Google declared 99 cents GMail invitations illegal

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Google has updated Gmail's Terms of Service on Monday, prohibiting users from engaging in commercial activities with their Gmail invitations.

Apparently, Google is not very happy with all the Gmail invitations that were being sold accross the Internet and has decided to put an end to this officially, Notsnarc reports.

The new policy reads "Sell, trade, resell or otherwise exploit for any unauthorized commercial purpose or transfer any Gmail account", will likely spelled the end for biddings of Gmail invitations on eBay and Internet forums. Although users can now no longer sell these invitations, I believe that the endless the "Gmail queue" requests will continue until either everybody has got an account, or they eventually lose interests, or Gmail becomes publically opened. Until which ever one of those happened, expect more "GIVE ME GMAIL!" to come.

View: Gmail Program Policies

News source: In-House

*Added for EU comparison; it appears its not just the UK getting ripped off.

(4 replies) #1 teka on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:20

Oh.. damm google!

#1.1 HellBender on 01 Jul 2004 - 06:29

can i hav a invite plz i reely want it plz email it to lil_azn_boi309841349134931@hotmail.com

:/

#1.2 NyaR on 01 Jul 2004 - 08:10

i actually was going to give you an invite, but then i saw your email and changed my mind

#1.3 chacho on 01 Jul 2004 - 14:57

QUOTE (#1.2)

lol same here...

#1.4 cyb0rg on 01 Jul 2004 - 16:49

May I have a gmail invite?

cyb0rg@earthlink.net

(1 reply) #2 mzkhadir on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:21

good idea, they could have done better.

#2.1 truncated0 on 01 Jul 2004 - 16:18

google had made a good move on this, gmail is free why sell it.

#3 imtoomuch on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:22

Like I said in the forums... " Haha. Like this will stop people from selling accounts on eBay. Anything goes on eBay. They don't care as long as they are making money. "

(3 replies) #4 ThunderRiver on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:25

what? damnn google? No! You should damn those people that make profit on free stuff. Google has a right to control how its accounts are being distirbuted, and it has always been quite a bit ridiculous to trade things for a gmail account.

#4.1 teka on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:31

Why? It wasn't prohibited before, so anyone did what ever they wanted to with their accounts. Maybe now you can't but i damm google because i thought the account was mine, and if the account is mine maybe i thought i could do whatever i want with it. And the problem is not who are selling the account, the problem are the people that actually BUYS free accounts.

#4.2 Adster on 01 Jul 2004 - 06:18

The account may be yours, but the services is provided by them and they can change the terms of service however they see fit.

#4.3 georgi55 on 01 Jul 2004 - 11:16

QUOTE (#4.1)

And the problem is not who are selling the account, the problem are the people that actually BUYS free accounts.

Oh boy

(3 replies) #5 cheesy9999 on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:27

you gotta admit, the whole invite system was a pretty good move on Google's part...it's generated a lot of hype, which may or may not have existed if they simply let everyone have an account at once.

#5.1 warwagon on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:34

hype that may not have existed? ...heck i've asked everyone on my list if they have heard of Gmail.. and none have.

#5.2 X Statik Process on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:37

Exactly.
Hype needs to go beyond the tech sector to be of anything of any magnitude. None of my "non-tech" friends have even heard of Gmail.

#5.3 incubusdaemon on 01 Jul 2004 - 05:01

right, but all of the tech friends do. And who tells all of the non-tech people about the tech stuff.

YOU DO!

I still say they are smart

#6 SecretAgentMan on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:35

I think it is lame to sell Gmail invites but people should be able to sell them if they choose to do so. It is the people who are buying the invites that are really stupid.

(3 replies) #7 jkrupa128 on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:41

It looks like there are ALOT of people making money on Gmail invites on Ebay...Why couldn't I think of something like that.

http://search.ebay.com/gmail_W0QQsokeywordredirectZ1QQfromZR8

#7.1 joker999 on 01 Jul 2004 - 11:49

hahah WTF!

look!!!!! -->>>>>

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4291&item=3686187920&rd=1

#7.2 scaredmogwai on 01 Jul 2004 - 12:55

Starting bid: US $25,000.00

#7.3 riahc3 on 01 Jul 2004 - 22:24

QUOTE

Want to make a difference for a nice person in this world? Do you have some extra money you'd like to use towards a great cause? How about buying a 1 GB email account for GMAIL, GOOGLE's newest EMAIL technology.

