Blackthorne Software

304 N. Keystone Ave., Sayre PA18840

Steve T. of La Canada, CA, writes:
As a Director and Officer of the Online Auction Users Association, I am involved in online auction issues daily. Our association represents some 2,400 online auction members, many of whom use eBay to sell for their livelihoods. The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of a recent action by Blackthorne Software, an action that adversely and perhaps illegally affects tens of thousands of online auction users. Bear with me while I summarize.

Blackthorne Software makes auction management software. This allows online auction sellers to efficiently create and list auctions, and manage post-auction tasks. Blackthorne became the industry leader about 2 years ago, with many thousands of customers. They sold auction software packages, including upgrades and support, for their two products at prices of up to about $200 each. Blackthorne regularly produced patches and upgrades to these products, as is common in the industry, to keep them functional as eBay made changes in the functionality of their auction site.

About a year ago, eBay purchased the Blackthorne company. Aside from the fact that eBay scuttled Blackthorne's plans to make their software cross-platform compatible (meaning able to list on Yahoo and Amazon auctions), things continued much as before.

On February 6, 2001, John Slocum, the President of Blackthorne, announced that previous purchasers of the software would henceforth have to pay a "subscription" fee of $15.99 or $4.99 per month, in order to continue using the software they had already purchased. Essentially, eBay/Blackthorne is trying to rent software to folks that already purchased it.

Here's John's announcement: http://www.blackthornesw.com/bthome/SALetter.htm

Understandably, the users are outraged. They recognize this as wrong, and there is a groundswell of interest in a class action lawsuit to protect consumers from abuse by eBay/Blackthorne.

Folks have yet to be damaged, I guess -- not sure how that would work in a class action. But this can't be legal -- eBay is rapidly becoming a monopoly a la Microsoft, and they have very deep pockets. Somebody needs to take a stand, and this seems like it might be the time.

Consumers were bait-and-switched into paying up to $200 for a program, that eBay/Blackthorne NOW wants $2,000 for over the next 10 years, or threatens to effectively disable it.

Linda of Dumfries, VA, writes:
I purchased Blackthorne's Auction Assistant Pro a few months ago - at a price over $200. Blackthorne has just announced that it's changing its name and going to charge a subscription fee or about $200 per year for using this software. The way they'll enforce it is to refuse upgrades that make it compatible with Ebay therefore rendering my personal and paid for copy, useless.
I'm suffering economic damage that I can't even begin to compute at this point. I'm not a big "power" seller on Ebay, and Blackthorne is effectvely taking away what little competitive advantage I have. They are, in effect, putting me out of business.

We suspect that Blackthorne's answer would be that they need to charge the subscription fee in order to cover the cost of providing upgrades. On the other hand, if the software was sold with the promise that upgrades would be provided free, then Linda might have an actionable complaint. Edward of Oshkosh, WI, writes:
I (like many others) bought software for use on Ebay's online auction site (myself, just one year ago, I have only posted 50 auctions total). We were told that the software included lifetime technical support and upgrades (minor at no charge, but that major upgrades might incur a slight charge).

The software has been unstable and everyone using it has suffered through this, expecting future upgrades to correct the problems. The main point is that we PURCHASED the (license) software and assumed (because of statements made by the companies owner, John Slocum) that it would always be useful for the reason I/we bought it for (to list auctions on Ebay)

The company has been bought by Ebay, and they have recently announced that the program that we paid for will eventually cease to function because of a newly designed version of the program, that when this version is released that we will no longer be entitled to technical support or upgrades to our current version, and that to upgrade, we will be required to pay a monthly fee for the new program. This is much akin to Microsoft telling me that when Windows 2000 came out, that I could no longer use the previous version of Windows that I PAID for.

The following is a clip from a post that I made on one of the discussion boards for your consideration also: "The mere fact that Ebay bought a software program that ONLY works on their auction site generates a great deal of connotations on what constitutes monopolistic practices and control over said software. Look what is going on right now with Microsoft, and what has happened (and has already been judged to be illegal) with their bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows in order to gain control in the internet arena. The similarities here simply boggle the mind."

We have been banned from making any negative comments on Ebay and on the Blackthorne software site, but we have started our own discussion groups on other sites in an attempt to garner support for our plight.

Jael of Ferndale, WA, writes:
I purchased a product outright and now they insist on charging a monthly fee to use it.

Nancy of Concord Twp., OH, adds:
I purchased a copy of their software last year ... under the understanding that it was a one-time purchase, and product upgrades would be available for free and for as long as I owned the software. I was just informed by Blackthorne Software that I would no longer get free upgrades, and starting this time next year, I would have to start paying a monthly service fee to continue to have access to the current version of the software I have already purchased.

I use this software to manage my auctions on eBay. I average 200-300 auctions per month on eBay. I purchased this software under the condition it was a one-time purchase with free upgrades for life. Now I must either agree to pay a monthly access fee or start my business all over again with another auction software company. This would cause me to have to purchase another vendor's software, change all of my business forms and basically change the current methods in which I do business.

Camille of Quincy, MA:
Consider this a complaint. I tried to leave a message, unsuccessfully, for the past week with Blackthrone Software aka Ebay, on the message board reserved for this topic. (The Ebay troops have already landed and their unfamiliarity with the product is causing an uncharaceristic ineptitude I never found with Blackthorne.)

I purchased Auction Assistant over 1 1/2 years ago and have been very satisfied with it. And, very satisfied with the speedy and user friendly assistance received on those rare occasions when it was needed. This latest twist in the endlessly expanding Ebay mega-conglomerate is disturbing and has me seriously concerned about whether or not I wish to continue using the product. First and formost, when I bought the software it was with the understanding it was a purchase -- not a rental. WHILE UPGRADES HAVE OCCURRED, NEITHER THE FREQUENCY OF THOSE UPGRADES NOR THEIR MAGNITUDE JUSTIFY ONGOING MONTHLY RENTAL FEES.

The complimentary 1-year free subscription offered to existing owners of Auction Assistant & AA Pro seems like a decent gesture. But I think will only serve as an excuse for Ebay's arrogant service twinkies, accounting weasles, and smarmy leadership to hike fees for this software usage, and within a short time of landing on Blackthorne's beaches. I would rather have paid Blackthorne an upgrade fee once a year than dish out more money to Ebay for a product I already own!

Second, Ebay technical assistance? You must be joking. Ebay systems can not stay up and run smoothly for a full week. Do you think I believe there won't be problems operating Acution Assistant? And, if Ebay can't respond in a timely or thoughtful manner to seroius problems regarding their deadbeat bidders, or even mitigate them in a FAIR manner, do you think I really believe Ebay will be able to issue timely resposes to software problems?

Blackthorne, you were a very good company with an excellent product. But the very qualities fostering excellence that distinguished your product will be lost within the Ebay mega-conglomerate. While I like Ebay and think it was a pioneer in creating an Internet marketplace, I do not find it a very good company. Nor even a good one since it become overly concerned with profit and the expense of pioneering and excellence. Be assured, I will be looking at other software programs during my "free" year.

Lois of Camano Island, WA:
I purchased software from Blackthorne products sometime ago. It is a licensed product, which I was to own. After 3 yrs. Ebay auction company bought out Blackthorne and now they tell us (thousands of us) that we have to pay them rent to use our software product on their auction. They want $5.99 per mo. That is insane, as I OWN this piece, it cost me $55.00.

These folks are mistaken in their assertion that they own the software. They purchased a license, not title to the code. The dispute here is whether there was misrepresentation in the original transactions.

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