sure if anything was done or if these reports were even looked at.

Really not sure what to do in the case of goldsellers anymore, so I have stopped reporting them. Would love an official response on this matter.

PS: Please be careful NOT to report players who are selling crowns for gold, as these are usually legitimate players and sellers. Only report those who sell gold or materials for out-of-game reallife money or through their website, and wanting you to go to their website to do so.

frogthroat · April 2

ImmortalCX wrote: »

What is the difference if some chinese kid is farming all day to make gold, vs a western player?

The transactions are legal, the only potential problem is botting.

I think you should report bots, not sellers.

I don't think farming all day is the topic here. You may have slightly misunderstood the topic. Gold sellers have a lot of gold and they want you to go to their dubious website that may or may not steal your credit card info, give your payment details there and pay real money and then they send you gold in game. That is against TOS, which states You may not sell, and You may not assist others in selling, Service(s) or in-Game items for real currency, or exchange those items for value outside of the Services. (Emphasis added.)

And the way those sellers get the gold is indeed farming and then selling the mats for gold. If they would use real people for farming, that's fine. Right up to the point when they start asking for real money and then they would be breaking the TOS. But most likely they are using bots, which, again, is against the TOS: Third party tools, the use of "bots", "speed hacks", (...clip...) or software that permits You to use Services without human input are examples of methods not authorized by ZeniMax. (Emphasis added, partly clipped.)

Soraka · April 2

frogthroat wrote: »

I think ZOS has already addressed many things in this thread.

Selling crowns, selling XP, farm runs, or achievement runs is perfectly fine if the payment is gold.

The moment real money enters the picture, then you start to violate the TOS.

Gold for real money is what these bot farmers do. Farm mats, sell in guild stores, sell gold for money.

Crowns for real money is what scammers/thieves do. Buy cheap from a cheaper country, sell in a more expensive country. Or buy crowns with stolen credit cards and sell the crowns for money.

So, if they are asking for gold it's fine. But the moment you see anyone asking for real money, report them.

This. I reported a gold for real money seller a week or so ago and got a pretty quick reply from ZOS that they took action. It may have helped that I copy and pasted their chat line selling the gold into the comment box. In game crown for gold selling has been approved by ZOS last I heard.

Xajic · April 2

tmbrinks wrote: »

I have reported about a dozen gold sellers over the last few days (I'm doing a lot of surveys/writs as I recover from shoulder surgery), the ones that link to a shady website and are clearly trying to evade the chat censers.

Each time I have reported them I have gotten a follow up e-mail to my initial report showing that a ToS violation WAS found and "appropriate action" was taken.

They're blocked automatically when you report them, so I don't see if they continue to post.

As far as selling XP... that's easy, you just do it grouped and they run you through Blackrose Prison

Gold for Crowns is legal as well.

I know it's a losing fight, but it has to help some... right?

I have reported a few accounts over the last few days that link to websites and have received e-mails back confirming that wrongdoing had occurred, so you are not alone and I am sure there are more of us that do not want the game and its economy ruined.

DreamyLu · April 2

XSTRONG wrote: »

Its not against rules to gift Crowns for Gold, anyone cant gift crowns either you have to be accepted by Zos. Takes a few days and they look over your account.

Sell crowns for real money I dont know how that would work if that whats you mean.

Yes, I'm talking about selling crown/gold for real money on the internet. I have edited my post to add the precision. My bad, sorry.

freespirit · April 2

I have reported some, via Kevin here, I collect a few examples, I try to include only different account names and only those that point players to "that" website, so outside of the game" by screenshot and then pass the shots on.

I find ingame reporting confusing so I do it this way.

I have atm a new collection of account names seen over the last three days so it appears there is some account banning going on, I think only one name from my first batch have I seen again. However new accounts appear as fast as others disappear.

Having said that there has definitely been an uptick of adverts in the last week, they had largely disappeared up until then.

I do find myself wondering if there is any link between the recent very cheap price of the game on Steam and the sudden reappearance of these adverts? 🤔

SeaGtGruff · April 2

silky_soft wrote: »

No point reporting golf sellers, same with guild invite spammers. You always get an email back saying nothing found. You can even give evidence in reply and they still come back with nothing wrong. They won't even say anything is wrong when you show evidence of people exploiting the relic through walls.

There's a difference between "selling" Crowns for gold in zone chat via the "gifting" of Crown Store items, versus selling gold and Crowns for real money outside the game via a third-party website. The first is supposed to be allowed, but the second is definitely not allowed. Reporting an account for the second can have results if an investigation confirms the violation.

