Resellers in Japan are on everyone’s Naughty List these days, it seems. In response to several high-profile incidents and trouble at its own park, Tokyo Disneyland is implementing new anti-reselling strategies – one of which has been to threatening to throw resellers off the property entirely.
Groups of resellers – mainly Chinese tourists and residents, according to local reports – have been scooping up limited edition releases of goods across Japan in the past year. The groups use teams of people to overcome purchase limits on goods, which the ringleader then sells on secondhand sites such as Mercari with an upcharge attached.
Resellers most recently caused havoc over the release of the My Melody 50th Anniversary goods earlier this month. Before that, they created long queues and scenes of chaos at Tokyo Museum as they rushed to grab limited edition Hello Kitty 50th Anniversary items.
Disneyland hasn’t been immune, either. A limited-edition popcorn bucket that went viral on social media recently also led to a small stampede from resellers.
To counteract these stampedes, Disneyland had workers begin carrying signs at special sales warning people not to run within the park. Announcements over the loudspeaker threatened violators with ejection.
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To combat resale even further, Oriental Land, the company that runs Disney theme parks in Japan, says it’ll implement a new system for limited edition items. Items will henceforth only be sold online and will require holding a recent park entrance ticket.
It’s hard to tell if the majority of fans agree with this change or not. Some seem happy they may finally be able to get the goods they wanted. Others say they’ll miss the experience of viewing and holding an item before buying it.
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