No luck with Harvest Moon

A few days ago, I think it was on Wednesday, we received Harvest Moon DS Cute. This time we made sure the games was an original one by buying one that had a picture of an authentic cartridge on the auction listing. And it really was authentic! the box art had better printing, the manual contained instructions and the cartridge had two sets of numbers on the back. BUT! The game didn't load. Not in my DS, not in Ana's DS Lite, blowing didn't help... We contacted the seller and explained everything. He said the game worked when he tried it before posting. But he's prepared to exchange cartridges, so we'll do that. I wonder what happened and that the next one will be ok.

Also it's been over three weeks since my HM:FoMT has been shipped from the UK and it still hasn't arrived. But it's not the first time that the Royal Post lost a package. They also lost Pokemon Pearl last summer, which in the end arrived much later (after a complaint was filed) and the package was in a bad shape (the game was ok luckilly). I contacted the seller and she said she'll raise a complaint with the post. I hope they'll find it soon. Maybe it travelled to Slovakia, I don't know.

Oh, by the way. I'll post this here as it's the m,ost appropriate place. I finally got my Visa Electron and the PayPal verification :) No more asking around for help, yay! \(^_^)/

The ebay-paypal-credit card saga comes to an end?

I really didn't imagine that me buying three Harvest Moon games on ebay would span over that many posts. Here's a recap:
Part 1: tried to get a credit card, help from a friend, ordered the games
Part 2: received first two bootlegs, complained
Part 3: the first bootleger is no longer an ebay member
Intermezzo: waiting for one more game, being prepared for a bootleg
Part 4: Finally received the third game. This time a very well made bootleg.
Part 5: The second bootlegger wanted revenge

And now, for the much anticipated Part 6 of the great ebay-paypal-credit card saga, brought to you on blogspot.com, directed by Synth, starring Synth, Ana, two bootleggers and people from paypal and ebay. Only on Synth's corner from 4th November 2008.

Last time I left you with the unpaid item strike the 2nd seller gave me. Of course that didn't last long because he had no grounds to file it. I got an email from ebay telling me they lifted it, but if tehre will be a next time, I should follow the proper procedure for lifting it. I replied to them that I WOULD have followed the procedure, but the seller is an unreasonable one, so I decided to directly appeal.
I also received a reply from PayPal saying that there's nothing they can do. Well, at least I tried. But I also got a good email from PayPal, telling me I won the dispute against the first seller and I got my money back. Unfortunately the money I got back doesn't reduce increase the limit of money I can still send. And that brings me to the next point.
Ana and me found a way for us to use PayPal! One of the banks here offers Visa Electron to students for free. It's not a credit card, but a debit card, but it's supposed to work with PayPal! So far Ana has applied, but I will too soon. Now we are waiting to receive it, should be any day now.
When I checked on ebay yesterday I saw that the second seller changed his username. And when I checked today, he wasn't a member anymore! Yaaaay! Did my email to Nintendo help? Did too many people (that I warned) reported him? I don't know and will probably never find out.
In the end, I know that this is somewhat of a Sisyphean task: even if I push one bootlegger away, they can just sign in using a different account. All I can do is make them waste some money for the refunds.

Harvest Moon, Credit card, Paypal and ebay

I think it should be obvious by now that I became addicted to Harvest Moon games. And my girlfriends loves them too! And because one can marry the doctor in HMDS Cute only with a gba game inserted, I started looking for MFoMT for Ana, my girlfriend, at various places, but it's rare to find any gba games in stores, even e-stores. Luckilly we have ebay! Yes, but no credit card...

So first I checked my bank's webspace to see what are the requirements to get a Mastercard (the only one they offer). The only requirement is having had received "three monthly incomes (salary or pension)". I have neither, but I do have (actually had, it just stopped) a scholarship and I once already successfully argued that it counts as monthly income. Well, I went there to inquire in person and the bank clerk (who is always very helpful, btw) said that my scholarship probably wouldn't count, but that she'd make some phone calls to be sure and call me later.
After about two hours she phoned me and said that the comitee for credit cards probably wouldn't give it to me. Then she asked me why I needed it in case there was some other way around. But because I need it for e-shopping, it's the only solution. She told me to fill the form anyway and we'll try applying. In a moment she called back and asked me if I needed to make payments overseas. Of course I do! Well, their credit cards don't pay out of the country. Yet.

Then I was looking at paypal and various discussions if there's a way to deposit money on paypal without a credit card. Sorry, none. After chatting with a friend he said that his brother uses paypal and that he could ask him to help me. To cut this story short, I asked him to pay me some money on my paypal account and I'll pay him on his bank account. So finally I got the money, yay!

After bidding, winning and paying we are now waiting for the games to make it over here. Aparently it should take at least 2 weeks... Can't wait!