Disneyland quiety revoking Annual Passes of Guests who Buy and Resell Souvenirs - OC Register

But I don’t really understand disney’s Hate for personal shoppers. If I, who lives in Iowa, wants something from the parks that isn’t sold online and I want to pay someone to shop for me. Then I’m paying that person for a service and Disney gets a sale. Disney could make money off this themselves with their own personal shoppers...

Because most of these promotions are to drive traffic into the park more than to make a buck on that item
 
... But I don’t really understand disney’s Hate for personal shoppers. If I, who lives in Iowa, wants something from the parks that isn’t sold online and I want to pay someone to shop for me. Then I’m paying that person for a service and Disney gets a sale. Disney could make money off this themselves with their own personal shoppers...
Disney's problem with the personal shoppers in question (and I don't know if this describes all personal shoppers) goes back to the original AP contract that the passholder signed at the time of purchase. Most people don't seem to take the time to read before signing or to read after purchasing. The AP discount is for personal use only, not to be transferred to others or for items that will be resold or for any personal profit on the part of the passholder. If the passholder signed the contract (and we all have to sign when we buy, payment plan or payment in full) and Disney catches said passholder regularly using the AP discount for personal profit by marking up and reselling items, that is valid reason for Disney to revoke that pass. It isn't "hate" on Disney's part, but disregard of the terms of the contract on the part of the resellers.
 
Disney's problem with the personal shoppers in question (and I don't know if this describes all personal shoppers) goes back to the original AP contract that the passholder signed at the time of purchase. Most people don't seem to take the time to read before signing or to read after purchasing. The AP discount is for personal use only, not to be transferred to others or for items that will be resold or for any personal profit on the part of the passholder. If the passholder signed the contract (and we all have to sign when we buy, payment plan or payment in full) and Disney catches said passholder regularly using the AP discount for personal profit by marking up and reselling items, that is valid reason for Disney to revoke that pass. It isn't "hate" on Disney's part, but disregard of the terms of the contract on the part of the resellers.

Exactly this
Disney is a business and has terms and conditions attached to its products, the same as any other business. Violate these terms and conditions and Disney finds you, then Disney has every right to remove your permission to use the product.

Its the same on Facebook. There are terms and conditions of use, which most people dont read. Then when they violate those terms and conditions and Facebook finds them, they suddenly find they can not access their Facebook page.

People think oh its a big corporation, why do they care but the fact remains, the terms and conditions are clearly stated. Claiming to not know about terms and conditions is no excuse. You sign a contract so therefore you are obligated to inform yourself of the terms and conditions and be aware of what you could lose if you violate those terms and conditions.
 
Why doesn't Disney just sell the items online too? Also they just have to sell more of the items so the resellers take a bath on their purchases. People waited hours in line for the 90th anniversary Mickey cups but Disney had so many to sell you could walk up later in the afternoon and still buy them. I'm sure plenty of people thought they would be limited but they were not. Disney probably sold 250,000 of them.

I've bought the occasional Disney Parks merchandise online from Disney. There aren't really that many, and none are going to be the kind of limited edition stuff many people would pay a premium to obtain.
 


Disney's problem with the personal shoppers in question (and I don't know if this describes all personal shoppers) goes back to the original AP contract that the passholder signed at the time of purchase. Most people don't seem to take the time to read before signing or to read after purchasing. The AP discount is for personal use only, not to be transferred to others or for items that will be resold or for any personal profit on the part of the passholder. If the passholder signed the contract (and we all have to sign when we buy, payment plan or payment in full) and Disney catches said passholder regularly using the AP discount for personal profit by marking up and reselling items, that is valid reason for Disney to revoke that pass. It isn't "hate" on Disney's part, but disregard of the terms of the contract on the part of the resellers.

This is pretty much only enforceable on pass holders, although I suppose it might be possible to have a no resale rule for anyone. Disney would hardly have an incentive to go after anyone since that may not be considered a commercial purpose. It's kind of hard to identify that though. I've bought stuff from a discount outlet that restricts purchases to 3 of each item per customer and has a no resale policy. I believe they probably start getting suspicious and cut off people who shop too often and get the same items repeatedly.

I don't know exactly how Disney categorizes "resale". However, if someone is asked to buy an item on behalf of a friend, it's going to be hard to identify that person without a trail such as eBay. It's the big time resellers they're really going for.

But as you stated, the only terms that bar resale are about using the discount. If someone doesn't use the discount, theoretically they're not breaking their rules.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/annual-passport-terms-conditions/
Such benefits and discounts are for personal use only and may not be used for any commercial purpose including, without limitation, to obtain or purchase items or services with the intent to resell such items or services.​

There are of course the other rules, such as pass holders can't use their passes for commercial purposes. That came up with the disability pass abuse where people were hired to allow their customers to skip lines. We were discussing how they might be breaking the passholder rules if they were also using an annual Passport. I see outside tour guides leading groups all the time. Obviously they get around that by typically using group tickets.
 


Love reading stories like this. Glad the power and reach of Disney can cut off the swindlers.
 
I think people will always pay if it has value to them. I’ve bought things way above retail (not just Disney) because I wanted them and it was the only way I was getting it.

There are two different things here. Flippers and personal shoppers. I’m not a fan of the flipping. But I don’t really understand disney’s Hate for personal shoppers. If I, who lives in Iowa, wants something from the parks that isn’t sold online and I want to pay someone to shop for me. Then I’m paying that person for a service and Disney gets a sale. Disney could make money off this themselves with their own personal shoppers...

and Disney catches said passholder regularly using the AP discount for personal profit by marking up and reselling items, that is valid reason for Disney to revoke that pass.

