What do I do with these illegal DVD's?

[lgh529]

I just purchased what I thought was a legal DVD set of the Batman and Robin TV shows that were on the 60's. All 120 episodes.

They showed up today and they are nothing more than burned TiVo copies from TV Land.

So now that I'm totally pissed off, I need some advice on who to complain to.

If you want to see the ebay listing, its here

I know I can probably nail this person, but who else can I get in to trouble?

[lordsmurf]

It's your own fault for assuming it was some sort of release. It's clearly not sold in stores. Nothing in that description should have led you to believe these are "legit" in any sense of the word.

You made a dumb mistake. Eat it and move on. If you want to avoid bootlegs, you need to ask more questions. Especially when it's a show known to not be released.

Seriously... 7 DVDs ... 120 episodes.... $25 .... get real.

If you want to verify if something is a DVD release inside the USA, you need to visit www.tvshowsondvd.com, www.deepdiscountdvd.com or maybe www.amazon.com. Outside the USA, a large store that carries most shows (for example, in the UK, www.amazon.co.uk or www.play.com).

[ZAPPER]

Sue E-Bay out of business

[MOVIEGEEK]

Never buy anything on eBay.
Seriously contact the seller and demand your money back(threaten them that you will contact the FBI),if they won't refund contact the webmaster and file a complaint.

[lordsmurf]

You guys fail to understand eBay doesn't give a shit. They never have. And most of those bootleggers that sell on their are not afraid of worthless threats. It was a $25 lesson learned, simple as that.

Feel free to get bent out of shape and waste more time, but nobody cares about your $25 loss, it's chicken feed. eBay already suspended the seller, and as far as anybody "in charge" is concerned, case closed.

[MOVIEGEEK]

You guys fail to understand eBay doesn't give a shit. They never have.

That's why I never have nor will ever buy anything on eBay.

[lordsmurf]

You guys fail to understand eBay doesn't give a shit. They never have.

That's why I never have nor will ever buy anything on eBay.

Precisely.

If you want to buy used DVDs, find a local store.

If you want to buy new DVDs, buy from a well-known store like amazon or deepdiscount. Or better yet, your local store. I've found that most of the supposed "discount" stores online are about 10% more expensive than a sale at Best Buy or Walmart during the week of release.

eBay is not good for everything.

[ZAPPER]

You guys fail to understand eBay doesn't give a shit. They never have.

It wouldn't hurt my feelings if they went under. About the only time that I go there is to check out some stupid link to a goofy subject or something along those lines. I have never sold or bought there, but I have heard that they do tend to let alot of this stuff go on. Not like I am an angel or anything myself.

I hope that you didn't blow to much on it, but you know the warning...Buyer Beware!

[lordsmurf]

Did you know ebay has "POWER SELLERS" that are nothing but bootleggers?
How's that for some bonafide bullshit?

[ZAPPER]

Hey LS

I have gathered from your past posts that you were somehow in journalism. You weren't an editor by any chance were you? JK.




-30-

[lordsmurf]

-30-

They don't really use that one much anymore. I forgot what the newer one is. Been a couple years since I used that stuff. Although you do still see it in press releases a bit.

[ZAPPER]

-30-

They don't really use that one much anymore. I forgot what the newer one is. Been a couple years since I used that stuff.

Thats OK, My high school print shop still had a Lineotype and platten presses.

I was just giving you a little greif over how fast and often you edit your post I am so slow to reply that you often change what seems like your whole reply before I can fire off a shot. Keep'em comming

[budz]

Of course EBAY won't do shit to the bootleggers because they're making money off of them as well. Just my 2 cents!!!! BTW Wally Worlds has the original BATMAN & ROBIN movie for under $10.00. I know cuz I bought one for myself! POW! BANG!

[lordsmurf]

I was just giving you a little greif over how fast and often you edit your post I am so slow to reply that you often change what seems like your whole reply before I can fire off a shot. Keep'em comming

Disorganized thoughts.