For $25,000 (or more if you are so willing) you can help me pay off my college loans and plan a fabulous wedding which you will be invited to (no gift necessary)! What a great way to make a difference in someones life!

I can accept PayPal, Bank Checks, Money Orders, and Rolled Coins (seriously!).

Serious bidders only. Please no harsh emails telling me I am crazy; I know already. Surely someone will catch wind of this and want to make a difference.

Let the bidding begin and good luck to everyone!

LMAO very nice touch

#8 jerry on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:48

Too late now. They added just one sentence now when the price of an invite is 99c ? Looks too screwed to me. They could have done that about 2 months back.

#9 HoochieMamma on 01 Jul 2004 - 04:50

Man I made $5 from just 1 invite and I'am selling my last one

#10 kainashi on 01 Jul 2004 - 05:21

better late than never.

#11 Sydd on 01 Jul 2004 - 05:26

finially.

#12 [ timko ] on 01 Jul 2004 - 07:12

So perhaps this is why this week they've only been giving out 1 invites per account... to try and stem the amount still be illegally sold

#13 pctinc on 01 Jul 2004 - 07:53

From the quote it doesn't seem that they want to restric the selling of invites, but the selling of accounts, aka people who get an invite, register "thiscoolname@gmail.com" and then try to sell that. I don't think they care about people selling invites, they just don't want people making money off the "good" names.

(5 replies) #14 tiagosilva29 on 01 Jul 2004 - 08:02

Yo, fo' shizzle dizzle!

Wacha talkin' bout illegal? Keep pimpin' Gmail, dawg!

#14.1 epple on 01 Jul 2004 - 12:18

Please no.

#14.2 chacho on 01 Jul 2004 - 14:59

do you realize you are sitting in front of a computer, posting that to a tech news site?

#14.3 riahc3 on 01 Jul 2004 - 22:26

....and do you realize this guy is a dumbass

#14.4 inziga on 02 Jul 2004 - 03:37

QUOTE (#14.3)

Do you realize you forgot a question mark?

#14.5 tiagosilva29 on 02 Jul 2004 - 18:38

// sarcasm off

and do you all realize I was joking?

(1 reply) #15 CloLoD on 01 Jul 2004 - 08:04

It's not even worth selling... you get jack squat anyway... ebay fees would be more expensive than the actual profit!

#15.1 georgi55 on 01 Jul 2004 - 11:18

Get your facts straight before posting

#16 bush on 01 Jul 2004 - 08:24

but the fact is, that gmail really rules. omfg

#17 Sushubh on 01 Jul 2004 - 08:55

i was just distributing them to people on opera forums. and now i dont even get any new ones. looks like google think i was selling them

so much for free service :p but i have my gmail and i like it.

#18 JoGro123 on 01 Jul 2004 - 09:35

I have been looking but haven't been able to find someone who will invite me yet

#19 mihir on 01 Jul 2004 - 09:38

good, it's getting out of hand

(2 replies) #20 gmail|debian on 01 Jul 2004 - 09:40

U GUYS CANT READ IT SAYS ACCOUNTS NOT INVITE I POSTED THAT HERE http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=184941

#20.1 ec4912 on 01 Jul 2004 - 11:51

#20.2 paulhaskew on 01 Jul 2004 - 15:08

lol, now THAT is funny

#21 joker999 on 01 Jul 2004 - 11:50

$25,000

for Gmail

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4291&item=3686187920&rd=1

jeez

people are so nutz

(1 reply) #22 DogChow on 01 Jul 2004 - 12:00

what is "99 cents"? in the title of the piece of news?.. Is it "99 per cent" or "99 hundreds"?

#22.1 configure on 01 Jul 2004 - 13:16

I was just poking fun at the Gmail invitations on eBay - they normally cost 99 cents.

#23 ramik on 01 Jul 2004 - 12:08

i won a bid for a gmail invitation last week for $0.06, and the seller was ashamed of taking such an ammount, and sent it to me free.

then later on some foums i found another free invitation links, which i gave to my family and friends... so all my family have gmail accounts now... for free....

(1 reply) #24 Randall_Lind on 01 Jul 2004 - 13:11

I could careless about Gmail any more I was one of the first to sign up and Google has not invited me so screw them!!

