Buying Tickets on eBay

[GREENEBEANE]

This is my first post. So glad I found this site! Okay, I've bought all of our tickets on eBay..most from trusted sellers. But I did overbuy. I bought hoppers that have 3 days left on them (they were originally 7 day hoppers). Now I realize that we don't need them because our kids are too young to do more than one park a day. I then bought 1 day hoppers just so we could go back for the fireworks on one day. Is there any way to check to see if there are indeed a certain number of days left on a ticket? When did they start fingerprinting. Do they scan the stip on the "hard" passes for names? I have the original ones up for sale, but fear someone will buy them and they won't have those days on them(since they weren't mine to begin with). I have a very good selling reputation on eBay and have for years. I don't want this to ruin it just because I don't know how it all works. Any advice on how I can find out the number of days left on a ticket?

 

[mom2of2]

the only way to find out how many days you have left is to go to Guest Services at WDW.

 

[4theloveofdisney]

This is my first post. So glad I found this site! Okay, I've bought all of our tickets on eBay..most from trusted sellers. But I did overbuy. I bought hoppers that have 3 days left on them (they were originally 7 day hoppers). Now I realize that we don't need them because our kids are too young to do more than one park a day. I then bought 1 day hoppers just so we could go back for the fireworks on one day. Is there any way to check to see if there are indeed a certain number of days left on a ticket? When did they start fingerprinting. Do they scan the stip on the "hard" passes for names? I have the original ones up for sale, but fear someone will buy them and they won't have those days on them(since they weren't mine to begin with). I have a very good selling reputation on eBay and have for years. I don't want this to ruin it just because I don't know how it all works. Any advice on how I can find out the number of days left on a ticket?

Here's a link to info about finger scans. I would be careful if I were you. Just my honest .02.
http://allearsnet.com/pl/fingerscan.htm

 

[momandseandodisney]

I would not buy this type of item on eBay
I would sugesst something like ticketmania.com if you are looking for discunt tix's

 

[CleveRocks]

This is my first post. So glad I found this site! Okay, I've bought all of our tickets on eBay..most from trusted sellers. But I did overbuy. I bought hoppers that have 3 days left on them (they were originally 7 day hoppers). Now I realize that we don't need them because our kids are too young to do more than one park a day.

First of all,

To say your kids are too young to do more than one park per day all depends on how you "tour" the parks. In my mind, and in the way we often but not always tour, hoppers are even MORE helpful with young children. When we went last year we had a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. On some days we'd go back to the room to nap/rest/swim, and when it was time to go back to a park we were able to go wherever we wanted -- we didn't have to go back the same park from earlier in the day if we didn't want to. This was especially helpful towards the end of our week there -- hopping gave us the opportunity to go back and hit the few attractions we missed in a park, or go back to a park to re-do some of our favorites.

I then bought 1 day hoppers just so we could go back for the fireworks on one day.

I'm hoping that you mean you intend to go back to a DIFFERENT park for fireworks. If you leave, say, MK and want to go back to MK later that night, you don't need a hopper ticket for that. On a base ticket, you can come and go as you please to and from one park that entire day. On a personal opinion note, I can't imagine paying the hopper add-on rate for a one-day ticket ONLY to catch fireworks at a different park. I mean, unless I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure the hopper option costs $40 per ticket (regardless of how many days is on the ticket). So for a family of four, those one-day hoppers in order to see fireworks at a different park means that you spent $160 JUST TO SEE FIREWORKS. That wouldn't be my choice. For $160 they better let me RIDE those fireworks!

When did they start fingerprinting. Do they scan the stip on the "hard" passes for names?

There is no fingerprinting going on. They do a process called a finger scan. It measures the length of the bones in two of your fingers (and I hear they're actually going down to one finger soon or may already have done so). The data from the finger scan gives something like a 1 in 1000 identifier. That means it's not NEARLY as unique as a fingerprint, but for DIsney's purposes it's close enough. The whole reason behind using a "unique identifier" is to keep people from selling or otherwise transferring the unused portion of their multi-day tickets. Such use is actually against Florida law -- it's not just Disney's rule.

I have the original ones up for sale, but fear someone will buy them and they won't have those days on them(since they weren't mine to begin with). I have a very good selling reputation on eBay and have for years. I don't want this to ruin it just because I don't know how it all works. Any advice on how I can find out the number of days left on a ticket?

As the previous poster already said, there's no way to know how many days are left on a ticket unless you're at WDW Guest Services or some similar location.

So I'm just curious -- how many days do you intend to spend in the WDW theme parks with your family? I ask this because I have a feeling the DIS community here might be able to save you a bunch of money withnothing more than sound advice based on experience.
Please post back!

