I'm not sure what to do.

[Belldandy16]

Ok, so i buy this off of ebay..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=016
im really happy to get almost the whole series of IY since i havent seen it all and really want to watch it in order.
so i got it today and started watching it today and... that old mexican saying came true (the cheap comes out expensive)
yup, its incomplete. there's at least three episodes missing from the first set, and who knows how many others from the next (ive been watching the missing episodes on youtube)
ugh!
aw man i wanna cry.

i dont care about the money, i just wanted to watch my show.

plus i think these are pirated dvds.
does anyone know, is there a way to tell for sure if they are?

well anyways,
my thing is, i hate leaving negative feedback. even if the transaction has been kinda crummy i still leave positive feedback (because beforehand ive been afraid of them retaliating and leaving me negative feedback- but since ebay changed that im safe i guess). but this is the first time ive really been mad enough to leave negative feedback.

but what should i say?
that she misled me? i mean she didnt say it was incomplete but it looks by her listing that it would be complete (ya know up to the hundred fourty- something episode).
man.

and i cant afford to get the series from the store.

ugh. i guess ill have to just look at the dvds and youtube.

sorry guys, this is more of me just being upset and venting again. ugh.

thanks for listening!

[MDKiller1]

Hello

Sorry to hear that happen to you. However it has opened my eyes as well. I have the same set of dvd's. I havent beenable to watch all of the first box yet so I didnt know it was missing Eps.

I only have the first 4 box sets. So now I need to know what I can do to get the WHOLE thing. As I was collecting them one at a time.

I also look forward to hearing what to do.

Thanks

[Belldandy16]

thanks for telling me this!
where did you get your sets from?
perhaps its just mine thats missing the episodes.

in mine there are three disks in each and on the first disk all are there (ep 1 to 4) but the second disk skips to ep 7 (so i had to go to youtube to get them).

i havent checked out the rest of the sets yet. i dont know, i hope thats the only one thats messed up (but i have a feeling there are more).

thank you again!

(i think once i get the money back up again later next year ill probably just go to the store and buy the official dvds. i really love this series and id really like to have all of them to watch instead of going back and forth from the youtube to the tv. )

[chibikitty2045]

Sorry to hear that.

I think they knew what they were doing seeing how they put they do not take refunds or 'compliants'

you should try to talk to them through ebay
and tell her that you think its pirated and that it was misleading seeing how they have all the episodes listed in the auction description.

They are pirated as I have the same set, though they were not missing any episodes. I think the japanese box sets come with 4 or 5 disks like the american box sets. And from the image on ebay the dvd covers are not that clear as if they were the genuine items

try to resolve it with the person first
they do not except complaints means nothing, you could still leave negative feedback or a neutral if they refuse to deal with the issue

Good luck

[ReiTheJelly]

I would file a complaint through eBay and Paypal. Selling bootlegs is illegal, so you should get your money back. Not to mention that the item was "not as described" since it is NOT complete.

[Moop]

As everyone has said, the seller is not allowed to refuse you a refund in a case where an item is not as described. If you're not sure how to begin resolving the issue, go here. (There are even some lovely illustrations to help with the process. ) And don't forget you have limited time to file a complaint, so try not to mull it over for too long!

[klet]

Does the back of the DVDs list them as Region 0 or All Region? If so, they are definitely bootlegs. Another clue is if the DVDs have an abnormally large amount of episodes on each disc. Most US anime DVDs have 3 or 4 episodes per disc. Bootlegs tend to have closer to 7. Japanese DVDs can have as few as 2.

But, yeah, it's illegal to sell bootlegs, and Ebay has apparently been cracking down on that recently (some of the major bootleg dealers have been taken completely off Ebay).

[Grico]

Those are definitely bootlegs, they don't look at all like the US release edition. They should say they are released by Viz and according to amazon season 5 hasn't even been released yet in boxset form let alone the rest. When buying stuff on ebay you should check places like amazon to see what the official region 1 set should look like. A good 50% or more of the anime sets on ebay are bootlegs.

[Sugarflower]

I like how the seller took a spined photo instead of photos for the front/back of the DVD cases.

Here is a little page describing how to spot a bootleg anime dvd.

