Learn a Lesson From Tickets on eBay...

**Main Street Jim** · 10-20-2003, 05:30 PM

I worked turnstiles today for the first time in about five months...LOL

Family of about ten comes up to my turnstile. First kid goes to put their ticket in; it comes up "Voided - no more usage". First parent behind the kid, same thing. I ask for all of their tickets and try a few more. Every one of the tickets - voided, no more usage.

I collect all of the tickets and ask the adults where they got their tickets.

"We bought 'em off of eBay...we paid over 800 bucks for 'em. They're five-day Park Hoppers." Not a bad deal; 80 bucks a piece (avg) for ten 5-days, considering they're well over 200 bucks each for adult tickets. I give the tickets to Ray, our coordinator. He takes them inside and runs them through the ticket reader.

Sure enough, NONE of the ten tickets are any good. "But the seller had good feedback and said they were still good!!"

Unfortunately, this family is now out 800 bucks, stuck with their seven-night hotel reservation, the flight down and back from Indiana, and no way to get into the parks. When people sell tickets on auction sites like eBay, I would recommend staying away from them. There is NO WAY of knowing just from looking at the tickets if they are any good; they have to be run through a reader at any ticket or Guest Relations window. This is something that we cannot control on the Internet.

I'm always telling people to stay away from buying tickets from other third-party sellers (like on eBay), or from ANY of the so-called "Ticket Info" stands along the International Drive or US 192 corridors - you know, the ones that say "2 Disney tickets for $25.00".

I'm not sure what the family is going to do, or if we'll take care of them. We did send them down to Guest Relations outside the park there (down by the bus stops). I hate to see families, especially a large family like that that's probably been planning for a year or more, get duped with things like that.

Just please - PLEASE - promise me y'all won't buy your park tickets off of eBay.

**Edzter86** · 10-20-2003, 06:09 PM

Thanks for sharing this story with us, Jim, despite how unofortunate it is.

This is solid proof that you can never tell with third-party ticket vendors. : [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

**Ian** · 10-20-2003, 07:14 PM

Thanks for the warning, Jim.

This is a good time to reinforce why INTERCOT does not promote nor encourage "cheating the system". Disney theme park tickets are NOT transferrable and buying them online or from any source other than Disney (or a travel agent or other legitimate,authorized seller) is a violation of Disney's policies.

We don't prevent people from discussing things like ticket reselling and other cheats because we're old fogies ... we do it because too often it results in situations just like the one Jim describes here. INTERCOT exists to help our members ... not strand them at the gates with expired tickets.

**Beach Club Babe** · 10-20-2003, 08:22 PM

I just feel so bad for the kids! Hopefully, they'll be able to have some recourse with E-bay. The seller should at least be banned from putting anymore items, most especially Disney tickets up for sale on E-bay!

**Main Street Jim** · 10-20-2003, 08:30 PM

Thanks folks. This is a *very* good reminder why you don't buy tickets from somewheres whare you can't *tell* what's left on the tickets.

And, Ian is correct. If the tickets *had* been good and it asked me to "Check ID" on the tickets, and it didn't match, then...again, we'd have to turn them away.

On eBay, with things like this with tickets, just because the seller has "good feedback" doesn't necessarily mean that the tickets themselves are any good.

**wDwMarly** · 10-20-2003, 09:16 PM

Awww... I can't help feeling sorry for that family especially their kids!!

[img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

**mickeyd** · 10-20-2003, 09:42 PM

Thanks for the story Jim! I would never buy Disney tickets from anywhere but Disney or a travel agent. It’s just not worth the risk. Disney vacations can be expensive, but the one thing you should never skimp on is admission media. It’s just a recipe for disaster! Also, as mentioned above, the tickets are not transferable – so it’s breaking the rules anyway.

**AmyKane** · 10-20-2003, 09:43 PM

I feel bad for them also. I hope E-Bay will do something. It is such a huge risk. A very valuable lesson learned!

TiggerRPh · 10-20-2003, 10:36 PM

Thanks Jim for sharing that.

It's truly sad that this happened.

[img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

[ October 20, 2003, 10:52 PM: Message edited by: TiggerRPh ]

**disneyjoe** · 10-20-2003, 10:52 PM

I agree with your point of not cheating the system.
However, you can check to see if the tickets have any good days left on them. DW and I checked our tickets from last year to see if we had any days left by emailing disney and giving them the number on the card. Unfortunately for us the days were all used.

[ October 20, 2003, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: disneyjoe ]

**drummerboy** · 10-20-2003, 11:16 PM

As many things as I've bought on e-bay, WDW tickets would never be among them. I hope that family reports the incident to the e-bay folks. I know they do not like scams--it gives them a bad reputation. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that the family paid a little extra for the e-bay buyer protection program when they purchased the tickets.

