Craigslist for discount tickets?

[sdenis]

What do you all think?

Here's one from Craigslist that says he will meet me at Disney to get the tickets.

I told him I needed 2 3dayhoppers adult and child.

Here's an excerpt from our emails:

Well, all tickets are, of course, 100% BRAND NEW direct from Disney w/o middlemen, so you are guaranteed to get the best/cheapest possible prices for BRAND NEW tickets!!

Your total is: $295USD, cash only accepted!

There are 2 ways to go about it:

1) You forward your final order at least 1 full week (~ 5 business days) before coming to Disney and i will arrange to have them shipped to you at home. -Payment is cash, details TBA- You will then receive your hard carded passes direct from Disney. These bare your name in the back, issued to you only!

2) You forward your final order at least 48hrs prior to going to the Parks, i will go ahead and send it out to Disney, after which i will receive a special code associated with our agent's account in Disney. We would then meet in person, at the Parks, the day before or the same day you are going, and i will give you the special code to retrieve your tickets w/ proper ID, in exchange for cash. I am there with you all along and only take the cash once your tickets are in hand!


It sounds quite safe going to Disney and all that. Don't you think?

 

[pearlieq]

Doesn't seem worth the risk.

I'm not crazy about "cash only" or "special code" and the whole thing sounds a bit amateurish at best and shady at the worst.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

It sounds shady to me. You're likely to hand over your cash and end up with a "code" that gets you nothing but a confused look from the CM in the ticket booth.

 

[JuneCleaver]

You will then receive your hard carded passes direct from Disney. These bare your name in the back, issued to you only!

Disney does not put names on park hopper tickets. And, I just priced a 3 day park hopper online, with tax an adult park hopper is $279.03 and a child's is $243.89. For 3 of them, it would be $801.95.

Personally, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is not a good idea!

Just my 2 cents!
June

 

[lindsmom]

I agree with all the others that it sounds very suspicious. I checked our park hoppers also, and there definitely isn't any name on the back. Also, "no middleman" - isn't this person a middle man? If I were you, I'd stick to undercover tourist. JMO, of course.

 

[sdenis]

But he did say he would go with us up to the ticket booth and wait until we had the tickets in our hand.
And it's 2 tickets, not 3 tickets.
I don't know....I may try it.

 

[Nie0214]

Avoid this "deal" like the plague. Craigslist is hardly ever legit anymore just for normal things, let alone Disney tickets. Chances are he dupes people into doing option #1, and if they pick option #2, he doesn't respond to their emails.

If you feel comfortable losing $295 to try to save $200 and meeting a complete stranger to boot, go for it!

 

[JuneCleaver]

The sounds quite a bit like the old EBAY scam where people were selling used tickets as new unused tickets. Due to people showing up with expired tickets with no days on them, it was one of the factors that led to the advent of the biometric tickets so that people could not use other people's tickets.

There is no way this guy has gotten tickets for basically Buy 1/Get 1 free through Disney. Disney does not do that. Even the places like UnderCover Tourist or the tickets bought through Corporations that get them for a slight discount are only a small percentage less than the gate price.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably something to stay away from! There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there!

June

 

[tink2dw]

Better Safe the Sorry!! At the gates of DL!! With no tickets, and no money to buy more tickets!!!

Try AAA for Discount DL Passes. They have the Adults for Child Prices, Jan thu April, 1 adult, 1 child=
$283.10

 

[mlynn]

But he did say he would go with us up to the ticket booth and wait until we had the tickets in our hand.
And it's 2 tickets, not 3 tickets.
I don't know....I may try it.

I don't think this guy will show up to meet you. He either wants it 1 week prior or 48 hours. So as he has the money you won't hear from him again.

