Poll: eBay resellers -- entrepreneurs or scoundrels?

[Master Yoda]

I totally understand the idea behind limited editions and exclusive issues. It does drive the interest of collectors to purchase quickly. It also sets up local buyers to scoff up multiples to resell. If Disney only opened up the availability of these items to US... WE would still buy the items, THEY would get their sales and profits, and the scalpers would be unable to make their unreasonably high cost sales profiting off of us. Disney doesnt care who buys their total quantity of merchandise, only that it sells out. I'm sure these limited editions would still sell out if WE were able to buy.

This is exactly why they don't do it differently.

Right now they put the stuff on shelves and all of it sells. Easy peasy. There is nothing in it for them to limit quantities a guest can buy, hold back and list the items online or anything else that costs them a single dime.

 

[note2001]

This is exactly why they don't do it differently.

Right now they put the stuff on shelves and all of it sells. Easy peasy. There is nothing in it for them to limit quantities a guest can buy, hold back and list the items online or anything else that costs them a single dime.

Also, if the limited edition item sells out fast just create and release more of the exact same item, but call it LE 2. (and up the price by 20%)

 

[mkt]

I see no difference between them and ticket scalpers.

 

[yaksplat]

I'll take this as karma for selling about 70 Nintendo Wii's on ebay and craigslist a decade ago. I tried for the last week to get a splash mountain funko for my son's birthday to no avail. Now i'll have to go to ebay.

 

[crxbrett]

I'm a vintage toy collector also. I've got a really big MIB TMNT collection. I also love Ghostbusters, Thundercats, and MOTU. The other day I traded some 2002 MOTU carded figures and a Skeletor Panthor Commemorative Pack from 2001 for a carded Egon and unpunched carded Winston ad I was super pumped! I'm about to get a really nice carded Fright Feature Venkman this weekend actually. I've got a really nice Firehouse too but I need the sign, pole, and containment unit to complete it though.

That's awesome! I had all of those toys growing up - wish I still had them. I recently started collecting the old GI Joe ARAH line ('82-'94). I collect opened though. MOC/MIB would kill me and my wallet! Plus I love opening them and displaying them and customizing.

That's really cool someone else on here is into toy collecting too, though! I know it's not an old line, but have you picked up any of the MOTU Classics stuff? I love that line! They pretty much have updated every vintage MOTU character now.

 

[Darkseid]

I had to go with 'other.' I collect comic books, particularly books with very limited variant covers by a particular artist. Sometimes, I don't get a chance to scoop them up from the store that sells them because someone has bought a large quantity of them. When they are a new product, I get a little angry at having to spend significantly more, but when it's an older issue, I am so grateful that I still have access to them. Those that only own one aren't going to be willing to sell, but those that own them just to sell make the product available.

 

[trainplane3]

I hate them but I'm guilty of using them. I wish no one resold stuff and Disney enforced purchase limits. It'd actually make the merch exclusive. The D23 one's are terrible but I was lucky to find one that was extremely reasonable. For the Epcot 35th (in park) pins, I found a couple that weren't terrible. One was clueless though, they had the pins marked under what they were priced at. I got a message the day the pin came out saying if I wanted the $75 pin then it would be $125 plus $10 shipping. NOPE. I also found someone that has access to MoG and got me the entire Epcot 35th WDI pin set for next to no markup. Yes, I have a Epcot pin problem.

But now the Epcot anniversary is over, I won't be using them at all...until the next anniversary comes around in 4ish years.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

That's awesome! I had all of those toys growing up - wish I still had them. I recently started collecting the old GI Joe ARAH line ('82-'94). I collect opened though. MOC/MIB would kill me and my wallet! Plus I love opening them and displaying them and customizing.

That's really cool someone else on here is into toy collecting too, though! I know it's not an old line, but have you picked up any of the MOTU Classics stuff? I love that line! They pretty much have updated every vintage MOTU character now.

I didn't actually collect the MOTU Classics line but I know all about it. It was actually really awesome I just mostly try to stick to what is truly vintage. Although, I did collect the entire line of the Nick TMNT figures. Of course I never got a Muckman because he was nearly impossible and was going for tons on ebay. I'd say this year I'm gonna ask for him for Christmas. I like having opened toys as well to display because they look cool alongside the carded stuff. I've got a complete vintage Thundertank with the original tracks on display in my gameroom and it looks freakin' awesome! If you like GI Joe you'll definitely like this. In June at Heroescon in Charlotte I saw a boxed USS Flagg. It was like $3,500 or something like that. That's generally a GI Joe Holy Grail. My Holy Grail is a complete Eternia Playset. That is the most epic playset that will ever exist and it kills me that as a kid I had EVERYthing MOTU EXCEPT for the Eternia Playset. I got super close to getting one a few years ago and offered the guy $1,200 for it and I think he wound up selling it for $1,500. I will own one someday for sure. It is my density!

 

[atjimfromdisney]

I think you might be missing the entire premise behind limited edition items. Special and limited edition items are an incredibly successful marketing strategy that Disney has down to an exact science.

Making an item "limited edition" item instills a sense of urgency in a consumer that would not normally be there for an item with a near unlimited production run. Scarcity almost always leads to an increase in demand and a greater sense of value for an item. This allows Disney to sell them at an inflated price or even have a paid event just to get buy them.

THIS.

More often than not, adding that something is a "Limited Edition" sells. Instantly. Regardless of design/quality. It would be interesting to see a sample study on the likelihood of someone purchasing an item if it had limited edition attached to it or not..

 

[Hayley In Wonderland]

I'm in the UK, so a lot of the time the eBayers are the better option if I want something from the Parks. The shipping to the Uk on the Disney Parks Shop is extortionate, on eBay it's not so bad.