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The Little Ebayer Who Was Stupid Enough To Unintentionally Buy A Fake CD

I am a music collector. I am also a very, very, very big fan of Sia Furler as I may have mentioned more than once on this blog. For yonks, I have been trying to find her ultra rare album “OnlySee”, which only was released in Adelaide, and only around 1000 copies.

Want is a funny thing, and when it came up on ebay for the first time ever, I was pretty excited. Never have I ever seen it on ebay before, in an op shop or a junk store. So I pounced onto the opportunity, like an idiot of course.

The seller “tommiesunshine_9″ is from the Russian Federation. That should had been my first tip off, how in the hell would a Russian guy have a copy of such a rare Australian CD, only to put it up for sale on Ebay when Sia finally becomes uber famous? The second tip off should had been that all his listings looked dodgy, he only had 1 good feedback and his account had only opened in November, 2016.

He was very nice, answered all my questions and even told me that he received the CD 18 years ago from a friend and put it in the cupboard and just forgot. Referring to this copy of this CD, he assured me not to worry, that the CD works fine.

I recently created an account on Discogs.com and put “OnlySee” into my wishlist. I didn’t know why, but I did, not realising that the website emails peopel to inform them when a CD they “want” is for sale. A listing from “A_CD_sale” who lives in the Russian Federation was up on the website.

This made my tummy turn, but I told myself that maybe it meant the ebay page and didn’t realize the listing had ended.

On Wednesday morning, things hit the proverbial when I received my CD in the mail.

Instantly, I knew it was a fake. There were printer lines on the front cover, on the inside of the insert was photocopied crease marks, the label on the CD looked stuck down as opposed to being part of the CD and, I admit it was weird to do it, but it smelt like it was straight from the press and not as musky CD from the 90s. The audio worked fine and didn’t sound too compressed for a bootleg but most people don’t clock onto that.

In some sort of pang of hope, I turned to a very great facebook community “Vinyl and CD Hoarders United” who were extremely willing to help and support me through the process, even going out of their own way to chase the ebayer around online to find out more.

I emailed him right away.

Me:

I received my CD today. I am a bit concerned that the CD maybe a bootleg copy. I have noticed you are selling the same copy on another website, when you told me you had a copy in the cupboard for the past 18 years. The CD also looks a bit photocopied and the disk label looks stuck on. I'm just a little bit confused and just wanted to check with you first to see what is going on.

He replied:

Hello Holly. I sold my CD. I also buy around the world the same CD cheaper and sell more expensive. I buy them at different radio stations, as there are a lot of friends. They all look the same. If you still have questions, I will gladly answer them. Thank you

Oh, as this was contradicting what he told me earlier, I certainly DID have questions and learnt that he actually wasn’t glad to answer them.

Me:

Hi Alexander, I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt. You didn’t say that you had more copies of the cd. I thought I was buying the only copy that you had- you did say that CD (the one I was led to believe was your only copy) is in good condition. As for finding multiple other copies of the cd- I think this a bit hard to believe. The cd is extremely rare in Australia, how it could have made its way to you more than once and how I could never have found a single copy for the past 6 years I have spent searching for it is is bit interesting to me. I am just a little concerned that my CD is a copy of your original CD, instead of an original pressing. In the description it says that the CD is in its original form but there are many signs that the CD is not an original. I am just not very convinced I have been sold an original pressing and just want to see if you can help me make sense of this all. I am happy to email you photos of why I believe this. Kind regards, Holly

His response:

Hello Holly. You will be surprised, but this CD edition of 1,000 copies. I don't know how many of them in Australia, but you can buy them in the US and in Europe. Expensive, but you can buy. I sometimes buy on the site Discogs and other. I bought 3 of the CD. you can ask these users: Sasha_V john_kowacs VincentSound The price is different: from 90 to 120 euros. When I sell, I have only 1 CD on the purchase of the other I'm negotiating. This is my business work. I later write a history of this release. Best regards. Alexander

He kept ignoring why I thought it was a bootleg, or rather why I knew it was a bootleg. He was so insistent that eventually I came to believe that perhaps he was in some sort of belief that these CDs he was buying were real. It went like this for a bit, eventually I emailed back an apology and his response to that was:

"Thanks" for the feedback :( I bought 3 CDs in different countries and they all look the same, but not all were new. I sold you my CD that I bought in US in 1998 and immediately put on the shelf in the closet. I wrote to my friend, who worked in Treehouse Studio. I showed him your pictures. He said part of the printing were exactly the same quality. In 1997, they had little money and half the copies were printed at a cheap printing factory. So your doubts are vain. Thankyou very much, Alexander.

