Ahh! So maddening!
 

So those of you familiar with my story in the bootleg hater thread can skip the next explanatory paragraph.

My Auntie bought me some Ayu stuff for Christmas but 2 were bootlegs. My dilema was that she was so certain they were real and I had to figure out how to tell her they weren't and that she should report the sellers.

I have since told her. She isn't going to get me anymore Ayu stuff which is cool cos I don't want to have to replace fakes, but she gave me money cos she thought I wasn't happy with them. AND, I said all I wanted was for her to report the seller(s) so no one else gets burned and she still claims they're real! Its so maddening! They're clearly fake but she just thinks they're different versions! The Asian and Western markets aren't the same that way. There's an ebay seller out there getting away with selling fakes and I can't do anything! The pictures on the discs were wrong, the pictures clearly lacking in quality and one came with no booklet!

It makes me so mad she just won't trust I know better and more in this.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Just chillax.
A cousin bought me (miss)understood and it turned out to be a bootleg.I hated it at first but I kept it and now it's a funny item in my collection :)

I kinda don't get why she doesn't believe you. You know about Jpop and Ayu, so you know better when a CD/DVD is real. It's nice that she want's to gift you something from your favourite singer, but it's a dilemma if she spends her money on things she could easily produce herself (burning a CD and printing out covers etc)

I forgot to say that eBay is FLOODED with bootlegs, so be careful.

Aw, I'm sorry to hear about your predicament :(

ETA: Perhaps in the future you might want to consider buying Ayu cds from users on AHS? :) I got a lot of my CDs that way and they were all either original Japanese pressings or overseas editions. I'm very happy with the quality of them all, too.

Be happy she could afford to get you anything at all and leave it there. If she thinks they're real then whatever.

Can't you email ebay and tell them you received a pirated copy and give the seller's name?

It's not that easy.
You sound rude.
Fakes are annoying and people who sell them are despicable.

I take it you must strongly dislike a lot of people here who download illegally and don't make purchases of those items.

It's not the same thing at all! When you download illegally it's free, and you don't get the full package of it (meaning, you're missing the joys of having the physical release in your hand; the work that went into cover art, packaging, etc) When you pay money for something expecting it to be something, you want it to be what you paid for.

You guys are moving away from the actual topic.

Show her some differences between the real copy and the bootlegs, there are some sites out there that's got plenty of pics. Maybe she's not aknowledging that they're fakes because she was so sure she gave you a great gift and she's both dissapointed and feels like she got cheated?

It's not that big of a deal for me. My music video boxset thing (the one with three dvds) is a bootleg, but I'm happy to have it.

It's the only Ayu dvd I have that's region free.

If she payed a lot cheaper than actual real cd, then leave it. I would personally love to have some WELL MADE bootlegs. As a collectioner, that would be a cool treasure. But only if it's very cheap. (Because I don't want to pay a lot to a person that takes a money within Ayu's work)
If she payed same amount as in cd shops (same price as the real ones), then someone should report this on ebay or sth, to not waste their money in the future. That's it.

Didn't mean to.
I just wanted to invite Andali to embrace the bootleg as a collectible too ;)

The only things that I have of Ayus that are Bootlegs are the 4 Ayu DVD's that were a collection with the binding that made Ayus Symbol. At the time I didn't think they were bootlegs but they were the only ones that I could afford since they're Region free, I'm upset that they are but at the same time, I am happy to have them since they are very expensive now and there's nothing I can do about it. But like I said, I'm happy to have them in my collection. They were from my b/f also so I didn't want to be mean and tell him that and make him feel bad but I still love them :)