I am in the process of buying CiV 4 on Ebay because it's less than retail and have noticed a lot of sales from people in Russia, which seem to be the least expensive.

Currently I have a bid for $30 plus $5 for shipping with a USA member because I suspect these Russian sellers are either illegally copying the game or just shady to begin with. My experience with eastern European sellers in the past has not been positive.

Anyone know why there are so many Russian sellers of CIV 4 and why they would be offering the game for less than sellers from other countries?

The games are likely pirated, Russia is known as a haven for piracy(as is most of eastern europe and asia). They sell cheap cause it costs them nothing for the game except for what they pay for all their blank cd's.

If you were to get it from Russia, by the time it gets here wont prices have fallen to the lower price you paid?

I would never, ever buy software from Russia via Ebay. Someone else here just got burned by an Ebay pirater a couple weeks ago.

I actually doubt that you can get the game cheaper at ebay than in retail. I almost always find some store in my vicinity where I can get a game cheaper, and can be sure that I get an original and a warranty.

If you were to get it from Russia, by the time it gets here wont prices have fallen to the lower price you paid?


Do you think they put the civ packet on a ship and sail over the atlantic? Air Mail delivers packages within a week anywhere

Do you think they put the civ packet on a ship and sail over the atlantic? Air Mail delivers packages within a week anywhere

Having sent multiple packages to friends in Poland, it costs about 3-4 times as much to get it there in a week than if sent by boat. I would be surprised if you could get a weekly air shipment from Russia for a price that would make the Ebay transaction that much cheaper than just running down to your CompUSA or wherever and buying it there.

I could be wrong, I avoid overseas Ebay transactions like the plague.

yeah that's correct, with shipping cost you're not going to save anything over buying it here. Especially whne you calculate scam risk into it

however I doubt that for $30 these things are pirated.. that's just too high imo.

After recently returning from a 6 month stint in Russia, I would say without doubt that any software or other similar media being sold on ebay from Russia is pirated. I had to resist the urge to buy a lot of games and other software for under $10. I was seriously concerned about the quality and whether the stuff would be virus/spyware free.

As a longtime online retailer, my advice is to avoid any transaction involving Russia, as seller or buyer.

No offense intended to any Russian readers here, just the way it is, though Russia is certainly not the only country to avoid, nor is the US risk free.

Buy from western europe AMerica Canada Or Australia. But AVOID RUSSIA

If Civ4 is on sale in Russia (legally), then it will cost an awful lot less.

Software publishers do sell their games in these countries, at a much, much lower price than in the richer countries.

It could be legit, and could also be a good way of making tons of cash legally on Russian ebay. *IF* T2 is actually selling the game in Russia.

It can be legal but seems unlikely. Can be scam also. Also, it might be Russian language version of the game and you don't want that.

Indeed, must agree with Jimbo30 that Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Chronicles absolutely clean licensed version in Russia was about $4/disk whereas in US it was sold for $14 or even more. You can now buy 100% legit version of Rome Total War for about $12 in Moscow whereas here it still costs around $30 in retail stores. I guess the only company which does not discount their software for Russia is Microsoft. :lol:

In Ukraine, the price for a licensed copy of Civ IV can be $6. It has stickers and all that to prove it. However, even those can be falsified. I don't think you would know for sure until you got the disk though. For example, I bought a shooter. First person works fine and it has all the right stickers. But multiplayer seems to me as if something was screwed up. Many of them are both in English and Russian, so you just need to check on that.

It's cheaper, because people here could not afford it otherwise. A pirated copy is about 1/2 or 1/3 the above price and there are websites where you can download virtually any game you want. So whether you are getting an official version OR a no-so-legal version might never be clear. In any case, legal versions are still 5-10x cheaper than in the US.

If the game was purchased in a store (as opposed to a kiosk or a seller on the street), the liklihood is significantly higher that it is ok, especially if it is a chain store or otherwise well-known retailer. If the store sells DVDs, CD's, etc. that are legal, then you can be pretty confident that everything is ok. It may also be more expensive (especially true of newest releases).

Buying from someone on ebay sounds risky unless they have a good rating. You just don't know how they got the copy (unless they tell you and can somehow prove it). I thought I saw civ IV going for $35 on amazon? So I'm not sure it's worth $5-10 savings.

Moral: As usual, buyer beware.