I tried googling Treehouse Studio’s for any trace, but to no avail. Under the advice of my boyfriend, I then emailed the producer of OnlySee Jesse Flavell who was very nice to respond, but couldn’t fully validate the CD. If he had been able to see it in person, he would have known right away it was a fake.

Now I was going to leave it at that, then I remembered that he had sent me those usernames to message on Discogs.com to validate the purchase of my CD. Two of the names weren’t registered, but “Sasha_V” was. As soon as I clicked onto “Sasha’s” profile, I noticed something was a miss.

Sasha had been nice enough to post their email address onto their profile for anyone interested in their music collection. I was interested in why this person who was apparently a whole other person to Alex had the same email address that Alex uses to receive paypal funds. Smuggly, I emailed “Sasha” pretending I thought they were a different person and of course he replied and signed off as Sasha.

After emailing paypal, ebay and discogs, I sent him a message:

There's nothing vain about the paypal claim I have sent you. Let's cooperate with this one, please. All my evidence is in the message on paypal. I am tired, disappointed and just want my money back. H.

When confronted about this, Alexander deleted the email and then proceeded to try and tell me that it is his personal profile because “Sasha” is a nickname for Alexander. Yet again, ignoring the fact that he told me that was another persons page.

The message I sent him via paypal:

I am requesting a refund as I feel that you have sent me a bootleg copy of the album OnlySee and have not been truthful about this.

I received a CD that appears to be a fake as the insert has a crease photocopied, and there are two black boarders- one inside the other which is noticeable in the shininess of the glossy paper, the label on the disk seems to be stuck down, as opposed to being part of the CD and there are printer marks all over the front cover.

Look, you have contradicted yourself many times through this lengthy and exhausting process. All I wanted was for you to admit that my copy of the CD was a fake. However, I did then convince myself that maybe you bought them believing they are the real deal from other sellers.

Luckily you sent me through the names of some users on the website Discogs who I could ask to validate the CD for me. Now I am more than CERTAIN that you have been knowingly selling fake copies of CDs. Yet again conveniently for you, the two other profile names you sent me weren’t on the website but one was. “Sasha_V”. You have posted the same email address on the profile of “Sasha_V” that you use for your own Paypal account, proving to me that you have a fake profile to convince me the CD was fine.

You also replied to me on discogs and signed off as Sasha, lying to me yet again, under a different name to yours, Alexander.

Are you going to continue to lie to me when this proves exactly what I suspected in the first place?

I paid $258.59 AUD ($180.00 USD) for a CD that you mislead me into believing was an original pressing. I have screen shots of your fake profile on discogs (including a listing of OnlySee that mysteriously disappeared when I questioned my purchase), copies of our correspondence, and finally I have been emailing the producer of the album to check it’s validation and guess what? He was kind enough to email me back.

To semi quote you, are my doubts still “in vain”?

I would like my money back please.

He eventually gave me a partial refund. It was more the principal than the money for me. He also sent me an additional $6.00 and links to a drop box which holds Sia’s disography. I deleted and blocked his email and sent back the bribe, not wanting to find out if it was riddled with trojan viruses or not.

He never did admit that the CD was not real.

All websites are currently looking into his accounts.

His only follower on ebay also lives in the Russian Federation.

If you feel that you have been stung by this same ebayer, or would like some advice, hit me up in the inbox.

You aren’t alone, even the smartest of people get screwed over.

Remember that you have all the power.

#bootleg #rare cds #onlysee #sia

I Don't Want To Want You Lyrics - Sia

#IDon'tWantToWantYou #Sia

I Don’t Want To Want You Lyrics – Sia Song Details: Song: I Don’t Want To Want You Artist: Sia Album: OnlySee Released: 1997

I Don’t Want To Want You Lyrics

I like to take you Only cause I choose not to leave you I like to make something of you Only cause I choose to believe in you

I don’t want to want you like I do I don’t want to want you like I do Like I do

I, I, I like to show you Only cause I…

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#OnlySee #Sia

Don't Get Me Started Lyrics - Sia

#Don'tGetMeStarted #Sia

Don’t Get Me Started Lyrics – Sia Song Details: Song: Don’t Get Me Started Artist: Sia Album: OnlySee Released: 1997

Don’t Get Me Started Lyrics

Don’t want to be another craze How about rather not see and I turn my face Don’t want to leave you unfinished And resting on the noise that you left I don’t want to leave you mistaken, forsaken Lying with the rest

I don’t want you to be another Touch, you…

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#1997 #OnlySee #Sia