 

[eeyore45]

This is my first post. So glad I found this site! Okay, I've bought all of our tickets on eBay..most from trusted sellers. But I did overbuy. I bought hoppers that have 3 days left on them (they were originally 7 day hoppers). Now I realize that we don't need them because our kids are too young to do more than one park a day. I then bought 1 day hoppers just so we could go back for the fireworks on one day. Is there any way to check to see if there are indeed a certain number of days left on a ticket? When did they start fingerprinting. Do they scan the stip on the "hard" passes for names? I have the original ones up for sale, but fear someone will buy them and they won't have those days on them(since they weren't mine to begin with). I have a very good selling reputation on eBay and have for years. I don't want this to ruin it just because I don't know how it all works. Any advice on how I can find out the number of days left on a ticket?

I read that you have already purchased your tickets, and are now trying to plan your stay at Disney... if that is the case, then the other posters are correct, the only way to check how much is left on an old pass is to go to Walt Disney World guest relations (not even at the resort) and have them check for you. My parents go from time to time, and my dad always saves tickets, when we went as a family they brought their old tickets, and would get them mixed up!!

I have to say I enjoy the flexibiltiy of park hopping, if a park gets crowded, I leave go back to the resort hang by the pool, and hop to a new resort for the evening!!

some of the old park hoppers had the option of going to the water parks, the new Magic Your Way tickets, you pay extra for the option - as you pay extra for the luxury of hopping...

and like others have posted since there is so much confusion with tickets and not being able to check, or verify what an ebayer has up for auction, let the buyer beware, and its much more secure in purchasing from licensed dealers, like ticketmania... and you do have to exercise caution thereas well do they include tax or add it at the end (some do, some dont, like at the Disney.com site, no tax is added till the end!)

 

[GREENEBEANE]

Wow, thanks for the info. I guess I did waste money on those one day hoppers(although I did..again..buy it on eBay). Our kids are 5 and 3. We are not staying in the parks, but are staying the the Village at Parkway next door. We planned to go to Animal Kingdom one day and the Magic Kingdom the next day. Then Sea World and other area attractions the remainder of our stay. The only tickets I'm concerned about are the ones I'm selling(they will sell for double what I paid but I don't want to someone to get at the gate and not be able to use them). Where is Guest Relations? I do see that the finger scan is for MYW tickets and these aren't those. They are paper, no expiration, but have a date of 12/05 on them. So I'm now wondering if they would've expired 14 days after that....since alot of tickets do have to be used 14 days after the first day used. Hmmm, feeling like I've messed up here.

 

[seashoreCM]

A totally unused Magic Your Way ticket does not expire and is transferable.

A ticket marked 12/05 is almost certainly a Magic Your Way ticket (printed in Dec. 2005) or is a promotional or convention or hurricane or complimentary ticket, any of the latter 4 kinds are not upgradable and may expire even if never used.

One day tickets are best used as-is only for vacations of 1, 2, 3, 11, or 12 days in the theme parks.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[GretchGraham]

I really hate to break this to you, but if those tickets were used in December 2005, the initial user most certainly had to do a biometric scan along with the tickets to gain entry to the park. We were there at that time and only children were able to enter without going through the scan.

When you try to use those tickets, your scan isn't going to match. Now, this will happen sometimes to certain members of a party (mine didn't want to work one day, my mother's on another), and the CMs passed us through. However, when no one in your party is able to go through the scan, they are probably going to realize something is up.

As another poster said, the tickets are non-transferrable by Florida law and Disney does not have to honor them.

Another minor issue is, as you stated above, these are partially used tickets. If the initial purchaser did not have the non-expiration option or add it on prior to expiration, the tickets expired 14 days from their first use. So, if you have those 1 day tickets (unused), hang on to them as you may need them.

Sorry.

 

[GREENEBEANE]

I emailed the girl I bought them from and she said they were her brother-in-laws. He purchased them on December 29, 2005 and was told that the remainder would expire in 12 months. She gave me his name. What's a biometric scan?

 

[Lynne M]

When you enter a WDW park, you place you hand in a scanner that takes some measurements of your fingers. This is a biometric scan, and the measurements are tied to your ticket. Disney does this to prevent people (like the EBay seller) from reselling used tickets.

If the seller's brother-in-law has used this ticket even once, and had his fingers scanned at that time, the ticket is now permanently tied to his finger measurements. If you then attempt to use the ticket, the machine will reject it, as the measurements will not match.

Unfortunately, there's no way to find out if the tickets are usable until you get to a theme park and try it.

Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear...

 

[CleveRocks]

Yeh, unfortunately it doesn't look good.

Tickets purchased beginning January 2, 2005 required the use of the biometric scan (finger scan). I was at WDW in May of 2005, but since I bought my package in October of 2004 we never had to use the finger scanners AT ALL during our May 2005 trip. But since the ticket you're talking about seems to have been issued in December of 2005, if it was ever used at all then it must have biometric data attached to it.

If these tickets cost you a lot of money, and you won't be able to use them, you could consider contacting the seller again and informing her that, even though shew probably didn't know it, the tickets are not only USELESS to you, but that she broke Florida law by selling them to you. If she does not respond to your satisfaction (i.e., issue you a refund after you return them to her), then consider contacting eBay and informing them that she made (and they allowed) an illegal sale.

GOOD LUCK!