Collecting Walt Disney Treasures DVDs on eBay

[HalRoachFan]

I thought my little story about my collecting the Walt Disney Treasures on the internet might interest some of you, so here goes.

I never even heard of Treasures sets until I just happened to look up "Mickey Mouse" on Amazon.com to see if any new excellent top notch restored DVD sets have been released recently or will be released, just as Looney Tunes did in the past year (which gave me the idea of looking up the Walt Disney cartoon shorts). To my surprise, I found that they did indeed release some but then saw that some are out of print, and others are just coming out. At that time, I didn't think it was something I really wanted badly enough, so I just thought forget it.

I went into Sam Goody one day and found that they had a few of the Wave 3 Treasures, including MM In Color Vol. 2, On the Front Lines, and DD Vol. 1 (which the tin is badly damaged). The MM In Color #1 was the one that I was most interested in, but they cost $33 and I still didn't think I wanted it for that price, despite how attractive the packaging was. Later, I was Sam's Club and found the brand new MM In B/W #2 and MMC for $22 a set. That's when I really wanted MM In B/W #2 and asked for it for Christmas, and decided since I asked for that for Christmas I would ask for MM In Color #2 from Sam Goody as well.

When I got those for Christmas, I fell in love with the packaging and the way the cartoons were presented (fully restored, the nice bonuses, and the information given by Leonard Maltin, who also hosted the Little Rascals videos 10 years ago). That's when I decided to try for ALL the other Mickey Mouse sets. After rather heavily researching the DVDs, I knew that Volume 1 of both the color and B/W sets were going to be tough to get in their tin containers for more reasonable prices. But I kept my eye out on eBay to try to find lower prices than what they charge on Half.com and Amazon.com, used or new.

The first Treasures set I got since the first two I got for Christmas was MM In B/W Volume 1, and I got it on eBay for $50. I bid on that set a few times and got outbid everytime until I won this one, which I was surprised to discover that I won this auction after I got home from work (which meant that I couldn't stay at the computer to watch the auction go off). So I was lucky to have bought it for $50 while I saw the others go up between $60-70. And this DID have the tin with it and in pretty decent shape with a few minor dents on the corners.

Shortly afterwards, I made up my mind to get On the Front Lines from Sam Goody since the theme of the set was instantly attention-getting (and it got fantastic reviews). I didn't want DD #1 since the condition of the tin was so bad.

By then, all I needed left to get that I wanted was MM In Color #1, The Complete Goofy (that I later decided I wanted to get), and DD #1. I knew MM In Color #1 would be a great challenge, as well as Goofy. But one early-early morning, a seller put an auction up on eBay for MM Color #1 for $49.95 if you "Buy It Now." I woke up at 8:30, looked it up to see the new listings and found it. I believed there was a catch somewhere (like not having the tin, or the shipping was outrageously high, or whatever). But no, it had the tin, the shipping was not high and the feedback was 100% positive. I quickly got it before anyone else did, and I also bought DD #1 from the same seller to combine the shipping (and he didn't even charge me extra for it). I see MM Color #1 going up to $100!!! Hello!

The day after, I had MORE incredible luck of getting my final desired Treasures set for a bargain compared to how much others are bringing. I found three The Complete Goofy auctions that were each ending an hour later than the other. I skipped the first auction ending because it was at $55. The second one stayed at $36 for a while, but as the last minutes were approaching it went to $45, so I put in $55.10 for my maximum bid and couldn't believe that I won it for $47 after the other bidders only had 15 seconds left to try to outbid me (and that happened just the day before I tried to get Goofy!!). The third auction went up to $53. Some of the same bidders tried to go for that.

MM In Color #1, DD #1, and Goofy are all recently purchased, so I'm still waiting for MM and DD to arrive in the mail (and they might come tomorrow). But I got Goofy today. Yay!

Man, I really think I have the skills for eBay. So anyway, now I have the complete MM set, The Complete Goofy, Donald Duck #1, and On the Front Lines, all of which are highly appealing and excellent collectors items. Although I am with everyone else here about the packaging for Wave 4. My MM in B/W #2 doesn't have the blue band and the back of the tin is plain with no printing of the information like the last three Waves. Oh well. It's not that much of a biggie.

