# Anyone ever deal with this company? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115 "2007-09-13T20:33:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/1 "2007-09-13T20:33:44Z")
I was doing a search for some DVDs that my husband wants and I came across [this site](http://www.apdvds.com/index.html). The prices seem really good and they have free shipping. Naturally, I’m a tad suspicious, especially when they declare they’re proud members of PayPal. :rolleyes: I’d love to buy him the stuff he wants, especially at these prices, but I don’t like trying out things that make me nervous, and this site makes me a little nervous. However, I know a Doper would never lead me astray. So, Dopers, have any of you ever dealt with these guys? Comments? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dunawake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dunawake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunawake)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/2 "2007-09-13T21:11:20Z")
Never heard of them, but found this info at the bottom of their site: > [@](#): > > …We do not sell bootlegs, copies, unauthorized material or pirates of any kind. All of our DVDs are officially autorized chinese releases. The DVD contents are the exact same as the U.S. release and they are the exact same high quality DVD’S. The only slight difference is in the packaging which may contain English and Asian writing… So if the ARE legit, it’s because they are non-standard versions of the DVD releases. And given the site design, I’d be kinda wary to give them my credit card info. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/3 "2007-09-13T21:45:41Z")
The site design was a big red flag for us, too. And I obviously didn’t read enough since I missed the paragraph you cited. Since I’m doing my own personal boycott of Chinese goods, that connection pretty much seals the deal. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/4 "2007-09-13T22:15:33Z")
China seems to be really really flexible on the issue of copyrights. So something myay be legal in China yet totally an unauthorized copy by US/European/Japanese standards. The copy of the copies can vary from near perfect to really crappy. Same goes for those “too good to be true” deals you see on ebay, a heck of a lot of them (especially with the anime box sets) are Chinese bootlegs. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/5 "2007-09-14T00:36:25Z")
I’d go somewhere else, even if I had to pay more. The amateurish design of the site … and all the typos … are red flags. And yeah, the fact that they’re “proud members of” Paypal, Visa, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/6 "2007-09-14T00:37:43Z")
Plus since they’re Chinese releases, they may not have the proper region coding to play on your DVD player. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/7 "2007-09-14T00:46:51Z")
It’s also very likely, that while they might be legit releases in China, I think that most of them will count as bootlegged _if sold to the North American Market_. Personally, as an anime viewer, I’ve gotten burned so many times by people passing off cheap Chinese knock-offs that I would never buy a DVD that was meant for the Chinese market. There are just too many things that could be shady. (And the translations usually suck, like straight Babelfish translations with out any rationalization of what the translation program gave them.) ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/8 "2007-09-14T23:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] It’s also very likely, that while they might be legit releases in China, I think that most of them will count as bootlegged _if sold to the North American Market_. Personally, as an anime viewer, I’ve gotten burned so many times by people passing off cheap Chinese knock-offs that I would never buy a DVD that was meant for the Chinese market. There are just too many things that could be shady. (And the translations usually suck, like straight Babelfish translations with out any rationalization of what the translation program gave them.) [/QUOTE] Actually, as it pertains to anime, my understanding is that they’re translated from Japanese to Chinese and then from Chinese to English. Thus the suck. And, yeah, that site looks shady as all get-out. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/9 "2007-09-15T00:43:34Z")
woah, these are anything but legal in the US. There are plenty of companies including Disney that license media for use in China \*\*\*only \*\* \* at a Chinese price. In the case of Disney, these are actually VCD’s instead of DVD’s and there is a noticeable quality difference. Retail price in China for such a VCD is about USD2.50. All of these media have a big warning on the label about being legal for sale and use in China only. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/10 "2007-09-15T15:32:43Z")
The link doesn’t work for me. I’d say that’s a pretty bad sign! ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/11 "2007-09-15T16:19:20Z")
I agree with the last poster. I get this message: This domain is missing from the Web server configuration (in HUGE letters) That, to me, is a bad sign! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-deal-with-this-company/419115/12 "2007-09-15T17:47:39Z")
for anyone curious there is a google cache [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:jIbiP9dBXnwJ:www.apdvds.com/+apdvds.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us](http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:jIbiP9dBXnwJ:www.apdvds.com/+apdvds.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us)