So if I buy an original Picasso for $10 million and I'm given a fake that I can't readily spot as such, that's no harm no foul?

Good point -- I don't get this either. The MPAA is all over the torrent and newgroup indexing sites. Yet eBay has tons more visibility and they do nothing about it. At least that we can see -- though groups like the MPAA/RIAA like trumpeting their "busts" so I don't see them being quiet about it if they actually did something. Financially speaking, the eBay bootleggers are worse. With illegal downloading, there's an argument that most downloaders would probably be too cheap/uninterested to buy the movie anyway. Plus there's usually not profit involved. But eBay bootleggers are scamming people who think they're getting a legit release, just for a better price. In many cases, that IS money going directly from the company into the hands of people breaking the law. Yet I see the same bootleggers in business for years in some cases.

I haven't bought DVDs from eBay in years. It already was too hard to tell the legit guys from the bootleggers. Plus, nowadays so many things seem to eventually get a DVD release, at least in some region of the world. Though to the point of the OP, it's really really sneaky to fake security stickers.

I almost ended up buying one of these myself. I know it's a sad title to want but I saw an Enter The Ninja DVD done exactly the same. Sealed and with a security label, really official looking. The UK one is cut to hell so when I saw one of these auctions I thought it had finally got a legit R1 release. All I can say is I'm glad I checked Rewind/DVD Compare and a couple of other sites first.

I've already been stung by one eBay seller, I received a DVD-R instead of a proper DVD. It was easy enough to get a refund but my disappointment scarred me for life! ;) Seriously though, nothing worse than opening up that DVD you've been after for ages only to find it's something somebody downloaded of the net and burned to DVD-R.

Help....I need other DVD Talkers' opinion on this one. I just received this DVD from an eBay auction, and it's clearly a bootleg or an Asian import:

eBay Auction 260002756908

What I need to know is, did I exercise due diligence in bidding on this, or am I to blame for my own carelessness? (I don't see anything in this auction to indicate this is an ersatz DVD, or cheap Chinese crap). Thanks.

The seller being in Malaysia should have been your first red flag.

OK, but the auction says "Item location: New York, United States".

Couple of things I noticed. He has his feedback set to private, that is a HUGE red flag for a scammer. Also, he mentions no insert, that is a way the bootleg dealers try to get around giving a refund, although nowadays alot of legit dvd's don't have inserts so this particular seller is definitely at fault. I would ask for a refund and if he refuses submit a request to Paypal (if you paid with them) and tell them what you received was a fake. Don't just let the thing go and let that scammer get away with it!

It's weird how the music industry finds people who download via proxy server in the dead of night yet these guys ADVERTISE in broad daylight and it's as if Ebay collects so much in fees that they don't care.

I've gotten burned twice on Ebay, both times it was on something with a "stock" photo. You should ask a seller to email you a pic if they haven't posted it.

Having said that, I bought a dvd once that I knew was a bootleg (because it's never been released) and I don't feel bad because the Studios left me no other option.

But yeah, private feedback is an immediate NO.

I think his piss poor English would have turned me away.

For example, "We are accept Paypal only".

Well you should. Like I stated before, you are inconspicuously an accessory, and obliviously promoting the crime of illegal piracy, by patronizing the cozenage.

We're all entitled to our opinion.

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If it is a pirated copy, then the auction description is misleading. If it is a legitimate but imported disc, then you made some assumptions... reasonable assumptions, but assumptions none the less. As stated by others, private feedback is a warning sign. Deliberately deceptive "location" makes the warning sign a confirmed "to be avoided".... and exposes the intent of the seller.

A long-winded way to say, you've got a legitimate gripe.

That dvd is around $14 shipped from DDD. Why go through all the trouble and headaches of wondering if you've bought a bootleg just to save, what, $6?

You know what I have been lucky with buying dvd's off ebay. I have bought 3 titles off ebay and all have been legit titles.

