UPDATE: Got my money back. - Illegal dvd copying operation on ebay.

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Update

Got my money back, and got to keep the dvd.

here's the email from paypal:

Dear gtprojectx,

PayPal has concluded our investigation of your Buyer Complaint.

------------------------------
Complaint Details
------------------------------

Transaction Date: Jun. 17, 2004
Transaction Amount: -$12.00 USD
Case Number: xxxxxxxxxxx
Seller's Name: alvin chong
Seller's Email: dvdforsale@hotmail.com


Our investigation has determined that the seller is at fault, and as a result we have attempted to recover your funds.
You have indicated that a partial refund amount of would be satisfactory

We appreciate your business, and regret this experience.

To make sure future transactions proceed smoothly, we suggest reading these Security Tips:

http://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/fraud-tips-buyers-outside

Sincerely,

Protection Services Department

ebay member: dvd-for-sale
ebay auction: The Last Samurai - Original Brand New DVD movie

Was wanting movie, and there weren't any deals so I went to ebay, saw the cheap price, reasonable shipping, noted it was brand new and didn't really read the rest of the auction, bit and won it. Paid immediately with Paypal.

3 days later I receive this email:
Dear Valued customer, (FROM DVD-FOR-SALE)

I am dreadfully sorry for this late reply. I am having troubles with my ebay account and also my hotmail account. Apparently, somebody manage to crack my password and he or she manage to close down my ebay account making me a non-registered user.

I am very sorry for not being able to leave a positive feedback to all of you now and i have no way to access to my hotmail email account.

I went through the trouble to get all your email address from paypal, I will be using this email, so please feel free to email me at this new account if there's any question.

I have contacted ebay and also hotmail service team, i do hope that i will get a reply from thaem as soon as possible.

ALl your dvd's have been processed and will be shipped out accordingly, you will still receive your dvd at the date that i have promised you.

Sorry for all inconvenience caused.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sincerely,
Benjamin G. Hill
Sales Assistant


4 Days later I receive this email..
Dear customer,

The reason why my account was terminated is because a third party from another country used my ebay account to list hundred of thousands worth of cell phone.

In order to protect my account, ebay immediately ended all the auction and credited all the fees to me. For further protection, they suspended my acount so that the third party will no longer have access to my account.

They just contacted me and they will be reset my password today. Hip Hip Hooray!!!!! They have permanently changed my email address to this email address which is [removed]. Please contact me through this email in future.

I will remember all of you, one of the nicest, patient, wonderful and understanding customer that i ever had. All of you stayed really calm even though my ebay account has been suspended.

Thank you so much for trusting me.

Will be leaving everybody here a positive feedback in advance...!!!

Thank you
After getting these I checked the auction once more, to notice:
the item location of United Kingdom
DVD Packaging : DVD Plastic Sleeves
All DVD?s are sent out via AVION AIR MAIL from Malaysia.

At this point I'm pretty sure I'm going to get had. Item location is in the U.K., but ships from Malaysia, and no real packaging.

I received it a few days ago and it looked pretty legit, except for the printing on the DVD (Large pic1, small pic1, Large pic2, Small pic2) As you can see there are some lines on it, plus there is horizontal fading (can't think of what else to call it) that are in lines. Note: there was also just one disc.

For comparison here is the real discs (my dad's copy): Large disc 1, Small disc 2, Large disc 2, Small disc 2

Here they are side by side (note: I put the ebay one in a dvd case) (Large both in caseSmall both in case

I did check and this is a dual layer dvd disc (~8 gigs) but would not play on my computer (WMP and PowerDVD failed to play it), which leads me to believe this is large operation where they are truly pressing these discs in large quantites.

Here are the backs of them, left one is the fake, right one is the real. Notice the little scratch on the left one on the clear plastic in the middle. I think something was burned off it? Large both discs, Small both discs

Now that I'm done showing the dvds here is the outside insert comparison
Large sidebyside, Small sidebyside. The top is the fake one.

Notice the DTS holygraphic sticker on fake one. Very interesting because even the real dvd doesn't have DTS, just Dolby 5.1. Large closeup, small closeup. And in comparison, the real one's top: Large closeup, Small closeup. Also note the changed text from "2-DISC WIDESCREEN EDITION" to "dts DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND"

Also note the color is a bit darker on the real one.

Last thing to note is on the back side bottom a change of text: Large fake backtext, Small fake backtext, Large real backtext, Small real backtext. The differences here are changing in the top section "2-disc edition special features" to "special features" and the additon of DTS to the fake one. Also note a general loss of background graphics on the fake one.


As for the actual video and sound, there really is a DTS track on the fake dvd and it sounds pretty good. I haven't compared it to the 5.1 of the real disc yet, but I suspect they will be identical. The video on the movie looks good, undistinguishable from the real one. But since the extras were put on this dvd as well, the video bitrate went way down and well as audio quality on these.


So, what would you do in this circumstance? Let it be? Email them asking them for the real version? (fat chance), Email ebay letting them know about this? Just leave negative feedback (they already left me a positive)?

Like I said, pretty serious work done here.

 

[dmurray14]

If it didn't say "Original" in the auction listing, I'd let it go. If it's as good as you described and you got a good deal, it looks like pretty good work to me. But since it's not whats described, go get what you payed for.

Dan

 

[Ameesh]

good luck getting anyone to prosecute a malayain pirate.

 

[Ns1]

you're screwed

 

Get your money back from Paypal (do a chargeback) and contact the MPAA. They'll handle it from there.

