Bootleg or Not?

Be careful about leaving negative feedback that include your suspicions that you have purchased a bootleg, especially if you have no proof that it actually *is* a bootleg. You can be sued for libel, and no, eBay will do nothing to help you.

Also, I would not put it past a seller to leave negative feedback about you in retaliation.

When I bought a Cathe DVD I suspected was a bootleg, I didn't leave any feedback.

JMHO.

Susan L.G.
 
Dani,

You really don't need to apologize for your opinion. I thought you were right on that people should be wary about buying DVD's on Ebay. Yes, there are some private sellers and yes, there are a few authorized Cathe resellers but my last check on Ebay showed that there were more bootleggers than legitimate sellers on Ebay. I don't search for a specific title, I just search for "Cathe" and there they are selling the same DVD over and over again. I've been on there looking for a Callanetics DVD. Someone is selling them for 9.99 over and over again yet, people are still bidding. The seller only has a feedback of like 8, all of them stellar, of course. Another seller is listing his/her Callanetics videos as "newly created from Master Original". I have to give him/her credit for being honest though.

The bootleggers on Ebay are making it hard for the legitimate sellers. Unless the auction specifically says that the DVD is authentic, I don't trust it and I will email the seller asking if it is authenthic. If they do not respond, I have my answer. I think you offered sound advice. As with anything, buyer beware.

Tracey
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
"Where there's a will, there's a way."
 
>as long as
>you read the sellers feedback profile, you should be fine. ;)
>


I disagree that all you have to do is read the seller's feedback to avoid being burned on Ebay. Yes, the feedback is telling but, some buyers either don't care or don't know that what they got was a bootleg. Also some of the bootleggers list their auctions as private so when you look at the feedback, you can read the buyer's comments but you can't see the listing number so you will not be able to verify that the seller has sold multiple copies of the same DVD. Also, I've seen auctions that have the new "sunrise" icon but only have less than a day left. That is another red flag.

Tracey
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
"Where there's a will, there's a way."
 
Well... I got my suspicions confirmed. I looked at the cover real hard this morning and it's grainy but a better quality than what's on the dvd itself. Then I played the dvd and it was grainy - obviously a copy. I emailed the person this morning and told them I wasn't happy, the reason why I wasn't happy, and told them I wanted my money back and then I'd send the dvd back or I was going to leave negative feedback. She emailed me back with her address. So there you go...
 
>I bought a bootleg P90x- I knew it was a bootleg when I bought
>it but I didn't care because I saved so much money. So what
>if they are copies? They still work.

It doesn't bother you that they are illegal copies, and someone is making money selling them?

How about the fact that, since they are copies, they probably aren't going to last as long as non DVD-R discs.
 
That sucks! Too bad such dishonesty...ruins it for us honest folks! Sorry you had a bad experience, I hope it doesn't ruin it for you for other auctions...

~Melanie~

Jadon born 11/23/05
Justin born 1/17/04
Jory born 4/9/94
 
I wish I had read all of these posts before I bought my Power Hour/MIS/Body Max dvd on Ebay! I have a feeling it's a fake too. One clue is that the quality is poor with some slight fuzziness around the people. Another clue: It actually says "SET YOUR VCR TO START HERE". Did Cathe ever have this combo on video tape?
Sadly disappointed:-(
 
There are some titles you see over and over again that I believe are bootlegs: Supersets/Push pull, Power Hour +++, Rythmic Step +++, and Timesaver. I actually bought Rythmic Step and I am 99% sure it is a bootleg. I did not realize it until I was doing the workout (months after I bought it) and the sound kept wavering. The picture was also fuzzy. I emailed the seller and told them I did not realize they had sold me a bootleg! At first she tried to deny it but after I pressed the issue, she gave me a refund and didn't even ask for the DVD back.

I have sold DVD's on ebay before and I always include a caption that it is from my private collection and not a bootleg. I have seen this on many other private sellers' listings as well.
 
I bought a Timesaver dvd from Ebay and am really really regretting doing so. I have bought every dvd I own directly from Cathe except this one. :( After reading this post I decided to check the seller out. Here is what he/she sold:

RS/IM/MIC--2 dvds
PH/MIS/BM--4 dvds
SS/PP--5 dvds
Timesaver--2 dvds

Either the seller doesn't mind losing money or this doesn't look good. Do you think I should give his/her name to Cathe?
 
It says "set your VCR to start here" because it was originally on videotape and you to save time, you could set the counter to rewind just to the start of the workout and not rewind the entire way back to the beginning of the tape.

I guess that part of the tape was just not edited out when it was transferred to DVD.
 
