Ebay Ticket Experience

[jasonbogen]

Did a lot of research on how to get discount tickets before going on my trip a couple of weeks ago. Well I just got back and thought I would share my experience. I had 4 adults and 1 child to buy for and I wanted a 7 day hopper with the water park option. What I ended up doing was bidding on a package of 4 adult tix that were 3 day hoppers with water option with the intent on upgrading them to 7 day tix at the park and purchased one child 3 day park hopper with no water option to upgrade at the park. I decided on these two after checking their feedback and asking both if they could be upgraded. The one I bought the 4 adult tickets for had perfect feedback with one neutral. I contacted the person who submitted the neutral and found that they had a problem with their tickets being reported stolen, but got a full refund from the seller. Not sure what happened there, but they didn't want to take any chances with replacements I guess. Anyway, those tickets worked perfectly. I picked them up with my ID and confirmation number at the gate at Downtown Disney and was able to upgrade them without a problem. They worked fine the entire trip. I got them for $966 then added the additional 4 days at the gate for $60 plus tax total. With the child ticket I wasn't quite as lucky. It was a legitimate ticket, but it turned out it could not be upgraded because it was a special ticket with lower value. However they gave me the value of the ticket as credit towards the 7 day hopper with water I wanted. I bought it for $200 plus I got a $20 Bing.com reward with it so it cost me $180. I got a $160 credit so I lost $20 overall. I ended up buying the ticket for $305 plus tax at the gate. In total I paid $1375 for 4 adults and 1 child for 7 days with Hopper and Water options...certainly a savings over the $1764 gate price after tax and even the undercovertourist.com price of $1643.75. If I had it to do again of course I would have purchased the child ticket from undercovertourist.com for a total of $1337. Anyway take away what you want from this. I know people have asked about the best discount you can get. This was my experience. If anyone is interested the ebay user I bought the adult tix from was cardinalvette

Interestingly the seller I purchased the child ticket from is no longer listed although they had 100% feedback when I purchased from them.

Good luck.

 

[tnkrbell13]

Good to know you had a good experience. You did your homework and it paid off!
I have never bought WDW tix on ebay, but have purchased lots of sporting events tix, which I always think can be risky because if you print the tix from your computer someone else could have too and if they get to the event before you your ticket would be invalid! I have never had any problems though! I think being diligent with the sellers feedback, history, etc is the key to a positive transaction!

 

[LRB]

Can you post who you purchased your adult tickets through please? Here or pm thanks!

 

[jasonbogen]

Good to know you had a good experience. You did your homework and it paid off!
I have never bought WDW tix on ebay, but have purchased lots of sporting events tix, which I always think can be risky because if you print the tix from your computer someone else could have too and if they get to the event before you your ticket would be invalid! I have never had any problems though! I think being diligent with the sellers feedback, history, etc is the key to a positive transaction!

The two keys are using paypal insures you get your money back if anything goes wrong, plus the feedback shows that people are using them successfully. I saw tempting offers on craigslist for example, but that is really taking a big risk. The person I bought the child tix from had 100% feedback, but not a lot of it. The one I bought the adult tix from has 100% and 810 of them. Enough to make me feel confident and I read through a bunch of them to make sure people had used them successfully before submitting.

 

[Metsfan520]

You were lucky. I don't take chances with things like tickets. I'd rather pay more and get them thru a ticket broker--Undercover Tourist for instance--than pay less but sweat out the possibility of fake or stolen tickets. Honestly, someone could have perfect feedback--but do you know who the buyers are? They could be friends of the seller who really didn't purchase anything but give perfect feedback.

 

[jasonbogen]

You were lucky. I don't take chances with things like tickets. I'd rather pay more and get them thru a ticket broker--Undercover Tourist for instance--than pay less but sweat out the possibility of fake or stolen tickets. Honestly, someone could have perfect feedback--but do you know who the buyers are? They could be friends of the seller who really didn't purchase anything but give perfect feedback.

