counterfeit dvd's purchased on ebay

B

brittb

Member
Hi,

I am new to the Cathe forums, but a long time Cathe enthusiast. In the past, I have purchased dvd's from Cathe.com, and Collage, but figured I would save a bit of money and purchase some from ebay. They were sold as a set, but are actually from different series, so I figured that perhaps they were excess inventory that didn't sell as well. The dvd's that I purchased were Rhythmic Step (which I already had from Cathe. com in perfect picture quality), Hardcore Extreme, Timesaver, Supersets & Push Pull, and Power Hour+. The one workout that I tried was excellent, but the picture quality was worse than a vhs tape.x( x(
The dvd's that I purchased are definitely counterfeit. They do have the "ifpi w400" marking with the half circle" that was noted in another post. The seller, jmtsales77, was selling several sets of them. He stated that he removed that listing, 130224717673, but still has another listing running that he claims he is unable to remove. I looked further, and noticed a seller from China is also selling these exact same dvd's. The seller wants me to send the dvd's back to him. Should I do so, or should they be sent to Cathe?
 
GRRR... I got burned by the seller, too. I assumed they were overstock as well. My DVDs arrived today, and they look really suspicious. They don't look like my other Cathe DVDs, and the quality is TERRIBLE.

How do we know if they are counterfeit, and what should we do about them, Cathe?

At the very least, we should report this seller to eBay--right? x(
 
I have gotten fakes too, and sent them back to the seller. You can tell by looking at the inner part of the circle on the back, where there is some writing. Authentic DVSs have all sorts of stuff coded in - you will see the tiny writing. Look at one you got from cathe.com and compare. The fakes usually have the name of the DVD coded but that is it, and the writing is more obtrusive than authentic ones. It just irritates the fire out of me that this goes on. I only buy on ebay from individual sellers selling from their collection. You can look at the seller's history and determine if they sell the same ones over and over or not.
 
Well, that doesn't always work either--as I just found out. I just purchased 4DS of eBay, and asked the seller about the condition of the DVD. She said it was a used DVD set from her personal collection. She'd never sold any Cathe videos before (as far as I could tell), and only had one 4DS listed. A few hours after I won the auction, she listed another exact set. Red flags go up! :-( I got it in the mail today, and after consulting with a couple other posters here, it looks like that set is counterfeit as well. I guess you just have to be really careful if you're not purchasing from cathe.com.

Out of curiousity, what do you do when you get a counterfeit? Do you need to notify someone? Does the seller usually take them back?
 
I always ask the seller too. That way, if a fake is sent, I have a record of them saying it was authentic and all sorts of safety nets with paypal and ebay. That is what happened to me the time I got a fake. And yes, he took it back and paid all shipping charges. They seem to want to do that to avoid trouble. Once, I emailed and asked if the DVD was a fake. I didn't buy it, just inquired. I got an email back telling me to mail the DVD back for a refund. Just a one sentence thing, no questions asked. Well, that definitely told me it was a fake and I didn't bid!!
 
Also be wary of auctions with private listings. They don't show the history of what was sold previously when you look up feeback. BUT, go to advanced search by seller and look up completed auctions. I just tried for the 4DS seller dvd6696213 and found tons of duplicate auctions. Loser seller!!!
 
What you do is report the seller to ebay for selling pirated DVDs. You get your money back from the seller and beware of very cheap prices on products that you know usually sell for much more.

Clare
 
Thanks, Shana. You've been so much help. I had spaced it on the private auction thing. It makes perfect sense now. DUH! You're right, that's the seller--dvd6696213. I e-mailed him/her today, and she responded that she didn't know that the DVD was copied. She buys them at the local gym and resells them. She said to keep the DVD as a good gesture and she'd refund my money. Wouldn't you think if she bought the DVD at the local gym, she'd want to take it back and get HER money back? Or at least notify them that they are selling bootlegs? Sounds fishy to me...

Now I also have to deal with jmtsales77 and the other 5 DVDs I bought. I feel like such an idiot. I guess I learned my lesson. :-( I never would have thought people would be bootlegging fitness DVDs!

In the meantime, you fellow Cathe-ites (& Cathe herself for that matter) might want to take note of those two dishonest eBay sellers so no one else gets duped.
 
