Two quick notes:

SIDEWALL SHINE

Note that pricing for SIDEWALL SHINE is always going to be a bit more because the acquisition cost is higher.

For instance, the Blu Ray McQueen offer was buy the Blu Ray disc and get Blu Ray McQueen for $3.79 postage & taxes … During the first week and for several weeks after its initial release, the Blu Ray was on sale for @$23 and as low as $20 AND you could reasonably turn around and re-sell the opened Blu Ray disc for $15-$20 dollars – if you including listing fees, you could reasonably be @-$5 in that exchange, then @$4 to Disney for the postage/tax, for about $9 you had a Blu Ray McQueen … so of course, anything above that is profit if you decide to sell it.

The TRU Sidewall Shine offer is different because you have to buy 5 CARS and then add $5 for postage/tax plus mail everything in. At @3.59 a car plus tax + the $5 + the @$2 postage to mail in the cards & UPC’s, you’re talking an outlay of @$25 and with not much possibility of re-selling the 5 loose CARS … perhaps if every TRU was stock full of ‘Sticker McQueen’s’ or even Axel Accelerators, I think most people would be hard pressed to get more than $1 per loose car and that’s a huge if as opposed to re-selling the Blu Ray DVD which was relatively easy.

So, I think naturally – eBay pricing is going to reflect the base cost of @$25 just for acquisition of Sidewall Shine alone.

BLU RAY McQUEEN

I got my Blu Ray McQueen from the promotions of late 2007 and it came with a padded envelope and an English-only baggie. It has a date stamp of 2427 EA. I’m presuming everyone who got the one last winter has the exact same production date.

There was initially believed to be more produced for an Italian promotions but now, it appears that is NOT THE CASE. Details covered here.

So, anything with a date stamp of XXX8 or not 2427  is NOT an official Mattel release as it means it was made in 2008.

It’s unclear from the change-of-plans with the Italian promotion if Disney Italy thought there was enough produced for the US for them to jump onboard or whether they didn’t get proper permission so they ended sending everyone Faux Wheel Drive but the answer is that ONLY official release was for Disney in the US and any CAR that does not have the 2427 date code utimately has an lineage and province that cannot be accurately traced.

Alternatively, the baggie should be all in English and the hardest to “forge” presumably is the padded envelope. Of course, the perfect scenario is if they left on the address label so you can tell it’s from Disney AND/OR it’s even still sealed.

As reader “Micky” notes that the baggie reads “Disney Pixar, Made in China, Blue Ray McQueen, M8726.” so if the seller has conveniently lost the baggie or won’t photo the underside … it sounds like an unauthorized run earlier this year and should be (re)priced accordingly.

So, if you want one of the original one of 15,000 – be sure that is what you are getting.

It’s fine to buy a later substitute but kjust know what you are getting (or not getting)?

Good luck!