A sudden rise in fake DVDs sold online

This past month I have purchased 2 items that turned out to be DVD-Rs...and man, was I PISSED OFF (still am!)

It's not just the fact that the sellers think they can get away with it, it's also the HASSLE of dealing with the seller and all the time and energy that goes into that.

1st case: ordered a "Zarzuela" box set for my Dad (who lives in the US), who wanted one..,found one in yamazon .es marketplace seller. It said "ALL REGIONS"...now, as QC for many discs and having dealt with the industry, MOST "ALL REGION" DVDs are NTSC because it's the "universal" standard. I get the box set, and I don't even bother opening it when I see outside "PAL /ALL REGIONS"

WHHHAAAT??

I get in touch with the seller and tell him that I wanted it for my Dad , blablablah..
Without telling me anything else, I get an email telling me that another set has been sent to me. WHAT? I tell them "There must be some misunderstanding- I did not want another set, please send MRW to collect both sets" (MRW picked up the ORIGINAL PAL set and I have the pick up slip)
THEN they tell me that the OTHER set is NTSC.
Well, OK, I proceed to open it and find out that it's a BUNCH of DVD-Rs with its contents looking like a VHS recorded it at SLP speed from analog TV....I tell them that I do not want that kind of trash and that I'd be ashamed to send it to anyone..and man, do they get all riled up!!!!(OH , IT'S PRO FILMED; yaddah yaddah yaddah)

So I tell them "Listen, first, you send me something I did NOT ask for and that is NOT listed as a product in yamazon, so for yamazon's sake , it doesn't exist."

I'm debating whether to keep it or to have them pick it up, but, at this point, the trust is GONE and who knows what they might come up with and tell yamazon I did....

2nd case:

There is this Spanish website "a la fleabay" where I have found all kinds of things that are really expensive anywhere else and I've gotten a LOT of great things from those sellers...until now...
I saw that somebody was selling the Jean Michel Jarre in China DVD for 9,95 new, so I thought , what the hell??? Most people here don't know what they are selling, anyway! That's the charm of this website!!
So , I get the package today...it didn't bode well when I saw the low quality of the cover, it was a "homemade" ink jet printer copy, and , although the DVD had the VERY FUZZY artwork on it, I turn it around and it's PURPLE!!!! ...NOT ANOTHER DVD-R, PLEASE!!!!!!!

Sent the seller a message, asking for a full refund plus the s&h for the return- he said he was gonna refund me later tonight....(lesson learned here, I payed thru PPal but sent it as a gift to save a couple of bucks...next time I'll send it as what it was, a payment , so I can get the PPal protection..., as it is, it was 12 Euros in total, so , we'll see what might happen...)

Is it just me or do sellers think people are stupid?

for the amazon case, file an a-z claim and mention the words COUNTERFEIT and FAKE.

Also, send a message to the seller using the amazon messaging system (not thru your email) and mention the words COUNTERFEIT and FAKE.

Amazon has bots that scour messages for these terms.

The seller will almost certainly be instantly banned from selling on amazon ever again

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/10/31/amazon-counterfeit-cds/

In this case the old phrase applies " Buyer Beware!" There are scammers all over this world! I guess buying from a source that will back the buyer is what is needed in future. Remember, it is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil!

A few years ago I bought a Eurythmics dvd from Trademe, NZ's Ebay type of site.

Paid NZ$26 which was about the going rate for a new dvd.

When it arrived the artwork on the disk did not seem crisp, checked closer and found the hologram was ink jet printed, as was the artwork.

Complained and was IMMEDIATELY refunded but deliberately held onto the disk as I had a plan.

As expected the seller chased ne up so I apologized telling him that I thought he had been an unwitting victim of an unscrupulous supplier and I had sent the disk to an expert to check it's authenticity so HE could seek redress.

Panicked email came back saying that it had not come from a supplier but had been given to his sister as an unwanted gift and please get it back.

I told him that his sister was an unlucky girl as, due to him listing another copy at that time, she clearly received lots of unwanted cpies of the same disk.

He then changed tack and told me it was a genuine disk sourced directly from a Sony pressing plant in Bangladesh.

Funny, I said, but when I was there (absolute truth how lucky eh? ) there were no no official dvd pressing plants.

Eventually he just gave up and begged me to send the disk back which I actually did expressing my dissapointment at him giving up so easily.

Then he blacklisted me.............

But boy was it fun.

My annoyance though was not that it was a bootleg, I'm not that righteous, more that he wanted retail prices for a $2 disk.