I am of a very split mind about this, as I see it from every angle having been both a reseller at times (not Disney) and a buyer (of Disney who used personal shopper/friends) and while every side has valid points, I disagree with points on every side as well.
From the ticket holders POV, yes they broke the rules as posted, and deserve the punishment as dictated by their agreements but I also see Disney as a whole lacking the ability to truly police this issue if you never use your AP/DVC/MagicBand to pay, and in turn pay cash for every transaction. True, you do not get the discount, but then the resellers will just mark it up that much more. I also wonder, not being an AP myself, do the agreements actually specify things like you still have to pay for the pass even if Disney takes it away?
From a buyer's POV, I personally hope that Disney
DOES NOT get into the personal shopper business until they fix major issues with their own online retail experiences. Their actual website,
ShopDisney, has flaws that I point out EVERY time I get one of those surveys about how to improve the experience, and nothing has changed in years. A perfect example is quantity counts and cart protections. Being a pin collector, if I want to purchase a LE pin from their website, once I have placed it in my cart, as long as that cart's cookie is actively on their site, that item SHOULD REMAIN in my cart until I either check out with it or manually remove it. There have been numerous times I go to check out, either directly after adding the item, or after doing other shopping, just to be told that item is no longer available.
IMO, they would need an entirely new system in place to accurately sell park items to online customers to prevent overselling, etc; as if they can not get the ShopDisney experience to run smoothly, how can we hope this will run right? I also have utilize the personal shopper method before as being in great state of Maryland, I do not even have a
Disney Store within an hour's drive, so if I want something park related that is not on ShopDisney, I would rather use a personal shopper who I have built a rapport with instead of trusting bluk resellers bent on high profit. If I am willing to pay the extra, and Disney is making a legit sale, to me there is no harm.
From Disney's POV, it seems odd that this is something they are cracking down on when there are other, more internal issues that I feel should be looked at when it comes to resellers (
cough, cough, WDI Pins), but this is within their rights to do as owners of the IPs and the products as well. Working for companies currently and in the past that have had items which would make for excellent reselling values, I have always been told you are more than welcome to do so, however, no discounts/coupons can be used when purchasing said items, so I do not see why Disney can not allow that method until they have a better plan in place, as if the buyer is willing to pay the markup to get it, that is between the buyer and reseller/private shopper.
As someone who has quite a few Disney items, some bought while there, and some bought online either via ShopDisney or a personal reseller, I think Disney should look at the fans willing to spend the money and see not only the appeal of personal shoppers, but the financial gains it might have. If they truly want to prevent scalping, offer a workable and legit service to supplant the scalpers, and thus removing the middleman. If not, resellers will continue to find ways to game the system.