It has been almost a year now since I started selling on Ebay.  If you've read my other guide, you'll know that there's ALWAYS a learning curve to the new, inexperienced seller.  But, just VERY recently I came across a seller that has just about perfected making bootlegs of Disney titles.  At the rate he's producing these fakes he'll have PowerSeller status in another couple of months, maybe even sooner.  I pity those that have bought from this man because to the casual observer, these Disney movies appear to be "authentic" as he advertises.  But, when I bought from him a red flag went up almost immediately...

The first warning sign to me was that the slipcover and the dvd case were shrinkwrapped together.  When have you EVER seen that before?  Normally, if a dvd is issued with a slipcover it is on the outside while the dvd case is shrinkwrapped.  The next big problem I had was that the slipcase was incredibly diffcult to get off.  You should be able to simply push the case through the cover but no such luck.  I had to use a lot of force to get it out and I couldn't figure out why...

About a minute later I had seen WHY it was so hard to get out, the dvd case was designed to hold 4 discs, NOT two!  The guy placed a 2 disc set inside a 4 disc case!  When did Disney ever put a 2 disc set into a 4 disc case?!  If someone knows of an AUTHENTIC Disney title being released like that, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!  From here, it only got more interesting...

The art on the dvds looked slightly blurry.  They didn't have that crisp look that they should have had.  Plus, when I flipped the dvd over to look at the ring it said "DVD - Sleeping Beauty".  It's bar code went all the way around the ring and if you pay close attention to authentic Disney movies they do not.  Authentic Disney dvds do have bar codes but they're very small and are on two different sides of the ring.  I have also seen some authentic Disney movies that don't have the small bar code but do have numbers and/or letters.  This dvd set didn't have the letters, numbers or the small bar codes...

In addition to these flaws, I looked very closely at the dvd case, discs and the cleverly illustrated inserts for spelling errors.  I found at least two, there was one on the disc itself!  Again, when has Disney issued dvds that contain spelling errors?  ANY dvd, not just Disney WON'T contain spelling errors!  When you buy a movie, everything should be perfect and this one wasn't.  Yes, he gets an A for effort but an F for lack of common sense.  If you're going to try to rip off the public at least cover all your bases! 

The 4 disc case, the spelling errors, the shrinkwrapping of the slipcase...all very OBVIOUS mistakes BUT only if you're looking for them.  I'm always looking for mistakes because I only want to purchase AUTHENTIC Disney movies to sell on Ebay.  I'm not out to rip anyone off and he should be ashamed of himself for taking money out of honest working people's hands!

I emailed him about issuing me a refund and he said that since I opened one of the movies there would be a 15% restocking fee, WHY?  Think about it, if it were really an "authentic Disney release" why would I even want to send it back?  If it were a true, U.S. Region 1 Disney movie I would have happily kept it.  Sleeping Beauty's been in the vault for several years now and the value only continues to rise, it would have been foolish for me to send it back.  That's if it had actually been a genuine product when in reality at best it was/is an import of some kind.

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER -  If a seller has endless copies of rare, out of print Disney movies you can be almost certain that they're selling you a bootleg or import!  This particular seller sells these knock off Sleeping Beauty sets left and right!  His feedback score is at almost 100 and he's only been selling on Ebay for the last 5 or 6 months and what does he seem to sell, the rare and hard to find Disney movies like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, along with a few others.

I ask everyone out there to proceed with caution when purchasing Disney dvds.  I can't disclose the Ebay user ID of the counterfeit seller but trust me, he's one of MANY out there!  If you're interested in more information about how to tell an authentic Disney from an import or a bootleg I ask you to simply look through the many articles that exist right here on Ebay.  It is an excellent learning tool and it's where I first started to educate myself about the many differences between imports, bootlegs and authentic Disney dvds.  If you have any questions about this guide, feel free to contact me.  I will gladly send you a response!