AOL Email> Of course it won't stop all newbies from getting stung on ebay (no one can stop that I'm afraid).
Well, actually, there is something I was thinking of doing, but haven't had time (perhaps someone here might like to take the reigns)... eBay won't get rid of the small handful of criminals in this hobby, so maybe we should do something instead... eBay gets away with saying 'hey, what are we supposed to do about it' - but not always (remember the European lawsuits a short while back that eBay lost)? Once eBay is informed of wrong-doing, then they have to actually do something (or else they could then become liable). But, just one or two people emailing them won't work (it could just be someone with a grudge). But an organized campaign just might... All we need are a few form-letters (one for each bad-guy) that can be posted on Mopo, copied-and-pasted (with slight changes) and sent to eBay from a whole bunch of disparate people, stating the following: 1. I am a long-time collector of movie posters or an expert in the field. 2. I have been an eBay user since... 3. This person/persons (eBay ID: ...) is/are listing fake posters as original (see listing #'s...), and they have been ripping off eBay customers for literally decades now. Yet they are allowed to act with impugnity. 4. I know the posters listed above are fakes because... 5. I ask that you ban this user for life to prevent the (ongoing) fraud on your site. 6. This isn't just my opinion. It is an opinion shared by the entire poster collecting hobby. Please confirm independently, if you wish. 7. If you don't finally do something about this, I will seriously consider leaving eBay for good. If we can get 10 or 20 people together to send one of these in for each of the crooks, we might be able to finally clean up this hobby. But, as I said, I haven't had a spare day or two to do all the homework. I've complained to eBay about some of these people, even as far back as the mid/late nineties. But, one or two people isn't enough. We need a lot more... Cheers, Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: David Lieberman To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 7:23 PM Subject: [MOPO] Attention STAR WARS Collectors: FREE Star Wars Style A 77/21-0 bootleg Hello everyone. I'm sure most of you are sick of hearing about these bootlegs.....but here is some information some of you may appreciate. We recently acquired 600 (2 original undisturbed rolls of 300) STAR WARS Style A 77/21-0 "first printing" bootlegs from a dealer who purchased them direct from the source (J. Seymour) back in 1989. As soon as she realized she was burned and that they weren't real, she put them in a closet and tried to forget about them. She realized she should have known better, that it was too good to be true. She sent them to us in January 2009. They are mostly all in Near Mint to Mint unused condition. We are offering them FREE to anyone who requests one. We have stamped the back of each one a few times with a 1/2" x 2" permanent ink stamp that says: "THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER". This will make it extremely difficult for anyone to mistake them for originals (or to possibly try and pass them off as such) at some time in the future. If some idiot tries to linen back one to hide the stamps, I would expect (and hope) that the linen backer will be honest and do the right thing and NOT do it. Again, we are offering these FREE to anyone who requests one. One per person while supplies last. All we ask is that you pay $9.95 for shipping. We ship in a high quality plastic tube by Priority mail. If you'd like one of these "original bootlegs" please just email us and we will send you a paypal invoice. We will also include one for free to anyone who orders a rolled poster from our store or to anyone who wins one of our current ebay auctions (you must request it though when ordering and it must be a rolled poster that you win). Over the years we have auctioned this bootleg (correctly described as a bootleg) on ebay at no reserve 3 or 4 times with prices ranging from $30.00 to $80.00. These are THE SAME EXACT posters currently being sold by others on ebay (wrongly described as originals) for over $100.00. If any of you crazy skeptics think we are doing this to make money.....please do the math....$2.00 for a tube, $6.00 for postage, $1.00 for my employee labor for packaging time, $.85 to paypal. Why are we doing this? 1. It would be silly to destroy them (we get requests for them all the time). We did actually consider burning them and filming the video for our website and youtube (wouldn't that be neat!). 2. It is an extremely high quality rolled one sheet.....just as nice as the original....in every way. 3. It is a much more affordable alternative (FREE!) compared to buying an original rolled one (over $1000.00) or compared to buying one of these bootlegs on ebay for over $100.00. 4. It will help to educate collectors. 5. Like it or not, they are a part of movie poster collecting history. 6. It could possibly help to diminish the market for them. Of course it won't stop all newbies from getting stung on ebay (no one can stop that I'm afraid). 7. Because we can. It is our little way of saying "Thank You" to the movie poster collecting world! A little history: Whatever one wishes to call these.....fakes, bootlegs. reproductions, reprints, unauthorized restrikes, counterfeits........one thing is certain. They are not original movie posters. Back in the late 1980's someone got their hands on the original printing elements for 3 Star Wars one sheets. The Style A version 77/21-0, The Style B Teaser Advance, and the Style C International. They illegally printed untold thousands of posters. The quality of them is first class, they are extremely convincing!! They were most likely printed at the same place where the originals were (an NSS printing facility), except it was done "after hours" by unscrupulous employees. These were peddled by a guy named J. Seymour to poster dealers around the world for about $5.00 to $7.00 each. They were described as "originals". Some dealers were fooled, some knew they weren't real....but bought them anyway, and some refused to have anything to do with them. The Official Star Wars fan club actually purchased several thousand of the fake Style A's back in the late 1980's believing they were real. They even distributed many of them to members!! As soon as they found out they weren't authentic one sheets they stopped distributing them and were most likely destroyed. Lucasfilm eventually got wind of all this and went after the guy who was selling them. Usually, reprints are undersized. Not these. They all measure a full 27" x 41". There are subtle printing defects / differences between originals and reprints. On the Style A there is a small "hair" right below Luke's belt (there are a few other differences as well but that is the one everyone focuses on), on the Style B Teaser the GAU printing union logo on the bottom border is missing, and on the Style C there is a small "hair" on Leia's back. The paper quality is first rate as well, we see virtually no real difference when comparing fakes to originals except that the paper may be ever so slightly thicker on the fakes. Some have said that the fakes have a different sheen. If they do it is very slight. As of March 2009, these 3 fakes are still being sold on ebay (described as originals) by several shady poster dealers. Prices are usually between $100.00 to $200.00. (Original rolled near mint unused Star Wars one sheets routinely sell for over $1000.00). These dealers usually swear up and down that the reprints are real.....that they are an alternate printing, or from a warehouse find, or a garbage run from the factory etc., etc, etc. Their excuse always seems plausible. They know they are not real, yet they really don't care. Since word about these fakes has spread and it has become common knowledge in the collecting community (and thus, more difficult to sell), these shady dealers have begun to lightly fold them, put pin holes in them, and even get them linen backed to try and make them appear more authentic. Why doesn't ebay stop them? Ebay is in no position to police the poster world. How do you expect them to determine what is real and what is not? Unless they are ever contacted by Lucasfilm (which we really don't see happening as they closed the book on this 20 years ago) the rip off of new Star Wars collectors will continue. Every now and then a collector will send us one of these fakes for us to put on consignment. We will sell it for what it truly is.....properly described as NOT an original movie poster. We get requests all the time from collectors who would like to see one in person, to have one for reference. We usually do not have any in stock. This fake Style A 77/21-0 is an extremely high quality bootleg poster. It has fooled practically every major auction house in the past as well as most of the top poster dealers. Now available for FREE!! David Lieberman CineMasterpieces.com | 15721 N. Greenway Hayden Loop, Suite 105 -- Scottsdale, Az 85260 Vintage Original Movie Posters | 602 309 0500 | Office/Gallery Open By Appt. Only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! 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