I got sold a counterfeit copy of Final Fantasy VI

So, I just bought a copy of Final Fantasy VI on EBay. Or, I thought I did. What I really bought was a counterfeit copy of Final Fantasy VI. Grrrrr.

Here was the text for the auction:

This PRE-PLAYED game comes COMPLETE with box, & game cartridge.

Item is GUARANTEED to work.

Everything is in perfect condition.

How can I tell that it was counterfeit? Well, I'm glad you asked. I put together this handy writeup to accompany my campaign to get my money back. Lets go through this point by point:

First, this pre-played game comes COMPLETE with box, right? Lets look at a legitimate box, and compare it to my box:

Legitimate Box

Two problems with mine:

Everyone?

- The real game is not rated 'Everyone' by the ESRB. It's rated E10+.

Nintendo?

-The real box would have a Nintendo logo in the lower right corner, mine does not.

I can't find a picture of the back of a real box, but I can still pick apart the back of this one:

Do I know you?

- Who are these little misfits? They're not Final Fantasy VI characters, they are Edward, Rosa, and Rydia from Final Fantasy IV. A real box wouldn't have pictures from the wrong game on it.

2001?

- They claim a copyright on the game for 2001? The real game was released in North America on May 2nd, 2007.

Top all that off with the fact that he claimed that the game was pre-played, but the box is straight off of a printing press. It's never been folded at all, and was shipped to me disassembled.

Ok, so maybe he sent me a real cartridge, but went and got a fake box to try and increase the value of his auction? I don't really care if the box is fake, as long as the game is real.

No luck. Lets look at the cartridge:

Do I look real to you?

- Still labeled with the wrong ESRB rating.

- Still labeled with characters from the wrong game.

Nope, it's one big batch of fake.

I'm sending the guy a request for my money back, and I'm probably going to report him to EBay. Here is a copy of the email that I sent him:

Dear nbarish,

You have sold me a counterfeit copy of Final Fantasy VI. As you probably know, selling counterfeit video games is against the EBay terms of use, and is unfair to me as a customer.

I have put together a detailed summary of how I know that this is a counterfeit on my blog. You can read more at: http://jaqenn.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-got-sold-counterfeit-copy-of-final.html

I require that you send me a full refund for the purchase of this item. I will then destroy it. If you wish the item to be returned to you, please include an additional $5 shipping and handling.

Should you comply with this request, I will make note of your apology and refund in my report to EBay.

Thank you for your time.

-Trevor Christman
ebay Jaqenn

I'll let you guys know how it pans out.