Mind you I wasn't buying really known titles and I did a look around first

I have only ever bought Rad off of ebay as a bootleg. But I knew long before I purchased it that it was going to be a boot. Only reason I bought it is because it seems as though it will never come out on DVD.

Lesson learned.

Exactly. Probably the biggest problem with bootlegs is that even if they're "pressed" DVDs, you can end up with a DVD-5 where the content has been transcoded at a much lower bitrate from a DVD-9 with a pretty significant loss of quality. You may not even notice it unless you compare the bootleg to the real thing, but don't you want the best DVD possible?

One good way to test DVDs is to put them in a DVD-ROM drive and select "Get Info" on a Mac or "Properties" on a PC to check the data capacity of the disc. I've had pressed bootlegs show up as DVD+R discs according to the dialog box. It could be that they're from a DVD+R master, or I'm even wondering if some discs that look pressed might be DVD+R media with some kind of coating applied to the bottom so it doesn't look purple but can still be read. That might be a bit of a stretch, but at any rate, if there wasn't a difference in quality, it wouldn't be a bootleg.

To add to what others have said, when you see Malaysia, think bootleg. When you see private feedback (and 98.2% positive might seem high but is actually pretty bad for eBay), plus the Region code left blank, a disclaimer about no insert, etc. and do NOT see a picture of the actual item, or anything that states that it's an official release, then the chances are excellent that you're getting a bootleg.

This should not necessarily turn you off eBay as a rule, but just know what you're looking at next time. Many of us have been burned once. I would e-mail the seller and ask for a refund, though.

I could only check this against my "Breakfast Club" disk from the same release series. The movies are about the same length and have about the same amount of extras. The real disc is 6.7 GB, while the fake/import DVD comes in at only 3.75 GB. Clearly, this is not the real thing.

So if there's a movie that you really want to see (or maybe your favorite movie you saw when you were young), that has never been officially released on video (and there are thousands of movies that fit this bill), do you just accept that you may have to go years, or perhaps your whole life, without ever seeing it? When it would be possible to own a DVD of that movie for $10?

I'm not advocating bootlegging, and I understand your point, but I'm just curious. Is the line that clearly drawn for you?

If there is a particular movie of interests, not released on DVD from the studio, then I'll just have to do without. I strictly refuse to buy pirated DVDs, no matter what the circumstances are. Like for instance, If I were in the market to purchase an expensive genuine diamond ring, that's what I'm expecting to get: real diamonds, not cut glass.

The problem with your example is that there ARE genuine diamond rings available to be purchased. Now if there were NOT any genuine diamond rings for available for sale, then your example would make sense. I've never bought a bootleg myself, but I can see why some people do, when all they want is to watch a film that seems like it won't get an official release.

You don't quite understand the concept of my example in depth. There are many fraudulent, indistinguishable imitation of diamonds being sold as genuine product as well. That's my point, so it does make sense.

I understood your point just fine. You did a good job explaining it until your example convoluted it. Your point about diamonds does not make sense in this context. Say in the case of "Galaxy of Terror". There are NO region 1 copies available. Horrible cheesy movie, but many people want to see it on DVD, without having to buy an all region player, so they buy a bootleg. In the case of your diamonds, there ARE genuine diamonds available.

But, I will also conseed to you that people who knowingly buy and also manufacture bootleg DVD's that ARE legally available in Region 1 are at fault.

How could a simplistic explaination becomes so convoluted? The purpose was not meant to be an revelance to this topic of thread. That's the official definition for instance. Were not going to proceed debating repetitiously about the diamond example, since it appears beyond comprehension. Moving on...
Hypothetically speaking, There is no justification, or persuasion whatsoever to vagaring piracy into a legal right. If the consumer knowledgably choose to purchase pirated, inferior contrabanded DVDs, that's their prerogative. By law, it remains an illegal practice, regardless what the circumstances may be.

I agree with you on this point. But I can understand why some people do buy them (when there has not yet been an official release) though. Like I said earlier, I never have though.