Pirated DVDs on Ebay - Arggggh

April 24, 2007 3:06 PM

What is the best way to get back at those fraudulent Ebay sellers?

I received a set of DVDs today that are obviously pirated. The second one is blank - it won't even play. The first is grainy. I mean...if someone's going to go to the trouble of selling fake DVDs, why can't they at least do some quality control?!

And how do they get those professional looking DVD cases and color printing on the DVD disc itself?

posted by Kimpossible to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Give them bad feedback. Then never buy from someone with fifteen feedback comments posted in the last two weeks with near identical syntax ever again.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:15 PM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Huh, the same question has been asked before. Although last time it was with a big twist.
posted by grouse at 3:47 PM on April 24, 2007

Report them to eBay, at least. They have a process for it.
posted by Many bubbles at 3:56 PM on April 24, 2007

If you paid with PayPal, go to your PayPal account and open a dispute with the seller. During the dispute phase, you and the seller try to negotiate a resolution. If one is not reached, you can escalate the dispute to a claim and PayPal will review the messages sent between you and the seller and decide if the claim has merit. I have done this in the past (although my situation was a bit different than yours) and it worked for me. Just be careful about time limits and such; you have a certain window of time in which to open a dispute (45 days after the auction ends, I think) and, once you have done that, you have 20 days to escalate to a claim.
posted by kitty teeth at 4:37 PM on April 24, 2007

To second Many bubbles, I had good luck with the eBay process. I made the mistake of ordering an expensive textbook from a new seller. It never arrived. Apparently enough other people had the same problem, Ebay gave me a rebate (even though the seller had a zero feedback rating) You do have to be careful about following the time limits, though.
posted by metahawk at 5:22 PM on April 24, 2007

I'm only posting this because I was on the other end of pretty much the same situation just today:

I think the first thing you should do is bring it to their attention. They might not know.

I know it sounds pretty far-fetched, but I was notified by a customer earlier today that a CD I sold him turned out to be a CD-R. I had one more copy of the same title in stock, so I opened it, and heck if he wasn't right. I had no idea, and I felt horrible about it. I refunded his money right away -- didn't even wait for him to return it. But the moral to the story is that sometimes it is the wholesaler or even the manufacturer who is crooked, not necessarily the retailer.
posted by spilon at 7:11 PM on April 24, 2007

hmmmm ... bad feedback, cancel payment, complain to paypal and ebay, send letter to the owner of the copyright cc'ing the seller offering the DVD's and a statement as evidence if they pursue their legal rights, start a case in your local court for damages for breach of contract of sale(as a purchaser you can claim jurisdiction), call the tax department (and cc the seller) to inform them of this seller who is conducting a business and earning income and probably not declaring it thereby defrauding the tax dept!

Just a few ideas!

J
posted by jannw at 10:22 AM on April 26, 2007