Hacking Local A9LH installation services?

[Majickhat55]

So, I've pretty much installed this on every 3DS I own, plus a few more and I was wondering if it's allowed to offer local services for bigger (noobs) in installing this for them? If not a mod please delete. If it IS allowed however anyone interested can send me a PM for questions. I follow Plailect's guide for O3DS/N3DS from either vanilla <10.7 sysNAND systems or <11.0 emuNAND. Located in Virginia, US.

 

[Davidosky99]

So, I've pretty much installed this on every 3DS I own, plus a few more and I was wondering if it's allowed to offer local services for bigger (noobs) in installing this for them? If not a mod please delete. If it IS allowed however anyone interested can send me a PM for questions. I follow Plailect's guide for O3DS/N3DS from either vanilla <10.7 sysNAND systems or <11.0 emuNAND. Located in Virginia, US.

it's immoral to charge for the said services as the same are available freely online and are related to the hacking of a said system.
But it's not illegal IIRC, altough most advertising sites don't allow such adverstisments related to hacking services.
If I were you I woudn't charge for a said service, rather "Feed me and I hack your 3DS" or something like that

 

[Majickhat55]

it's immoral to charge for the said services as the same are available freely online and are related to the hacking of a said system.
But it's not illegal IIRC, altough most advertising sites don't allow such adverstisments related to hacking services.
If I were you I woudn't charge for a said service, rather "Feed me and I hack your 3DS" or something like that

Good to know, thank you very much for the input Although if I did wouldn't it be fair to charge for my time? Some people are just lazy regardless if the process is freely available. That is to say not charge for the installation itself, but the time it takes to do it. Wouldn't the same be true for hardmods considering tutorials are freely available as well? Yeah I realize it requires a different skill set but it's essentially the same as anyone can TRY their hand at it. Isn't that the same as people too scared of trying the process,free or not? (Genuine curiosity here )

EDIT: Wouldn't that be the same as someone saying it's immoral to charge someone to cut their grass because they CAN do it themselves but would rather pay someone else? I wouldn't try on Amazon or anything, I meant like CL, or local sites or something.

 

[gamesquest1]

Do whatever the f£** you want, if someone pays you they obviously feel it was worth it or they wouldnt pay it

Feel free to offer cut to the content creators though

 

[Davidosky99]

Good to know, thank you very much for the input Although if I did wouldn't it be fair to charge for my time? Some people are just lazy regardless if the process is freely available. That is to say not charge for the installation itself, but the time it takes to do it. Wouldn't the same be true for hardmods considering tutorials are freely available as well? Yeah I realize it requires a different skill set but it's essentially the same as anyone can TRY their hand at it. Isn't that the same as people too scared of trying the process,free or not? (Genuine curiosity here )

I did it like 40 times to various systems(friends and strangers) either PSP's , Wii's, PS2's, PS3's 3ds's and even to pirate games on PC's, via either Skype or with the person and not even once I charged one cent. I sure did charge food . Thing is people might be scared and trust an experienced member, but it's immoral to take advantage of that vunrelability to earn easy money. Sure the convenience factor and your time are something to be valuing but I usually just do this to either develop a bond with the person, to know people or just so I can have free dinner/lunch, .
The hardmods are a different story, as that requires skill and eletronic components, the hardmodders had to bought, like solder, wires, etc, but reading a goddamn guide and installing a cfw into a system is as easy as formatting a PC, which requires close to no skill at all(at least for me)

 

[gamesquest1]

Tbh a service is worth as much as someone is willing to pay, sure i could offer hardmods for £5 except imho it wouldnt be worth the time/effort if someone sees the free guides and still doesnt feel comfortable then i dont see the harm in someone charging a small amount for their time to make it worth it for them

 

[Majickhat55]

I wouldn't really consider it exploiting ignorance, more like laziness. Which is pretty normal (taxis, lawncare, fastfood etc) Those are all things people can do themselves but choose to pay someone else. That and some people can operate a DS just fine but aren't savvy enough to use a computer. I've walked a few people through it and I definitely didn't charge them, it was fun. Some people would rather pay than do though, just sayin,...

 

[Davidosky99]

I wouldn't really consider it exploiting ignorance, more like laziness. Which is pretty normal (taxis, lawncare, fastfood etc) Those are all things people can do themselves but choose to pay someone else. That and some people can operate a DS just fine but aren't savvy enough to use a computer. I've walked a few people through it and I definitely didn't charge them, it was fun. Some people would rather pay than do though, just sayin,...

yeah I know as long as that you go with the spirit " I will do this for fun" and in the end the person says "Hey thanks, do you want cash" that way it's moral to take it but saying "Pay me 50$ and I install CFW" is immoral. But just do what you want

 

[Majickhat55]

I still don't see how it's immoral though. Again if people are too lazy to do it themselves and willing to pay, I don't see the harm. Just because the information is freely available doesn't mean someone should devote 3+ hours freely all the time. Some people might not even have a PC, or the time to do it themselves but want to be able to. How is it taboo to say hey, "Throw me $40 and I'll take 3+ hours out of my day to fix you up"?

