eBay Warning: There's Some Really High Quality Counterfeit Products Out There (1 Viewer)

[smithbrad]

Of all these bootleg sets everyone is talking about, did any of them not have a blue/purple recording surface? That has always been the telltale sign of a burnt (DVD-R) disc in the past. I'm pretty sure most (if not all) bootlegs would be tellable that way.

Most of the bootlegs these days of sets are actually "pressed" disks with accurate depictions of disk labels as well. Generally, the only way to tell now is based on the disks being single-layer instead of dual-layer and the packaging materials are typically of cheaper quality materials with possibly some blurriness to the artwork. Otherwise, they look legit.

 

[Kasey]

MISTER ED The Complete Series is another one to watch out for. I got mine before Xmas from Amazon (it was a 3rd party seller) and the cases were cheap, although the First Season played and looked fine and the outer box was not a giveaway at all. It was when I noticed S2 was missing a disc and had an extra S3 disc in its place, that I complained. They wanted to just replace the defective disc only, but when I commented it was a bootleg set, the seller refunded me full price. I just had to rebuy the S2 set on its own.

Many of those Shout sets on eBay--especially the Norman Lear ones--are definitely counterfeit. If the price seems to good to be true, it probably is. I wish I had got the Ed set from Shout when it first came out, but I wasn't into the show as much then.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

About 15 years ago i bought from Ebay a counterfeit Bond dvd and i think it was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I knew it was a burned disc because the menu did not work correctly and on the disc itself you can see the edge of the disc was not used so they did not use the whole disc to record. Got a refund and was told to keep the movie.

 

[smithbrad]

They general choose sets that do not loose there value or go on big sales, since they are going to some effort to duplicate and need to make a decent number to keep costs down. This includes complete series titles like Star Trek, Dark Shadows (coffin) and many Shout! titles. As a result, I never buy series sets from Amazon market place or eBay, regardless of the cost savings.

 

[Blimpoy06]

Most of the bootlegs these days of sets are actually "pressed" disks with accurate depictions of disk labels as well. Generally, the only way to tell now is based on the disks being single-layer instead of dual-layer and the packaging materials are typically of cheaper quality materials with possibly some blurriness to the artwork.

That's why I figured my As Time Goes By set was counterfeit. They are pressed discs, but the picture is full of artifacts. Most likely from putting all the data from a dual layered disc on to a single layer. And I have never seen any BBC product use this type of packaging.

 

[Blimpoy06]

I just noticed the artwork on the side isn't centered either.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I still prefer eBay over Amazon Marketplace for the simple reason that nearly all the items (and CERTAINLY all the ones I buy/bid on) are pictured and have detailed descriptions. Not the case with Amazon. Very few of my purchases from either are video, though. Mostly books.

 

[smithbrad]

Many of these duplicate the packaging well enough to fool most purchasers. For example, the Dark Shadows complete series even comes in a coffin. It is only later that one realizes the cheapness of the materials as it breaks down, but unless you had seen the real item you might not have known. Also, they tend to use the same pictures and detailed descriptions in their posting that the main distributors like Amazon and BN use.

 

[bmasters9]

I just noticed the artwork on the side isn't centered either.
View attachment 47111

How many discs were in that all-in-one? The blurry picture makes it hard to tell.

 

[John*Wells]

MISTER ED The Complete Series is another one to watch out for. I got mine before Xmas from Amazon (it was a 3rd party seller) and the cases were cheap, although the First Season played and looked fine and the outer box was not a giveaway at all. It was when I noticed S2 was missing a disc and had an extra S3 disc in its place, that I complained. They wanted to just replace the defective disc only, but when I commented it was a bootleg set, the seller refunded me full price. I just had to rebuy the S2 set on its own.

Many of those Shout sets on eBay--especially the Norman Lear ones--are definitely counterfeit. If the price seems to good to be true, it probably is. I wish I had got the Ed set from Shout when it first came out, but I wasn't into the show as much then.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if thats why I seem to have a Defect in my Season 4 Disc 1 .. Its the first Episode that introduces Col. And Mrs. Kirkwood "Home Sweet Trailer" In a Scene where Carol is asking Wilbur when they will be able to move back into their own home, Carol Tells Wilbur to remember Her folks have a Large House and He better fix things with the Col. Or else. The Sound seems to be muted during the Scene. I bought the Individual Seasons from Shout when they came out. However, when Shout announced they were able to fully restore Season 1, I bought the complete Series Set Set off Amazon in November 2014 ..Of course its too late for me to get a refund or anything but I probably got Taken on that

 

[Blimpoy06]

How many discs were in that all-in-one? The blurry picture makes it hard to tell.

It's 11 discs.