There a free 2 gb mail service any way that is open now to the public. http://www.aventuremail.com/

Last edited by 50903 on 01 Jul 2004 - 13:19

#24.1 ec4912 on 01 Jul 2004 - 13:38

Come on! How can you even compare them? I don't have a Gmail account, but I do have an Aventuremail one. What good is an email system that doesn't allow you to send attachments?

#25 un0 on 01 Jul 2004 - 13:37

what took them so long...

#26 ngoducthang on 01 Jul 2004 - 14:45

good, i hate it when people sell these things! i think most of them are just greedy and need money or something. it's only a webservice too, there's other 1gig email services around that are good i'm using one right now that has pop3 access also, something gmail doens't have as of yet, but they will. i'm not insulting gmail i use it too, it's great and fast, but i just don't think a service that will soon be free to all should be sold by those "greedy *******s" no offense to nyone

#27 ashayh on 01 Jul 2004 - 14:52

I invited like 15 people with my Gmail account for free... didnt really care for making money from this.

Since the past couple of weeks I'm getting only one invite every few days. That sucks coz I have list of people waiting who want invites... have asked them to try Gmail swap and other such sites...

#28 paulhaskew on 01 Jul 2004 - 15:08

um, I give my invites away to the first people that ask... as long as I of them...

(1 reply) #29 divertom15 on 01 Jul 2004 - 15:55

i doubt this will impact things

#29.1 sadatkarim on 01 Jul 2004 - 16:04

yeah...no one cares what happens on ebay.

(2 replies) #30 Ghost96 on 01 Jul 2004 - 16:39

Obviously who's willing to pay and who's not willing to pay is their own decision. Some people just have to get in before the world really finds out about the GMAIL revolution (if you will) and grab their desired account. Else they'll be jdoe1362@gmail.com and I know that annoys the heck out of some people.

At any rate, for those who ARE willing to spend money on it, you can go to http://gmail.head-nod.com and pay 3 bucks for a real invite there. It is legit.

3 bucks for some people is no big deal for a legitimate GMAIL account. Just thought some of you would like to know.

#30.1 cq107 on 01 Jul 2004 - 18:50

thats not ligit you ****... i paid 3$ and its been over an hour, no ****ing ivite...
i notified paypal, soon the fbi...

#30.2 Ghost96 on 02 Jul 2004 - 02:48

Well sorry ********, I did it and got my invite in 10 minutes to follow so what can I tell you? It was as fast and easy as they advertised. Just give them a day and see what happens. My understanding is that they act as sort of a middleman. At the same time if my money was taken, it's only 3 bucks so I really don't give a ****...As with everything on the Internet YMMV.

#31 GrimSage on 01 Jul 2004 - 19:14

Personally I think they should never open it to the public. I think they should only allow the invites. This will slow spam down some I believe. Think about it. How many people do you know that will give out accounts to spammers? Granted once a spammer gets one they might. But at least it may slow things a bit

#32 tiwaris on 01 Jul 2004 - 19:19

I invite my friends who give me treat for it. I already had six treats.
Thanks to google for it. I have also given many free invits BTW.

(2 replies) #33 Scorched on 02 Jul 2004 - 01:20

#33.1 Dane2003 on 02 Jul 2004 - 01:46

STOP BEGGING FOR GMAIL

The last post was just stupid. You're not going to get Gmail, so quit begging for it and wait for the final release. Seriously, someone should start spamming these people who beg.

#33.2 Scorched on 02 Jul 2004 - 02:24

I was just playing around. Way to get all bitchy.

(1 reply) #34 sfern on 02 Jul 2004 - 13:51

You've gotta love how ppl carry on so much about something so trivial. GMail ain't going anywhere. If your going to pay $0.99c why not just buy a pop3 account on some unknown server somewhere and use Thunderbird Mail - its free.

Alternative - wait for GMail - thats free also!

Note to ppl asking for invites - go find something better to do, since you already have an email account. No one's forcing you to use it, so if you dont like your providers service, google for some other mail client. Plenty of them.

#34.1 dotRoot on 03 Jul 2004 - 07:49

or just ask me nicely, I've provided non ad emails for people with 2 GB of space and that includes technically being able to send and receive 2 GB attachments...although I wouldn't see why you would. Maybe I should start selling accounts for $5

#35 mmi66x on 03 Jul 2004 - 23:04

just wondering, but is there anyone who could send me a gmail invite....mmi66x@yahoo.com...thanx....

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