I have only bought the following Disney product:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 2 Disc
Jungle Book Limited Issue
Lady and the Tramp Limited Issue
101 Dalmations Limited Issue
The Little Mermaid Limited Issue
Mulan Limited Issue

All had the blue stamp and artwork on the shrinkwrap.

Sometimes it's hard to find but it's there.

Again, my opinion only, but if I'm buying a Disney product am definitely looked for some sort of logo or stamp on the shrinkwrap.






Cheers

I was going through my collection today, flagging all my dts movies and checking them in my player to determine if they were dts-es or not, and I came across Atlantis: The Lost Empire CE. I threw it in, and no dts to be found. The back says dts, but it's not on the disc, and also the main menu looks pretty cheap. I got this at a flea market over a year ago, so I'm not doubting that it's probably a bootleg. However, this prompted me to look at the rest of my Disney titles that I have bought used over the years, mainly at flea markets and used stores, never on ebay.

I have several titles that I'm questioning their authenticity. It seems that most (if not all) of my legit Disney releases that I've bought new have a 'rough' feel to the actual disc, and sometimes part of the disc art will be raised, or glossy. Several of my titles that I bought used are not like that, and I was wondering if that is a sure-fire way to determine a Disney bootleg. I've ran them through DVDDecryptor, and it seems they all have the some type of CSS, so I'm rather confused. Any help would be appreciated.

I have always been suspicious of supposed Disney products being bootlegs. There are just so many of those bootlegs out there. It is really ridiculous. Luckily, I have been able to purchase all my Disney discs at a B&M location - eithre Best Buy or the (overpriced) Disney store that used to be in town. A friend of mine got a bootleg "Little Mermaid" off Ebay though...Go figure. The things are rampant on there.

I have the limited editions for all five listed above and each have rounded corners. They look like this (click for larger image)

1. My insert isn't very glossy and has the number E3260 toward the bottom on the back of the insert. Mine also came with an official Mail-in certificate (get 2 free disney dvds when you buy all 9 or get 1 free when you buy 5) and has a number of E4273 toward the bottom after the legal mumbo-jumbo. Back around 1999/2000 Disney seemed to assign an Exxxx number to cover art, inserts, mail-in rebates, disc art, disc, etc. Over the years disney has also used F,G,H,I, and J. Logically, it looks like Disney used E in 1999, F in 2000, G in 2001, H in 2002, I in 2003, and now J in 2004.

2. If you look on the non-artwork covered side my copies are showing the following holographic numbers around the rims (some may be mirrored because you can see both sides of the disc. "/" is being used as a seperator and isn't actually on the disc):

a. (E4326) E4399 L0 / (E4327) E4399 L1 (mirrored)
b. C3.2 150707-04 / E3504
c. C3.2 149872-03 / E0996
d. C3.2 150700-03 / E3494
e. C3.2 150233-01 / C3.2 150234-01 (mirrored) / E3258

All except The Little Mermaid also show "NIMBUS/CA" on the clear inner ring.

When assigning disc ids in DVDProfiler 2.3.1 I'm showing the following

a. (MERMAID) [3C6C11DCEE5A3415]
b. (LADYTRAM) [9CC534958068A363]
c. (101DALMS) [DC759A239748A6D9]
d. (PETERPAN) [2AAA4305351F3ADA]
e. (PINOCHIO) [277166E53D4057E8]

3. All of mine came in white cases with the original Amaray design.

I've got a couple Disney dvds that I'm unsure of as far as their authenticity goes. When I was going through my collection one day, I noticed that my Atlantis 2disc specified dts on the back and in the menus, but wouldn't actually go to dts, so I know that that is a bootleg. I picked it up at a flea market a couple of years ago.

I have quite a few Disney dvds and I noticed that most of the actual discs have different textures to them, and usually the white text is raised. The titles I own that do not have this type of disc are:

The Aristocats
The Great Mouse Detective
Peter Pan: Return to Neverland
Treasure Planet (the white text is raised, but the rest of the disc is not "textured")

I don't remember where I picked these up, except for Peter Pan, which I know I also got at a flea market (different vendor, if I remember correctly). If anyone has these titles, and wants to look at the disc and see if what I described matches theirs, that would be really helpful.

Thanks

I buy lots of DVDs from Half.com a Ebay sub. I never even thought about some being Boots. Several came without inserts and that pissed me off but I let it slide. The used ones I get from the video store often don't have inserts so I guess I was just use to it. Thanks I will keep my eyes open now.

