So it seems there's a new case of Bootlegs/Theft hitting Amazon US lately

The biggest issue with the CeX thing is that they sell legit copies and copies with reprinted covers for the same price, and don't make any effort to let people know there's a difference.

This dude's channel has a pretty good series of videos on the whole thing, including detailing what exact laws CeX are in violation of, as well as a bunch of other stuff:

This has really put me off buying ANYTHING from CEX. I find it astounding that they are getting away with this. Watchdog needs to get involved imo.
 
Last edited:
Let's be honest here, "serious collectors" are not buying from or selling to CEX. They're a mass-market second hand tat shop. Finding something in good condition in CEX in the first place is a rarity rather than the norm.

I'd imagine I'd be able to tell the difference between an original and a reprinted cover by say, looking at the box on the shelf. And if I couldn't tell the difference and it was indistinguishable from the original... what would actually be the difference between it and the originaI?

I can really only see this affecting one group of people - Those who want to buy things from CEX they think are undervalued and sell them on for a higher price, which they won't be able to get if something doesn't have its original cover.
 
The only reason I would go into CeX was for collecting games that I feel weren't worth going after at higher prices or in 'brand new' condition which is what I have always been doing until around the Summer time. There were a lot of PS3 games that I wanted but I decided to acquire a fair amount of them in pre-owned form as they were either too expensive or the conditions were solid.

Honestly if you want to get a game 'pre-owned' believe it or not GAME does handle them pretty well especially with their 3 for 2 deals. I got a number of PS3 games from them at solid condition and even rare or higher priced titles like Folklore, God of War HD Collection Ico/SOTC HD Collection, Ni no Kuni (first release) and a couple Vita games for excellent prices.
 
Although i doesn't happen in my local store i have seen quite a few blu-rays/games with fake covers in the Birmingham CEX, they're not even good fakes it's like one you'd try to print at home. Would be better if they did it like GAME though where it just the disc in a case with no cover and just the games name wrote on a piece of paper inside the case. Luckily i haven't had any fakes when i've ordered online though.
 
I'd never buy dvd's from CEX unless they were crazy cheap, I did place a few big orders them back before they started getting greedy with postage to get hold of a lot of the Hong Kong Legends dvds I didn't own cheap but about 1/3of them were no good.

I'd also shy away from CD format & games that use DVD or CD format as they can be just as bad. Blu-ray's tend to be ok as they are more resilient.
 
I'd never buy dvd's from CEX unless they were crazy cheap, I did place a few big orders them back before they started getting greedy with postage to get hold of a lot of the Hong Kong Legends dvds I didn't own cheap but about 1/3of them were no good.

I'd also shy away from CD format & games that use DVD or CD format as they can be just as bad. Blu-ray's tend to be ok as they are more resilient.
I saw today they were selling a bunch of Spiral volumes between 50p and £2.50 so add them all in the cart and they were gonna charge me £9 delivery... The hell with that.
 
I saw today they were selling a bunch of Spiral volumes between 50p and £2.50 so add them all in the cart and they were gonna charge me £9 delivery... The hell with that.

The reason they charge £1.50 delivery per item now is most of their stuff is sent out individually from separate stores (unless you're lucky that one store has most of what you've ordered) so there's no way the original cost of £2.50 that they used to charge per order would cover the p+p if you made a big order. £1.50 per item isn't really that expensive, it's pretty much the same it would cost you post a dvd/blu-ray.
 
The reason they charge £1.50 delivery per item now is most of their stuff is sent out individually from separate stores (unless you're lucky that one store has most of what you've ordered) so there's no way the original cost of £2.50 that they used to charge per order would cover the p+p if you made a big order. £1.50 per item isn't really that expensive, it's pretty much the same it would cost you post a dvd/blu-ray.
I am watching vids on how bad the fake covers are. so then, the more chance these items are from different stores, the more chance that they have fake cases? I'm just wondering now, and half laughing, that limited edition of monmusume, is that fake too? I mean the CD case of mine comes with a book of a few pinup images of the girls, and there are some of the characters printed on the back side of the covers. if that had the "CEX" stamp in each of the cases, then that would slash it's value in half immediately, and well. without the proper materials, it wouldn't really be a CE
 
That whole CEX thing with the repro game covers really is a crazy thing, innit?

Personally, I only ever see to pick up ancient, unwanted (but still fun) video games in my local CEX. The staff are a hoot as well, so there's that. BUUUUUUT... I've always been kind of wary about shopping there. In fact, I've actually gotten into the habit of whenever I pick up a bundle of stuff, I'll go for a coffee somewhere - I'm usually with friends - and then examine the discs.

I've not had one of these repro covers as yet, which sort of surprises me given how widespread the problem reportedly is. And also given that everything I've picked up in there lately has been for either the PS2 or Nintendo Wii. I've had some tatty boxes, a couple of dead discs (one had a trench cut so deep in it I halfway expected Luke Skywalker to show up in his X Wing fighter and go for a bombing run down it) but so far, nothing outright dodgy.

That said, I do have a copy of Red Faction for PS2 here that looks SUSPICIOUSLY well looked after.

Still, I can't really complain, especially after some of the dodgier Amazon / Ebay pick ups I've had. I had one Wii game from a market place seller that had a load of receipts bundled in under the instruction manual along with a torn out page from a porn mag! Talk about yer Dubya Tee Eff!
 
That whole CEX thing with the repro game covers really is a crazy thing, innit?

Personally, I only ever see to pick up ancient, unwanted (but still fun) video games in my local CEX. The staff are a hoot as well, so there's that. BUUUUUUT... I've always been kind of wary about shopping there. In fact, I've actually gotten into the habit of whenever I pick up a bundle of stuff, I'll go for a coffee somewhere - I'm usually with friends - and then examine the discs.

I've not had one of these repro covers as yet, which sort of surprises me given how widespread the problem reportedly is. And also given that everything I've picked up in there lately has been for either the PS2 or Nintendo Wii. I've had some tatty boxes, a couple of dead discs (one had a trench cut so deep in it I halfway expected Luke Skywalker to show up in his X Wing fighter and go for a bombing run down it) but so far, nothing outright dodgy.

That said, I do have a copy of Red Faction for PS2 here that looks SUSPICIOUSLY well looked after.

Still, I can't really complain, especially after some of the dodgier Amazon / Ebay pick ups I've had. I had one Wii game from a market place seller that had a load of receipts bundled in under the instruction manual along with a torn out page from a porn mag! Talk about yer Dubya Tee Eff!
More uh, bang for ya buck?
 
As a company, they're not allowed to send out anything with a reprinted cover for online orders. If you do happen to order something and get stuck with a reprinted cover, you're 100% entitled to a refund either online or by returning it in-store. Unfortunately, it depends entirely on the standard of store and how much the ops manual is enforced. The standards of training, management, and enforcement of company guidelines differs from store to store - horrendously so.

Courtesy of a former supervisor ^_^;
 
Last edited:
Mini-update to the thread - Dragon Ball Super Part 3 has been affected by this (which is kinda not surprising as Parts 1 & 2 were as well).

EDIT: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team also.
 
Last edited:
I've asked this on the Q&A Thread, but didn't receive an answer, so I thought I would ask on here.

Seeing as there aren't any updates regarding releases on Amazon US, is it safe to buy standard BDs on Amazon US again?
 
I haven't had problems with other online retailers I use frequently, at least I'm guaranteed to have all of the discs perfectly intact. I just wasn't sure if Amazon US still has the issue with sending out empty cases.
 
Back
Top