Release Me

2009-12-01 - 1:45 a.m.

Early morning post. Hopefully this will make up for the lack of one previously.

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Well. It's officially December.

Shortly after midnight, the classic Hershey's-Kisses-bell-ringing commercial came on. I hadn't seen it yet this year.

At least they waited until it was actually December.

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I got a wonderful piece of news last night that made my day, even though it arrived at 10:45pm. It made me want to write this, which I have wanted to do for a quite awhile.

The following is a letter to a seller on eBay. I haven't actually sent this to him, and I've never had a transaction with him. This is solely a venting exercise.

Dear James:

For a long time, you have been selling the only season of Ellery Queen on eBay for over $100. As part of your ad, you claim the following:

EBAY: WE ARE THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER TO THIS COLLECTION AND ARE IN FULL COMPLIANCE WITH EBAYS LISTING POLICIES. THIS LISTING HAS BEEN REVIEWED BY EBAY TRUST AND SAFETY AND FOUND TO BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH CURRENT EBAY POLICY

I presume that your "copyright" is to the format and appearance of this collection, and not the show. However, I digress.

Now comes word from TVShowsOnDVD.com that Ellery Queen is due to be released officially. My guess is that it will sell for far far less than the $100+ that you charge.

But look what you get in YOUR collection. I call your attention to your "About Me" page:

All DVD and VCD's are recorded on Premium DVD +R (Standard), DVD -R(On Request) and VideoCD Media shipped in paper sleeves. Should the DVD +R not be compatible with your equipment we will exchange free of charge for 30 days after you have received them, after 30 days there is a fee of 25.00 + Postage.

You are charging over $100+ for discs that are copied from (likely) video tape. They come in paper sleeves.

And then there's this from your "About Me" page (emphasis mine):

What I List

All Shows Listed are in the public domain, THE FORMAT IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN AND OUR VERSIONS ARE PROTECTED. YOU ARE NOT LICENSED OR GRANTED PERMISSION IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM TO REPRODUCE OR DISTRIBUTE OUR PROPERTY, BY BIDDING ON ANY OF OUR AUCTIONS YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE ENFORCE OUR RIGHTS, YOU AGREE NOT TO REPRODUCE OR REDISTRIBUTE OUR PROPERTY. These are collector's editions and not available in stores. They are not produced by video companies; I make them myself. Overall Quality on the listed shows are at least 7.5 out of 10 or better. These videos are from various sources. If you want perfection these are not perfect but they are very viewable. All DVD and VCD's are recorded on Premium DVD +R (standard), DVD -R(on request) and VideoCD Media shipped in paper sleeves.

I call "bullshit" on this. "Ellery Queen" is NOT in the public domain. If you're going to charge over $100 for COPIES in PAPER SLEEVES, "7.5 or better" is not acceptable - especially since these "ratings" are not listed on your page. For all I know, you made them up.

Also, I believe DVD-R is the "standard". To record onto DVD+R unless asked not to seems to me like a set-up for folks who don't read through all your disclaimers.

Now we go back to the auction page:

DVD SET - REMEMBER YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

IMHO, what your buyers getting is a lousy deal for which you, sir, are charging through the nose. The series (which is owned by Universal and NOT in the public domain - I checked) will likely sell for no more than $40 - most Universal-released sets run for about $35 in brick-and-mortar stores (cf. "Dragnet 1967", "Adam-12 Season One"), and the ones that were licensed by Shout! Factory for even less.

While I do not begrudge you a living, I will be very pleased when the official Ellery Queen release comes out - on official DVDs in a hard plastic case - and you stop charging far too much for far too little.

Sincerely,
David Marron

Believe me, what I intended to write was much nastier.

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So yes, Ellery Queen is rumored to come out next year.

According to the news page, it's from a reliable source - and TVShowsOnDVD.com tend to be very reliable and accurate.

So I will repeat what I wrote on Twitter:

YES YES YES YES YES! FINALLY FUCKING YES!!!!

Okay, I feel much better now.

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It's almost 2am, but I had to sit and write this. Now, sleep. There will likely be another post later.

Till then.

Be seeing you.

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