I have a problem with both of those quotes. Yes I know this is from last year, but still. I look on eBay all the time, and there are tons of people who offer bootleg DVDs with either perfect feedback, or pretty darn close to perfect. Many of these guys have 1000+ feedback also.

There are some damn good bootlegs out there, and to many people who buy them off of eBay they wouldn't even know it when they get it in the mail. So as a result of that, they leave perfect feedback because they think everything is fine. Some of these guys who offer bootlegs even make it perfectly obvious to those of us who know the warning signs, and I think some of them do it on purpose. It keeps those of us who WOULD leave a negative away from their auctions, and those who don't know the difference will just leave them yet another positive.

This is a huge problem on eBay right now, and as far as I can tell eBay isn't doing anything at all to stop it. The folks at eBay are either just stupid, or they just flat out don't care since they get money regardless.

OK, I am looking into buying some Disney Treasure Tins and wondered if those have boots floating around on eBay? Also has Sleeping Beauty & Fantasia Anthology been widely booted yet?

The problem with the tins is that there were some legit non-tin releases of the Disney Treasures. I'd read the descriptions very carefully before checking out the seller... but, being eBay, it's still a crapshoot.

I'd check the Exchange Forum here. That is where I picked up my copy of MMILC wave 1. I paid about the same as eBay but it was from a long-standing forum member. He gave a very accurate account of the condition and I knew I could trust him.

I have attended the Ebay Live conference and had talks on this issue. Ebay is being much more proactive with the bootleggers. They are kicked off all the time. In my posting you quoted above I had 3 EBay rules. One of the rules was to look at the feedback, one to pay using Paypal, and the other to buy from only USA sellers.
I challenge you to name an Ebay seller (that resides in the USA) that is ACTIVELY selling lots of bootlegs, has over 1000 feedback, and it doesn't show up in their feedback profile. I don't believe you can find a seller that meets that description.

Ebay is a great place. People just need to use common sense. I'd be happy to take a look at some sellers names or specific titles that are heavily bootlegged. Many have been elimintated over time. Once notified EBay takes care of it pronto.

Ways bootleggers get around ebay rules are: ebay doesn't investigate claims on weekends so list item as 3 day auction over the weekend. There are not actual people monitoring the auctions. Ebay has filters that look for specific words in the title or description. If you word the auction the right way you can avoid being detected.

It really depends on what you mean by "doesn't show up in their feedback profile." Common sense indicates that someone who uses only private auctions is bootlegging, but most people don't know this. Take this bastard for example:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...id=alldvds2003

He is clearly running a bootlegging operation and doing quite well for himself.

This bastard is also bootlegging, although with "only" 658 feedback score, doesn't quite make your requirement.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...serid=daysdeal

Here's another running the private feedback scam:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...rid=jedsdvds4u

This son of a bitch is at 612 with 99.2% positive, selling obvious bootlegs and keeping his feedback open.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...erid=sweetpack


I found these examples in exactly 2 minutes of searching. If you don't believe there is a systemic bootlegging issue on ebay and that they are turning a blind eye to it, then there is nothing that will convince you.

You can always sell a bootleg here or there, 1 or 2 or 5. But that doesn't make a business.
None of these sellers is doing a huge business with bootlegs (or even a medium size one). Most have only a couple of dvds up for sale. One sold mostly shoes. One had 11 feedbacks in the last month. You are right and 2 of them are private (an immediate tipoff that all is not right with this seller, or buyer for that matter).

The bottom line is that no buyer should ever be taken on EBay because of bootlegs. Use common sense and buy what you want. Use Paypal to get your money back if needed.
I just hate seeing all the anti-Ebay sentiment, when most of the info is incorrect. Ebay is more worried about fake Rolexs, fake purses, total scams, etc. than a perfect bootleg that a buyer actually likes (and I can't blame them for that). It is a priority, but not at the top. They can't monitor millions of items immediately coming online without help from the community (and Ebay certainly DOES MONITOR AUCTIONS ON WEEKENDS). There is staff on hand 24 hours a day for EBay in all areas at this point. That is a myth that Ebay has no reason to try to stop. What a bootleg seller wants is a buy it now, which gets the item out of the search engine immediately (or 3 days at most to lower their chances of being caught or turned in).
If buyers or other EBay members notify Ebay of scammers or bootleggers they WILL BE SUSPENDED. Ebay is partially monitored by the community (meaning the rest of us sellers and buyers).

