I've been on the search for a used Kill Bill Vol. 1 DVD on eBay, and I've noticed something and it's not not a good thing. Almost every single copy of Kill Bill that I've looked at on eBay has been some sort of boot. I thought that maybe it's just a bunch of morons trying to cash in on the amazing popularity of Kill Bill while they can, and decided to start looking for another DVD that I'm really in search of...this one being Down With Love. But, just like Kill Bill, most that I've seen are also boots of some sort.

I've never personally had a huge problem with this before, and I'm always looking around on eBay for things now and then. Over the past few weeks though, it's just getting totally out of hand.

I know that eBay does not like to close down all of these auctions, because that just means that they do not get the bucks for the auctions, but still. If they don't do something to put an end to this, and soon, people will start leaving eBay (as far as looking for DVDs, etc...).

While I'm at it, I've noticed more and more people offering a single DVD for sale, a real one, and it looks to be a great deal. Then when you really look into it the shipping is $10, or even more. That's another problem that I've seen that's really starting to get out of hand.

Ok, now I'm just ranting. There is one more thing that I've started to hate and it's the fact that so many sellers are now just posting an auction using the UPC, and not giving any description whatsoever. Any number of those could be boots also. We don't get a real picture of the item for sale, and they don't even bother to say a SINGLE word about the item.

Ugh.

I've been an eBay member for years, since 1998 or so. I hate to see the problems with video games and DVDs get so bad like this. There are still obviously plenty of people with legit items, who are great sellers and there are still plenty of great deals to be found, but I'm just getting worried that if something isn't done now, it'll just get worse, and worse, and worse.

There, I'm finished. I just wanted to get that off my chest.

I'm with you, man. In fact, I started a thread much like this one a couple months ago. People are definitely in agreement, but they believe eBay won't do anything due to the fact that they're making money.

Here's my thread: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...highlight=ebay

Yes, I think it is getting worse.

The key is to make sure to buy from a reputable seller. Always check feedback. Buy from people who have (a) been around for a long time and (b) have great feedback.

Also, make sure to actually read the first few pages of feedback, even if it is mostly positive. People sometimes leave a positive or neutral comment that says "Bootleg copy, but plays great."

There is only so much eBay can do. They have millions of items on there at once, so that can't check every single auction out. Try reporting the auction, they may look at it then.

As the older topic says, people do report things but they never do anything about this stuff. I went through a period where I reported EVERY boot that I saw, DVDs and video games, and not once...not ONCE, did I ever see them do anything about it.

Perhaps the guys over eBay are just morons?

The shipping thing is getting pretty bad, so are the boots, but here's my recent problem - sellers refusing to honor final auction values. I recently won an item for $2.25, when items like it were going $10+. The seller refused my Paypal payment and told me that event though he knew I was going to leave negative feedback (done) it didn't matter as he wasn't going to sell for that price. E-mailed eBay and they told me they would note the seller's account and to leave negative feedback (I knew they couldn't do much else).

It's getting bad. I like Half.com alot now.

Me too, and it's really too bad eBay will eventually shut down half.com. With all the things happening between ebay and Half (recent coupon, BuyItNow listings on Half, ebay search engine, etc), you can see it coming very soon too. Word is middle/late '04. Well at least they survived longer than originally planned.

Having dealt on ebay as a buyer and seller for years my conclusion is that ebay will do what it wants, when it wants and to whom it wants!

ebay bought half.com as well as paypal. what next?

I'm glad I found this thread........a little of topic but just so you all know, I have stopped visiting Ebay (and it's sister sites half.com etc...) because of hackers - not the "I'm just crusing your computer" kind either - I'm talking full blown invasions.

I'm done with all of it.

Could you go into that a little bit more? What exactly do you mean by "hackers" and "full blown invasions"?

What does that have anything to do with eBay?

Ok, here's the deal:

Without even being logged into Ebay, I was browsing through some goods and I got a pop-up message that said "warning!!! Don't let people do this to your computer!!!" then my rom drive kept opening and closing - no big deal, I just deleted the hack network connection (in my network places) and deleted all my temp internet files.

A few days later while browsing through Ebay, it happened again, only this time the message said "don't let them do this to you!!!" then my rom drive did the same thing but I also had a nice little extra feature added this time - programs opening and closing and my shut down box kept popping up.

Now keep in mind, this only happened when I went on Ebay - I'm not saying for sure if it is Ebay alone but I will never go back - that's just me - if you're cool like a billion other people are, then so be it, but I'm not lying about this and it has me so pissed off that I'm through with it.

I'm new to this ebay stuff. I won an auction for the 1st time a few weeks ago (5/3). End price was $41. Seller did not specify the shipping charge in the auction so I emailed them to get the final price. Over the next few days I did not get a response. I emailed again. On 5/7 I get a reply from the seller who tells me they had a computer virus and sorry for the delay. I also get an invoice which indicates $5 shipping. Great!

So I immediately send a payment directly from my bank account through PayPal. On 5/10 the money actually clears my account. About a week goes by since payment and I have received nothing and zero communication from the seller. I email them again asking what is the status, has the item been shipped? I have since emailed the seller a 3rd time since payment and still no response. So now here I sit two weeks after payment, completely in the dark.

So is this excusable or should I do something? Is there anything I CAN do? It is just annoying that this person already has my money and seemingly ignores my attempts to communicate. I have no problem waiting for a reasonable time if they are just busy, or on vacation, or whatever. It seems to me like common curtesy to let me know what is going on.