And way back in the day when I used to buy bootlegs I used this site for checking reviews on their quality and additional information on disc, boxsets, etc. You may even find your sets on here to determine if they are bootlegs.

If you happen to see a little logo anywhere on there that says "FX" or "EZ" then they are definitely bootlegs. I used to buy from that company as they would directly copy the american dvds. The auction photo from your sets look very suspiciously like the FX or EZ bootlegs. For example box set #7.

[Belldandy16]

thank you so much everyone for your help!
yes it does say "FX" on the back (heh its funny, right next to those letters it says "WARNING: ...the copying and distribution of this video is illegal and subject to legal action...")
heh!

well thank you again everyone!

i will be more careful with who i deal with and remember to ask questions next time.
(thanks for the links on how to spot bootlegs!)

wow that was an expensive lesson.

[RoboFlonne]

Anything FX is bootleg! You should get a refund and buy a cel with the money!

[buma]

I'd first email the seller and state the problem. If that doesn't gain any headway, then the second step is lodge a compalaint with ebay & paypal as the item is not as described and not an item that is normally allowed to be sold on Ebay (if that is in fact the case that these are bootlegs and Ebay has a policy against it...). If this works, and you get your money back in a good manor, then I'd maybe file a neutral (or good, if you're feeling generous mood) feedback and be happy you dodged a bullet this time.

The problem is, if the seller doesn't have any money in his PP account and he/she refuses to pay (by not using the account again), there isn't much that either PP or Ebay can or will do other than shut down this person's account. You could leave negative feedback, but it looks like this seller doesn't use this site all too often over the years...


But really, one should do research on the anime dvd's you buy from ebay and avoid at all costs bootleg items. You get a far inferior product and no one other than the bootleggers get any money out of them.

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

Definitely e-mail the seller. You can be fooled even when you know what you're looking for sometimes. I'm usually pretty good about spotting bootlegs, but I accidentally bid on a bootleg CD a bit back. The auction picture had been "meh", but I saw it for what it was as soon as I got it. I confronted the seller immediately, they backed down FAST and gave me my money back. They don't want to be reported. (Of course, I still reported the loser.)

So tell the seller this is unacceptable, get your money back and report them to Ebay.

Oh, and if they have ANYthing attached to their Paypal account, be it bank account or credit card, Paypal will automatically pull the money from that in case of a dispute. I'm going to guess, the seller still has those things attached to the paypal account.

[duotrouble]

Well, I have to throw in my 2 cents also.

First, the seller doesn't deserve your positive feedback. This is a case where I would give either neutral feedback or none at all. But since the seller only has 11 feedback to begin with, then negative feedback is also a good option. You don't want anyone else feeling the way you do. You have the power to stop that. It does seem like it could be a minor issue so I personally would stick with neutral unless things heat up in your dispute.

Which brings me to my second point, file a dispute. Moop gave you a good place to go for that. You're an unsatisfied customer as in you didn't receive what you thought you were buying. I recently fell into that same problem except my seller gave refunds if the item was returned unopened. The instant I saw the DVD packaging I knew it was a bootleg although the listing clearly stated US DVD release. I did receive my refund and left no feedback.

And finally third, while a cute link and somewhat helpful that Sugarflower gave you, it is flawed. One of the statements is "If the anime comes in an fold out style case then it's a bootleg. No official US dvds use this style of packaging." This is not true. I have an official US DVD release that looks like what is pictured but it's not CB. My suggestion on how to determine a bootleg vs official is to research places like Amazon to see what they are selling. Also if Chinese subs are listed, you have yourself a bootleg.

If you have to go the step of a dispute through PayPal, be sure to never close it on your own. Let PayPal worry about closing it. I left a dispute open over a matching sketch to one of my cels I paid for but never received. A little over a year later, the guy tried to use his PayPal account again and I got my money back. PayPal then closed the dispute.

Best of luck to you!

[miz ducky]

1. Japanese official dvds (to the best of my knowledge) do not have an English subtitle track.

2. It would be a safe bet, to say that ALL OTHER DVDS sold as IMPORTS are BOOTLEGS!

3. If it SOUNDS too good to be true, do your own research, it probably is fake.