Tarnower

Being the novice DVD buyer that I am, I was burnt just recently when I attempted to purchase a copy of "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom" (Criterion) from a seller on ebay. I wound up with a bootleg copy from overseas. Spent $100.00 and got a friggin' bootleg!!!

I am now wanting to buy the Criterion edition of "The Silence of the Lambs" from either ebay or amazon.com's new/used sellers department.

Is there any way to tell, whether it be in the use of seller's text or the way they describe the disc, if the copy may be a bootleg.

Maybe someone can tell me of a few sellers out there that they recommend as being honest and legit. Or, maybe some sellers' and/or areas of the country that are known to sell bootlegs or rip people off.

I hate to get taken again.

Thanks for any help.

imp66

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Poink

I guess an easy thing to do is check his current and past/complete auctions on ebay and see just how many "RARE OOP" copies of the same movie (or others) he's sold recentyl. I mean, if someone has racked up 10+ sales on Salo dvds, you know they probably aren't orignal.

Silience of the Lambs probably has less of a bootleg ratio since it's not really worth that much more than it's orignal retail price yet.

Class316

How’s this for advice:

For Salo, get the R0 UK version that is a better transfer than the Criterion version and even has 14 seconds of footage not in the Criterion one. It's a few hundred dollars less than the non-bootleg R1 (by the way, the movie sucks)

For Silence of the lambs, the MGM version has superior picture and sound and is anamorphic.

Tarnower

I could not agree with you more on "Salo."

The movie is absolutely terrible; one of the ten worst films I think I've ever seen.

I blindly bought it because I have been so curious most of my life to see it.

It began when I was just a young pup in the 70s and was at a bookstore leafing through a copy of After Dark magazine. The mag had a number of still shots from "Salo," and they were so incredibly in-your-face with depravity and gruesomeness that they boredered on snuff filmmaking. I always remembered that film title and thought that if I ever had the opportunity to view it, I would simply have to --- just to see if I could even sit through it .

Well, the film is hard to sit throught, but not for those reasons. It's incredibly dull, lifeless, pointless and even amateurish (I don't care if Passolini was considered a genius; the movie resembles that of a student filmmaker without proper knowledge).

That is the last time I ever pay so much for something I'm not sure about. I would just normally throw this piece of dogcrap out, but I paid $100.00 for it. It's gonna just dryrot on my shelving, I guess. I'm so pissed at myself for wasting money on it.

Class316

That doesn’t necessarily work. What people do with bootlegs is 3 days auctions on the weekend so that the auction would end before ebay closes it. Then when the auction ends ebay usually shuts down the auction a couple of days later. So you see no record of it.

So put it on ebay and get $100 for it! That is what I would do. And if you MUST have Salo on your shelf just for the hell of it use a portion of that $100 you get back to buy the R0 UK one.

graphic comparision http://207.136.67.23/film/dvdcompare/salo.htm

the_dude8

i got burned once on the bootleg silence of the lamb from ebay, and i would never ever buy OOP Criterion from ebay again. reasons being:
1. there are many bootlegs out there
2. OOP Criterion dvds are very very expensive on ebay.

the bootleg silence of the lamb i got has a pics of Sir anathony hopkins on the cover, and there is no insert for the dvd.

FuzzyBallz

Hmm... that's strange, I bought a boat load of factory sealed DVDs off ebay and they are all originals and on average $10 cheaper than amazon or bestbuy prices. Make sure you read the fine prints and details of the auction, feedbacks of seller, and location item is being ship from. I'd avoid all overseas auctions. Damn pirates.

Buck Turgidson

That's the most important thing: make sure you get the right cover. The one w/ Hopkins, while amusing, is not legit. You really shouldn't have the sort of problems that come w/ Salo or The 400 Blows in looking for The Silence of the Lambs. It's relatively cheap (ususally in the $50 range, which is about what I paid for mine) and relatively plentiful.

Just look for a long record of positive feedback for the seller and you're probably in good shape.

The Nature Boy

Usually, most guys selling DVD's out of their trunk are selling bootlegs.

DeputyDave

How do you spot a seller of bootleg DVDs?
Really bad B.O.

Heat

You can always send the seller a message asking them. Be polite and non-judgemental, just ask something like: "Is the DVD of Silence of the Lambs that you are selling the original factory sealed DVD, or is it a bootleg?"

Most of the time, if it is a bootleg, the seller would just ignore you. If he does say that it is the factory original, and you win the auction, pay with a credit card. That way, if you receive a bootleg, you can dispute the charges.

Edit: If you pay via credit card through Paypal and are unhappy with the purchase, you can't dispute it to the seller since the credit card company paid Paypal. And with Paypal, you would need to work through their procedures to show why the item was bad (I don't know what this entails, but it will be much harder than if you had worked with your creditcard company).

jough

If the title of the film is "Star Wars: The Original Trilogy", it's probably a bootleg.

If the title says "Schindler's List" on it - it's probably a bootleg.

Until November, if the guy says he's selling original Indiana Jones movies - yep, bootleg.

If they brag about DTS on a Criterion title - it's a bootleg.

If there's a "DVD 9" sticker on the front of the case, it's a bootleg.

If it's on Ebay, and the seller is not from the U.S. - chances are, it's a bootleg.

Good luck.

-- Jough

Brent L

This really has nothing to do with this, but I recently bought the OOP Silence of the Lambs Criterion DVD off of eBay for just $10. I don't think they were too aware of it being OOP or whatever, as in the title of the auction they just had it listed as Silence of the Lambs. I clicked on it with the idea of buying the other version, and then I saw that the picture was that of the Criterion version. So yeah, I bid and won it right then and there, heh.

buckee1

Not true,
I've had two incidents with crappy sellers that I paid through Paypal. I immediately notified Paypal of the fraud and they initiated an investigation and within two weeks I was fully reimbursed for my losses. In this case, Paypal works much better than any credit card company I've dealt with.

bboisvert

That's actually not a very good way at all... for example, using your system I would be labeled as a bootlegger, even though I've never sold a boot in my life. Sometimes sellers wait until they have several copies of something before putting them up on eBay... then it becomes a simple process to just hit "relist" every week rather than juggling a bunch of new auctions.


A much better way is to check and actually read the feedback files. If someone on eBay is selling bootlegs, the feedback will make it clear within the first page or two... there will be some negatives talking about bootlegs or "chinese characters on cover", there will be neutrals that say "OK quality, but didn't mention it is a copy", etc. If someone is selling bootlegs, it WILL get mentioned in the feedback... just look there.

If the person does not have adequate feedback -- zero or some other low number -- look elsewhere. I wouldn't trust a new seller to provide me with a rare title.

Heat

I meant that you might not be able to dispute it with your credit card, that you need to go through Paypal.