E-Boot is not what it used to be. I bought the "Alias" Season 1 and 2 box set from someone in Asia. The ad CLEARLY said factory sealed/new. It was sealed alright, but not "factory" new. Not only were they boots, they looked USED! And three of the discs wouldn't even play. I kept writing the seller, but not once did she respond. So I contacted Ebay and they told me to put in a claim with PayPal. Which I did. What a joke. They did absolutely nothing. I had a few very nasty e-mail exchanges with them until I finally told them to go reproduce themselves. Oh, did I mention the seller had been suspended a few days after my transaction with them?

Damn, talk about having a bad experience..........you should have sent them e-mail after the seller was susupended saying "see Jerk off, I told ya!!"

taa455 - I would file a claim with PayPal. You might be able to get your money back. The lesson to be learned is ALWAYS pay with a credit card on PayPal! At least if PayPal doesn't rule in your favor, you can always dispute the charge with your credit card company.

Rival11 - I have NEVER heard of something like this happening JUST from visiting a website. Are you sure you didn't accidentally install something on your computer? Do you have a firewall and/or a router at home? VERY strange.

Actually, it was Ebay who informed me this person's account was no longer active. I thought "Huh!?" So I looked at their profile and sure enough, they were suspended. When I told Ebay and the Pay Pal claim department that they were suspended for a reason, their response was "Thank you for contacting PayPal. I cannot release that information to you per our Privacy Policy. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again." And my response to that was "I wasn't asking you to share this information with me, only that they were suspended for a reason so therefore you should move forward with my claim". Which they continued to tell me they could not reverse this transaction or issue a refund. Ebay and PayPal are just as bad as the seller if not worse IMO. This is fraud, and they just stand by idle and let it happen.

You're really leaving me speechless - that's crazy stuff and they shouldn't be getting away with it.

I also love how they tell you they can't reverese the transaction or give you a refund without and explanation...............wait, I'm guessing they did give you explanation but I'm not sure I'm ready to hear it...or am I?

I know It's sounds weird but it's true, I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Yes, I have the latest versions of Norton and I use privacy keeper (all temp int. files, windows temp folder items, cookies, recent docs and tons more are deleted everytime I close my last IE window) and Spy sweeper.

I don't know if somebody had a lock on me or something, but it did suck. have any ideas on what happened?

(for anyone questioning me: I'm not a spy who goes into forums bashing Ebay, I have a life and a damn good one).

They gave me no explanation. Here is the first e-mail from Ebay followed by PayPal's first response. And it just got ugly(ier) from there:

We have investigated your report. At this time, the seller you reported
is no longer a registered user. This occurs when a user cancels his or
her membership or the membership is suspended. Once a membership is
cancelled or suspended, the user is unable to bid, sell, or leave or
receive feedback on the eBay site. Due to privacy concerns, I am not at
liberty to discuss specific details of any action taken. I hope you
understand this position and that it assures you that your personal
account history will always remain private. Contact PayPal - PayPal provides a number of services to eBay members
who have purchased an item that was not received or was misrepresented.



And from PayPal:
Per our User Agreement, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy only applies to
the
shipment of goods and does not apply to disputes about the attributes
or
quality of goods received. Therefore, we regret to inform you that we
are
unable to reverse this transaction or issue a refund. We encourage you
to
continue to work directly with the seller to amicably resolve this
dispute
and apologize for any inconvenience.

PayPal does not tolerate fraud or illegal activities. Your complaint
has
been noted in the record of the PayPal user you reported. If we find
this
user has violated our policies, we will investigate and take
appropriate
action. If this occurs, you may be contacted in the future about the
status
of this complaint.


And all this after I: 1) Reported the condition of the merchandise and 2) Told them the seller has not once responded any of my e-mails.

This verse alone makes me want to F****** puke:

And from PayPal:
Per our User Agreement, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy only applies to
the
shipment of goods and does not apply to disputes about the attributes
or
quality of goods received. Therefore, we regret to inform you that we
are
unable to reverse this transaction or issue a refund. We encourage you
to
continue to work directly with the seller to amicably resolve this
dispute
and apologize for any inconvenience.

Not only is it a pre-defined message they send with ALL their complaints they recevie, you would think the original expert who came up with this line would be more creative. Sorry, but it's one of the things I hate most.

They talked to you like you never asked them your questions and even worse, they could care less.

And what user agreement? *I* most certainly didn't agree to this

Exactly, I also like how it borders on making no sense at all.

If paypal got involved in quality of goods disputes then it would mean hiring an army of people, higher fees and horror stories galore. How do you handle a dispute when you have no idea who is telling the truth?

I agree completely with this. It’s such a scam, and when this comes up in other forums for discussion, you always get the sellers who defend it by saying, “you don’t like, don’t bid on it.”

I guess that’s DVD Talk code for “I admit that I’m a punk-ass scammer.”

I stopped charging for shipping (my fees were never out of control to begin with) last year, and my sales improved greatly. Once Half.com is gone, it will be a dark day for people who are trying to get rid of absolute crap that nobody else around them will take.

The "if you don't like it don't bit on it" line is such BS, and anyone who says that should just be slapped on the spot. If someone who lives in the US sells a single DVD to someone else living in the US, in no way does it cost $10+ to ship it to you. It's a scam when people charge $10+ for shipping, and that's all there is to it. People like that would be banned from eBay as well if you ask me.

Heck, I recently sent a single DVD to the UK and it ended up being less than $5 to ship it to that location.