Example (this happen to me)Found it in the Shoppers Guide
1997 Book a condo for me BF(Now husband) and his parents. Send the guy $100. He sends me all this great stuff and pictures of the condo. I had to send him another $600 in all $700 for the condo. He gave me address in the next county over from me. Tells me not to send rest until 2weeks before we go. About a month before we go I have a question to ask him.Call the # he gave me NO LONGER working. Send him a letter to the address comes back no forwarding address. Call the condo place they no nothing about this guy there is no res. for me. there isn't even any open for the week we were going. I call the police. They found him in MaryLand. They told me there weren't going to do anything until he calls me.2weeks prior to going.Well he calls me and gives me this tale how he had to move because of work here is the new address to send the rest of the money too. I lay into him and he hangs up.Well the maryland police arrested him because I wasn't the only one he did this too. I was just a lucky one who didn't get to FL and had no where to stay. there were about 30 people who got there and didnt have a place to stay.
I got a good deal at the Holiday inn because I told them what happen so they helped us out.

But do not give this person any money. Because you will be out those tickets and money and then you will have spend MORE money to get tickets.

 

[ShiPooOwner]

Oh my goodness no....run the opposite direction or you will be had by a scam artist. Buy them from Undercover Tourist through Mousesavers~~totally reputable and excellent customer service. Nothing shady or sounds too good to be true with them.

 

[mouserocker]

Nope.....you are better off going through a discounter or someone on ebay with a high rating. I would leave craigslist alone on this one.

 

[kaytieeldr]

1) You forward your final order at least 1 full week (~ 5 business days) before coming to Disney and i will arrange to have them shipped to you at home. -Payment is cash, details TBA- You will then receive your hard carded passes direct from Disney. These bare your name in the back, issued to you only!

Nope. I'm a stickler. He used the wrong spelling/version of the highlighted word.

Buy theme park admissions ONLY from the theme park or from an authorized ticket reseller. Neither generally has the need or desire to advertise on a free online classified ad site.

Authorized ticket resellers, in this case, include but are not limited to AAA, UnderCoverTourist.com, and MapleLeafTickets.com.

If you purchase from an unofficial or unauthorized vendor (especially one who wants only cash, and in advance, and are you REALLY going to mail almost $300 - because the Post Office strongly recommends against mailing cash), you then have NO proof or recourse when the product is not as descibed or does not work as described, or just plain does not materialize/exist.

eta: Disney's direct cost of $491 may seem high, but it's almost 40% LESS than the $786 you'll likely find yourself paying after your Craigslist 'purchase' fails to materialize.

 

[disneyfun2007]

I did answer an add thru a florida craigslist poster. The guy met me at the TTC counter and I picked up the tickets at the will call center. The tickets were reserved in my name and they were brand new. Once I got the tickets in my hand from the lady behind the counter and verified they were what I had ordered, I gave the man the money. I was nervous because she could not find the order and had to call her manager and it did work out. I think I saved myself over $300. My family and I then went to MK that day and park hopped to other parks throughout our vacation. I told the guy I would use him again when I vacation in Florida and he was very nice.

 

[disneyleslie]

How can that be - why is he getting such good pricing? It makes no sense.

Leslie

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I'm glad for those of you who have not had bad experiences with this. But I still think that there is something dishonest about the whole thing. If there was a way to legitimately sell WDW passes for less than half the gate price, there would be no need for all of the cloak & dagger activity. JMO.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The guy might be a little late meeting you.
2) I think he is closing the sale on a bridge earlier in the day.

 

[lindsmom]

But he did say he would go with us up to the ticket booth and wait until we had the tickets in our hand.
And it's 2 tickets, not 3 tickets.
I don't know....I may try it.

It sounds like your mind is pretty much made up, so I wish you the best - definitely hope it turns out well! Please let us know after you get back how it all turned out!

 

[thisis99]

I've never done this before, and many people say not to buy tickets from Craigslist or Ebay.

But if the tickets are brand new, and you get them at the ticket counter and THEN pay the guy, it sounds pretty safe to me. (the only thing the guy could do is to not show up... but then you've lost nothing)

Just curious, have you decided? If so, how did it work out?

 

[d1gitman]

What do you all think?

It sounds quite safe going to Disney and all that. Don't you think?

No. I would have no desire what so ever to meet up with a stranger at Disney to do business with off of CL. Who knows what shennanigans this person is capable of.

IMHO, not worth the risk to save $200, but thats just me.