That would be virtually impossible to get 100% positive on over 600 feedback at those prices and have none of them be real buyers. You could have some fakes, but along the way someone would be real and have a bad experience and it only takes one person to write that they got ripped off by a scam to mess up your credibility. To top that off if you buy with PayPal it is guaranteed. My only worry was that they weren't really upgradeable and as it turned out they were. Considering I saved almost $300 over the undercover tourist price I think it was worth it for me because I was on a really strict budget. It was a 2 week driving trip with a lot of food and several nights of hotels to pay for with a family of 5, that $300 was critical. In fact only a couple weeks before the trip I didn't even know if i was going to be able to afford my Disney tickets or if I was going to have to go to Universal instead. Yep, definitely worth it to me. Had I seen a message here like the one I have just written I would have felt even more confident. I'll tell you this, I spent countless hours on the internet and with spreadsheets doing as much research as I could before I felt confident and along the way I passed on several offers that were even more of a discount.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Did you see the article a few weeks ago about Disney tickets being purchased by thieves using stolen CCs? They then sold the passes for less than the gate price to unsuspecting buyers on Craigslist and eBay.

I'm glad it all worked out for you, OP. But I think that buying passes from any one other than an authorized Disney ticket agent is a crapshoot. You got lucky.

 

[dclfun]

I would NEVER purchase Disney tickets via Ebay. You don't know where they came from, if they were stolen or leftover, or are even useable since multi-day tickets aren't transferable. Yes, if you pay with Paypal you'll eventually get your money back but do you want to start your vacation filling out forms with the Orange County Sheriff's office? I used to work at the entrance of the MK and we saw it happen all the time, and the guests who were duped starting their magical trip in tears. I don't think I could enjoy myself knowing that the tickets I was using could have been purchased with someone else's stolen cc. either To the OP- you got lucky, at least as far as you know.---Kathy

 

[pixiewings71]

OP I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm one who would never take the chance, I'd be to afraid of the tickets not being useable, or being cancelled because they were purchased with a stolen CC. Too risky for me. But I'm glad it worked for you OP.

 

[momtosam]

Many years ago I bought tix for DL via eBay and it worked out great for us. I scrutinized the seller's feedback and terms. We were only going for two days, though, so if it would have been fakes we wouldn't have been out a terrible amount of money. You have to bargain with what you're willing to lose, I guess.

 

[allison443]

What I ended up doing was bidding on a package of 4 adult tix that were 3 day hoppers with water option with the intent on upgrading them to 7 day tix at the park and purchased one child 3 day park hopper with no water option to upgrade at the park. I decided on these two after checking their feedback and asking both if they could be upgraded.
......

With the child ticket I wasn't quite as lucky. It was a legitimate ticket, but it turned out it could not be upgraded because it was a special ticket with lower value. However they gave me the value of the ticket as credit towards the 7 day hopper with water I wanted. I bought it for $200 plus I got a $20 Bing.com reward with it so it cost me $180. I got a $160 credit so I lost $20 overall. I ended up buying the ticket for $305 plus tax at the gate.

I'm glad it worked out for you but am I understanding correctly that you asked if the child's ticket could be upgraded, the seller said yes, but it turned out they lied and the ticket couldn't be upgraded? I think you are lucky that the sellers didn't lie about anything else that might have cost you more money!

 

[andrews_dad]

Great work. That is a BIG savings. Most sellers on Ebay are fine. It hurts the good sellers when everyone is timid because of a few scammers. I sell sport event tickets on Ebay and always have tons of nervous buyers. I also rent timeshares from timeshare owners via the internet and save THOUSANDS on vacations. I am not an owner, I just rent from those who can't use their weeks. Recently spent a week at Harborside on Paradise Island (where the SuperStars show on ABC was filmed) for way less than a regular hotel room in Nassua would run. Just do homework, check references, talk to the person, get contact numbers/info, etc. Caution is great, being so paranoid you will not work with people is not always great.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Linking to Orlando Sentinel article:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...-bk-credit-card-scheme-081209,0,7777026.story

For those who find a deal that's "too good to be true", it probably is. Ticket sellers who offer passes for less than what the CMs can buy them for are doing something that's not on the up & up.

