buying on eBay

Susan Albrecht (albrechs@wabash.edu)
Fri, 4 Jan 2002 05:23:02 -0800 (PST)

I have purchased several videos from eBay for our collection. If there is
*any* question about the video, I tend to use the "Ask the Seller a
Question" feature. I've found that if you're very up-front about your
unwillingness to add a bootleg copy to a library collection, sellers will
typically tell you if it's legit or not (although maybe not in those exact
words!). It's also a good way to find out beforehand whether it's the
precise version you're looking for.

Susan at Wabash

>Dear Colleagues,
>
>I'd like to add my "Buyer Beware" voice to Jessica's about buying videos
>via ebay . One of our faculty members wanted a copy of the original King
>Kong in Japanese - our really wonderful video person found a copy on ebay,
>we made the bid (a fairly large sum of money), got it, and found out it
>was misrepresented on ebay (it was a dubbed version which we already
>own). Of course, we should have/could have been more careful and will be
>in the future, but it was a disappointment.
>
>I'm glad to hear that it sometimes works well, but I think that we will
>think twice (three, four, etc.) times before using ebay.
>
>Madeline
>****************************************************************************************
>Madeline A. Copp, Resource Services Librarian
>(English * Film & Media Studies * Writing Seminars * Humanities Center)
>Milton S. Eisenhower Library
>Johns Hopkins University
>3400 N. Charles Street
>Baltimore, MD 21218
>410-516-8540
>410-516-8399 (fax)
>mcopp@jhu.edu
>

Susan Albrecht
Acquisitions Coordinator
Wabash College Lilly Library
Crawfordsville, IN
x6216
albrechs@wabash.edu

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"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."--Neil Peart
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