I have to vent...

[chloelovesdisney]

It's excessively greedy to want to make money in a secondary market off of the wants of young children. I just find it distasteful. Adult products, have at it.

 

[scoutie]

Have you looked at Toys R Us? I thought I saw some there this weekend.

 

[DividedSky]

Living in a free market society is that when people buy things for the solepurpose of making a profit they will and I see nothing wrong with that at all.

This thread really is kind of sad. Without a market of people voluntarily exchanging goods and services for money, how do we know what something is worth, or how many of an item to make?

If we know for a fact Disney is intentionally under producing a product for the sole purpose of artificially inflating the purchase price, Disney is a villain, but the people using real world demand to impact sales price aren’t villains or vultures.

 

[BrianL]

Disney couldn't have known what a colossal hit Frozen would be. I'm sure they expected it to be popular, but it is by far outperforming their recent animated features. You see it with a lot of movies, merchandise floods the stores, and then sits there, never selling. That's why they are conservative with initial orders. Believe me, they would much rather have enough stock to sell and make more money on.

Personally, while I liked Frozen, I don't quite get why it is so insanely popular, at least so much more so than Tangled was.

 

[ChipnDalePals]

I was in the Norway store in Epcot yesterday and they had both of these princess dresses available. I don't have a princess ( 2 princes!) so I didn't look at sizes etc. I am planning on heading back there tom or Wed and would be happy to check it out if anyone wants

 

[BrianL]

This thread really is kind of sad. Without a market of people voluntarily exchanging goods and services for money, how do we know what something is worth, or how many of an item to make?

If we know for a fact Disney is intentionally under producing a product for the sole purpose of artificially inflating the purchase price, Disney is a villain, but the people using real world demand to impact sales price aren’t villains or vultures.

Disney sees no money from the huge markup of the third-party sellers. They make their money from stores ordering from them (like Target, etc.) or directly to the consumer through the Disney Store or parks. The lack of supply only hurts their bottom line at this point. Intentionally constraining that supply results in fewer sales for them.

 

[Maleficent53]

It sure is a craze isn't it!

As for Disney, you can bet that there are some buyers totally SCRAMBLING to get product on shelves. As a former buying agent (non-Disney), purchasing is a gamble. These products were ordered LONG before they hit the shelves. You can't order too much, what if it's a flop? It takes time to get product in, and i"m sure they are producing and then shipping as soon as they can.

As a former CM at a Disney Store, I can tell you there are questions every day along the line of "why don't you have merchandise for ???". It is impossible to cover every character and every show. That said, the poster made a good point ... merchandise is designed and manufactured waaaaay in advance. If you have a hit, you hope to be able to reorder and restock quickly. I can remember movies that the merchandise we couldn't give it away! (anyone remember Meet the Robinsons?)

If you can't find the dress for your daughter at a price you are willing to pay, this would be a good time for a child's lesson in patience. Learning that you cannot always have everything you want when you want it is also a good thing.

This bit of wisdom coming from one of the mom's who stalked Target for Cabbage Patch dolls back in the day!

 

[Dorisk3]

It's just the laws of supply and demand. It's a big deal because you make a big deal out of it. I have a feeling most of this frenzy is parent created, my kids NEED that princess dress, my kids NEED to meet The Frozen girls so I'm going to stand there for 4 hours.

 

[DividedSky]

Disney sees no money from the huge markup of the third-party sellers. They make their money from stores ordering from them (like Target, etc.) or directly to the consumer through the Disney Store or parks. The lack of supply only hurts their bottom line at this point. Intentionally constraining that supply results in fewer sales for them.

Agreed.

Although I guess they benefit in a little less tangible a way by one of their new characters having so much buzz, and a massive short in merchandise is a way to generate buzz.

 

[buckeev]

It's just the laws of supply and demand. It's a big deal because you make a big deal out of it. I have a feeling most of this frenzy is parent created, my kids NEED that princess dress, my kids NEED to meet The Frozen girls so I'm going to stand there for 4 hours.

THIS! As parents, we sometimes cause this more than the kids, or peer pressure. And yes...I am as guilty as the next parent.

 

[Dorisk3]

THIS! As parents, we sometimes cause this more than the kids, or peer pressure. And yes...I am as guilty as the next parent.

Me too! And sometimes when you give them that precious thing that you tried so hard to get, they're off to something else in a few minutes.

 

[LilyWDW]

It sure is a craze isn't it!

The best way to combat "scalpers" is to not buy from them. One thing about ebay, is someone can list a product at any price they want...doesn't mean someone is actually buying it!

As for Disney, you can bet that there are some buyers totally SCRAMBLING to get product on shelves. As a former buying agent (non-Disney), purchasing is a gamble. These products were ordered LONG before they hit the shelves. You can't order too much, what if it's a flop? It takes time to get product in, and i"m sure they are producing and then shipping as soon as they can.

