Magic bands now or later? on ebay?

[Minuet888]

Hi,
I traveling to DW in May and I've looked on and off online at which magic bands+ we want to get (we have some from 5 years ago but want new ones for this trip).
I haven't seen any that we like though. I know there tends to be more of a selection at the parks or resorts you are staying in but I feel like I am taking a gamble.
I usually like to have my magic bands and everything set up before we get there.
I remember there used to be a way to order things from in park stores. Do they not do that anymore?
What is your experience? Get them now or wait until you get there don't we need them to unlock the room and get in the park?
Do I have to bring my old magic bands there to unlink them first or can I just do that from the app?

I DID see one that I liked on ebay that said Magicband+, brand new and unlinked. Has anyone had luck on ebay or good experiences buying magic bands on ebay?

 

[tseitel]

You can deactivate your old bands in the app.
The Disney store does sell bands online, though their selection isn’t great at times either.
I’ve purchased bands from eBay when I wanted a specific one that I couldn’t find elsewhere, and haven’t had a problem. I look for sellers with high positive reviews, and bands that are listed as unused and unlinked just as you mentioned.

 

[OKW Lover]

Wait until you get there. No reason to get a MB before hand, especially since you already have one. Also no reason to deactivate the old MB, you can still use it and the new one.

 

[muppets3d]

If you are staying on site and have your hotel reservation linked in My Disney Experience, you can order MagicBands at a discounted rate from there. But if you don't see any you like there, then yeah I'd just wait until you get there. Bring your old ones along until you find one you like.

 

[Miffy]

If you're staying on-site at a Disney resort, there's often a pretty good selection of MB+s you can purchase at a discount. Go to MDE and you'll see a link on the My Plans page that will take you to that selection.

They do not have everything, but they often have some really nice ones. Sometimes not. Since your trip is 10 months away, you could always keep checking since inventory changes all the time.

The discount, btw, is not insignificant. A $44.95 MB+ is discounted to $34.95.

If you're not in the US, I think they don't send them to you but they will be at your resort when you arrive.

If you're not staying on-site, then you might want to wait until you get there, since the selection at the Disney stores on property is pretty extensive. And if you want to purchase them from eBay, be very very careful to only buy from highly rated sellers and to purchase only brand-new MB+s that are still in the original wrapping. MB+s (even the old MBs) cannot be reassigned, so if someone else has used it already, it's useless to you.

Edited to add: The above poster and I were posting at the same time!

 

[sponica]

I bought MBs on site a couple years ago for my mom and stepdad, they were staying off site and I hadn't liked anything I saw on shopdisney. It took me all of 5 minutes or so to link both MBs to their accounts.

 

[kdka421]

I DID see one that I liked on ebay that said Magicband+, brand new and unlinked. Has anyone had luck on ebay or good experiences buying magic bands on ebay?

I purchased two bands like this, from different sellers that looked very trustworthy - one worked completely as if I bought it new at Disney, the other was already linked and unable to be used.
So in my experience, not worth it, in trying to save $10/15 bucks, I instead ended up with a completely useless product. (Partially my fault, I waited too long to try to link it and at that point had no recourse to attempt a return)

 

[gottalovepluto]

I felt there was a good variety for sale in the parks on my last trip, if you don’t see what you like online I’d wait. Only MB+ of course.

If you buy off eBay just make sure to link it right away so you can file against the seller if it has already been linked.