Disney DVDs - buying experiences at eBay

[daryliscool1]

Positive feedback doesn't always tell the whole story- there's a Disney bootlegger who has excellent feedback, but is still a bootlegger. He somehow manages to get all of his negative feedback withdrawn- probably due to refunds. Read the feedback carefully. Don't be afraid to dig, since some of these bootleggers do dozens of transactions a day, leading to old feedback getting buried. And that's my advice for the day.

[disneyguy]

Well, the ones I'm looking at on ebay are $9 for Lion King 1 1/2, $10 for Lion King 2, and $19 for Lion King. I am only looking for new, still sealed copies. I am looking for as cheap as possible, but still authentic!
Thanks!
Niki

Hi,
Sent you a PM..
tks,
DG

[Roger Rabbit]

The negative feedback role is a double edged sword--if you leave negative, you should expect negative in return....and some people live by their 100% positive rating and don't want any negatives....so they don't leave any feedback if they get a bootleg.

I've been burned before and its really ironic right after I got Brother Bear in the mail, the seller was no longer registered.

[goofyestes]

Hey, I wonder if we bought Brother Bear from the same seller because that's the bootleg I bought, too and the same thing happened with my seller.
Niki

[dhusch]

Have you tried to search for an out of print Dinsey DVD on EBay recently. Try Searching for "Peter Pan" "Jungle Book" or "101 Dalmations". There are 100s available for less than $20.

Then click on one of the sellers and look at all their items for sale. Many of them have all the OOP discs available and multiple copies. Obviously they are bootleggers because they have all OOP and many copies of all of them. If you read their feedback closely you will see clues that they are selling fake asian copies.

Why does EBay allow this to continue? Why dont buyers give negative feedback? Why does Disney and the MPAA allow this to continue? Its not like they have to search hard to find a bootlegger. It seems like 90% of the sellers are bootleggers; as opposed to real people clearing out their garage or trying to raise some extra cash.

I think buyers are intimidated to give negative feedback. I encourage y'all; if you get a bootleg; give the seller negative feedback. or use the anonymous online form to ebay to report suspected copyright infringement.

I just want to buy some legitimate DVDs and i dont mind paying a premium. But if i get a bootleg, i am out money and feel inimidated if i try to do anything about it. If i report negative feedback, then i get negative feedback on my EBay account too.

Where can I buy legitimate copies of the out of print DVDs?

[reyquila]

Patience. I bought a lot of mine on Ebay. But you need patience to get it from reputable sellers. Disney Movie Club is an option and buying from UD members is another possibility. I began my collection in 2002 and now I own each and every animated DVD Disney has ever produced for Region 1. Patience and money are the tools my friend.

[Loomis]

Where can I buy legitimate copies of the out of print DVDs?

I've found that the best bet is reputable second-hand dealers like Second Spin (I got a couple of OOPs there, although they don't have as many these days). Dealers are the only ones you can really trust to do the right thing MOST OF THE TIME, although I'm sure there are a few dodgy sellers.

Spotting eBay fakes is fairly easy. If the price is low, the cover doesn't look right, or if it has Cantonese subtiles/encoded for R3 or R0 you can separate the wheat from the...non-wheat stuff.

It is a shame because there are some legitimately great deals on eBay for second had DVDs, but the bootlegger spoil all the fun.

[dhusch]

Amazon Marketplace seems to be better than EBay. I have had good luck with most of my purchases there. THe prices are usually about $30 for used out of print disney DVDs. I have gotten Snow White and Fantasia there. I did get one bootleg disk (Little Mermaid) and reported it to Amazon. They refunded my money and i never had to talk to the seller.

[dvdjunkie]

Check your local used DVD stores if you are looking for a good used copy of a Disney title.

www.cdtradepost.com

is another good place. They will mail your copy to you with a guarantee and everything. Check them out.

[Hennie]

Why are there so many bootleggers on EBAY?

Maybe al lot of people are obsessed of money?

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Why?

DVDs are quite easy to "bootleg".

eBay is a large marketplace that's easy for everyone to use (sometimes a bit too easy).

There is a market for out-of-print DVDs.

[Karushifa]

Amazon Marketplace seems to be better than EBay. I have had good luck with most of my purchases there. THe prices are usually about $30 for used out of print disney DVDs. I have gotten Snow White and Fantasia there. I did get one bootleg disk (Little Mermaid) and reported it to Amazon. They refunded my money and i never had to talk to the seller.