Sometimes hard to put them down in type, so have to go back a couple times until it sounds how I like it. You'd hate to have been my English teachers in high school and college. I write stuff all out of order, but in the end, after some editing, it's quite in order. Hated those essay tests, spent about 20 min writing an outline ("my" style of outline).

Always wrote in pencil too, so I could go back and fix mistakes. I really got into with those stupid ******* teachers that insisted on pen, as they NEVER had any reason beyond "it smears"..... tell me .... could you hold a straight face and tell me ink never smears? Crock of shit. It was ALWAYS women that did that too, men never said a thing about pencil. In fact, a couple of them said they didn't care if you wrote in blood, just keep it legible.

[lumis]

report all their auctions that are suspsious to ebay for "unauthorized copies".. do it every day, with as many accounts as you can.. watch the sellers account until it gets banned.. he'll probably try to make a new one, search for similar or the same items that he was selling before.. eventually he'll run out of credit cards, or id verifications or whatever.. it takes a bit of persistance, but you'll screw him over in the end.

[Noahtuck]

From the auction itself!!

The picture and sound are 8 out of 10 if not higher.

That right there should have been a SCREAMING clue

And that is NOT the original BATMAN serial from tv... i have the original from TV on VHS from somewhere like the 30's in black and white... you think that version was comical... you should see the original B&W version from a couple/few decades before

And i have bought a few dvd's that i knew were not official releases, and when i suspect... the first thing i do is ask "what are they sourced from?"
Do a little research if you don't know for sure that they have been released officialy on dvd...... it's not hard to do a search to see... 8)

[lordsmurf]

i have the original from TV on VHS from somewhere like the 30's in black and white... you think that version was comical... you should see the original B&W version from a couple/few decades before

1943 and 1949 ... 12 or 15 chapters each...
... and it was shown in theatres one chapter per week, not on tv.

The 1943 and 1949 ones were both released on VHS.
The 1943 one was recently released on DVD.

[Jester700]

Just a defense of eBay...
I like eBay. I buy & sell used guitars on there all the time. I've gotten so many axes in my hands that would NEVER have been possible if eBay didn't exist - ones that are not available new and are now my favorites. I've gotten bootlegs of concert videos and movies that are just not available new.

Yes, they don't care and they charge money. They aren't perfect by a long shot. I'd love to see competition for them. But come on - they're running a business. What does "mr. batman" expect them to do beyond kick the guy for illegal activity? Refund his money that they don't have? I don't want that - if they offered that it would make the cost of eBaying more that I could deal with, and it's HIS fault for not looking into it better, IMO.

Also, since there ISN'T an official release of the shows, *in reality* there are 2 options: 1) NO batman series, and 2) A cheap Batman series recorded off TV. I say enjoy what you have & learn from the experience.

[Jester700]

The old serials - yeah, they were pretty bad. There was an old Captain America one that was bad, too. But there was a Captain Marvel one that I thought was pretty decent, considering it's vintage. The worst part was the actor who played Billy Batson - he was even worse than Chuck Norris and the Anakin Skywalker portrayers, if you can believe that...

[BJ_M]

at least you got something when you paid money ..

a lot of rip offs on there also ..

[BJ_M]

one thing i noticed in her profile -- she bought a bunch of stuff at .05 and .01 in one month just to get feedback quickly ..

in fact some of the auctions where she purchased stuff clearly say they are just to get feedback .. that is really bogus IMO ..

[shelbyGT]

You guys fail to understand eBay doesn't give a shit. They never have.

That's why I never have nor will ever buy anything on eBay.

Precisely.

While I am no power ebay user/seller, I think eBay is a great idea and can save a lot of money. I haven't ever bought DVD's and the like off of them, but a lot of car stereo equipment in my car is from them. Actually, about 90% of everything in it is off of eBay. For instance THESE go for at least $100 in stores, at ebay (and other places online), you can get them for under half that price. Do some research on who is selling (for instance, I wouldn't buy from someone who has a 12 rating), and you should be in the clear. I have saved muco-dinero from buying online, both ebay and e-stores. It's not all a crock, but yes you can get taken.

