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[Folder]

A lad in our office (works for parent company) bought a pirate game from an eBay seller - Minish Cap to be exact. He bought it accidentally and told me about it.

I had a dig through the guy's auctions. Look at this:

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=ukitems

He's making thousands a week from knock-off carts. Look at the amount he's shifting per day! It's incredible. Reported to eBay of course, but I can't help but think that he's sent out so many to users who perhaps don't know the difference.

A real hit and run job.

 

[Rlan]

AKA Practically every Game Boy Advance cartridge on Ebay.

 

[drohne]

yeah, there seem to be tons of counterfeit gba carts on ebay. it's enough to keep me away from gba auctions altogether unless i'm familiar with the seller.

 

[Ghost]

:lol @ that guy calling everyone who gives him bad feedback a joker

 

[Odnetnin]

someone email piracy@nintendo.com

surely they know about it. But they keep out of enforcing this. I'm sure their lawyers can get ebay to listen

 

[Folder]

What really shocked me about this is the volume of sales he's getting through and the amount of money he must be making. Say each item costs about £1 to make with a decent Chinese source of carts, it's vast, vast sums of money. And he's making it every single day.

 

[warhead]

Piracy will never die!

 

[Mr Mike]

Yeah, it's been rife for years. Bought Advance Wars studidly from there and it was fake. That was in late 2001. And when I tried to sell GBA games on ebay I had to qualify the listing with lots of IT'S REAL stuff to get it noticed.

Folder, use your SPONG-POWER to expose this. Or at least get ebay to comment.

 

[HCgamer]

someone email piracy@nintendo.com

surely they know about it. But they keep out of enforcing this. I'm sure their lawyers can get ebay to listen

Ebay is profiting from it. Nintendo should do something about it. It is so difficult to find original GBA games on Ebay but I think I benefited from this piracy a few weeks ago when I bought a complete copy of Metroid Zero Mission for the BIN price of $11.99 + $4.00 S&H. I e-mailed the seller and asked if it was an original copy or a bootleg, I thought someone else would buy it before the seller sent me the response but I received the response I was looking for and when I went to check the auction again the game was still for sale. People might have thought the auction was for a bootleg copy.

 

[Folder]

Yeah, it's been rife for years. Bought Advance Wars studidly from there and it was fake. That was in late 2001. And when I tried to sell GBA games on ebay I had to qualify the listing with lots of IT'S REAL stuff to get it noticed.

Folder, use your SPONG-POWER to expose this. Or at least get ebay to comment.

I told a few friends over at Nintendo and dropped a line to ELSPA.
We were thinking of doing a whole SPOnG investigates thing and getting it in the papers when the guy got busted. Then we realised that angry scoucers might cut our beautiful faces up. So we changed our minds.

 

[Nikashi]

If you think a seller may be selling counterfeit carts, you can do eBay a favor by reporting them using this link:

Report Counterfeit GBA carts

Click 'Email' on that link and you can report that item directly to eBay's Community Watch department. You do have to be a member to make the report though.

eBay doesn't have a 'counterfeit GBA carts' division specifically, so reports from members are a big help.

 

[Folder]

Already done.
Mass-scale piracy like this makes me really angry.
Everyone loses out except the pirate.

 

[Ryudo]

:lol

I dont condone piracy, but suck shit nintendo :lol Maybe if your PAL releases were in the same year as their NTSC counterparts... yada yada.

I am just joking peeps . I am still angry about their PAL stance though.

 

[Odnetnin]

:lol

I dont condone piracy, but suck shit nintendo :lol Maybe if your PAL releases were in the same year as their NTSC counterparts... yada yada.

I am just joking peeps . I am still angry about their PAL stance though.

stfu aussie.

gba piracy hurts nintendo and if hurts nintendo, odnetnin am cry

 

[Folder]

:lol

I dont condone piracy, but suck shit nintendo :lol Maybe if your PAL releases were in the same year as their NTSC counterparts... yada yada.

I am just joking peeps . I am still angry about their PAL stance though.

PAL refers to the TV. Game Boy isn't PAL.
Also, GBA releases hit Europe in a timely manner. What specifically are you upset about?
Also, Nintendo's European software releases are much better in general these days too.
For instance this very game, LOZ: MC hit Europe first I believe.

 

[Ryudo]

stfu aussie.

gba piracy hurts nintendo and if hurts nintendo, odnetnin am cry

Dont tell me to shut the feck up, or i will buy lots of fake GBA carts :lol

(i dont even own a GBA)

 

[Odnetnin]

PAL refers to the TV. Game Boy isn't PAL.
Also, GBA releases hit Europe in a timely manner. What specifically are you upset about?
Also, Nintendo's European software releases are much better in general these days too.
For instance this very game, LOZ: MC hit Europe first I believe.

regarding the BEST GAMEBOY ADVANCE GAME/BEST 2D LOZ GAME EVAR!
yes. about 3 months earlier too. Don't recall the dates though

 

[Ryudo]

PAL refers to the TV. Game Boy isn't PAL.
Also, GBA releases hit Europe in a timely manner. What specifically are you upset about?
Also, Nintendo's European software releases are much better in general these days too.
For instance this very game, LOZ: MC hit Europe first I believe.

