Ordered off of Ebay, is my item new?

samsam7

Ok so, I was looking for a sealed, new copy of Mario & Luigi Partners in Time, unfortunately its out of stock on Amazon and other sellers, but I found some on Ebay that were listed as brand new and unopened. When it showed up, it was in very tight and neat shrink wrap but not the conventional Y fold plastic. So should I assume that it's a resealed copy? I think the game itself is actually rattling around inside and not snapped into the holder, but that could be coincidence? What do you guys think?

Figgy

If you can link the listing we can maybe get a better idea, but there really is no way for us to tell. Is there the usual "Security Seal" sticker along the opening of the game case?

Ebay is really a toss up. You can get fucked or you can get lucky, but for the most part, you end up spending around what it would cost to get anywhere else.

samsam7

Nope, no security seal, but do DS games even come with a security seal? I'm just wondering if DS games always come in Y fold plastic, because if they do, then it's definitely a resealed game.

The public listing isn't there anymore, but it wasn't shipped from outside the US (btw I'm talkng about the NTSC version of the game).

Figgy

DS games (and all carts, really) are notorious for bootlegs, outside of the US or not.

I'm not sure if DS games usually come with a security seal or if they are Y folded, but your best bet would be to call up a game shop and ask them. Or, go in and just have a look.

HighPoweredMutant

Not sure about the Y sealed thing, but most DS games come in different wrapping than say a xbox 360 or ps2 game. It's softer and tears off easier. I work at gamestop, so I unwrap alot of games.

Bartholamue

For Nintendo games, they're usually wrapped in the Y shaped sealing. For non-Nintendo games, they can be but more often than not, they're sealed differently.

Matrias

Have you fired up the game to check if there is a save already on there?

samsam7

No, I'm keeping it sealed to avoid any hassles returning it if it comes to that. But it seems like pretty much all nintendo games after the gamecube/gba generation have used Y fold

see317

Chances are you bought a bootleg.
On the plus side, it's likely a new bootleg.

Unfortunately, you can't really tell from the box, you have to actually see the cart itself. Then look for obvious misspellings (Nitendo etc...) or odd mold lines on the cart itself.

JaysonFour

I'd wager it's a bootleg. I surf eBay for old or used games- new stuff, you're better off buying from a major retailer. There's just too much risk of getting ripped off.

The best you could have there is a used copy someone shrinkwrapped to sell as new. The worst you could have is a broken bootleg cart that wouldn't have worked anyhow.

Just file reports with eBay (I really really hope you bought it through the auction and not a private transaction) and with whatever service you used to pay them.

samsam7

So I finally decided to just open the thing, and it turns out that the label on the cartridge was a shrunken down version on the box art, not the official label art. Also, the cartridge itself was ever so slightly smaller than a standard DS cartridge which explains why it fell out of its holder. I told all this to the seller and am awaiting reply on a refund.

Matrias

If the seller fucks around, just complain through Ebay. They'll provide you a refund and slap the seller around, I believe.

JaysonFour

If they don't just disappear altogether.

Talk to eBay and maybe see if they'll notify Nintendo and have them fire up the LawyerMechs to go after this guy.