Yep, but I have learned over the years that a lot of people don't understand (or want to understand) why business make the decisions they do.

Disney was stuck with a lot of left over merchandise from Brave, Lone Ranger, and Monsters University. Saw it all over and then saw it all on clearance. When you see that are a buying agent, it is going to make you rethink the amounts you purchase. Period. You would be stupid not to.

So Disney bought less to start. They had no way of knowing that it would such a HUGE hit until AFTER it came out. These decisions (the meet and greet ideas, the merchandising, the parades, and all that) have already been made. Disney can't just go "Oops!" and change it. It takes time and money to do so.

 

[ConvenientTruth]

So of course my girls are into Frozen since we seen it on Thanksgiving day.

With that, I have been trying as well as other parents to get their little girls a dress. Either dress.

I should not have to wake up at the crack of dawn and stalk the Disney store for an awaiting arrival! I should not have to pay these OUTRAGEOUS prices these Ebay people are asking.

STOP buying these things and selling them at your disposal for INSANE amount of money, leave these things to our children who want nothing more then to be the princess in the movie they love!

All you re-sellers should be ashamed of yourselves for taking away from young little girls who want to dress up like Anna and Elsa. Shame on you I cannot stress it enough!

As for Disney, I am sure they knew they had a hit on their hands but maybe did not anticipate what a HUGE following this would be. So I ask on behalf of all the mothers out there looking for a Elsa dress for their little princesses PLEASE RESTOCK NOW! Thank you, that is all!

Shame on you for asking those trying to make a little extra money by noticing a trend and taking advantage of it...

 

[bumbershoot]

I completely agree everyone has the right to sell it at whatever they want. My plight being it is not fair nor it is right.

Seeing a dress from a movie going for 1600.00 all the way to 10 grand burns me up and as they have the right to sell it for those amounts I have the right to complain about it.

But it's not just a seller's fault.

I've told this story before; in January I knew nothing of Frozen, but saw a little girl in Epcot wearing an absolutely gorgeous dress. I had to tell her and her parents how lovely it was and how perfectly she was wearing it.

The parents were cool (weirdly, 3 weeks later we were on the same cruise and ran into each other again!) and the mom wanted to tell me all about it. She had lucked into buying one of the 1500 Limited Edition Elsa dresses when they very first came out. Paid lots of shipping to get it to England, but that dress, the *limited* one, was absolutely worth it. (but then I'm a sucker for a Watteau-style train/cape)

That day at Epcot they had someone offer $1000 CASH for that dress.

Once their daughter grows out of it, they would be foolish to not sell it (if they are willing to give it up) for whatever they can.

Buyers want that dress. People want to make their kids happy, and some parents are willing to literally hand 1K in cash over at a themepark to a stranger for it.

Disney was not prepared on any front for the demands of Frozen's popularity. Merchandise is one area of the shortcoming, while space / a designated meet and greet spot is another. It's going to take them a while to play the catch up game!

A company creating a limited edition dress shows that they knew exactly what they were doing, IMO. Look what that LE dress has created. A huge demand for ANY dress that looks vaguely like it.

Agreed.

Although I guess they benefit in a little less tangible a way by one of their new characters having so much buzz, and a massive short in merchandise is a way to generate buzz.

Now they can make just any old dress and people will be so desperate to get it that they'll buy it.

 

[3Gsandme]

As a poster up thread said, this is why I sew. I made Anna and Elsa dresses (they were unique and the girls got TONS of compliments, including ones from Anna and Elsa themselves). Supply and demand suck, but...well. It is what it is. I was in Toys R Us this morning and they had Anna dresses in stock.

 

[RysMomma]

I agree. It's really upsetting. I must check Disney Store at least 5 times a day. I'm lucky that my daugther's birthday isn't until the summer (as is our Disney trip) so I'm really ok waiting. I called WDW on Friday and supposedly an order went through for one, but I keep checking my credit card and it still says pending. I'm not sure if it'll really go through or not but I can just hope. Understandably Disney didn't realize how much of a hit it would be, but, I hate the people that are selling them for triple or quadruple the price. It's for a kid-it's just upsetting.

 

[Andtototoo]

They had Frozen dresses at our local Target yesterday.

 

[aaarcher86]

If you're not willing to pay $200+ for a dress you don't really love your children.

 

[SpringSprite]

If you're not willing to pay $200+ for a dress you don't really love your children.

I totally HATE my kids, then. My SON (LOL) wants the Infinity Anna/Elsa pack, and it's sold out everywhere except Amazon, where it was about $20 more than it should be. I'm not buying it!

 

[aaarcher86]

I totally HATE my kids, then. My SON (LOL) wants the Infinity Anna/Elsa pack, and it's sold out everywhere except Amazon, where it was about $20 more than it should be. I'm not buying it!

Clearly, you're a monster!