Dear Disney, It’s Time to Scan the Band and Stop the Resellers

I’ll admit it, I love to buy Disney merchandise. Tumblers, pens, Minnie ears, t-shirts, Funko Pops, I love it all. Some people call it a problem. I call it “showing my love for Disney.” I love checking out the new merchandise when I’m in the Parks. Heck, I love checking out the old merch and seeing if I’ve changed my mind on any of it. However, one thing I HATE is when new merchandise is released and gone within a day (or a matter of hours) because of resellers. Resellers have become the bane of many a Disney fan’s — including myself — existence.

Resellers need to be stopped. And I know how Disney can do it. So, let’s play one of my favorite games — “If I Ran Disney”.

If I ran Disney, I would make it nearly impossible for resellers. Here’s how.

In order to enter a Disney Park — whether it be Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, or any other Disney Park — you need to have a ticket. Whether it is on a MagicBand, on your phone, or a physical ticket, you need one. So, when you are in the Parks and want to purchase merchandise, the Cast Member will scan your ticket. All merchandise purchases will require a ticket scan. Disney’s system will then keep track of what Guests have purchased and what pieces of merchandise. For merchandise that does not have a purchase limit, a Guest can grab as much as they want.

However, if there is a limit, the system will make sure you stick to that limit. If you buy three Loungefly mini bags at one store, and there is a three-per-person limit, the system will know. You will not be able to go to another store in the Park you are in and purchase more. You will not be able to go to another Park and purchase more. You will not be able to go to Disney Springs and purchase more. Because the system will indicate that you already reached the limit.

Now, shopping at a place like Disney Springs will be a little bit more complicated, since you don’t need a theme park ticket to visit the area. This would take a bit more fleshing out, but the base idea would be that, when you make a purchase at a place like World of Disney, you hand your license to the Cast Member. They enter things like your name and date of birth. Then something like a receipt is printed out for you to use if you make more purchases in the store.

If a reseller tries to throw out the receipt, that won’t work because their license information is already in the system.

Could this be a pain in the butt? Yes. Unfortunately, this is the direction things may need to go in because of greedy resellers. How many of you have been frustrated because you couldn’t get the one piece of merchandise you want, and then you see someone walking around with a bag full of that merchandise?

Resellers have made buying obscene amounts of Disney merch and reselling it at even more obscene prices their goal in life. It’s not right. Disney doesn’t like it. Other Guests don’t like it. So, let’s bring it to an end once and for all.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s and may not reflect the sentiments of Disney Fanatic as a whole.