Watch out for ebay-sellers resealing CDi's to get more money

Anything relating to CD-i can be discussed in this forum. From the multiple hardware iterations of the system to the sofware including games, reference, music and Video CDs. Maybe you hold an interest in Philips Media and the many development houses set up to cater for CD-i if so then this is the forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
Bas
CDinteractive Admin
Posts: 3041
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:14 am
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Watch out for ebay-sellers resealing CDi's to get more money

Post by Bas » Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:01 pm

Apparently you can buy a lot of factory sealed CD-i titles on ebay. When a title is still factory sealed, they earn more from it, so they're getting pretty clever re-sealing games and claiming they are factory sealed.

How to avoid this? The original seal has a strip you could pull, so one side would be cut open. The strip is a thicker layer, and you cannot open the seal with your hands (without pulling the strip).

Those who reseal will most probably not be able to reproduce this strip ;)

I'm not sure how this was done with the large box titles, but the normal jewel cases are with it.

Image

So Shroo-man, do you have this strip on your titles?

User avatar
Devin
CDinteractive Admin
Posts: 2153
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:51 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Post by Devin » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:11 pm

I never actually knew this before!

Taking a quick look at my stock I can see this strip now [thankfully!]. How did you figure out this scam Bas?

User avatar
Bas
CDinteractive Admin
Posts: 3041
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:14 am
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Post by Bas » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:23 pm

I never realized people were actually doing this. The sealing was done in the factory in Germany, I tried before to contact a few guys of that plant. As far as I know also the USA versions of earlier games like The Apprentice were pressed here, i was mainly interested in numbers of titles, what kind they pressed, how, when, how many, for who........ interesting :shock:

WindowsKiller
Karmic Church Disciple
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:39 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:34 pm

Fortunately, I never got something that was claimed to be factory-sealed but was really re-sealed. However, I often see such dubious stuff on ebay. Simple rule is: Don't buy sealed games if the sealing looks cheap or if it is shrink-wrapped.
I'm not sure how this was done with the large box titles, but the normal jewel cases are with it.
The large boxes don't had a strip to open. Still have two authentic sealed large box titles. :)

User avatar
Shroo-man
Sum Zero Barman
Posts: 260
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: Watch out for ebay-sellers resealing CDi's to get more m

Post by Shroo-man » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:58 am

Bas wrote: So Shroo-man, do you have this strip on your titles?
Nope sure don't. I opened these not too long ago because I suspected they were second hand copies for a while. And they quite obviously were, the instructions and discs had ware.

These were sold to me in a lot with my CD-i player and because I thought they were new I overpayed. And you seen what happened to my player as well not long after it arrived. I bought it from eBay store PMPRO eBay ID cust01, I would advise everyone to avoid buying from him.

User avatar
Devin
CDinteractive Admin
Posts: 2153
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:51 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Watch out for ebay-sellers resealing CDi's to get more m

Post by Devin » Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:08 am

Shroo-man wrote:I bought it from eBay store PMPRO eBay ID cust01, I would advise everyone to avoid buying from him.
That's odd.

PMPRO was the largest CD-i reseller in the USA and the linked 'cust01' account is definitely that of PMPRO. What was the problem Shroo-man? If the outer case had some ware under the shrink wrap then that was quite normal for some of the earlier releases. It seems they didn't perfect manufacture of these outer sleeves at that point!

User avatar
Shroo-man
Sum Zero Barman
Posts: 260
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:20 am
Location: Australia

Post by Shroo-man » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:55 am

yeah I heard about that seller a lot and I also heard that they closed down before I even bought from him. maybe someone else has taken over the business or something I dunno but those CDs were definately used. The instructions had ware and the CDs had marks from being used. I also got a sealed battleship with that lot it was genuinely new though because the disc, instructions, etc were perfect like you would expect from a new game.

edit: ah so PMPRO was originally CapDisc that would explain why people don't seem to believe a former CD-i developer is ripping people off. I have bought over a dozen new games since then and It's obvious that PMPRO sold me resealed games. None of the sealed US games I have gotten were sealed dodgy like those from PMPRO and they usually have stickers on the wrap as WindowsKiller describes. Also if you go to the website and see his prices the profit margin is way to large for an honest seller. He sells CD-i machines for ridiculous prices - $900 for a CD-i 200.
Last edited by Shroo-man on Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

WindowsKiller
Karmic Church Disciple
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:39 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by WindowsKiller » Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:25 pm

The original seal has a strip you could pull, so one side would be cut open. The strip is a thicker layer, and you cannot open the seal with your hands (without pulling the strip).
Those are US versions shown in your photo, aren't they? Even though it's obvious that they were re-sealed, they don't have to have a strip. I've got two factory-sealed US games lately, and they don't have a strip either. But they are not re-sealed, which I can tell for sure (no wear, "DVC required" & "Touchpad recommended" stickers atop of the wrap, etc.).

It seems that only European Jewel Case releases had a strip. The large plasic box releases didn't have one (still have two authentic sealed ones).

User avatar
Erronous
CDinteractive Moderator
Posts: 490
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:43 pm

Post by Erronous » Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:09 pm

The first thing to do when you get a new title is of course to rip open the shrinkwrapping and put the disc into your CD-i player. I think I maybe have one or two discs in my collection with the shrinkwrapping still in place :).

Post Reply