How in the world?

[jetboy]

We frequent Walt Disney World every 6 months or so, and I always come home to look on ebay for that one item I wanted but couldn't justify buying for full price.

So my question is:

How in the world do people get items that list for $150 and sell them repeatedly on ebay for $50. An example is, I just returned 15 days ago without the 21 inch resin statue of Bob Parr from the Incredibles. Bob list for $150 in the parks and you guessed it, I bought it on ebay for $50. This same person listed two other Bobs for the same price.

Do people routinely purchase multiple items only to lose money on a "I bet I can make money on this" auction? Where do they go if the item they sold me is a "Second"? Perhaps the paint isn't 100% as Disney would like.

Is there a website?

[ukwdwnut]

disney make maximum profit and others must take less profit i guess, if its kosha gear :shrug:

[PaulaK]

Most places have an outlet or person that takes their 'seconds' (I know we do). They could be coming straight from the manufacturer because they are classed as 'rejects'. We (we make soap not Disney stuff unfortunately!) have to go through a very strict quality control process and though you may not be able to find a fault in the product, there could be one there.

It's all about who you know in sourcing such things! :)

[Meezers]

I think some of the items like that were promotional gifts to movie distributors and people like that. That is how I wind up getting brand new DVD's at the used DVD store!

[SorcererMickey]

Combination of the previous answers, but most of the time it's like this...

Disney has a liquidation department where they sell overstock items to vendors for just over cost value. These are the items that they have no space for at the parks, no more space for at the outlet stores "Character Premiere" and "Character Connection", seasonal items, or movie promotion products such as character action figures.

These vendors buy the products in pallets or boxes and pay a fixed price for the entire lot. Many of the Gift Shops along US192 sell these kinds of items, I know a person that does this. Same as those that sell them on ebay. I wouldn't be surprised if this person who is selling this Bob Parr statue paid just $10 or $15 dollars for it.

[candyman]

it happens in every trade
when i sold sweets i was the midlands out let for the over stock for a company called kinnerton conf. they sell the character sweets like bob the builder , foreverfriends , star wars and stuff like that
and if they had a line they had too much of they would "jb" it out to people like me.
i did not get a choice of what i bought i would get a call with a job lot for say £500 take it or leave it all or nothing and i would get a list of what was in it
but because i was a good customer and i never said no no matter how bad it was my area rep would always make sure it was a very good price perhaps he would add an extra 20 cases of something to the list that other traders would not have got that way i was happy the company was happy to clear the dead stock , the rep was happy casue he get mega brownie points cause he could sell stuff no one else could , and most of all my customers were very happy getting stuff that retails at say £2 for 25p !

steve

[Tinker]

When I was at WDW in December, I saw an adorable Tinkerbell Tree Topper the first few days I was there . She was dressed in a beautiful red velvet outfit . I looked all over for her toward the end of my stay and every store in DTD and throughout the parks were sold out . I finally came across her in the MGM gift shop . When I took her up to the counter the CM noticed the velvet on her hat was torn off . She said "let me get one from the back". I was estactic to say the least . After a few minutes, the manager came out and said "I'm sorry we do not have any of those Tinkerbells' left and Disney's policy is that we are Not allowed to sell anything damaged . I was so disappointed and even told him it was on the back of her hat and I would purchase it that way , but no go . He just could not let me purchase it in that condition . So, I take it that they just don't throw them away . It probably too ended up on ebay and I never thought too look .

[Figment]

I find real Disney World shirts at Gabriel Brothers all the time. They are a local (OH mostly) store of mostly overstock/irregulars. I have to be careful...many times they aren't printed quite right or slightly off center, etc, but many of them I can't find a thing wrong with. I pay about 6.99 for a Tshirt for myself or 3.99 for shirts for Jordan. They had a bunch of sweatshirts clearanced last week for $2! They were all too small for me, but I bought some for Jordan to sleep in (they come to his knees, but look really cute)

I think I could probably put Jordan in a Disney shirt every day for 2 months without repeating, and very few of them were bought in the parks or the Disney Store. :blush:

[Dizneemad]

Also it could be cast members selling the items on ebay. They get a large discount off of the goods. When we did the keys to the kingdom tour in the utilidor part of the tour in one of there mess rooms was a notice for a upcoming sale which stated 70% off.

[OKWTink]

Yep, there is something called, "Product Control" where WDW moves many, many categories of items for sale only to CMs. The prices are a tiny fraction of what the original cost was.

I've been lucky enough to be invited to one of those sales. :eek: What a chaotic scene!

[Sweet_girl99]

i was at K-mart there in orlando.(getting flim for my camera, to much$$in the parks) i saw a huge part near the front that had disney stuff cheap. I got a t-shrit 4 my 2 year old nefew