Did the seller explicitly say that they were
region 1 or just that they would play fine on US
and Canada players? If the seller told you the
second it was not a lie but certainly it was a
dirty trick to get bids.

Also, did the DVD covers (pics of the auction)
match the official R1 release? You should take a
look to them on online stores before placing bids,
and even make sure that there's an official R1
release....

And yet, how much did you pay for those DVDs? Was
the price you payed much cheaper than the official
R1 release? If you got them very cheap and the
auction didn't mention that they are used DVDs
then it's also a sign that they are bootlegs.....

If the auction explictly said that the DVDs were
region 1 ,the pics of the auction match the
official ones and you received something different
then you certainly were ripped off (you should
also consider yourself lucky if all the dvds play
fine without errors). The only thing you can do is
report the seller's actions to ebay, but if that
seller is a bootleger you probably won't get your
money back, and even if ebay cancels their
username they will just pick another one (if they
are not using many already). Also, if the seller
is a bootleger be careful with the feedback you
leave them as they can always leave a retaliation
feedback for you.