Bootleggers Trying Harder

I just paid $30 for a bootleg Bubblegum Crisis Collectors File 1999 CD on Ebay. I saw the auction for the disk, everything looked cool. It was listed with the Victor Entertainment catalog number VICL-60239 which made it look legit. When I got the CD in the mail yesterday, I was pretty excited because I was looking for several weeks for the disk.

I was about to leave good feedback until I noticed that another buyer left negative feedback. I then took a closer look at the art and began to notice that there were parts of the artwork cut off on the booklet. I then looked closely at the disk and saw that the disk artwork had flaked off. I am now convinced that the disk is a bootleg. I should have known something was up when I noticed that they charged me $5.30 for shipping and the postage on the envelope was $1.50...

Be aware that there are people making better bootlegs and passing them off as original Japanese disks! It would seem that bootleggers are getting smarter and trying harder to cheat us. I have to say that I am impressed that they even went so far as to copy the OBI strip and put the Victor catalog number on this. This kind of stuff pisses me off...

i havent bought any anime/j-pop/j-rock cds off ebay. i want the original thing for those kind of cds. i didnt know about most anime cds being boolegs, ones made by sonmay, ever anime, and many others. found out about it by reading the faq page at robert's anime corner. there the only place i know of that have actual anime cds that they've imported from japan. the reason i dont buy any anime cds off ebay is i'm leery that they'll be bootlegs when i was thinking that they're original ones.

The bootleg FAQ is a good place to get informed about what is and is not a boot. The problem is that sometimes even being informed doesn't help, like in my case...

The thing that made me so angry with this transaction was the fact that they listed it with a Victor Entertainment catalog number.

I have considered the whole thing a learning experience. I have come to the conclusion that I'm either going to buy my imports from a place like CDJapan or wait and hope that there is a domestic US release...

true that is a learning experince. maybe that's why my cd on ebay didnt sell. had a ccs cd up on ebay. no one bought it though. it's not a bootleg but an import. oh well.

It's really frustrating when you receive a bootleg thinking it's genuine- with a $30 price tag you'd expect it to be proper. When I got the BGC Best Collection I knew it was dodgy and didn't mind spending $8 on it but these traders are, as you suggest, getting more clever.

As much as I try to support artists and studios by only buying official products, when it comes down to it, life's too short to throw money at getting official asian CDs. I'm happy buying the pirated stuff, especially when a lot of stuff is only available like this. I've bought CDs I never knew could have existed but when it comes to film DVDs I'll always (try to) get the official version because of the extras and quality subs.

Hope you don't get caught again; there's a lot to this purchasing lark.