Copying movies is one thing, but copying them and selling them to unsuspecting customers is completely another. Hand them over to the MPAA thugs.

 

[vshah]

not much you can do......MPAA would be your best bet i think...

-Vivan

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: jumpr
Get your money back from Paypal (do a chargeback) and contact the MPAA. They'll handle it from there.

Copying movies is one thing, but copying them and selling them to unsuspecting customers is completely another. Hand them over to the MPAA thugs.

never done this before...looking where on paypal, is this the same as filing a "merchandise dispute - buyer protection"?

 

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX

Originally posted by: jumpr
Get your money back from Paypal (do a chargeback) and contact the MPAA. They'll handle it from there.

Copying movies is one thing, but copying them and selling them to unsuspecting customers is completely another. Hand them over to the MPAA thugs.

never done this before...looking where on paypal, is this the same as filing a "merchandise dispute - buyer protection"?

I've never done it either, but I think that's the one. You didn't get what you paid for (you paid for an authentic copy of the movie) so by all means, get your $$ back.

 

[pillage2001]

LOL, what was the return address to Malaysia? Let me check it out for you and see what I can do. Those discs prolly cost 1.50 at best.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: pillage2001
LOL, what was the return address to Malaysia? Let me check it out for you and see what I can do. Those discs prolly cost 1.50 at best.

I've since thrown away the packaging (padded envolope), but if I recall correctly there wasn't a return address.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Just submitted the claim to paypal.

 

[Compton]

Many of the dvds on ebay are bootlegs. Even though they can be low quality, some of them are a good deal.

 

[elanarchist]

yup, malaysia is the center for bootleg dvd's in SE Asia, no chance in hell that's real, why would a region one DVD have Thai, Chinese, and Malay subtitles? but, aside from that its a really well done copy - still wouldn't cost more than 5 dollars on the streets of Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur though

 

[DJFuji]

lol from the thread title i thought you meant you bought one of those overpriced "copy dvd's on your home computer today!" ebay deals. I was going to email you a slap to the face haha.

I dunno, i guess i'd report it to ebay or paypal but i wouldn't be all that heartbroken since in essence you probably paid significantly under retail and you got a version that for most intensive purposes is functionally identical to the real one. It's kind of like buying a bootleg CD that has identical CD notes and silkscreening but for half the price of a real one. Yeah it's not technically "real," but it's not as if you have a defective product...

 

[SilentZero]

Originally posted by: vshah
not much you can do......MPAA would be your best bet i think...

-Vivan

Agreed!

 

[0roo0roo]

eh ebay hides behind the law. if it didn't "know" of the illegal activity .. its not liable. i just don't buy that stuff off ebay anymore...its rampant and theydon't do anything about it. they don't care. unless someone alerts them, they are not at all liable.

 

[sonambulo]

you wrote out all that crap for seven bucks?

man you could have panhandled fifty in the amount of time it took to type that out.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

If it works the same, and you got it cheap, I don't see the problem.

 

[hjo3]

I've also been "gotten" by DVD pirates on eBay. But mine claimed to be in Maryland and shipped from the Philippenes. Very badly copied DVD too -- audio was okay but the video looked compressed and seemed to play at a weird frame rate (like 18 fps). Also no proper packaging, just a plastic sleeve. Also got burned on a DVD set from China. I've pretty much given up on buying legit DVDs on eBay. Now I just use Amazon's "used & new" pseudo-auction thing.

 

[bernse]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
eh ebay hides behind the law. if it didn't "know" of the illegal activity .. its not liable. i just don't buy that stuff off ebay anymore...its rampant and theydon't do anything about it. they don't care. unless someone alerts them, they are not at all liable.

Bunch of hyporcrites is what they are. They are planning on stopping auctions of all (if they haven't already) "assault rife" parts even though they are totally legal... but allow crap like this were sellers are knowingly mis-representing themselves and product.

I wish there was another auction site about as big as them that could give them a run.

 

[Ludacris]

Here is what you do:

Use common sense and don't buy stuff off e-bay. All you suckers think you are getting a good deal and all you are doing is getting ripped off constantly. I know a woman at my job that was selling replica items of some really expensive jewelry and selling them on e-bay like they were the real deal. She made a killing off the idiots buying off e-bay and she laughs about it everytime at work when we talk about it. She even buys stuff at the Dollar Store and sells it for a few bucks more on E-Bay.

I just don't see how you people can roll the dice and take chances with your money buying from strangers off e-bay. Think about it. There are more dishonest people in this world than honest people and you are better off spending a few bucks more just buying it brand new at a retail store or online seller.

 

[badluck]

you are putting way too much time into this for the amount of money you are out. file the chargeback, be done with it...if for whatever reason that doesn't work.....so be it.

 

[Futher]

I wouldn't make a big fuss over 7 bucks. At least you didn't lose $2,500 on a powerbook like I did =/

 

[dquan97]

I'd contact paypal over this

 

[newnameman]

http://www.mpaa.org/anti-piracy/contact/index.htm

Anyone with information on suspected video piracy operations is urged to call the MPAA at 1-800-NO-COPYS (1-800-662-6797). Callers who provide information that leads to the arrest and conviction of persons engaged in video piracy may be eligible for a reward. A separate reward will be paid to the first person who provides the location of a pirate video lab. The pirate lab must consist of 30 or more VCRs at one location used to produce unauthorized copies of MPAA member company motion pictures.

Information may also be furnished via E-Mail if directed to the email Hotline at the MPAA in Encino, California. Informants may remain anonymous if requested.