Nostalgia is a powerful thing. And when you combine fond memories of the past with a love of retro media, which is what’s happening now as kids of the ’80s and ’90s become middle-aged adults, one of the things you get is a mad scramble for long out-of-print movies. Among those that have become particularly popular are family films that helped make it a Blockbuster night for folks of all stripes back in those decades.

One cardinal example of this phenomenon is Disney’s Oscar-nominated version of “Beauty and the Beast.” Legendary in any format and frequently re-released, the VHS version of the movie appears to bring in a pretty penny if you know where to sell it. But there’s a giant twist to those high prices: they appear to be inflated by secondary market scams and speculation. In some places, a VHS cassette version of the film can be found up for sale for an astronomical amount of money — but you shouldn’t pay that much. Here’s how much “Beauty and the Beast” is being sold for on the secondary market and why you shouldn’t pay $10,000 for a copy of the film in any format.

The price of “Beauty and the Beast” on VHS widely varies in accordance with the collector’s market, but recently, speculation has inflated the asking price of some versions of the cassette. The most valuable version is allegedly the “black diamond” release, denoted by the diamond-shaped pictorial inset on its spine. For those who want their films on practical media, it can cost you a pretty penny — or very little.

Copies can go for $9.00 plus shipping on eBay. But some sellers are offering them for as much as $700.00, $9,000, $30,000, or $15,000 on eBay or other secondary market websites like Etsy or Poshmark. Yet those prices aren’t actually being realized by those putting the tapes up for auction. At best, these tapes are pulling in about $200 to $150 apiece; not bad for old video tapes, but not thousands of dollars. One version of the film — a special Work in Progress copy that was released by Disney in 1991 – has pulled in more, at one point selling for as much as nearly $600, but it isn’t garnering more than $200 these days. While some fans think these prices are a perfectly reasonable reflection of the fluctuating collectors market, others believe it’s a scam caused by seller-driven inflation.

A combination of supply and demand, alleged scarcity, and, some fans claim, secondary market manipulation is driving those high “Beauty and the Beast” VHS prices. The most expensive versions of VHS releases of Disney films — at least according to those listing copies for sale – – are black diamond versions. These were early initial prints of the movies released soon after they finished their theatrical runs. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Disney only released their titles in limited spates on VHS and DVD, eventually returning these titles to “The Disney Vault.” Those who didn’t purchase the films in question during these release periods would be reduced to renting the movie repeatedly, relying on the illegal market — such as recording broadcast versions of the films or buying foreign bootlegs — or buying cut-out copies when video stores got rid of their versions.

Many fans on Reddit believe that the current surge in secondary market prices for Disney VHS copies stems from laundering, price gouging, and the creation of false scarcity. They note that the black diamond titles are not hard to find at all, and for very reasonable prices. Some have even called it a hoax fueled by “shill bidding” – the practice of using fake accounts to make it appear as though an item is more valuable than it actually is — to drive up the price of the tapes, noting that there are plenty of places to pick up such copies of “Beauty and the Beast” and other movies at places like Salvation Army or Goodwill stores across the country.

“Beauty and the Beast” isn’t the only Disney VHS that’s part of the current secondary market price gouging. All of these valuable films are so-called Black Diamond editions, and their price goes up and down depending on who’s selling them. A copy of “Aladdin” can set you back $12,000 plus or it can cost you just $7; “Dumbo” may be the most expensive secondary market Disney VHS out there , with copies being sold for prices ranging from $44 to $20,000.

Naturally, the version of “The Little Mermaid” with its withdrawn, banned cover goes for more cash; some auctions have it priced at $9,000 or more, while other copies sell in the mid-$40 range. It’s a buyer’s market, and when it comes to VHS, these prices will vary and fluctuate, but fans definitely shouldn’t be spending thousands of dollars on copies when they’re so common. That said, nostalgia can definitely be pricey, so don’t be shocked if the lower prices actually do rise over time and those extremely valuable VHS tapes hiding in your closet become even more lucrative.