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Post by Discoalucard on Apr 17, 2009 15:58:53 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/pirate/pirate.htmJust a quickee writeup detailing some ridiculously bootlegged item I got recently. The length that they try to go to legitimize this garbage actually makes me laugh. That almost makes it worth the $10 or so I wasted!
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Post by Scylla on Apr 17, 2009 18:03:48 GMT -5
Hahaha, I can make this bootleg even funnier: that random Valkyrie Profile artwork is from the cover of a VP hentai doujinshi. :P Check it out: www.inverteddungeon.com/triacesuperfan/vphendjunfixedcover.jpgI can't even imagine what weird circumstances brought them to that picture. Valkyrie Profile doujinshi is obscure to begin with, and that particular comic is pretty obscure relative to other ones. I think that photo on my site is from the same auction that I bought my copy from.
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Post by Discoalucard on Apr 17, 2009 22:03:23 GMT -5
Figured it was fanart, but didn't know to that degree. Interesting.
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Post by Shellshock on Apr 17, 2009 22:24:30 GMT -5
Awesome read, cracked me up.
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Apr 18, 2009 3:54:35 GMT -5
A couple of years ago, on eBay, I found what apparently was a used copy of Scratches for PC - since it was a game released a year before, the low price made it seem legit. I bought it, and the seller also told me he would add Fable - The Lost Chapters as sort of thanks for my buy. I started to suspect something, and in fact, I got two DVD-Rs. Incidentally, the same day I received my copy of Blade Runner bought on eBay - four CD-Rs. Notice that reviews from other buyers in the sellers' pages were positive - they didn't care their copies weren't original, they were in only for their cheap game fix. The result is that I hardly trust eBay anymore. But I'd have never imagined that someone goes to such ridicolous lenghts to even make these things appear legit!
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Post by Ace Whatever on Apr 18, 2009 6:08:38 GMT -5
Oh wow this is hilarious. Makes me feel extremely lucky I got the exact items I ordered during my brief Amazon & ebay spree last year.
So the "1000000 Lives Saved!" line is referring to the cancer thing?
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Post by dooz on Apr 18, 2009 6:50:40 GMT -5
God bless the bootlegger that saved one million cancer patients... God bless that man!
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Post by onoff456 on Apr 19, 2009 4:33:53 GMT -5
hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/pirate/pirate.htmJust a quickee writeup detailing some ridiculously bootlegged item I got recently. The length that they try to go to legitimize this garbage actually makes me laugh. That almost makes it worth the $10 or so I wasted! Playing devil's advocate here: I think you may have over reacted with the seller. After reading your webpage it seems to me he shipped the item quickly and delivered the goods. They were obviously misrepresented but you should have at least communicated with the seller first before leaving negative feedback. Unless I misunderstood your response was to leave retaliatory feedback, report him to ebay for fraudulent practices and raise a paypal claim. If it were that the seller ignored your messages or denied a request for refund but you didn't give him the chance. Considering the reply he gave you he seemed willing to work things out. I understand that's not an excuse for selling pirated stuff but in my book you were a lousy buyer. You should have allowed him a chance to return your money before going to higher channels. Who knows maybe you would have got your refund by now (EDIT: I don't think I read anything about this. Did you get your refund? What's the status of your paypal claim?). In any case it was a good idea to report him. I think ebay has a link for that somewhere (though I've yet to hear ebay actually doing something as a result of a complaint). I remember using it once to report a seller who was selling roms as "downloadable games". The person had over one hundred auctions posted, and apparently was doing very well. I can see why you are upset though and I hope you get your money back. Still I don't think those $10 were a complete waste considering the interesting stuff you've written. In a way this guy has given you a lot more than just a pirated game.
