Second hand market in the digital age

I think i’ve discovered the worst company in the world for consumer rights.

It isn’t Microsoft or Sony or any of them lot.  It’s Waves.  They make professional grade audio plug-ins.

Some years ago I purchased a product from them which I now don’t feel I need anymore, it wasn’t cheap so I want to sell it, ebay style.

Should you not have a right to sell anything you have bought?  Apparently not. Waves require you pay them a whopping 150USD to transfer ownership of their software.. which you bought and should therefore OWN!  Even worse, before you can even pay this 150USD you must have paid for your yearly update plan!

Waves software is a little tricky as they use a dongle called iLok.  It isn’t their own dongle, you have to buy the dongle yourself and have the serial codes authorized onto the dongle.  It’s a very beaurocratic process to use their software.  So I figured that maybe it was due to the whole dongle situation that they charge such a stupid amount, so I emailed them and asked if I can forgo the 150 dollars if I also sell the dongle along with the software…  Guess what…

To complete a transfer of ownership, you will need to provide the buyer with a letter stating the sale with serial number, and your product must be currently covered by WUP.  Once the buyer has taken possession of your ilok, he will pay Waves a $150 transfer of ownership fee to have the product transferred into his account.

Whaaaat!!!