 

[gamesquest1]

Imho as long as you offer something back to the devs then charging imho is fine, i offered money to the unbrick code dev when i was making money from unbricking 3ds's with his code, he said it was ok but i think an offer is at least common decency

 

[Hotice03]

I wouldn't really consider it exploiting ignorance, more like laziness. Which is pretty normal (taxis, lawncare, fastfood etc) Those are all things people can do themselves but choose to pay someone else. That and some people can operate a DS just fine but aren't savvy enough to use a computer. I've walked a few people through it and I definitely didn't charge them, it was fun. Some people would rather pay than do though, just sayin,...

Yea you walked me through just about everything i have on my 3ds with a9lh and when i needed the help and was stuck with getting an error i could count on you

 

[Majickhat55]

Imho as long as you offer something back to the devs then charging imho is fine, i offered money to the unbrick code dev when i was making money from unbricking 3ds's with his code, he said it was ok but i think an offer is at least common decency

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Quantumcat]

I don't think it's immoral, otherwise every handyman service would be immoral. People have a right to pay someone to do something they're unsure of doing. But as others said, yeah, Plailect puts in a lot of hard work keeping the guide up to date for the benefit of the general population and probably deserves a contribution if you're going to make money from following said guide.

 

[dimmidice]

I don't see what's immoral about it. not even slightly. if someone wants to pay you for it so they feel safer or dont have to spend the time and effort that's entirely their decision.

 

[Arras]

As long as you make sure to inform them all software and instructions are available for free on the internet and they're only paying for you to actually do the install process, sure, why not. Classic old Homebrew Channel "if you have paid for this software, you have been scammed" and all that. Also, consider what you'll do in the (admittedly very unlikely) event that somehow, the 3DS of one of your customers breaks or bricks.

 

[Majickhat55]

Yeah the disclaimer about the brick is a given considering the nature. I wouldn't try to trick people into thinking it's something only I can do, it's literally meant to help the ones that can't/don't do it/want to. I would credit the devs of course and probably donate a little if I could. I mean after all you don't pay to use a ruler everytime you use it after making the initial purchase. The guide and dev projects are open source and free. I wouldn't be charging for the CFW itself, simply the time it took me to install it.

 

[hundshamer]

I have taken money to install A9LH. I was approached by a couple of members who were willing to pay for the convenience of having it installed along with their hard mod. I even charge for the hard mod even though the information was given to me without charge. Reminds me of a story:

There was an old diesel engine ship that stopped running. They finally called a master mechanic from when the engine was built. After looking at the eninge up and down for about an hour, he tapped it with a little ball-peen hammer. VIOALA, it worked! When they asked him the old mechanic how much he wanted, he told them $10,000. $10,000! The old man must be going senile. So the owner asked him to send an itemized bill. It read as follows:

Surcharge for using hammer $2.50
Knowing where to hit with said hammer $9997.50
Total $10,000.00


The moral? The skill to use knowledge is not without worth.

 

[hunter010709]

Good to know, thank you very much for the input Although if I did wouldn't it be fair to charge for my time? Some people are just lazy regardless if the process is freely available. That is to say not charge for the installation itself, but the time it takes to do it. Wouldn't the same be true for hardmods considering tutorials are freely available as well? Yeah I realize it requires a different skill set but it's essentially the same as anyone can TRY their hand at it. Isn't that the same as people too scared of trying the process,free or not? (Genuine curiosity here )

EDIT: Wouldn't that be the same as someone saying it's immoral to charge someone to cut their grass because they CAN do it themselves but would rather pay someone else? I wouldn't try on Amazon or anything, I meant like CL, or local sites or something.

Nice justifications for your conscience there.... Its not a lengthy process unless your charging for waiting times during backup/restore where you are effectively doing nothing, right.

Whats your time worth an hour? How much time are you actually doing something 'like pushing that mower' you used in your own analogy? Not even 10 minutes, mate....

You'll get more in food or a few beers, as said above unless your hourly rate is ridiculous.

If you want to scam people out of cash, go right a head, you were born with free will, but call a spade a spade friend.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

If you want to scam people out of cash, go right a head, you were born with free will, but call a spade a spade friend.

It's only a scam if the OP were to tell people that they can't easily and/or freely install A9LH themselves. That's not the case here though (or I at least I don't think it is). It's no different than paying someone like an electrician. If you looked up enough guides online then sure, you could fix faulty wiring yourself, but if you don't feel like going through the effort, just call an electrician.

 

[justln]

If you charge a decent rate, why not? It takes time, effort and common sense to follow the guide step by step.

Even though I installed 2 a9lh myself, I still ask my friends to find another guy to install for 36 USD. 1 of them can't even get pass Step 1 Homebrew.