Bought a 50 dollar 'restored' VHS of Troll 2 and it was just a burned DVD-R in a clamshell case

I was so excited when I found this listing online from a guy in Portland who claimed he restored old horror VHS tapes. He said the tape was cleaned and the case was original art. I paid 50 bucks plus shipping and waited two weeks for it to arrive. When I opened the package, the case was just a cheap clamshell with a blurry printed label. The tape inside was actually a DVD-R with a hand-scrawled title on it. I popped it in my VCR and nothing happened because it's not even a VHS tape. Has anyone else gotten scammed by these supposed 'restoration' sellers?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john22d ago

My buddy fell for the exact same thing last year, bought a "mint condition" restored VHS of The Wicker Man from some eBay seller in Utah. Paid 75 bucks for it, waited two weeks, opened the package and it was a burned DVD with a sticky label that said "Wicker Man" in Sharpie. He tried to fight it with eBay but the seller ghosted him and eBay just said the listing was clear enough about it being a digital copy. The whole "restored VHS" thing feels like a scam to me, half these guys are just burning discs and calling it a service because they know people like us crave that old tape feel. Did you leave the guy a nasty review or just let it slide?

the_kevin22d ago

Dude that sucks. Same thing happened to me with a "restored" copy of The Gate from some guy on Etsy. Paid 40 bucks and got a DVD-R in a paper sleeve with a faded label that looked like it was printed on a 2003 inkjet printer. Popped it in the VCR and nothing, obviously. Left a one star review with photos and the seller tried to argue it was still a "digital restoration". Nope, that's just a burned disc.