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Post by Discoalucard on Apr 19, 2009 9:17:45 GMT -5
Playing devil's advocate here: I think you may have over reacted with the seller. After reading your webpage it seems to me he shipped the item quickly and delivered the goods. They were obviously misrepresented but you should have at least communicated with the seller first before leaving negative feedback. I admit I was being a bit of a jerkass, but I think it was warranted, since I was set to leave negative feedback regardless. Like Gendo Ikari brought up, he had 100% positive even though I'd bet all of his other PC games are pirated too, but people just didn't care. I wanted some way to get people to pay attention, and hopefully prevent people from doing business with him in the future. I'd rather be all righteous and mighty up front then put up the hassle with trying to get a refund and then issuing negative feedback regardless of the outcome. eBay isn't exactly great about policing their stuff, so sometimes a bit of vigilante justice - at least, as much as you can do on the Internet - is required. If it was a mistake, I could understand it. Recently I bought a copy of the Pandora Directive which was described as complete, but I only received a demo CD. I e-mailed the guy, and it was clearly a mistake, so he refunded my money and let me keep it. This guy wasn't openly selling fake goods though. Anyway, it'll take awhile for the claim to resolve. Last time I did one, it was because the seller just never sent the item nor responded after a month. If you file a claim and they don't dispute it within a certain period of time, you win anyway. Dunno if that'll happen for this one.
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Post by Garamoth on Apr 19, 2009 9:53:02 GMT -5
I'm not sure there is anything to discuss with the guy. He has to know what he is selling (pirated goods), so this can hardly be called a "simple mistake". Adversely, he can't not know what he is selling, it's not an excuse as it is his responsibility as a seller to know his merchandise. The fact that he doesn't see the physical product isn't an excuse either... it's probably an aggravating factor, if anything. Anyway, by sending negative feedback he should understand what's going on, if he didn't know.
I guess it boils down to whether or not you want to argue with the guy to get your ten bucks back. Some people feel like fighting to the death for a single dollar if they think they've been morally wronged... but I don't quite see it that way. Send some negative feedback to the guy, flag him or whatever else. Besides, I'm not sure is that great an idea to let the guy correct his "honest" mistake. I think you made the right choice.
EDIT: Just read about that "dropshipping" practice at Butterfly Media. Sounds super fishy... I can maybe see the seller getting caught once in that scam in good faith. Anything more and you're part of the fraud.
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Post by Scylla on Apr 19, 2009 13:31:55 GMT -5
I'm with Garamoth. The only time in which it would be warranted to talk to the seller is if he or she doesn't know it's bootleg, like if somebody is selling a few items out of their collection and never knew the anime/game soundtrack they bought was a pirate. But when you're talking sellers that sell mass amounts of bootleg items and clearly know what they have, then that's just flagrant disregard for both eBay rules and, worse yet, the law. Getting a negative feedback comment on eBay should be the least of their worries.
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Post by Warchief Onyx on Apr 19, 2009 15:41:34 GMT -5
I think I would've preferred the VP hentai doujinshi. >_>;
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Post by TheChosen on Apr 19, 2009 18:12:05 GMT -5
At least those were full games. And the cover wasnt totally un-related.
Were they all abandonware stuff? From the cover, I only recognized The Beverly Hillbillies, Albion and The Simpsons arcade game.
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Post by Atma on Apr 19, 2009 19:44:46 GMT -5
I think I would've preferred the VP hentai doujinshi. >_>; At this point, so would I, ha. But yeah, one of the main reasons I don't use eBay is the rampant amount of anime/movie/game/whatever bootlegs that are there. I've been to pacific markets and Asian malls with more legit goods on sale than eBay. As for sites like Amazon, I try to buy directly from them if possible (even if it's a couple bucks more) or from any seller who has a 95% or higher user rating. I have not had a complaint about anything I have ordered yet. This article was pretty hilarious, though. Bootlegs are pretty funny things.
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Post by Scylla on Apr 19, 2009 22:32:03 GMT -5
I think I would've preferred the VP hentai doujinshi. >_>; It's actually a really cool comic. :P It's got this awesome style about it since the two artists used charcoal or something. I've never seen any other doujinshi quite like it. Half of it is a story and the other half is just a series of drawings, kinda like what you'd see in a college-level figure drawing class. Really pretty stuff. But I'm probably the only person around here that collects doujinshi, so I'll stop yammering about stuff no one cares about, hehe.
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