Recently I was given a $15 promo code from Glyde (another online retailer, but more as a third party market), which I thought was pretty sweet. I decided to purchase White Collar Season Three (almost at full-price). I figured I should get a "new" copy and the joys of opening a new DVD set. Well, other than the extremely slow service, I finally received my copy today. However, when I opened the DVD I immediately knew it was counterfeit. How do I know this? Experience.
Let me explain. It all started when I purchased the Complete Justice League Series off of eBay. I remembered seeing a copy at Sams Club for roughly $70. It was in a nice Tin case and had every episode. Pretty cool (or geeky). Still I had it in the back of my mind to purchase it some day. I later shopped around on eBay and found it for a much cheaper price of $40. I bought it. When I finally received it, I found the casing to be made of a type of card stock, the casing was cheap plastic (even parts broke off immediately after opening). I thought it was just a different version and proceeded to watch some episodes. I soon realized that Disc One was actually labeled incorrectly and was actually another Disc Two. I then proceeded to check partial episodes. Some discs didn't even work! Fortunately I was able to return the copy. A similar incident happened when I purchased Batman the Animated Series. I ended up with a Batman the "Animaed" series. When this happened, I decided to investigate my DVD collection.
Now, not every DVD I've bought off of eBay has been like this (and not all are animation). I have purchased legit items from sellers. I do believe some sellers do not realize that their products are fake, as they may be re-sellers...who knows? Even so, it's messed up. I ended up finding that one of my Psych seasons was fake, as well as two seasons of Chuck. Well, I like quality, and I wasn't happy with this...
As I said earlier, I finally received my copy of White Collar Season Three. If you haven't seen this series yet, it's quite good - one of the better shows on TV, in my opinion. Anyways, as excited as I was, I was greatly disappointed to find that it was counterfeit. By now, I would say I'm pretty good at finding out if a DVD is real or not. Also, fake DVDs can look like the real thing at a glance. Here's the cover of my copy (yes, it looks real).
Now, here's how I know for sure that this is a fake:
1. Name of the TV Series is on the Play Side of the Disc.
In this case, White Collar S3-1 was on the first disc. This may be hard to see, but look very carefully. There is usually a serial number of some sort...not the name of the series.
2. Casing is cheap.
The DVD cases of TV series are in a casing where almost all discs are in the center. If there are discs on both sides of the casing, it's more likely a cheap/fake case. Below is a fake case for season three.
Now, compare with Season Two's case
3. Labels on Disc are Not High Quality.
Pictures are at a low resolution or are pixilated/faded. Look closely at the picture below...
4. Inserts are not original and not found in the insert sleeve spot.
5. No security strip
This is usually on the case itself or on a white piece of paper. Here's what one looks like.
As you can see this makes me mad. I really don't like wasting my time on returning fake items. Sure, Glyde has a return policy, and I most likely will get my money back. I just wish I could be enjoying a legal copy of White Collar Season Three, rather than writing this blog. Well, if you're reading this, I hope you are more aware of how buying DVDs online might not always get you the real quality you were looking for.
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