Last year we talked a fair amount about a problem that was happening at Walt Disney World where diners were losing out on reservations due to unauthorized “scalping” services scooping up reservation times and then selling them back to hungry diners. Fortunately, Disney stepped up to the plate in 2015 and cracked down on these services, making their dining reservation system once again fair for all.
However, even though Disney took action with the dining problem, there is yet another issue that is happening inside Disney parks that is negatively affecting guests. And unfortunately, this one might be a bit harder to police: merchandise scalpers.
Image: Disney
On an almost weekly basis, Walt Disney World releases some kind of limited edition merchandise. Whether it’s a pin, purse, MagicBand, popcorn bucket, or something else, there’s always something new and cool to buy at the parks. However, a growing number of guests have been going to the park with the explicit intent of buying up merchandise and selling it online at a huge markup. While the secondary market is nothing new, some guests have kicked their efforts to buy up merchandise into high gear, often buying dozens of one item in an effort to create scarcity and drive up prices on online auction sites like eBay.
Image: Disney
Though there are some legitimate online personal shopping services that give guests the ability to buy a single item online when they can’t make it to the parks, these scalpers are a different breed and only have one goal: to make sure they maximize their profits online by ensuring as few guests as possible have access to limited edition items.
While this might not be an immediate issue for Disney (they get paid no matter who buys an item after all), guests are getting increasingly frustrated with this practice. And even though Disney might not be as motivated to fix this problem as they would be to remedy an issue that loses them revenue (like scalped dining reservations), there are some easy ways that Disney could curb the practice of scalping and make buying limited edition merchandise more fair for all.
1. Strict line maintenance
Image: Star Wars, Flickr (license)
When a limited edition item is released at Walt Disney World, fans looking to snag new merchandise will generally be asked to form a line. Cast Members will then help each guest get the item(s) they want to purchase, ring them up and then send them on their way. Sounds great right?
Unfortunately, this is where some issues come into play. Though most guests will happily walk away, content with their new purchase, scalpers will often buy the maximum quantity they are allowed to (generally 2) of limited edition merchandise, and then go again to the back of the line to double (and then potentially triple) their haul. While you might think that Cast Members might recognize a guest coming through the line several times, when you are dealing with a large volume of guests, it can be a little hard to remember everyone’s face, and often scalpers will pick a register with a different Cast Member working.
This particular problem could be solved by stationing a cast member at the back of the queue and monitoring the line for re-entrants. Though Disney does do this at some special occasions (the former Star Wars Weekends used to have vigilant line attendants), this should be standard operating practice for all limited edition merchandise releases.
2. Wristbands
One thing that Disneyland does for almost every limited edition merchandise release that should be adopted at Walt Disney World is the use of wristbands. Essentially, guests queue up beforehand (sometimes as much as 24 hours if its a high profile release), and are then issued a wristband before the merchandise location where they are trying to make their purchase opens. Then when the purchase is made, the wristband is then snipped off.
Though Walt Disney World has done this on rare occasions, wristband distribution is far from standard operating procedure. However, the use of such a system would essentially guarantee an equal purchase experience for everyone, and it wouldn’t take much pre-planning to implement.
3. Larger edition sizes
Look, we all know that part of the allure of limited edition items is scarcity. Collectors love having special items that they know are rare and could be valuable in the future as a result. However, when you’ve got a resort as big as Walt Disney World that sees hundreds of thousands of guests on a daily basis, selling a pin that has a limited edition of 250 seems laughable. While we’d all like to have one of a kind souvenirs from Walt Disney World, the fact is that with edition sizes this low, guests simply don’t have the opportunity to take home one of these items, and competing with scalpers diminishes any chance of getting that special something.
4. Better use of the Shop Disney Parks app
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
By now you’ve probably heard of the Shop Disney Parks app, which allows guests to view inventory around Walt Disney World, check prices and order Disney parks items, right from their smartphone. However, even though this app is great for tracking down that special sweatshirt or interesting ear hat, Shop Disney Parks is useless for those looking for limited edition merchandise. Not only does the app not allow guests to purchase limited edition merchandise , but it also doesn’t provide stock levels or location data for limited edition items either.
Though it would be impractical for Disney to put limited edition merchandise for sale via the app at the same time as items go on sale at the parks, Walt Disney World could take a note from the Disney Store here, and allow guests to purchase half of the stock one day in person, and then offer the other half via the app the next day. While this isn’t a perfect system (and the two-day purchase window would allow scalpers to double dip exactly once) having a staged release both in the park and online would at least eliminate the big lines experienced on merchandise release days, and hopefully keep things a bit more manageable for retail Cast Members, which in turn would allow them to keep a look out for scalpers a little more easily.
Image: Disney
Do you think the way limited edition sales are handled now is OK, or would you like to see some changes? How would you fix this problem?
