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I went in knowing I was a little wet behind the ears but I didn’t know I was coming out a sucker. I guess I was too eager to scoop up the “rare find” DVDs. Maybe it was the rush of winning my very first bid. In any case, my first few purchases at eBay a couple of weeks ago did not go down smoothly.

I first bid on the Light Years DVD. What a great find, I thought. This animated sci-fi movie was previously only available on VHS. I outbidded everyone else on the item. Final price: $8.02. Cool.

Then I checked out what other DVD gems I could find on eBay. The DVD version of Time Masters, a 1982 French animated feature directed by Rene Laloux (the same guy who did Light Years) and designed by my favorite artist Moebius, was too good to pass up — especially since Amazon was selling it used for $174.95. eBay had it for $19.95. I didn’t even bid for it. I just hit the “Buy it Now” button.

The seller’s credentials looked good. He had a Positive Feedback rating of 99.7%. I checked out the other items he sells. Oooh, he had Fire and Ice on DVD. That’s the animated fantasy adventure that Frank Frazetta and Ralph Bakshi collaborated on. I had seen it previously on VHS but I didn’t know it was on DVD. I bought that too.

Next, I hunted down some classic cartoons I remember fondly from my childhood. I looked for The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant. Someone was selling a compilation of these Oscar Wilde classics (along with the Little Mermaid) by Reader’s Digest on one DVD! I scooped that one up too.

But soon after purchasing the DVD I get a notification from eBay stating that the item was removed for violating eBay policy. I contacted the seller and he said that eBay cancelled the item for being an “unauthorized copy” but he was still fighting it. He offered me a refund but said that he’ll send it to me if I still wanted it. I declined.

That was an omen of things to come. I finally received the Fire and Ice and Time Masters DVDs in the mail. They arrived pretty quickly. The first thing I noticed upon opening the package was that the sleeve covers were ink-jet printed. The same goes for the disc labels. I popped in the Fire and Ice DVD. It looked like crap. The guy basically just burned a bad VHS reproduction of the movie onto a DVD disc. I checked out Time Masters. It was a pretty decent copy. But it was a copy nonetheless. They’re both on their way back to the seller as we speak (to a place called Burnsville!).

There was a delay on the arrival of the Light Years DVD. I contacted the seller. It’s on its way over she says. Let’s see how that turns out. If it turns out as badly as the other purchases, my decision to avoid eBay forever will be absolutely final.