We often get people posting about great deals that they've found on the internet. But unless you're buying from an authorized seller, you're taking a risk with your hard-earned money. For some, the risk is worth the savings. But finding out that the tickets are worthless would be a lousy way to begin a vacation that someone saved and sacrificed for.

Caveat emptor

 

[jasonbogen]

I'm glad it worked out for you but am I understanding correctly that you asked if the child's ticket could be upgraded, the seller said yes, but it turned out they lied and the ticket couldn't be upgraded? I think you are lucky that the sellers didn't lie about anything else that might have cost you more money!

Yeah, that one I took a chance on because they didn't have a lot of feedback although it was all positive. Turns out they got their tickets from people who had some sports package and didn't use them. The other tickets I actually picked up at the gate. In retrospect I should have just gotten the child ticket from undercover tourist as the bulk of the savings was really with the 4 adult tickets. Anyway, I am not sure it was so much a lie as it was they were wrong. The tickets they sold were legit, you just couldn't upgrade them because they were special tickets sold at a discount. I can't say that I wasn't relived when I had successfully gotten and upgraded my tickets so in that respect I feel a little lucky thought it was a calculated risk.

 

[jasonbogen]

Linking to Orlando Sentinel article:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...-bk-credit-card-scheme-081209,0,7777026.story

For those who find a deal that's "too good to be true", it probably is. Ticket sellers who offer passes for less than what the CMs can buy them for are doing something that's not on the up & up.

We often get people posting about great deals that they've found on the internet. But unless you're buying from an authorized seller, you're taking a risk with your hard-earned money. For some, the risk is worth the savings. But finding out that the tickets are worthless would be a lousy way to begin a vacation that someone saved and sacrificed for.

Caveat emptor

I agree and believe me I found many offers I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. To me what sold it was the feedback and the paypal guarantee. Then even contacting people who had given feedback. There was still some risk, but I felt it was very small after the research I had done. Posting it here just gives someone else more info to make their decision. Riskwise, there is a huge difference between ebay and craigslist especially when dealing with a power seller with 810 feedback at 100% positive when that's all they sell. I will admit if saving $300 wasn't that important and money was no object, I would probably just use Undercover Tourist, but in this case that extra money was the difference between us going to Disney or Universal. Since my 13,11 and 9 year old kids hadn't been since they were 5,3 and 10 months old and I am a Disney freak who grew up close enough to Disneyland to see the fireworks from his house it was worth the risk.

 

[jasonbogen]

Great work. That is a BIG savings. Most sellers on Ebay are fine. It hurts the good sellers when everyone is timid because of a few scammers... Just do homework, check references, talk to the person, get contact numbers/info, etc. Caution is great, being so paranoid you will not work with people is not always great.

Yeah I think that is my message. There is no reason to completely write off buying from ebay. Not all risk is equal, if you understand how ebay works you will see that there is not only protection there, but enough info to help figure out what the true risk is. As for being lucky, I certainly don't feel like I rolled the dice on 10% chance of success and won. I felt like it was more like 90-95% as opposed to 100% with a broker like undercover tourist or Disney themselves. Certainly, now I would use them again without hesitation.

 

[pixiewings71]

Great work. That is a BIG savings. Most sellers on Ebay are fine. It hurts the good sellers when everyone is timid because of a few scammers. I sell sport event tickets on Ebay and always have tons of nervous buyers. I also rent timeshares from timeshare owners via the internet and save THOUSANDS on vacations. I am not an owner, I just rent from those who can't use their weeks. Recently spent a week at Harborside on Paradise Island (where the SuperStars show on ABC was filmed) for way less than a regular hotel room in Nassua would run. Just do homework, check references, talk to the person, get contact numbers/info, etc. Caution is great, being so paranoid you will not work with people is not always great.