I made no mention of handheld release dates, but thet still definately lag behind. Not as badly as console games but still bad enough.

The argument that PAL gamers arent fucked over by nintendo is not winnable. I have been a PAL gamer for over 10 years and they are the worst company when it comes to PAL releases with shitty conversions and shocking delays.

On topic, this guy should be put in jail. Think about the poor peeps getting pirate stuff when they are lead to believe its legit

 

[duckroll]

This guy should be jailed for copyright infringement AND fraud. Seriously, it's stuff like this that gives eBay a bad name (justifiably so though) and further spreads the mindset that "Hong Kong carts" and "clone machines" are actually legal and/or acceptable. What a fucker.

 

[Odnetnin]

I made no mention of handheld release dates, but thet still definately lag behind. Not as badly as console games but still bad enough.

The argument that PAL gamers arent fucked over by nintendo is not winnable. I have been a PAL gamer for over 10 years and they are the worst company when it comes to PAL releases with shitty conversions and shocking delays.

On topic, this guy should be put in jail. Think about the poor peeps getting pirate stuff when they are lead to believe its legit

Have you played SE's PAL conversions? Fawfuking awful - FFX + 2 and most of their titles have like 2 inch black bars on both sides of the screen . Nintendo's releases all have 60hz compatibility so I don't know what you're whinging about. I didn't pick up pal release of MP2E or PM:TYD but they both hit 1-2 months after US release. Not bad, languages.. etc considering. Pikmin2 also hit not too long after US release.


What the fuck are you complaining about.

 

[Folder]

I made no mention of handheld release dates, but thet still definately lag behind. Not as badly as console games but still bad enough.

The argument that PAL gamers arent fucked over by nintendo is not winnable. I have been a PAL gamer for over 10 years and they are the worst company when it comes to PAL releases with shitty conversions and shocking delays.

I've been a PAL gamer for 25 years.
It's never been this good.
Nintendo's software timelines are now excellent with some games hitting here first.
Remember that they are dealing with six languages for a PAL release.
What exactly in the last year has borthered you?

Have you played SE's PAL conversions? Fawfuking awful - FFX + 2 and most of their titles have like 2 inch black bars on both sides of the screen . Nintendo's releases all have 60hz compatibility so I don't know what you're whinging about. I didn't pick up pal release of MP2E or PM:TYD but they both hit 1-2 months after US release. Not bad, languages.. etc considering. Pikmin2 also hit not too long after US release.


What the fuck are you complaining about.

Capcom and other third-party PS2 publishers also quite bad.

 

[Odnetnin]

This guy should be jailed for copyright infringement AND fraud. Seriously, it's stuff like this that gives eBay a bad name (justifiably so though) and further spreads the mindset that "Hong Kong carts" and "clone machines" are actually legal and/or acceptable. What a fucker.

but the thing about ebay is they really don't give a fuck because the number of *ahem* retailers that sell bootleg dvds + gba games are so numerous its not funny. They get their cut with listing + final fees so you'd be unsurprised at how unresponsive they are to these piracy reports. The only way really is to get the conglomerate/firms like Universal (movies) / Nintendo (gba) to go after ebay with lawyers for not being more proactive. That's what I mean though. I'm sure more money changes hand on ebay than those chinatown shops that sell NES clones.

 

[duckroll]

but the thing about ebay is they really don't give a fuck because the number of *ahem* retailers that sell bootleg dvds + gba games are so numerous its not funny. They get their cut with listing + final fees so you'd be unsurprised at how unresponsive they are to these piracy reports. The only way really is to get the conglomerate/firms like Universal (movies) / Nintendo (gba) to go after ebay with lawyers for not being more proactive. That's what I mean though. I'm sure more money changes hand on ebay than those chinatown shops that sell NES clones.

That's why i said the bad rep eBay had was justifiable. Either way these illegal acts should be stomped out, someone call Nintendo.

 

[Ryudo]

What the fuck are you complaining about.[/I]

The fucking eternity it takes for nintendo to release the few decent fucking games they have in PAL territories.

I cant believe how anyone, even a nintendo fanboy could say nintendo are timely with their releases. It just defies all logic.

RE
SMS
ZTWW
MP
VJ
MP2
MGS:TTS
RE4
Paper Mario

All fucking lagged months behind their US releases. There are probably others, but i never wanted them so who gives a shit.

