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Reports of Nistune Copy on Ebay
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:42 pm
by Matt
I've had several reports over the last few days ...
http://cgi.ebay.com
Item: 180348734596
Thank you for those who have contacted me about this.
Some background info... We allow distributors to use our text and pictures to assist to onsell Nistune within their respective countries. So this week I've authorised a simlar request
The catch is that they also mentioned about not wishing to mention Nistune so they could sell through themselves as a distributor rather than people looking up Nistune on the internet and going directly through us.
At the time it has seemed like a fair request and I have agreed to the request
However at the time at the time didnt realise it was going through an ebay shop rather than an official business website
Understandably when first looking at the site (especially with different picture in description to what it actually sold) it looks like a copy of our product which has had a few users concerned, including myself because I didnt realise the site was related to the earlier request for permission to use photos/text
At this time we will monitor how things progress. Understandably anything which damages the reputation the hard work both myself and Pete put into Nistune will have to be dealt with
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:56 am
by chris2712au
why cant he be a distributor like the rest.. unless he wants to mark up your product substantially and in that case surely you should be entitled to some of that action...
Otherwise whats the problem with going direct ? If I had the choice to go through a local distributor I probably would I am just lucky that nistune is australian.. however if it wasnt and I wanted to take on all the extra headaches of importing something I would probably pay again a little extra from a local distributor to go and get it in for me.. as long as it was justified.. and not double the price..
as for the advert it seems to have been removed off ebay..
If this guy is australian.. well IMO Pete and Matt provide great support I have dealt with them alot and had no probs so why would you go somewhere else ?
Then there is the intellectual property debate... If you had a board in an ecu and had a good dyno proven map inside and wanted to mass produce them pin locked I can see the merit in that but would be calling it something completely different and would not even be advertising it as a board more of a remaped ECU..
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 8:17 pm
by iceblade
Apparently the guy is from latvia bud, and seems to be ripping off a few tuning companies, i know some guy from that region bought a couple of "generic" branded stage 1 2 and 3 chips for 200sx (uk model) and a week later i noticed this ebay seller was now selling the same chips with exactly the same spec, claiming the same gains etc etc..... seems a bit fishy to me, i mean i could be wrong and if i am i appologise in advance, but it does seem a bit odd to me
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:19 pm
by MichaS14a
I know that GRomer copies a lot of chip-solutions from Nissans and other brands! He sells e.g. copies of Horsham Chips for the S14 and S14a (I know of Stage 1, 2, 3 and 3a) with minor quality! Take only a look on his ebay feedbacks what he sells...
I know from someone how contacts me that his engine do not work with a copied Stage 3a Chip. He reads out the chip and sends me the result: The whole Ignition-Map is empty! No wonder that his engine won't start...
He also uses not a correct flat ribbon cable to connect the daughterboard with the ECU. He uses a ripped Harddisk-IDE-cable.
Do not buy such copied solutions!
If this behaviour goes on my suggestion is to protect the download area with Name/Password (e.g. from the NIStune License) and only unlock a forum account with a proven buyed original software license. The hardware is useless without the software.
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:30 pm
by chris2712au
Since nistune is not on ebay it does leave an opening.. there were so many people that I have talked to that dont know of nistune and consider themselves pretty well informed when it comes to ECU's..
it would be cool to see how much of the market nistune has compared to other ECU's It is a very marketable product..
My car has gone up against an autronic fitted in an S15.. and well the same output at the wheels without the 2.5K AUD supply and install and tune...
Hmm the diference could pay for some new wider rims
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 11:59 pm
by Matt
Thanks for the feedback on this
I agree the S14A/S15 boards for sale do look like other ones I've seen. However most designs have originated from the same sources
In regards to copying our boards, they are firmware and logic locked so it would be easier to redesign something from scratch rather than try and reverse engineer ours. Its too difficult to administer and lock down the software downloads
Reselling other peoples tunes in boards, including ours is my main concern since we do lot allow this. They are also not a tuners license holder, therefore have not been listed as an official distributor for us