LadyLethalla · April 2

I report every gold seller immediately and have had several of these responses:

Greetings,

Thank you for filing this report. We have reviewed your reported concern in ESO. After a thorough review of this report, it was determined that a violation of the ZeniMax Terms of Service or Code of Conduct did occur. As a result, we have taken appropriate action.

Thank you for your report and helping us maintain a healthier gaming community.

Respectfully,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

SilverBride · April 2

I have reported several and I get the same email stating there was a violation and action was being taken. But they keep coming and all from the same website.

But these web sites only exist because players are buying from them. These players are the ones that need action taken against them.

ImmortalCX · April 2

tmbrinks wrote: »

I have reported about a dozen gold sellers over the last few days (I'm doing a lot of surveys/writs as I recover from shoulder surgery), the ones that link to a shady website and are clearly trying to evade the chat censers.

Each time I have reported them I have gotten a follow up e-mail to my initial report showing that a ToS violation WAS found and "appropriate action" was taken.

They're blocked automatically when you report them, so I don't see if they continue to post.

As far as selling XP... that's easy, you just do it grouped and they run you through Blackrose Prison

Gold for Crowns is legal as well.

I know it's a losing fight, but it has to help some... right?

I hate to say it, but in this game, every who is not ESO+ is a gold seller in some capacity.

This comes off as someone trying to take down the competition by reporting them.

I have never used a "service", but I have paid random people (in guild or chat) for crown gifts many times. Sometimes I have queried chat to see if anyone has crowns, and what conversion rate they are looking for.

I am a gold seller I guess.

Don't report gold sellers, only report bots.

tmbrinks · April 2

ImmortalCX wrote: »

tmbrinks wrote: »

I have reported about a dozen gold sellers over the last few days (I'm doing a lot of surveys/writs as I recover from shoulder surgery), the ones that link to a shady website and are clearly trying to evade the chat censers.

Each time I have reported them I have gotten a follow up e-mail to my initial report showing that a ToS violation WAS found and "appropriate action" was taken.

They're blocked automatically when you report them, so I don't see if they continue to post.

As far as selling XP... that's easy, you just do it grouped and they run you through Blackrose Prison

Gold for Crowns is legal as well.

I know it's a losing fight, but it has to help some... right?

I hate to say it, but in this game, every who is not ESO+ is a gold seller in some capacity.

This comes off as someone trying to take down the competition by reporting them.

I have never used a "service", but I have paid random people (in guild or chat) for crown gifts many times. Sometimes I have queried chat to see if anyone has crowns, and what conversion rate they are looking for.

I am a gold seller I guess.

Don't report gold sellers, only report bots.

This is not what I'm referring to in any way, shape or form. I think you misread what I typed.

I only report the ones that link to a specific website. We all know which one it is.

Selling gold for REAL money is what's wrong, and what gets reported. Trading gold in exchange for being gifted crown items has been explicitly approved by ZoS.

Amottica · April 2

XSTRONG wrote: »

Its not against rules to gift Crowns for Gold, anyone cant gift crowns either you have to be accepted by Zos. Takes a few days and they look over your account.

Sell crowns for real money I dont know how that would work if that whats you mean.

@XSTRONG

Gold selling is fairly straightforward. One can Google it and a game and find a number of "companies" selling gold. I expect once anyone looks at those sites, some idea of how it works will come to light.

FlameDark · April 2

Anytime I see those zone scam posts starting with [kuta], with a pasted garbled message about crowns and gold, being made by someone who looks like they made their character name by smashing their head into their keyboard... I just insta report it. Every time I do I get a email from ZOS saying that a violation did occur and action was taken on them. So honestly I am just going to keep doing it. If it takes down the characters and accounts, then why not. Takes 3 seconds and I hopefully will see less of them eventually. Or at least forcing them to spend a LOT of money constantly buying new accounts...

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · April 2

@ZOS_Kevin there has been quite an increase in the amount of these messages recently - not sure if anything changed in the detection system / bot tools

AvalonRanger · April 2

Just ignore= no problem.

DeadlySerious · April 3

AvalonRanger wrote: »

Just ignore= no problem.

Yep. Just ignore them. Any interaction with them could result in action taken against yourself. It's not likely, but best to just avoid them all together.

belial5221_ESO · April 3

There's an increase cause of the steam $1.99 basegame sale.Once they are reported,most should be removed.Happened before with the free Epic version,they made loads of free accounts,and ZoS removed almost all of em within a few weeks as they were reported.