Nintendo's software timelines are now excellent with some games hitting here first.

:lol :lol

Can i get a ticket to this magical PAL territory ?


So you two, and any other followers can keep up with the pro-nintendo baby kissing stance - but you wont change my opinion of nintendo. They are lazy bastards.

 

[segasonic]

It's exactly the same on German ebay. The chances of getting a legit GBA game on ebay are 2nd to none. Nintendo apparently doesn't give a fuck, since they have been informed about this situation by Nintendo fans many times over....

 

[fse]

Don't most of you guys own a Modded Xbox with emulators and illegal roms?

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Tips on buying GBA games off of eBay:

NEVER buy a game UNLESS they have an exact picture of the item.

TRY to buy a game with both its box and instructions.

NEVER buy a game if they user says that the box is 'folded to prevent damage from shipping'.

LEARN what the box, instructions, and cartridge for the game look like before you go shopping for it. If they do have a picture(And pirates usually use 'stock photos'), then its usually pretty obvious when it's legit or not.

DON'T buy a game from a seller with tons of negative feedback. Even if his feedback is something like 97%, and he's got over 1000 points of feedback, that's a pretty bad ratio. Read his feedback forum.

LOOK at the seller's other auctions. If the seller has a lot of multiple auctions for the exact same item, chances are, it's a pirate.

NEVER buy a game from an Asian country unless it's Japan.

Example of a legit auction --> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8184847369&rd=1

Example of a pirate auction --> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=234&item=5970312305&rd=1

 

[human5892]

Don't most of you guys own a Modded Xbox with emulators and illegal roms?

I'd be willing to bet that of those who do own emulators, most of them are for now-defunct systems like SNES, Genesis, etc. It's still wrong, but developers for those systems are hardly making a significant profit now from sales of those games, so it's not nearly as big a deal.

This reminds me of that guy a little while back who bought a pirated copy of Kingdom Hearts GBA from eBay for his daughter and was stunned to find a porno scene in it. He angrily called Disney about it. :lol

 

[belgurdo]

Don't most of you guys own a Modded Xbox with emulators and illegal roms?

So you prefer that most people go halfway across the country and pay some shithead collector $200 for a working copy of Chrono Trigger or $2000 to buy their cabinet for some shitty prototype game?

(btw, Hong Kong GBA pirate sellers usually have connections to the Triads, so fuck them up the ass by not buying from them.)

 

[ohamsie]

It's starting to get the same with with DVDs, especially anime and shows like 24. It is annoying to sort the real from the bootleg.

 

[C- Warrior]

...it's funny how most hardcore gamers are the ones killing the industry.

Playing emulaters on a PC/Xbox is different.

Let's say I want to play Chrono Trigger on my PC, sure I didn't buy it--but Square isn't going to make 30 dollars profit from it as they would from me buying FFXII when it comes out.

In fact, Square isn't going to make jack-shit from Chrono Trigger.

I'd rather get that for free, than support some 3rd party bloke in Florida selling pirated copies.

 

[border]

How can eBay really stop these people? Nintendo made a platform that plays pirated games out-of-the-box with no hardware modifications. There's no way to discern counterfeit auctions from legitimate ones because there's no "You need a mod chip" stuff.

Let's say I want to play Chrono Trigger on my PC, sure I didn't buy it--but Square isn't going to make 30 dollars profit from it as they would from me buying FFXII when it comes out.

They would have made $30 if you had bought the PS1 version and played it on a PS1/PS2.

 

[bridegur]

I can't stand to buy media products on Ebay because of the rampant piracy. I just got screwed on a copy of Finding Neverland. I paid then realized it was pirated and then the seller dropped out of Ebay. I've also gotten a pirated copy of Mario Kart for the GBA which barely runs.

 

[HCgamer]

Tips on buying GBA games off of eBay:

NEVER buy a game UNLESS they have an exact picture of the item.

TRY to buy a game with both its box and instructions.

NEVER buy a game if they user says that the box is 'folded to prevent damage from shipping'.

LEARN what the box, instructions, and cartridge for the game look like before you go shopping for it. If they do have a picture(And pirates usually use 'stock photos'), then its usually pretty obvious when it's legit or not.

DON'T buy a game from a seller with tons of negative feedback. Even if his feedback is something like 97%, and he's got over 1000 points of feedback, that's a pretty bad ratio. Read his feedback forum.

LOOK at the seller's other auctions. If the seller has a lot of multiple auctions for the exact same item, chances are, it's a pirate.

NEVER buy a game from an Asian country unless it's Japan.

Example of a legit auction --> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8184847369&rd=1

Example of a pirate auction --> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=234&item=5970312305&rd=1

I've broken most of those rules over the past few days. I am not worried though a little common sense helps.