Is it illegal to buy Study material (eg Stalla or Schweser) on websites like Ebay?Since these sites have this material at almost 20-30% of original price.
Not at all. It’s the same concept as selling old stuff at a garage sale. It would be illegal if you copied the notes for a year and sold multiple copies at a significant discount to other individuals. Be cautious when buying second hand notes off ebay. It is really important that you get the current years materials, as the Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) changes in focus and material every year. I don’t know how significant that change is, but it’s really not worth it to find out. I don’t have any direct experience with ebay when it comes to the CFA materials, anyone else care to weigh in?
I have the '08 Schweser materials and the '09 CFAI texts for June and I haven’t noticed much of a discrepancy between the two. Here’s an example of some shady Schweser ebay material: http://cgi.ebay.com/CFA-2009-Level-1-Schweser-Study-Notes-and-Exercises_W0QQitemZ180334040981QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item180334040981&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50
Then you were most lucky, Chuck. The curriculum can change quite considerably inbetween years.