Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

I ordered a movie and I did receive it but when I went to post it back into the system I noticed it has two holes punched into the UPC code.  I can find the DVD by searching the system but I am not able to get the DVD posted.  What am I doing wrong, or am I just out of luck for this movie?

When you received the DVD it went to your tower. You should be able to go to your Tower and post that DVD from there.

Of course that will not work if you got the DVD through a swap in the Bazaar forum and it was an unpostable DVD. If so, you can list it in the Bazaar and see if anyone wants it.

If the UPC is not on the DVD, it is not postable. 

If I read the post correctly, the DVD does have a UPC but has holes punched in it. So is it still unpostable?

If the holes remove the numbers, then it would be unpostable because then it would be guessing what the UPC code was.  If it was just a hole punched above the numbers, in the lines, then it should be ok.  From the OP statements it seems the holes removed the numbers.

But.......even if the numbers are unreadable, it is still postable in the bazaar, as Toni first suggested.

If the holes remove the numbers, then it would be unpostable because then it would be guessing what the UPC code was.

Not at all - the barcode encodes those numbers - you just have to manually read the barcode, or use a barcode scanner.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/upc3.htm

As long as part of the bar code is completely intact in one line, then sure, a scanner can be used.  However, since the OP mentions that they can only find it by searching, then a scanner must not be available or the code is missing from the hole punches.

Another approach to this situation (have barcode, don't have actual numbers, want to verify a probable UPC value match) is to use http://www.idautomation.com/java/linearservlet.html to generate a barcode (symbology UPCA, no check digit, don't display check digit) for the suspected number, then compare that barcode with the one on the package.

Devil's advocate (and I don't think I've had this situation with DVD's, but I have with CD's) -

One or two digits on the package is unreadable (or the first or last digit is missing).  But, all the other digits match exactly what the title should be.  Would we really be calling that "unpostable"?

You're a tough crowd.

In my opinion, not having run this by TPTB, I would say that if the UPC is on the movie, but one or more numbers can't be read for whatever reason, the movie is still postable.  The trick is finding another copy of the movie to supply the missing numbers. 

If your movie has 0897hole987hole1 and you find the exact same title and edition on another website that gives you a UPC  of 0897498721, then I think the solution is clear.

The "no UPC = unpostable" is intended, I believe, to keep people from posting the wrong version (as happens a lot on PBS when people just find a similar book and click "post this book") and from posting individual disks from sets, and pirated/copied movies, etc.