I agree. Just because a disc is OOP doesn't mean that anyone who is selling it is necessarily a bootlegger, although this is something that one should still watch out for. A lot of sellers on sites like Amazon Marketplace are merely selling overstocked copies obtained when the discs were still in print, and the reputable ones will specify if it is an imported or domestic release.

I'm not sure why more disreputable sellers slip through on regular ebay, but reporting bootleggers as they are encountered would decrease this sort of illegal activity, I think. Of course, some people don't even care if they get a bootleg; sometimes they just want the movie that bad

[MickeyMousePal]

If it's a bootleg I would totally report it to E-bay.
But first I would try to see if Best Buy, Costco, Wal-Mart, Circuit Ciy or Amazon has it.
I think I did get a bootleg from The Little Mermaid 2.

[roswellian]

Hey Im new here. Searched for the topic, found nothing. I just thought it would be nice if we compiled a list of who not to buy from and maybe stories on our experiences. I know it's easy to just look at people's account for negative feedback, but it's also nice to know off the bat.

Not only is it illegal, but selling copies for $40 is horrible!

[AwallaceUNC]

A search revealed that there were many, many threads on this forum asking/complaining about bootleg DVDs, all saying pretty much the same thing. I've combined all of those into this one thread, which people can scan through to find general eBay advice. This is already nearly at 20 pages, so I'm going to close this thread, but discussion can continue in "Volume 2", which can be found here: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=15414

-Aaron

[AwallaceUNC]

Welcome to the foruum, roswellian! Your post prompted me to do some searching and I found that there have been a lot of eBay-related threads in General Discussion. Too many, in fact, as most of them were very similar. I have merged them all into one thread and once it got pretty large, I locked it. You can find that thread here: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... php?t=8633 Discussion from that thread can continue in this thread.

Please use this thread to:
*Ask about a specific eBay auction you are uncertain of
*Report an eBay buying experience (good or bad)
*Give or solicit eBay-related advice
*Alert the forum to specific fraudulent eBay

Please do not use this thread to:
*Advertise your own eBay auctions
*Ask questions that have already been directly answered in the thread

If you have found a specific eBay auction that you think forum members will especially want to know about, you may start a separate thread for that in either General Discussion or Trade.

Thanks!

-Aaron

[Jules]

I have some things to report. I'm pretty new to eBay, and so am a tad unexperienced. Obviously, as I am under-age (17), I have to borrow someone else's credit card (with their permission of course).

I was looking for the Fantasia Region 1 on eBay.co.uk and managed to win a copy with a bid. When I received it, it was a pirate copy. It showed a lot! Even a blind old lady could see the difference.

The cover art was similar to the Region 1 but had some alterations, like the words 'DTS Digital Surround Sound' on top, which is already a giveaway. There's a lot more to say regarding this copy, but anyway it's irrelevant; all we want to know is that it's not genuine. I got a full refund. The seller was movingpictures2006.

I also purchased the Region 1 Sleeping Beauty, ALSO to receive a pirate copy. I was really disappointed. I thought I had obtained two very rare DVDs at an excellent price.

However, the seller of Sleeping Beauty was extremely polite, gave me a full refund and told me he would check his supplier. He has now informed me that his supplier is sending him a copy of Sleeping Beauty and has been denying all accusations of shipping pirate copies (HaHa...).

I suggest you only buy DVDs where the actual item picture is viewable. For the two DVDs I bought, there was an illustration, not a picture of the actual item. I assumed that I'd receive a genuine copy nonetheless. However, from now on I'll be more careful on eBay.

[magicalwands]

I didn't know where to ask, so I just thought I'll ask here.

I found an auction which can be seen here. Now he's got pictures and all, but I'm not ready to bid considering what happened last time.

The only part I'm uneasy about is that they've only been a member of ebay for a little over a month.

[The Little Merman]

I was just wondering, do you all think this is the real deal?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=017

A few moments ago I purchased a "used" R1 Limited Issue DVD of The Little Mermaid being the super-fan perfectionist that I am, so that I can own an un-fooled with version, before the Platinum Edition is released.

I think it looks incredibly like the real thing -- the picture showing a view from the front, top, and back. I pray that I am right and I receive a great copy for the $22.99 I shelled out.

At least the shipping and handling was free, and if I am not satisfied, I can return it for a full refund.

*tlm

[Lucylover1986]

I don't know. The auction says the condition is used so the dvd sticker along the top should be ripped or no longer on the DVD. That might just be a pic from another auction that they're using. I hope you get the real DVD though.