eBay goes to Disneyland
The Walt Disney Internet Group and the auction giant launch Disney Auctions as part of a four-year agreement.
As previously reported by CNET News.com, the long-awaited site features items such as Bette Midler's costume from the movie "Hocus Pocus" and a 13-foot-high entrance sign from Disneyland.
"We're unlocking the Walt Disney vault and offering it to this online community," Disney spokeswoman Michelle Bergman said. Bidding on the items will begin Monday.
eBay is hosting Disney's auctions as part of a four-year agreement announced by the companies in February. eBay, which already operates a co-branded auction site with the Disney-owned Go Network, will also host auctions by Disney properties ABC.com and ESPN.com as part of the agreement.
Go opened its own auction site last year but abandoned it in the wake of its eBay deal.
Disney is only the latest company to team with eBay for hosted auctions. Earlier this month, the National Football League announced an agreement to list its auctions on eBay. San Jose, Calif.-based eBay also maintains a co-branded site with America Online.
Potential bidders can search eBay to find items listed on Disney Auctions, Disney executives said. Disney has retained most of eBay's rules, although the company is requiring bidders to register with a credit card before placing a bid. And unlike on eBay, where buyers have traditionally paid with checks, Disney is only accepting checks for items costing more than $5,000.
But, as with other sellers on eBay, buyers can leave comments for Disney on eBay's feedback system. The user-feedback function has exposed some other high-profile companies, such as Microsoft and eBay-owned Butterfields, to a significant amount of criticism from eBay users.
But Disney representatives said they were not concerned about receiving negative feedback.
"We don't want to get negative feedback, and we don't expect that to happen," said George Grobar, vice president of Disney Auctions. "The reality of it is we want to understand how our business is running."
eBay representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Disney is offering a range of items on the site, from low-end merchandise to high-end collector's items, executives said. The company is listing some 90,000 items.