DeepHour wrote:
Quite few years ago I used to attend the Camden Film Fair, which was held at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London, five or six times a year. For a golden period of a couple of years or so, about 80% of the stuff on sale there consisted of bootleg films and TV series, available for about £2-£3 per film and perhaps £10-£15 for an 8-10 disc box set. Most of these were very high quality recordings, and I got loads of stuff which was either unavailable otherwise in the UK, or was ridiculously expensive for the 'official' releases.
Then about 5 years ago the Trading Standards people raided the place, and the party ground to a halt. Good while it lasted though.....
I've educated myself over the years on how to spot bootlegs, and this was fishy the moment I opened it. It's pretty impressive, and I would find it acceptable if there was no other official release, but there's a principal here. You don't accept this crap or sell it to others. Sadly, I doubt that half the people who sell them are even aware of what they have, but if they have any integrity they'll take it back and offer refunds. And if they get nasty about it, I'll feel less guilty about reporting them, filing complaints, and leaving negative feedback. Luckily most sellers seem more willing to return and refund than make an issue of it, though.