CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I wanted top buy some DVDs from eBay, but had to email the seller to check if the DVDs were legal rather than a bunch of fansubs burnt onto a DVD-R? He responded theat they were factory DVDs and Silver DVDs. Could anyone explain what that means?

Ummm,

Here's a good way to check. Ask how many discs you're getting. Then check that number with a legit source, like amazon.com. If they're the same, its a good chance that they are legit. If you're getting a 6 disc set on only 2 discs, its bootleg. This really only works on series but most bootlegs are complete series, not individual episodes.

[Edit] I noticed above the Amazon is a source of bootlegs. Its true, I got a Tenchi Universe set off Amazon's user store. When I said check Amazon.com, I meant its offical store, not the stuff sold by users.

Thanks guys! Umm... Amazon doesn't officially sell import DVDs... does it? How can I tell if its legit on eBay? The specific DVDs I'm Looking at is DVD Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Deluxe (1 - 50)... Is it legal???? Someone please help!

Don't buy anime from E-bay... Use it's sister site, half.com. It prevents you from using "pay-pal" but it's worth it to make sure you get a legit anime as they are sorted by company release and such... There are some bootlegs there but they are usually sold by themselves with no other sellers, wheras the real anime will have like 10 or 12 sellers for the same thing.

some good deals:

Lain
Boogiepop Phantom
Cowboy Bebop
Nadesico

Plus some decent cuts in price

Sailormoon uncut seasons 1 and 2.

These are all legitamate, as they are only from the legitamate american companies.

Is Gundam Seed released in the US? I don't think it is (otherwise I'd be on CN by now, one would think... because CN prebought all the rights to show the rest of the gundam and DB stuff) so I don't think it's legal... I could be wrong... Check http://www.animeondvd.com to see if it's released here, first off, but you still can't trust ebay for this, so get it from half.com...

Volt wrote:Ummm, it's a little more complicated than that, Many Illegaly reproduced Anime DVD's come from Hong Kong, and are made proffesionally, Like the Cowboy Bebop Perfect Sessions Box Set. Just because there aren't circular burn lines indicating a home made DVD doesn't mean it's the real deal. CD and DVD pro-printers aren't very hard to buy. And even most stores don't know the difference unless they're Big companies like BestBuy, or Walmart. Amazon and Ebay are great places to find these illegally made, unregistered versions.

In any case, I'd say avoid E-bay... Half.com reduces the chances of fakes significantly (though not completely) I don't know about Amazon's resale system, though... The way that half.com's is setup reduces the chances of you getting an HK release since they are sorted by region and country of origin (so you'd want region 1, US and it's less likely for those to be bootlegs unless someone is specifically trying to trick the AMERICAN market into buying, which I haven't heard too much of in anime anyhow...)

In any case, if it's bait and switch (if they put their ad on the section for a legit anime and it's a bootleg or digisubs) then you can report them to Ebay and they can AT LEAST get banned from ebay and half.com and you may be able to have legal action taken against them...

The DVDs i'm lookling for aren't on Half.com. I can only find them on eBay, and a weird website: http://www.toy-wave.com...

Maybe I'm being stupid, but what's the big deal if the DVDs come from Hong Kong? Don't they sell perfectly legal DVDs there too?

I buy all my region 1 anime DVD's from Suncoast, but if you want to get them online, try http://www.animenation.com

If you are looking for legal non-bootleg region 2 DVD's, you should go to http://www.cdjapan.co.jp

What anime are those that can't be found on half? I can look at the ebay listings and see if they're legit...

wiggins wrote:Thanks guys! Umm... Amazon doesn't officially sell import DVDs... does it? How can I tell if its legit on eBay? The specific DVDs I'm Looking at is DVD Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Deluxe (1 - 50)... Is it legal???? Someone please help!

No, Amazon doesn't "offically" sell bootlegs. It does have support a store system that for users to sell things ala Half.com. But like I said above, check the disc number. For example, on Amazon.com, here's the listing for the offical Tenchi Universe Set.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005NX1L/qid=1067316402/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/002-4517724-2692057?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

Note that its comes in 8 discs - one for each volume. You can buy each volume separately if you wanted. Now here's the listing for the bootleg off their user store.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/offering/list/-/B00005NX1L/all/ref=dp_pb_a/002-4517724-2692057

Hmmmm, 3 discs with all the features of the 8 disc set for $35. Doesn't make sense. That's because its bootleg. Almost all bootleg sets will be like this. Or look on a site like Animeniacs.com. They sell bootlegs. If your dvds make the description on that site, you have your answer.

I love eBay, but I wouldn't buy DVD's from them. Most of the anime on eBay I've seen have been bootlegs.

I wouldn't buy anime off E-bay, but they're good for games... Specifically rare games (not the company rare, the status rare)