It seems to me that there is a legitimate need (well want anyway) for personal shoppers.
For example there is Indiana Jones merchandise in Adventureland but not in Disney Stores or their online store, I would be happy to be paying someone to go get it for me and post it to me.

Ot seems the rule that is being broken ks using the discount, if the personal shoppers provided the service without using their AP discount (and added that margin back onto the purchaser) it seems to be within the rules
 
... if the personal shoppers provided the service without using their AP discount (and added that margin back onto the purchaser) it seems to be within the rules

This sort of thing does happen now. I know people who are not professional personal shoppers, but who do personal favors for friends by purchasing items in the parks. When an item is purchased as a favor and there will be a reimbursement (i.e. the item is not a gift), the buyers are careful not to use their AP discounts and to keep all receipts. The reimbursement is for the exact amount and no profit is made by anyone. And it is almost always for only one or maybe two items at most, never for bulk orders. That is very different from the kind of reseller that Disney is pursuing in the quoted article.
 
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But why does Disney need to drive more traffic into the park? The place is jammed packed all of the time.
Well..... I think the place doesn't need more traffic. And YOU think the place doesn't need more traffic. But I'm pretty sure Disney's marketing department doesn't think so. ;)
 
Good. I've seen a bunch of sellers on ebay selling the Disneyland Spirit Jersey's in different sizes for around $90 when they cost $64 at the park.

Reminds me of years ago when people were selling Return Anytime Fastpasses on ebay. Went on for years and Disney did nothing about it. Maybe at the time they couldn't.
 
It seems to me that there is a legitimate need (well want anyway) for personal shoppers.
For example there is Indiana Jones merchandise in Adventureland but not in Disney Stores or their online store, I would be happy to be paying someone to go get it for me and post it to me.

Ot seems the rule that is being broken ks using the discount, if the personal shoppers provided the service without using their AP discount (and added that margin back onto the purchaser) it seems to be within the rules
If Disney wanted people who didn’t visit the park themselves to buy in park merchandise they’d sell it online. They want YOU to come because you’ll spend the day, grab a meal & see other merchandise you’ll fall in love with. When you go home you’ll have this special piece of Disneyland to share stories about with friends & family who then start thinking “hmm... Disney...”
 
This is pretty much only enforceable on pass holders, although I suppose it might be possible to have a no resale rule for anyone. Disney would hardly have an incentive to go after anyone since that may not be considered a commercial purpose. It's kind of hard to identify that though. I've bought stuff from a discount outlet that restricts purchases to 3 of each item per customer and has a no resale policy. I believe they probably start getting suspicious and cut off people who shop too often and get the same items repeatedly.
Ah, Last Chance, I love you. Yes, they do know and have banned people who, for instance, buy three TUMI suitcases every day when the store opens. But they don't hold hard and fast to the "three items" rule - if I'm buying five pairs of shoes that are clearly for me (random brands, all the same size), they'll let it go.

I recently had a regular DLR AP holder offer to buy me an item (not particularly expensive or exclusive) that was no longer available online but was in the parks. I was grateful that he did it for me, and I'd never dream of taking advantage of his AP-holder status for a discount.
 
If Disney wanted people who didn’t visit the park themselves to buy in park merchandise they’d sell it online. They want YOU to come because you’ll spend the day, grab a meal & see other merchandise you’ll fall in love with. When you go home you’ll have this special piece of Disneyland to share stories about with friends & family who then start thinking “hmm... Disney...”
I also think they want people to feel an urgency to buy the items when they see them in the parks. If they can order them later, people tend to hold back and make less impulse buys.
 
I'm pleased by this as it is against the rules to use the AP discounts for merchandise that is going to be resold. I'm surprised it's taken so long since many of those shoppers did not make it a secret who they were. But Disney probably made great efforts to be 100% positive they had the right people.

I've even written Disney complaining about the obvious resellers and how it devalues the shopping experience for the rest of us.

However I wish the article would stop saying you can refill those alien Santa buckets. That's WDW... I wish you could refill them at DLR.
Technically it is against the terms of every single admission ticket to use them for commercial purposes, which buying and reselling for a profit is. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this extend all the way down to even single day tickets at some point.
 
Ah, Last Chance, I love you. Yes, they do know and have banned people who, for instance, buy three TUMI suitcases every day when the store opens. But they don't hold hard and fast to the "three items" rule - if I'm buying five pairs of shoes that are clearly for me (random brands, all the same size), they'll let it go.

I recently had a regular DLR AP holder offer to buy me an item (not particularly expensive or exclusive) that was no longer available online but was in the parks. I was grateful that he did it for me, and I'd never dream of taking advantage of his AP-holder status for a discount.
Technically, even if the AP holder didn't use his discount, he broke the rules unless he charged you the exact cost plus actual cost of shipping with no markup at all.
 
Why doesn't Disney just sell the items online too? Also they just have to sell more of the items so the resellers take a bath on their purchases. People waited hours in line for the 90th anniversary Mickey cups but Disney had so many to sell you could walk up later in the afternoon and still buy them. I'm sure plenty of people thought they would be limited but they were not. Disney probably sold 250,000 of them.
Because they want the people who have spent money to come to the parks to be able to actually get the products without the craziness that happens now which ruins the guest experience at present.
 
Im not surprised, it was only a matter of time before Disney linked the ebay resellers and personal shoppers to the actual AP account holder. Anything and everything on the internet is traceable with enough time and money.
Not just AP holder, but cast members get in trouble for this too and even some guests with one day and multi day tickets, as I said, it is against the rules to use ANY admission media for commercial purposes without Disney's written permission prior to you doing so.
 

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