The "problem" with buying WDW or DL tickets on eBay is simply that they are non-transferrable tickets. At least that's my issue with it. I sell timeshare weeks myself, not on eBay, but on Craig's List, I get all kinds of scammers but if I can't use my weeks then I'd rather let someone else use them. I've actually got a couple weeks available that I need to list. For sporting tickets we use Stub Hub or just buy from the arenas, it's really not that different price wise.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I agree and believe me I found many offers I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. To me what sold it was the feedback and the paypal guarantee. Then even contacting people who had given feedback. There was still some risk, but I felt it was very small after the research I had done. Posting it here just gives someone else more info to make their decision. Riskwise, there is a huge difference between ebay and craigslist especially when dealing with a power seller with 810 feedback at 100% positive when that's all they sell. I will admit if saving $300 wasn't that important and money was no object, I would probably just use Undercover Tourist, but in this case that extra money was the difference between us going to Disney or Universal. Since my 13,11 and 9 year old kids hadn't been since they were 5,3 and 10 months old and I am a Disney freak who grew up close enough to Disneyland to see the fireworks from his house it was worth the risk.

I respectfully disagree.

It's a HUGE risk. Your particular seller sends a confirmation number rather than actual tickets which is exactly what the Craigslist scam artists did. They used stolen CCs to buy the passes online and then they sold the confirmation numbers to tourists. The CC owners didn't realize that their account had been comprosmised until they got their statements.

Your seller advises the buyer not to bid if they will not be able to pick up their passes at Disney within 2 weeks. Hmmm.

If they DO ship the actual tickets, your seller states that they will not take responsibility for "de-magnetized" or damaged passes. A legitimate ticket seller would be able to replace damaged passes. with no problem.

He may have over 800 positive feeback comments but he wasn't even selling WDW passes until June of this year. He has fewer than 80 feedback on those sales. Prior to that, this seller sold collectibles.

Like you said...do your research before buying and weigh the risks.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I just wanted to throw my two cents in that when a transaction goes bad on ebay you're not always allowed to leave feedback. A year ago I won an auction for $100 on ebay. The seller then contacted me and told me it was an extra $100 to ship the won item. I told them that that wasn't the agreed to price. They sent me a screen shot of the item I won and had somehow put in an extra $100 in the shipping. I had printed out the item too after I had won and the shipping was something like $20. They had 100% feedback and had been selling for a long time. After going back and forth (and luckily before I ever paid a dime) I don't know how it happened but it was like I never won the item. I wasn't able to leave any feedback and it didn't show up in my won items. I tried contacting Ebay and they requested the "headers" of all of the emails they had sent me. The lady tried to tell me what was needed but I guess I sent them the wrong thing twice (you can't just forward the emails) and finally just forgot about it as I hadn't lost anything and I was frustrated with the service I was getting from Ebay. I do sometimes wonder how many people they've been able to scam into giving them an extra $100 (by the way these weren't tickets; it was a custom made clothing item).

I personally wouldn't buy park tickets off of ebay but there are success stories of people getting lucky with it. Just wanted to share my experience that 100% feedback doesn't always necessarily mean that.

 

[Purseval]

Just wanted to share my experience that 100% feedback doesn't always necessarily mean that.

A couple of years ago I bought a car on Ebay from a local dealer for around $6000. When I went to pick it up there was a sticker on the windshield advertising it for $9000, so I got a good deal. Upon inspection it was making a noise that the dealer's mechanic said could cost over $2000 to fix if it failed, so the dealer offered to let me have another car from his lot. Instead of letting me look at cars in the $9000 range he wanted me to look at cars in the $6000 range, which means I would have had to take one with either a lot more miles or a lot older (or both). So many things went wrong I cancelled everything and left him negative feedback.

A few weeks later I got emails from Square Trade saying thet the dealer would give me $100 cash if I removed the negative. I refused but they kept sending emails stating that if I didn't agree to fill out some forms they could change the feedback without my consent. I filled out everything and still refused to change my feedback. I then got a negative from the dealer saying that I was trying to extort money from him.

I complained bitterly and long about this practice on the Ebay forums because it trashed the entire concept of feedback if people were allowed to buy their way out of bad ones. To the dealer it would have been a great deal, the $100 he spent on me would easily be recouped from customers who paid extra because they thought they were dealing with someone who had perfect feedback. Who knows how many people accepted the money before I bid on one of his vehicles.

Now I never trust feedback on Ebay, especially from people who sell high value items. I believe they have done away with Square Trade now on Ebay but that just means they will find another way around it.