Things to look for when buying Disney DVD's.

  First off, a reality check. Of all the Disney DVD's offered on E-Bay, I think it is safe to say that over 95% ARE copy's. If you want cheap Disney copy's, fine. Just dont delude yourself into thinking your getting an authentic Walt Disney manufactured item. There are MANY people out there making a living off of fakes parading as the real deal. That, and peoples own greed in thinking they are getting more than they really are.

1.  The item description. One of the most mis-leading/deceptive things in the item description is the mention of "factory sealed" or "factory manufactured". Yea, it's factory sealed.....at Wing wangs own house! Hey, it's his factory isnt it?

2.  The listing includes the release date. i.e..."101 Dalmations, 1999 release"!  Doesn't mean a thing. Dont believe for a second that this person has been hanging onto that "un-opened 1999 release 101 Dalmations" for seven or eight years just so they could sell it at a loss. 

3. Just because the sellers address is listed as in the USA means nothing. That's why he/she IMPORTS illegal copy's. That said, it follows that the forgery's can still be burned here. If a seller is listed as being in a foreign country, but sells region 1 disc's, that should tip you off to a probable fake. DVD burner's are also very cheap. Why... I bet you have one yourself. Which leads to:

4.  The packaging and the disc itself.  When the item is listed as coming in a sleave or anything other than the original hard case, or without all the original inserts, it's a copy. End of story. Sellers will sometimes say they are doing this to "save on shipping". Yea.... Now, as for the disc itself, there are three big tipoffs to a bootleg. 1) The printing on the front is slightly blurred or the colors are off. Real Disney DVD's are sharp and vivid. Remember, Nemo is orange, not pink. 2) The reflective side of an authentic Disney is silver like a mirror, not gold or bronze color like...a blank recordable disc. 3) On the reflective side, there are numbers and or letters near the center hole that go around in a circle. On a bootleg, there will be part of this blocked or scratched out. Almost like a classified document would have a word or two blacked out, except the blacked out portion will still be reflective, not black of course. Last but not least about the disc. On a burned copy, more than likely, there will be no, or almost no commercials and or pre-views of other Disney movies. Remember that disc you bought at the mall? Got it home, threw it in the player for the kid's ( or yourself in my case ), and then shook your head in disbelief at the 10 minutes of commercials. Disney rely's heavily on advertising for income and to help offset the cost of doing business.

5.  Seller has a multitude of Disney DVD listing's and or a very high feedback count. It's not to say that any or all of these past sold item's are fakes, but let's be realistic. When was the last time Disney had trouble moving cases of DVD's and let them go for nothing to a "wholeseller"? Never, that's when.

6. All comments herein are of my own experience and opinion. Of all the Disney DVD's I have purchased on E-Bay, only one has been a truly authentic Disney product. I initialy suspected that some of my purchases would be fakes, just not to the degree has happened. I was willing to take the chance because of the lower price. The only reason I wrote this was in the hopes that someone contemplating buying Disney DVD's on E-Bay might read it and just think a little before buying. I can watch and enjoy all of my DVD's, but being intentionaly mislead ( if not out-right lied to ) was a disapointment. The old adage rings true. "If  it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".