I sell a lot of DVDs on eBay and often I have a buyer ask me if the DVD is factory sealed, if the DVD is an import or if the DVD is a bootleg. You must protect yourself, make sure that you don't pay for something you don't want. This is just a short guide to help eBay buyers who want to make sure that they don't get ripped off.

eBay has become the #1 market place in the world for almost any retail product and unfortunatly some sellers are using this to their advantage and selling all kinds of merchandise. Often, it may be legal but it is not the quality that you as a buyer were expecting when you purchased the item. It is underminding the integrity of eBay for several reasons:

1) Buyers are paying for something they don't want

2) Buyers are getting a product of lesser quality than what they were expecting

3) Pirated/Import/Bootleg DVDs are made for pennies, most of these sellers could see their DVDs for $2 and make a profit. This means that the sellers such as myself who do sell U.S. version DVDs have to lower our prices to match DVD prices that aren't even of the same quality.

4) It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the buyer. Chances are if you feel scammed or cheated you are not going to buy DVDs or possibly anything from eBay again.

When you search on eBay for a DVD, of course the most common way to look for your DVD is to type in the DVDs title and then sort the search results by the price or by the Buy It Now column. Don't be fooled by just the price, always do a little more investigating than that. I mean of course if you see a DVD Box Set selling on eBay for $15 that you know sells in  your local Best Buy  for over $40 you are going to get excited. But, that is where some sellers are out to trick you. They put the price so low that you are quick to buy the item and never really read through the description.

There are many sellers who may not include hints in their auction that the DVD is a bootleg version, an import or a copy. I'll get into them later. But, there are many sellers who will state things such as the following:

- This DVD doesn't come with the case, just the DVD in a DVD box, we do this to save you on shipping costs

- DVD9 DVD (This is not a DVD, it will play in your DVD player but it's an imported DVD)

- Buy this DVD before it's released in the U.S.

Those are some obvious signs that the seller is selling an unoffical U.S. version DVD. If the seller doesn't state any of the above, the best ways to make sure that you are getting a legitamate DVD are:

1) Read the entire auction description, does it say anywhere that the DVD is Factory Sealed? Does it say that the DVD comes in the box? Does it say that the DVD is from the U.S. or another country?

2) Check the feedback of the user, often if a seller is selling Imported DVDs or bootlegs they will have buyers who leave comments saying that the DVDs were not what they expected

3) Look where the item is located. If a seller is registered in Asia, then more than likely you are getting an import DVD from Hong Kong

If you have any questions feel free to send me an e-mail or contact me through my eBay user profile. If you want to look at legitamte U.S. release DVDs take a look in my eBay store.