Black Market Online Shopping

Posted by Christine Miguel Jul 31, 2006

In my quest to track down a rare foreign title with decent English subtitles, I found an obscure site that was advertizing the title I was looking for. Blind and exhausted in my search I almost immediately wired the money to the 'dealer' located in the Philippines only to recieve back ... burned DVD-R of the titles.

I'm too embarrassed to share with you how much I paid for it, only to say, I'd never do something like that again. It was, however, an experience I'll never forget.

I had previously looked EVERYWHERE for it; Combed through Asian Malls, Surfed the Net through online retailers and Ebay searching for the existence of one copy ... I only needed one copy.

I happened upon a message board that posted up lists and lists of titles people were wanting to trade and share with other users. That should've been my first clue that it wasn't going to be wrapped in cellophane. But like a junkie needing a fix, I was a collector hot on the trail of my latest find, another trophy to add to my proud collection ... and to me, it was within my reach.

Now, granted because the DVD-Rs DID have the title with fairly descent English subtitles, I was still able to enjoy the program. It doesn't change the fact that I feel very very cheated. Note to self; stay away from the message boards.