I just listed two of my Cathe DVD that I don't use on Ebay and sold one for ten bucks, but still have yet to receive the money from the buyer. I hate to sell, but my husband said I needed to sell the ones that I didn't use so I could preorder the new ones. I just sold high step training and I just relisted cardio kicks. I purchased both these from Cathe's site, so not all Cathe on Ebay are bootleg.

Lindzebird
 
I just posted this on the Ask cathe board so I'll repeat it here:

I got a couple bad Cathe DVDs on eBay and in both cases got a refund--in one case the guy gave me a full refund immediately and asked me to destroy the DVD. I was pleased to have my money back but assumed he must know it was bootleg. Some people have said to check for a purple back to the DVD, but the bootlegs I got were silver-backed. Another little clue, from what I've heard, is a little thing on the back that says, "ifpi W400". The "ifpi" has a little half circle over it as well. I know the bad DVD I was sent had that on the back, and it seems none of my other Cathe DVDs say that. The main indication on the DVDs I had was that the picture would go all "pixelly", then back to normal, then pixellated again withing a few seconds. It would do that all the way through and the sound was a bit odd, too. So I first just asked the seller about why it was bad quality. Then when they didn't act, told them I had reason to believe it wasn't authentic and requested a refund.

I now only order DVDs on eBay from sellers I really trust--roleez, lilysrosen (same seller as www.advancedworkouts.com), ihula and maybe a couple others. I mainly go by the price. If the price seems really low, it's probably not a good sign. You're just going to have to pay more for Cathe's DVDs, and of course they're worth it. It's one thing to get a slight discount because a DVD is used, but you're not going to find them for 10 bucks or anything. If you do it's probably a bootleg. That would be my best advice for telling if a DVD is legitimate! What are they charging for it? You can't entirely even tell from positive ratings, since both the bad DVDs I got came from sellers with good ratings. Sometimes buyers are afraid to leave negatives because the sellers then leave retaliatory feedback on them. I have to confess I only left neutrals on mine.

That being said, I hate to dog eBay sellers since I often sell my own old workout DVDs on eBay! And I sure hope enough people trust me to continue buying them. (I never sell Cathe, though, except for one time when I accidentally bought a second Low Max.)

OK, and apparently Lindzebird sold a good one for 10 bucks, so maybe I'm wrong about the cheapies! But I imagine one could tell by looking at your history that you aren't selling a whole lot of the same DVD for that low price, which would be what the bad guys do.


***Lainie***

10_10011359828.gif
 
If it makes you feel any better, I bought Timesaver on Amazon and am certain it is a fake. The quality is fuzzy, the picture on the outside is fuzzy. I e-mailed the seller and he refunded my money. Interestingly, the address he gave me to send it to him was not a valid one. So I have a fake Timesaver in my possession. I will now order only from Cathe or College.

Cheryl
 
My old timesaver didn't have the best quality. They were originally only made in vhs i believe.Then Cathe put them on dvd..
I sold mine because i never used it and i only got 25 for it on e-bay. Mine was authentic from this site...

Maybe others will have some quality feedback..
Verses the GS and newer. Quality was much less to me..But, VHS were no where as good quality as dvd..Especially HD dvd..




www.picturetrail.com/acatalina

Anne
AKA
Storm
 
I'm glad Lainie mentioned the "ifpi W400" on the back - I just checked my PH/MIS/BM DVD I bought off E-Bay last week, and sure enough, there it is. :( I didn't really notice any quality issues, but that may be because I'm used to my old VHS tapes?

I think I already know the answer to this, but is the DVD case for PH supposed to be black or white??
 
>
>I'm glad Lainie mentioned the "ifpi W400" on the back - I just
>checked my PH/MIS/BM DVD I bought off E-Bay last week, and
>sure enough, there it is. :( I didn't really notice any
>quality issues, but that may be because I'm used to my old VHS
>tapes?
>
>I think I already know the answer to this, but is the DVD case
>for PH supposed to be black or white??


The bad PH I got was white but every other Cathe DVD I own (including the real PH which I ordered from Advanced Workouts or Collage) is black.


***Lainie***

10_10011359828.gif
 
Bummer! Just so everyone knows (if you care), the seller I bought the bootleg PH from is "gekopc60". Hindsight is 20/20. :(
 
The Powerseller sellers that are selling alot of the DVDs and relisting them over and over are more likely bootlegs (look at feedback to see how many of them they sold before). I know I ordered a couple from one seller and the DVDs did not play on any of my 3 DVD players and when I tried them on my computer they even skipped the first chapter... not even decent quality bootlegs. x(
 
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