You are not an idiot. They should not be doing that. The guy who sold me mine said he gets them from a wholesaler and would take the listings off until he got to the bottom of it. All he did was list more. Just keep in mind that Cathe DVDs are only sold by a select few people aside from Cathe.com. I told the guy this and that I could not imagine these being at a wholesaler but of course for me, it was too late! Just his excuse when he got caught. Best of luck to you. If you paid paypal, file a complaint. They are very good at taking care of buyers.
 
I think that I just got a fake also. It is Rhythmic Step and the DVD cover isn't like my other Cathe DVD's. It has a rough texture. I don't know how to tell for sure by looking at the DVD, so I don't want to accuse someone, without knowing for sure. This seller has been listing several of these DVD's, and also Power Hour. I just wanted to get some of the older Dvd's that I didn't have, so I checked ebay, thinking that I would find dvd's that people didn't want anymore, not fakes.
 
Turn the DVD over and look by that hole - b/w the hole and where the recorded part of the DVD ends. Compare what you see to one you know is authentic. Authentic ones are very intricately coded with all sorts of words and numbers. Fakes just have the name of the DVD if that.
 
Alright, so I've gotten in touch with the seller. He refunded my money and said he was sending a postage paid envelope to return the DVDs. Same excuses--bought 10 of these on a close-out and the distributor wasn't forthcoming. He would look into it. :-( He also said he'd had no complaints to date about the authenticity of these DVDs--which we know to be a lie b/c brittb from this forum said she already contacted him about this. He's also sold 19 of these sets since May 15th, so there's another lie. (Thanks for showing me how to look that up, Shana. :))

My question is, do I send these DVDs back or what? If I send them back, he's just going to list them again, right? Who do we need to report this to?
 
You are welcome!! I would send them back and once you have your refund, leave the feedback and report him. You could take pics of the DVDs, front and back, and the case if need be for some sort of proof. This bootleg practice is too prevalent, unfortunately, and they all have the same story. That tells me that nothing is being done about it by the authorities. Report it to ebay and paypal, if you paid that way. Leave the feedback for the seller. If enough people do this, maybe it will stop. Keeping the DVDs would do no good that I can see b/c they seem to be a dime a dozen for these people, and at least you will have your money back.
 
I'd be more fierce... Piracy (music, DVDs etc,) disgusts me!!! And it is also a very serious crime, hence the FBI warning on every DVD...
If you already received your refund I would suggest you contact Cathe or SNM and ask them for instructions. They are probably fighting piracy as well (I have seen a couple of sellers at eBay who write about pirated Cathe DVDs in their listings).
I bet they will need all info (DVDs, seller address etc.) if they want to pursue this situation further.

Chris.
 
I have decided not to send them back to him. He has demonstrated by continuing to sell the dvd's that he has no intention of sending them back to his "distributor." I have not yet decided whether to give him negative feedback. I doubt that notifying ebay will accomplish anything, but that also remains an option.

If Cathe would like them, I would be happy to send them to her! :)
 
Brittb,

I would encourage you to leave negative feedback. That is the only way other people will know not to buy from them. I recently purchased a copy of Hardcore Extreme that is clearly a fake, thanks to all the info I recieved here. I contacted the seller and he said it is not a copy, but will gladly refund my money including shipping to avoid negative feedback. I intend to contact ebay once I have recieved my refund and leave negative feedback.
 
Thanks for the information. It looks like its a fake! I better contact the seller and see what they say.
 
They got me too. I just received Timesavers and Hardcore Extreme....Lousy grainy photo on the DVD, Terrible picture, the little hoosey thigy with the half circle on the back. Buyer says they have never had any trouble before (never said it wasn't a bootleg, after I E-mailed that it was) and offered a refund. Have you noticed that all the sellers of multiple copies of these DVDs are all new within the last month. HMMMMM, there may be a pattern here.

Any who, I learned a lesson.
 
Report him to Ebay. I reported someone to ebay for selling me a bootleg copy and they got kicked off ebay. I'm sure the next day they signed up under another name. But still they got there listing off for a day. Also if you see someone selling Cathe call SMN and ask if they are a authorized dealer they will let you know.

Farrah
 
I just left the seller negative feedback on ebay, stating specifically that the dvd's were counterfeit. I was shocked when I read positive feedback regarding his other Cathe sales. Perhaps the other buyers on this forum can leave negative feedback as well. At least it will deter buyers from purchasing from this seller.:)
 
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