I never heard of "Silly Symphonies" until I learned about the Treasures set. Is it a series of musical shorts? Do any of you recommend me getting it? Think I will like it? If so, let me know and I might try to get it. Thanks in advance!

[MK Sharp]

I never heard of "Silly Symphonies" until I learned about the Treasures set. Is it a series of musical shorts? Do any of you recommend me getting it? Think I will like it? If so, let me know and I might try to get it.

The Silly Symphonies started out as a series of shorts where the emphasis was on music, with non-recurring characters - much like the early WB Merrie Melodies (the title is a take-off of "Silly Symphonies"). It became a run of films where animators could experiment with different techniques. More info here: http://disneyshorts.toonzone.net/miscel ... silly.html

And yes, you should definitely get the SS Treasure. It's one of my absolute faves of the whole run, and I can't imagine it would disappoint if you're into the other Disney cartoon series. It's probably quite rare now, but with your extraordinary eBay skill and luck, I shouldn't think that would pose a challenge!

[PatrickvD]

I also recommend Pluto, if you love Mickey, Donald and Goofy. You will be happy with it. And you will still be able to find it in stores now for a low price since it hasnt been out for that long.

[HalRoachFan]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys!

I just now got MM In Color #1 and DD #1 in the mail! Unfortunately, MM In Color #1 is missing the blue band that goes around the bottom of the tin, which really isn't that big a deal. But if I called the Disney DVD number, would they be able to replace it for me if I told them I bought it used and the band is missing? I read that they can replace things like the keepcases.

[Ciaobelli]

Get Tomorrowland, awsome set!!

[HalRoachFan]

Hm, had to do a little searching for my buried post..... MK Sharp, I purchased Silly Symphonies on eBay last night. Interestingly, the guy lives a half hour away and my parents are in town tomorrow while I'm in taking my college course, so they're going to pay him in person for me. Cool, huh?

[Disney Guru]

The last treasure I need is Tomorrowland then I will have all 14 treasures, that are currently available. I hope I can find it for a good deal someplace.

[orestes.]

I need three, Davy Crockett, Disneyland USA and Tomorrowland but I sort of already have Tomorrowland... it's 5 hours up north on layaway at a Blockbuster. It's a late christmas gift for me.

I know Tomorrowland had a small amount of tins but after it came out it was everywhere and no nowhere. I saw one recently at a store but they are getting hard to find. I might pick up as many as I can and try and sell them on eBay, something I have never done.

[AwallaceUNC]

Once my DMC orders get in, the only one I'll need is Silly Symphonies, which will probably cost a pretty penny.

DG- Tomorrowland sets can still be gotten for a decent price on eBay... only a little more than what you would have paid for in stores. They are starting to climb in price, though, so now's the time to act.

-Aaron

[disneywb]

I've seen a lot of tomorrowlands at Wal-Mart. Walmart had a big box of Treasures piled high, and I was digging through them in hopes of finding Volume 1 of either Mickey Mouse release (although I've ordered them now through DMC). Tomorrowland is definitely one of the easier ones to find.

[Class316]

These DMC ones, they have tins, right?

[disneywb]

First of all, I'd like to opine that it shouldn't matter: you're buying the Treasures first for their material, last for the packaging.
But, yes, they do. They also include the postcard sized insert posters.

[MK Sharp]

Hm, had to do a little searching for my buried post..... MK Sharp, I purchased Silly Symphonies on eBay last night. Interestingly, the guy lives a half hour away and my parents are in town tomorrow while I'm in taking my college course, so they're going to pay him in person for me. Cool, huh?

Well done! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Make sure you have a good hunt for Easter Eggs - there's an egg on virtually every menu screen, and hiding behind them are four shorts that aren't listed on the menus (although they are mentioned in the booklet).

[HalRoachFan]

The selection of shorts on this set is fantastic! But here are a few things I wanted to point out:

-There are a few shorts that are on the same disc twice in different sections. Why did they repeat the same short on the same disc?? If I hit "Play All" will it play those cartoons twice during its run?

