I understand why Disney doesn't merchandise the product outside of the resorts - the foot traffic is high and the idea of a guest "discovering" something special might lead to more impulse shopping. Disney is clearly not stupid when it comes to merchandising.
I also think that there's nothing basically wrong with shopping sites and on-line resellers. They charge a fee for obtaining goods for lazy people. In the age of internet shopping, most B&M stores do the same thing.
What bugs me about the online sites selling currently available park stuff is that they don't make it clear that all of the merchandise is available through Disney mail-order. They also don't list the official retail cost of the product they're reselling. That might not be wrong, but it's tacky.
I just ordered a book and a dvd from WDW mail-order. My cost, including shipping was $105.90. If I bought the same goods from laughing place, my cost would have been $141.96. That's quite a mark-up.
Rather than complain about this, though, I'm going to do something about it. Starting with the next MousePod, I'm going to suggest that all of my listeners who are interested in buying Park merchandise go to lp, check out what they want, and call Disney mail-order. Simple as that.
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"Give the public everything you can give them, keep the place as clean as you can keep it, keep it friendly" - Walt Disney
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