Almost every major bootlegging operation on Ebay has been shut down. It doesn't work any more. If it did and you could make lots of money on it, many people would do it. People can always do one here, one there. But it is no longer a business model as it was on Ebay from Year 1 (1995) to about Year 8 (2003). Then they stopped it, but the fight is ongoing.

I can't believe any sane person could say e-bay is trying to stop bootleggers. I just went on there and did a search for "Springsteen DVD" and I would bet 90% of the listings are bootlegs. I picked one auction out randomly and clicked to see the sellers other auctions, he had 53 auctions going every one of them a bootleg DVD.

I got one of the automatically generated emails from ebay like a month ago that said don't buy or sell off ebay, in reference to a question that I had asked a seller. I emailed ebay back & complained that I had to email almost every seller who was selling a dvd I was interested in to see if it was R1, because a lot of them are selling asian dvds. Ebay just wrote back saying that they always send those emails out & they never even commented on my complaint.

Plus someone tried to get me on the nigerian net scam, but I recognized it. ebay refunded the final value fees, but not the original fees. It was impossible for me to relist it free, because I had listed it during an ebay promotion & now it would have cost me twice as much.

I'm very amused at eBay right now. There are countless auctions going for BLATANT bootleg DVDs right now, without question, yet they just deleted an auction I had going for the legit R3 version of Kung Fu Hustle.

Update: I was browsing the used stores today, and came across a copy of Atlantis: The Lost Empire CE 2disc (I had posted previously that I had gotten one at a flea market, and the dts was not included, even though it mentioned it on the back). So I picked it up to replace my bootleg copy, and *this* one is the same way!

I put the disc in, go to audio setup, pick dts, confirm dts, and then start the movie, and it plays the DD EX track! Did I get another bootleg? It sure seems like it, unless there's some magical way to get dts to come on on this disc. If anyone has a legit copy, can you let me know? Thanks.

I bought what turned out to be a bootleg of "Fantasia" from someone at E-bay about two years ago. I was a little worried at first because I could tell it was a bootleg from the photo of the cover. However, I was very pleased with the result; the picture and sound are exceptionally good.

So I kept it and gave the dealer positive feedback. If I had returned it, I would still be waiting for a "Fantasia" re-release; it is still in the infamous Disney vault.

Why did you give him positive feedback? It wasn't as listed, right? All you did was let others think he sells legit stuff and they'll be deceived also.

Just because you give someone a neg, doesn't mean you have to send it back.

Hi, I found this old thread. I ordered a used copy of The Lion King through Amazon.com. The seller advertised it as "from a personal collection, not a former rental". I have received it and there are a few signs that make me suspect that it is a bootleg:

1. Windows Media Player, which usually tells me the name of a DVD when I insert it, calls this one an "unknown DVD".
2. On both discs there is some kind of "hard scuff mark" on the underside of the very inner ring, I haven't seen this with other DVDs. It's as if something was scratched off.
3. It is not the usual 2-disc Disney keep case. There is a hub on each side of the keep case for a disc, instead of one on one side and another plastic insert for the other disc. (I hope that makes sense)
4. I went with this seller because he had a huge positive feedback (thousands of ratings). I realize now I should have checked his negative feedbacks first; some of his negs accuse him of selling boots.
5. I compared the inner ring of The Lion King to my legit Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (latter purchased used from Second Spin, Windows Media Player recognizes it as Pirates of the Caribbean). Pirates has numbers and a bar code. Lion King has barcodes all the way around practically, but no numbers.
6. Hmm, another comparison....Pirates has a couple of copyright warning screens before the Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo. Lion King does not. Does that mean anything?


My original, legit copy of The Lion King was stolen, along with several other DVDs, from my apartment last summer, which is why I was shopping for one on Amazon marketplace in the first place. The other discs were easy to replace, as they were readily available on SecondSpin.com. Not so with TLK.

It should have some kind of copyright warning. Though that doesn't really mean anything because I accidently brought bootlegs of X-men 3 and Superman Returns off of ebay and they had that stupid "Don't Be A Pirate" ad.

Based on something I read on another site, I checked the creation dates on the files on the Lion King DVD I received - knowing that the legit copies were only "officially" available new "for a limited time only", starting in October 2003. Lo and behold, the files on the first disc were all dated Sept. 7th, 2008. Huge red flag. I've filed a "violation of Marketplace community rules" report with Amazon.