-I wish they didn't have three or four different sections on the DVDs. What's the point of having a Leonard Maltin's Picks? It makes the selection seem unorganized, especially when shorts like Three Little Pigs shows up twice, which makes no sense to me.

-I already knew about this ahead of time, but I didn't know Leonard actually talks about the "offensive" Jewish scene in The Three Little Pigs. We even see a clip of that scene as he discusses it and reminds us that it doesn't reflect today's standards. But as we're already aware of, when the short plays, the scene is not there!!

Despite all that, this is an excellent collection!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Well, I doubt they'd "repeat" a short on the same disc. But it can be accessible from two different menues.

And no, I'm not too enthusiastic about the way the Silly Symphonies set was organized, particularly the fact that some of the shorts were covered up as "easter eggs", but fortunately it's quite easy to sort out.

Still, it's a very good set.

I hope we'll get a Volume Two eventually. I would suggest that Volume Two repeat the shorts that were covered up as easter eggs on Volume One.

[TM2-Megatron]

I managed to get a new & sealed "Silly Symphonies" tin off Ebay from here, at an actually somewhat reasonable price for a Wave 1 tin (only cost me about $60 CAD [or $46 USD] after shipping):

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... eName=WDVW

It just shipped yesterday, 2/2/05, so I obviously haven't recieved it yet.

Anyone who doesn't have this yet and wants it may want to check out that auction, there are 18 left at the time of this post. For those of you who are very, very picky about sellers, this one obviously doesn't have a great deal of feedback yet (though what he does have is 100% positive), but he's very cooperative through Ebay's e-mail question thing, and seems trustworthy. All the feedback he does have for other "Silly Symphonies" sales is positive, and seems to imply he's selling the genuine article as opposed to bootlegs, etc.

It should be tin #108877 of 150000, as he was agreeable enough to let me know what tin I'd be receiving before he shipped it out.

He stated quite clearly that all the tins he has are the authentic, U.S. region 1 releases and have no dents or dings; and are new & sealed with the blue band intact. Hopefully, it won't get dented during shipping, but if it has a minor one or two, it's no real big deal. I've heard sometimes even those tins Disney itself ships from their movie club end up with dents from transit.

[TM2-Megatron]

I managed to get a new & sealed "Silly Symphonies" tin off Ebay from here, at an actually somewhat reasonable price for a Wave 1 tin (only cost me about $60 CAD [or $46 USD] after shipping):

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... eName=WDVW

It just shipped yesterday, 2/2/05, so I obviously haven't recieved it yet.

Anyone who doesn't have this yet and wants it may want to check out that auction, there are 18 left at the time of this post. For those of you who are very, very picky about sellers, this one obviously doesn't have a great deal of feedback yet (though what he does have is 100% positive), but he's very cooperative through Ebay's e-mail question thing, and seems trustworthy. All the feedback he does have for other "Silly Symphonies" sales is positive, and seems to imply he's selling the genuine article as opposed to bootlegs, etc.

It should be tin #108877 of 150000, as he was agreeable enough to let me know what tin I'd be receiving before he shipped it out.

He stated quite clearly that all the tins he has are the authentic, U.S. region 1 releases and have no dents or dings; and are new & sealed with the blue band intact. Hopefully, it won't get dented during shipping, but if it has a minor one or two, it's no real big deal. I've heard sometimes even those tins Disney itself ships from their movie club end up with dents from transit.

Got the tin today, and it's the real thing. Buena Vista stamp on the plastic wrap; tin sealed with that strip thing, #108877 of 150000, region 1. Luckily, it didn't even arrive with any dents or anything. Anyone who still needs the "Silly Symphonies" treasure, I'd recommend that Ebay seller.

[Zombi6422]

When it came to disney treasures I took the cheap way out. I went to disneystore.com and bought the 7 treasure set for about $160. They didn't come with the tins or anything but they did come all together in a box and were considerably cheaper than if I went on ebay and bid $50 or more for each of the 7.