**Chip Carlton** · 10-21-2003, 01:27 AM

Originally posted by disneyjoe:
I agree with your point of not cheating the system.
However, you can check to see if the tickets have any good days left on them. DW and I checked our tickets from last year to see if we had any days left by emailing disney and giving them the number on the card. Unfortunately for us the days were all used.

Not trying to say you are wrong, becuase I dont know for sure because I do not work there.. BUT i have been told a few times by Disney employees that there is no way to tell with the numbers on the back. But Im not for sure Just what I have been told and heard (Jim even said you cannot tell.)

**ChipnDaleGal** · 10-21-2003, 06:56 AM

Wow, that is a sad story! I can not imagine trying to explain that to my kids when we got to the turnstile. I hope the adults had it in their budget to get new tickets. I am a big believer of "if it sounds like it is too good to be true, then it probably isn't true" Why would anyone sell legitimate tickets that cheap? That family was cheated, but they sure weren't using their brains about the tickets.

**brownie** · 10-21-2003, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by Chip Carlton:
Not trying to say you are wrong, becuase I dont know for sure because I do not work there.. BUT i have been told a few times by Disney employees that there is no way to tell with the numbers on the back. But Im not for sure Just what I have been told and heard (Jim even said you cannot tell.)

It may depend on the cast member you're talking to; not all cast members may have access to the system to look it up by the number. However, if you lose your ticket or it's stolen, you need the number to help you with a replacement (which is why you should record your ticket information and have it with you separate from your tickets). The number on the ticket is probably encoded in the magstripe or is linked to it in some way. As far as what Jim said about not being able to tell, I think what he means is that you or I have no way of knowing how many days are on a ticket just by looking at it. The only way to know is to have it confirmed by Disney.

I thought I had read in another post that Disney was only verifying the days on tickets at guest relations at WDW, so you may no longer be able to email a request.

Buy your tickets from Disney. Then, you don't have to worry about whether or not the tickets have any days remaining. And, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you shouldn't take it.

[ October 21, 2003, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: brownie ]

**mpoppins-sc** · 10-21-2003, 09:53 AM

Brownie makes a great point. You should ALWAYS keep your ticket reciepts and credit card slips until you use up all of the days. Keep them seperate from your tickets, in somewhere like the safe. These reciepts have the same numbers on them as the tickets themselves and your admissions can be researched using these numbers.

When the numbers on the tickets or reciepts are plugged into the computer at Guest Relations all of your admission information is revealed including park date and time.

If you have your reciept and lose your tickets (or they are stolen) you have some recourse because they can research the tickets. They are much more secure for the guests that way. Plus, Disney gets to know how many days are being used more accurately than the paper tickets.

**beth** · 10-21-2003, 10:29 AM

Another good point. When I purchased my AP vouchers, I got 2 receipts. The CM told me to keep the other one someplace safe and NOT with my receipt or APs so if they get lost or stolen, they can issue new ones.

**Disney-4-Me** · 10-21-2003, 12:35 PM

I may be seen as hard-hearted here, but DOH! [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

How stupid was that?? Why should eBay or Disney have to make up for a person's mistake?

I do feel sorry for the kids. It must be doubly painful for the parents to see that not only did their kids not get into the parks, but that they had to see the results of this HUGE adult mistake in such a public way.

There are natural consequences for every decision we make in life. This is going to be a hard one to take.

**MousePassion** · 10-21-2003, 01:45 PM

I've purchased many things from E Bay,including Disney related items such as prints,pins and figurines,but I steer clear of any type of tickets offered for all of the reasons listed by previous posters [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img] One thing that always amazed me as I looked at the WDW passes up for bid though,was how MUCH they were going for! Most were more than if you bought them at the Disney store or WDW and people were bidding like crazy [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img] I do feel sorry for the kids in that family and what a painful lesson to learn on the day you think you're finally going to meet the Mouse.Very sad

**brownie** · 10-21-2003, 01:59 PM

Originally posted by Disney-4-Me:
Why should eBay or Disney have to make up for a person's mistake?

Disney wants people to have a great experience when they come to Disney World; there's an incentive for them to do something to help the family out. Plus, if the people can't get into the park, they can't spend money on souveniers or food.

**goofyfanatic** · 10-21-2003, 04:01 PM

Thanks Jim,

What a shame. I feel so bad for the kids. Just goes to show that better safe then sorry works here.

If something sounds to good to be true then it usually is.

Seth

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