[lumis]

and if you think about it, it's really not that bad of a deal.. you got all those batman dvd's for $25.. it's not like you bought the titanic dvd-r for $8 or $9.. that would have been a clear ripoff.

[MOVIEGEEK]

@shelbyGT,
I buy lots of things online and I agree you can save a lot of money but I only buy new stuff from reputable sellers.
I use www.pricegrabber.com or www.shopping.com because you get seller info and best price.Amazon.com is safe on their new stuff but I wouldn't trust the used stuff.

[shelbyGT]

Well, I guess I just take more risks. I've bought Amazon used for out of print books, and while they aren't ever mint quality, they're always legible!

And eBay just as a bit more of an inherent risk than other online places, because it's not a company you purchase from (most of the time, maybe), but a person. But, like I said, if you check up on the people beforehand and ask questions, it all should go fine. (I hope)

[zzyzzx]

report all their auctions that are suspsious to ebay for "unauthorized copies".. do it every day, with as many accounts as you can.. watch the sellers account until it gets banned.. he'll probably try to make a new one, search for similar or the same items that he was selling before.. eventually he'll run out of credit cards, or id verifications or whatever.. it takes a bit of persistance, but you'll screw him over in the end.

Another thing you can do with their auctions (using another account or help from here) is constantly ask id it's DVD-R or an original pressing.

[Noahtuck]

i have the original from TV on VHS from somewhere like the 30's in black and white... you think that version was comical... you should see the original B&W version from a couple/few decades before

1943 and 1949 ... 12 or 15 chapters each...
... and it was shown in theatres one chapter per week, not on tv.

The 1943 and 1949 ones were both released on VHS.
The 1943 one was recently released on DVD.

:P

Yeah yeah yeah I actually started writing 20-30 years prior as i was not sure of the exact date but that was not really my point, been awhile since i have even touched the tapes (years) but i thought they did air at one time on tv prior to the adam west series.

but they were still pretty funny, drove around in a normal car of the period, pretty funny.

[AlecWest]

Just a defense of eBay...

Thank you (grin). I don't buy on eBay all the time but I have bought a lot of stuff there. And the only time I was ever disappointed was when I bought a computer for a friend that arrived DOA. But, the seller agreed to take it back, paid for the shipping to send it back, and re-imbursed me when it arrived. Most of the time, IMHO, it's easy to spot the "jerks" who use eBay to sell substandard ware. I just avoid them.

FWIW, my most recent eBay purchase was an OLD video camcorder (the kind that uses full-size VHS tapes). It arrived complete with a high-impact plastic RCA carrying case and works flawlessly. And because it records directly to a VHS tape, putting the tapes into my VCR to capture them with my Hauppauge card ... later to convert to DVD ... is a piece of cake. And the quality of the captures (again, IMHO) is superb. Sometimes, old technology is easier to deal with than newfangled gadgets.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

Ebay is both good and bad. You just have to look very well in order to "detect" possible fraudulent sellers or items.
I have bought many items there and found pretty good deals.

[Cole]

Last year I had a run in on www.ebay.co.uk where I bid for (as advertised) a genuine copy of Adobe Premiere Pro 7. I won the item with a winning bid of £113.00. I duly paid up and received a well presented fake; printable CD-rom and CD sleeve made to look professional by printing logos through an ink jet printer and putting security hologram stickers on it. It was presented nicely, but it was a fake nonetheless. There were other sellers at the time selling CD-R copies, but at least they are 'honest' and mention the fact that they are selling CD-R burned copies and don't expect anyone to pay more than about £25.00.

I then went back to the site to find that the seller had pulled all of his items for sale and marked all his feedback as private so it was not available to browse. I had nothing to loose, so I emailed the seller and politely said that this was a fake and could I have my money back. Some hope...

...but he paid up!

However, my main purchases on ebay now tend to be blank DVD-Rs, VHS tapes of stuff not available on DVD, CDs and books, but I shan't wast my time with software anymore.