Note: Disney Auctions and Disney Deals no longer exist, they've been rolled into DisneyShopping.com, but because collectors are always interested in the history of how items were sold or distributed, this article (2003) is kept online for reference.
Disney Auctions
I'll be the first to admit it, I've gotten confused with all the different online Disney offerings. There's Disney Auctions, Disney Deals and The Disney Store! Stephanie Ayars, Marketing Manager for Disney Auctions and Disney Deals, recently talked with me and helped explain the differences.
When did DisneyAuctions.com roll out?
We launched in fall of 2000 and have become the premier online auction destination for one-of-a-kind Disney merchandise and collectibles. Our offerings also include limited-editions (known as LE), movie props, theme-park items and prototypes.
We later rolled out Disney Deals in the Fall of 2002 offering closeouts direct from the Walt Disney Company.
What's The Disney Store (online)?
The Disney Store Online is completely separate from Disney Auctions and Disney Deals.
Where does the merchandise for Disney Auctions come from?
The bulk of our merchandise comes from internal divisions of The Walt Disney Company, but we also do product development for new items offered on Disney Auctions. Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World® have been great partners with well-received merchandise -- everything from parking lot signs to actual ride vehicles. Other divisions have also been generous in supplying us with archive art, archive prints, as well as story books to offer for auction.
We do our own product development for items like snow globes, pins, cookie jars and model sheets. The different prototypes from these items are very hot items on Disney Auctions when they are released for auction.
Whenever Walt Disney Pictures® has a new release, we try and get behind the release by auctioning off props, costumes, merchandise and autographed items from a film. The auction items from the "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was extremely successful. One of the highest priced items sold was a prop gold medallion for over $5,000. The "Lizzie McGuire" movie auction was another big, successful auction for us, and keep an eye out for an upcoming auction offering movie props and costumes from the newest release, "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen."
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