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Bought a fake DVD on eBay
RealityRocks
Posts: 4,215 Forum Member
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Hi All, I bought a DVD the other day on eBay listed as 'New & Sealed PAL Region 2 Disney Beauty and the Beast Special Edition'.
When it came, alarm bells started ringing because as much as it was indeed sealed, the box didn't look quite right, there were strange spaces in the text and the embossing was slightly offset etc. It had a an 'authenticity hologram' and even an advertisement for Disney Reward Points on it, but it didn't look quite perfect. Also, it was labelled Region 1 (NTSC?) not PAL.
Anyway, I opened it up and sure enough the DVD looked ridiculously low quality in terms of printing, and there were no reward points inside. I tested it out on my portable DVD player (just in case) and it spins up really noisily as if it's not quite flat.
The menus are so-so, picture quality is washed out and quite stripy (though this might be to do with it being a R1?) and the sound OK but a bit on the quiet side.
I contacted the seller who didn't reply other than to give me an immidiate refund. He has 100% positive feedback but some of the positives are 'fake DVD arrived, full refund issued' type feedbacks. He sells a lot of the same movie over and over and I think it's pretty clear he's selling high(ish) quality fakes.
Thing is - will eBay do anything about it? Yes I have my refund but surely these fakes might be being used in good faith as gifts etc and I'm also worried that the unstable spinning of the disc might actually damage DVD players.
Should I leave a negative feedback or a neutral, I don't want to leave a positive because even though I was refunded it was still annoying to get a fake.
When it came, alarm bells started ringing because as much as it was indeed sealed, the box didn't look quite right, there were strange spaces in the text and the embossing was slightly offset etc. It had a an 'authenticity hologram' and even an advertisement for Disney Reward Points on it, but it didn't look quite perfect. Also, it was labelled Region 1 (NTSC?) not PAL.
Anyway, I opened it up and sure enough the DVD looked ridiculously low quality in terms of printing, and there were no reward points inside. I tested it out on my portable DVD player (just in case) and it spins up really noisily as if it's not quite flat.
The menus are so-so, picture quality is washed out and quite stripy (though this might be to do with it being a R1?) and the sound OK but a bit on the quiet side.
I contacted the seller who didn't reply other than to give me an immidiate refund. He has 100% positive feedback but some of the positives are 'fake DVD arrived, full refund issued' type feedbacks. He sells a lot of the same movie over and over and I think it's pretty clear he's selling high(ish) quality fakes.
Thing is - will eBay do anything about it? Yes I have my refund but surely these fakes might be being used in good faith as gifts etc and I'm also worried that the unstable spinning of the disc might actually damage DVD players.
Should I leave a negative feedback or a neutral, I don't want to leave a positive because even though I was refunded it was still annoying to get a fake.
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Comments
You got a refund, don't feedback them and just forget about it
I will always buy my DVDs in HMV from now on, better to support a struggling shop than a fraudster!
Read ebay seller feedback before committing to buy. It's what other buyers left their feedback for.
"To report the sale of counterfeit DVDs call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or go to www.crimestoppers-uk.org "
Also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3887189.stm
But seeing 'fake DVD' would cause me to not buy
The eBay seller is banking on complacency from a lot of his customers, which is why he gives refunds without quibbling. Enough people won't complain so he gets away with it and still makes a profit.
Feedback is pointless for this type of thing. The seller is breaking the law and eBay needs to be told directly.
What is pointless is not alerting the buying public to fact you had a negative experience with a manifestly poor seller.
i would forget about it, and if you want a DVD , just buy from Amazon