Advice Needed Please

[bella_belle_bells]

Hello all,

I need some advice. I brought a 5 disc DVD set from the US to Australia (was only released on DVD in the US) that never arrived after 6 weeks and a lot of stalling from the seller I opened a not received case and got my money back. 3 days after the case closed in my favour I found out why I didn’t receive the DVD when I got a customs seizure notice in the mail because the DVD set was an unauthorized release meaning pirated/bootleg/copy etc. I have no idea what the item sent looks like as I never received it so it could have been a very good or very bad fake.

Now I had no idea when ordering that this was the case. The image used in the listing was that of the official US release, seller stated genuine official release, documented all episodes plus special features, the price was about the same as other sellers (maybe $1-$2 cheaper than amazon). Seller has been a member since 2005 has almost 2000 stars and 2 negatives, 4 neutrals of these comments 2 had said questionable authenticity however, these negatives/neutrals were from new eBayers (only a few stars) and the others were for silly reasons. I figured that a seller with that many stars could well have come across some unreasonable buyers and even the best sellers of genuine products sometimes have buyer feedback claiming it’s fake.

Now that I’ve described the situation what should I do now? The seller denies that the items sold are fake (but, seriously what else are they going to say). I know a lot of people will think do nothing you got your money back let sleeping dogs lie but, I could have gotten into a lot of trouble with the authorities for importing an illegal version of this DVD and most probably I am now on customs watch list meaning anything I buy will most likely be inspected for a while. This is an issue that potentially does not just affect me but, also any buyer that purchases from this seller may have the same problem. Given the negative and neutral feedback I originally dismissed it does not appear as though this is an isolated incident. Any suggestions?

[lane-ends]

You don't have to do anything. You can leave fb as you feel appropriate, or non at all. I don't think you have been flagged by customs for a single DVD.

[englishrosegardens]

I'd probably leave a neutral simply stating that the DVDs were confiscated by customs as being an unauthorised release.  That's factual and it warns other potential buyers what might happen to them.  Whether or not they were fake is a bit irrelevant, the fact is that customs thought they were and they acted accordingly.  The seller will already have a defect for this transaction so you're not doing them any more damage by leaving a neutral, and feedback is designed to warn/tell others of what to expect from a seller. 

The new(ish) buyers who left negs and neutrals may have got things spot on with their feedback, whereas a lot of 'older' buyers get so used to not getting what they expected that they don't bother to leave proper feedback, if at all.  I wouldn't ignore a newbie's feedback because they haven't yet been trained to expect less than what's described and a lot of them would be far more honest in feedback.  Yes, some give ridiculous feedback, but so do a lot of others who should know better.  A new ebayer would be used to buying their DVDs from shops and may be more likely to recognise a fake when they get it than someone who buys exclusively on ebay.

I'm not up to date with this sort of thing but could it be that your DVDs were only meant to be sold in the US and not in other countries?  That could mean they're genuine but that they were an unauthorised release as far as the Australian market is concerned, or that's how I see it.  If this is the case then the seller shouldn't be trying to sell them overseas. 

[elusiveeditions]

Yes, Australian Customs are renowned worldwide for being 'tighter' than any other country.

Just on your address now being flagged- I wouldn't worry about that. As an example, a friend in Canada tried to send me a side of smoked salmon, which was seized and I got one of those love letters. He then sent me a portion of smoked salmon, vacuum sealed inside a wooden box, and it arrived with no probs. So doesn't look like my address was flagged based on that 1 seizure.

As for feedback, I'd also leave factual but not snarky feedback, so as to let other Aus buyers know that this happened, but not so as to denigrate the seller- it may not have been their fault (in that they may've genuinely not realised the item breached xyz Aus laws, or perhaps it isn't illegal and customs jumped the gun, you've no real way of knowing I don't think).

[bella_belle_bells]

Just for clarification it was seized for being counterfeit so definitely not a case of being illegal to sell outside of the US to other countries. Also the only reason I didn’t take notice of the 2 negatives left by inexperienced buyers was the 1900+ positives left by other happy customers.

[lyndal1838]

Without going into the whys and wherefores, I would not worry about your address being flagged by Customs.  It was one DVD set, not a container load, or even a shipping crate full of suspect items.

Years ago it used to be considered normal of items to be stopped and inspected by Customs even if they were completely innocent....books, ornaments etc would be held up for as long as 10 days before being released.  I had a plate sent in a used pizza box which was confiscated....the plate was repacked and forwarded to me with a letter telling me of my misdemeanour....I did not request the seller to send it in a used food box so how could I do anything about it.

A few weeks later I received a pot pourri container complete with vegetation in a sealed plastic bag, which I had asked the seller to remove before posting.  Again, the offending material was removed and the container sent to me along with a very stern letter.

After that it was probably 2 years before anything else was even stopped and examined by Customs....and certainly no more seizures, ever!!

I would have thought that if they were going to flag me over 2 breaches in a few weeks they would have stopped more parcels not less.

[bsal6160]

Do you realise that the DVD region would have been different and probably not played on your DVD Player anyway?

[davewil1964]

My DVD player is my computer...

[bella_belle_bells]

Yes I know about region coding I have a multi region DVD player so it plays everything. If the DVD set had been available is Australia I would have brought it here.