Help me figure out if this is a deal or a scam...

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shadow9d9

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2004
8,132
2
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I was searching to see what the prices were on ebay for Star Trek The Next Gen and retail US versions(according to the listings, from US sellers) are going for around 90-$110. How can this be? Amazon has it for $300.

What am I missing!?
 
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MWink

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,642
1
76
Don't do it. I just got burned this way. Bought the entire series of Enterprise from a top rated power seller with loads of positive feedback who guaranteed it was a legit US release "the same as you would buy at wal-mart." They're decent looking fakes but the fact that the discs say copyright "Paramount Pig rures" in the small print and that half the discs won't play kinda leads me to believe they're fakes. Then a few weeks later Ebay sends me an email warning me not to do business with this guy and all his auctions are deleted including the one I already won! He won't respond to email so I may try to open a case with Paypal. I am pissed that Ebay won't even acknowledge that the auction existed anymore. Anyway, save yourself the headache and don't do it!
 
SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

Lifer
Apr 12, 2010
10,510
10
0
MWink said:
Don't do it. I just got burned this way. Bought the entire series of Enterprise from a top rated power seller with loads of positive feedback who guaranteed it was a legit US release "the same as you would buy at wal-mart." They're decent looking fakes but the fact that the discs say copyright "Paramount Pig rures" in the small print and that half the discs won't play kinda leads me to believe they're fakes. Then a few weeks later Ebay sends me an email warning me not to do business with this guy and all his auctions are deleted including the one I already won! He won't respond to email so I may try to open a case with Paypal. I am pissed that Ebay won't even acknowledge that the auction existed anymore. Anyway, save yourself the headache and don't do it!
Click to expand...
Open case with Paypal ASAP, don't wait. This is how I've been scammed out of money in the past, I was naive and didn't know any better. As soon as dispute is filed, call and ask it be forwarded to their counterfeit dept. They may ask you provide documentation proving that the items recieved are counterfeit.

I almost got burned by one of those sellers doing the whole (fake) 128GB flash drive for $30. The day after I paid for it, the sellers account, and sale page went down. The seller didn't send for a week, AFTER I filed a claim. Then the flash drive was fake and did not work. So after some hassle I had to have the claim refiled and forwarded to counterfeit dept.
I wouldn't have even bothered if my coworker hadn't told me he got a woking 128GB flash drive. The seller he bought from also went down right after he paid. I don't know how he didn't get burnt, but his is still working to this day. Prick.
 
Maligx

Maligx

Senior member
Aug 25, 2008
233
5
81
SaDiZTiKStyLeZ said:
Open case with Paypal ASAP, don't wait. This is how I've been scammed out of money in the past, I was naive and didn't know any better. As soon as dispute is filed, call and ask it be forwarded to their counterfeit dept. They may ask you provide documentation proving that the items recieved are counterfeit.

I almost got burned by one of those sellers doing the whole (fake) 128GB flash drive for $30. The day after I paid for it, the sellers account, and sale page went down. The seller didn't send for a week, AFTER I filed a claim. Then the flash drive was fake and did not work. So after some hassle I had to have the claim refiled and forwarded to counterfeit dept.
I wouldn't have even bothered if my coworker hadn't told me he got a woking 128GB flash drive. The seller he bought from also went down right after he paid. I don't know how he didn't get burnt, but his is still working to this day. Prick.
Click to expand...

Is he sure its really 128GB? It might really be 2gig made to look like 128gig lol
 
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mrjminer

Platinum Member
Dec 2, 2005
2,739
16
76
Shrug, I bought the Cowboy Bebop box set from someone in China about 4 or 5 years ago. I haven't watched it in a while to see if the discs have started degrading (I'm guessing they have since I doubt the quality of materials used), but it played perfectly when I got it.

I have no idea if it was a "knockoff" though; for this set it was only about $15 cheaper than I could find anywhere else, which, to me, seems within the margin of distribution cost/retail markup.

There's a far greater price discrepancy in TNG, though--but it could always be a case of MSRP here being higher. If it's a knockoff, then it will probably work, but you might want to back up the discs to higher quality ones to keep it longer. Also, the only way you're going to be able to find out if it's a knockoff is if there's some blatant error like "Paramount Pig rures", find pictures of the packaging/physical discs online and compare them, if the quality is extremely bad (unlikely), or if you have a copy you bought from the states playing side-by-side.
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
> What am I missing!?

That you'll be paying money for warez.

If you want real discs, wait for some crazy Gold Box sale, or wait for blu-ray. Even though the blu-ray will probably be upscaled it can still look better to upscale from the masters instead of doing it in the player.
 
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mrjminer

Platinum Member
Dec 2, 2005
2,739
16
76
DaveSimmons said:
> What am I missing!?

That you'll be paying money for warez.

If you want real discs, wait for some crazy Gold Box sale, or wait for blu-ray. Even though the blu-ray will probably be upscaled it can still look better to upscale from the masters instead of doing it in the player.
Click to expand...

Because they're guaranteed to be Warez because they're coming from China and are cheaper than U.S. prices? As opposed to coming from China anyways and being sold at U.S. prices?
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
1/3 the normal discounted price, and China is not in region 1.

Odds of being a legal pressing: 1%

Odds of being pressed at all instead of burned DVD-Rs: 33%
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
There are a lot of fakes out there in software and video . The obvious ones are burned and labeled but there are some that are really really good fakes. Look at the microsoft site where they show counterfeit versions of windows. You really have to know what to look for on some of the copies they are so good.
http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/content.aspx?displaylang=en&pg=counterfeit

Look in the counterfeit gallery at things like MS office that are complete with holograms.



Even hardware :
xbox2d.jpg
 
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hellfreeze

Golden Member
Dec 7, 2001
1,046
0
0
MWink said:
They're decent looking fakes but the fact that the discs say copyright "Paramount Pig rures" in the small print and that half the discs won't play kinda leads me to believe they're fakes.
Click to expand...

That's the first thing that came to my mind.

I hope your claim with Ebay and Paypal are successful, MWink.
 
SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

Lifer
Apr 12, 2010
10,510
10
0
Maligx said:
Is he sure its really 128GB? It might really be 2gig made to look like 128gig lol
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Yea that's what I told him. Says he has about 30gig stored on it so far with out issue. First issue I saw with mine is that data wouldn't write and disappeared immediately. Mine also reported as 128gb, while his reports 121gb.
 
olds

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,125
780
126
hellfreeze said:
That's the first thing that came to my mind.

I hope your claim with Ebay and Paypal are successful, MWink.
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How can you be so insensitive? That scammer probably lives in a mud hut and is just trying to take care of his family of 12. Scammers need to eat too.
 
SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

SaDiZTiKStyLeZ

Lifer
Apr 12, 2010
10,510
10
0
I've only gotten 2 items from China that were legitimate, in the past, before eBay got too saturated with scammers. I wanted a DVD only of Battlefield 2, which was VERY hard to find when that game came out. There was 1 in China that was dvd & NTSC-U. It played flawlessly. Although I almost shit bricks when I saw the packaging was not like the pc games released here.
I also ordered a copy of Prey on DVD. What was not included in the ad, was that the manual/sleeve was in Thai, the game was NTSC-U, it also played flawlessly. I gave that seller a scathing review though for not being as advertised, even though it did work.
 
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hellfreeze

Golden Member
Dec 7, 2001
1,046
0
0
oldsmoboat said:
How can you be so insensitive? That scammer probably lives in a mud hut and is just trying to take care of his family of 12. Scammers need to eat too.
Click to expand...

That has got to be the best mud hut to have Internet and a computer!

Nice post. Touche :D
 
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