Buy for kids?

[chovner]

I keep getting buyers on here, other sites and kijiji always giving me horrible offers, and ending their offer with "it's for my son, so I don't want to spend a lot of money".

Who are these people that are buying high priced Botcon, Masterpiece and 3rd party toys for their "kids". And even if they were actually buying them for their kids for some stupid reason, why would that mean I should accept an extremely low offer?

"Hey man, I'm interested in your Botcon 2014 set, I'd like to get it for my son so I don't want to spend more than $200."
"Sorry, I'm selling it for $480, $200 is a horrible offer to be honest"
"Well like I said, it's for my son, so I don't think I should be spending that much money"
"Your son likes Botcon? How old is he?"
.... no response after that

:| ... As a Dad, I'd never expect someone to give me a huge discount because I was buying something for my kids. I never even mention my kids when I do intend to buy TFs for them (which I've done several times for my son.. daughter could care less about Robots of any kind, unless it bakes cookies or makes tea).

Also lying about either having kids, or using them as a tactic to get a big discount is a piece of shit move, by piece of shit people, and I hope those people have their toy rooms burn to the ground in some freak accident (the rest of their house can be ok though, as long as their toys are destroyed).

Anyone else catch a shitty buyer trying to pull this horse shit?

[mcmus]

Or the other way around - "parents", "mom" or "dad". After agreeing the deal with price and location, I got a message from the buyer 30mins before to meet: "Sorry, my mom just bought this for me". LOL

[chovner]

Now I've sold stuff on Kijiji where I agreed to a price on Movie, Prime or Animated figures and when the buyer shows up they have their kid with them, and then I learned that the whole time it was just a mom/dad buying on their kid's behalf. Those times I've just about always taken less, especially if the kid's the one reaching into his pocket and pulling out the $10-$20 for his few toys. But those cases you clearly see that the toys are actually for the kid, and you can also tell from the e-mails sent before
"Would you take $XX for the green, red, and white cars, and the black plane? Also is there anything important missing from any of them?" That's clearly a parent buying toys for their kids.

[chovner]

TOYS R US DOESN'T CARE THAT YOU'RE BUYING FOR YOUR KIDS. THEY'LL STILL CHARGE YOU $40 FOR A DAMN BARBIE, APPLY THE SAME LOGIC TO EVERYTHING ELSE.

:)

[MULTIPLEX]

Lol @ "it's for my son". Botcon set. Yah right :doh:

[chin0bo]

Or the other way around - "parents", "mom" or "dad". After agreeing the deal with price and location, I got a message from the buyer 30mins before to meet: "Sorry, my mom just bought this for me". LOL

Same thing happend to me except i was seliing an xbox360 with 10 games. Lady said it was for her sick kid, i agreed to cut the price even more. 10 mins before she supossed to pick it up she calls and says "i dont have enough can you cut another $30 off".
luckily sold it the next day for a fair price to a decent person who was actually buying it for thier kids.

[elburrito]

I like to see the little guys get something too. I do a table at a local toy fair a couple of times a year and little wide eyes between little hands peeking over the edge of the table looking at the toys almost always get rewarded with free stuff.

That said, generally when selling things what the heck does the seller care what the buyer is going to do with it? It's not like there is any accountability from the buyer to the seller. "Hey, you said the Botcon set was for your kids, but my private investigator has provided photographs of you playing with the set alone and so I want an extra $20?" It's ludicrous.

Maybe tell them that, "if it's for your kids, I won't charge you the provincial sales tax!"

[canprime]

But of course it is for kids. I mean c'mon stop being so heartless. ;)

By the way, my newborn son is really into Transformers already so can you sell me any Masterpiece, 3P or Botcon items you have for $2 each? Thanks.

hahahahahaha

[Rodimus Prime1]

Lol @ "it's for my son". Botcon set. Yah right :doh:

Hey thats my line, but my sons 25 yrs old :D


But I don't think I would offer 1/2 the price, but you never know, someone might be desperate for the sale.

All you have to say is "sorry, can't sell it fo that"

Some people do try it on hoping you have a big heart and will cave.

Yeah I agree with, sell stuff on line does suck sometimes, even Ebay's the same, after you made the sale.

[chovner]

My son love hot wheels, so you think you could knock $10 000 off the price of your 2014 Dodge Charger? It's his favorite car... Oh and also he's sick, so make it $13 000 off... For the kids... I mean kid...

All that said, I have had a great mom buy some TFs for her sick son a few years ago. She called me on the phone and honestly said her family didn't have a lot of money, due to circumstances related to her son's sickness, but he loves Transformers and it would brighten his days a bit to have some cool ones to play with while recovering. The stuff she wanted was listed for only about $30, and she asked if I'd take $20, to which I agreed.

When she showed up the next day I gave her the bag, and told her I threw in a couple more her boy might like, she was very grateful and went to pay me the $20. I told her not to worry about it, and hoped her son got better soon, and that she's an awesome mom. She teared up, and gave me a big hug before leaving, and still trying to give me the $20.

That was a great feeling, and part of the reason why I get pissed off when I'm pretty sure someone's lying and using their kid or fake kid or fake sick kid to get a deal dishonestly. Those people are dog shit.

[Omegatron]

Would you really take toys away from starving orphans? How horrible of you, the orphans clearly need your $400 toys more than you do!

Seriously, my son is 7 and he loves Transformers. He's been coming with me to TFCon for a couple of years now. He always goes with an allowance and always buys far more than he should be able too for the money he has. This is because the kind hearted dealers at TFCon will bend over backwards to actually help a kid get what he wants.

But, the important part here is he is a kid. Because he's a kid he cares about the toys that look cool, or represent his favorite characters not expensive Botcon toys of characters he's never heard of. Its O.K. to help a kid become a collectors and cut him a deal, that's a very human thing to do and who knows he may grow into a collector and help support the hobby in the future (only if he want's too I hasten to add).

Its not O.K. to pretend to be a kid just to get a better deal, that cheapens the hobby, it works against real kids learning to collect things and adds nothing. As a father with a child who likes to collect, I also think its rude. People who do this are greedy, kids are motivated by a sense of wonder and enjoyment of the brand, that's how it should be. There's nothing wrong with getting a deal or asking for a discount for legitimate reasons, just be open about it. Outright greedy people can go somewhere else.

[Pascal]

She teared up, and gave me a big hug before leaving, and still trying to give me the $20.

And back home, she gave them all to her nerdy husband who then sold them all on Kijiji? :p

[jjwankenobi]

Hey Chovner, if you have Classics Dreadwind from the "Games Of Deception" Botcon '07 set my son is dying for it! He's scraped together $14. You game? :p

Yeah, I had a similar thing happen when I was selling a pair of lightly used but rare Roach mountain biking shorts on Craigslist.

Meetup with a guy who balked at asking pricing saying they were "used" and "too big for my kid". Condition, size, etc. were clearly posted and this guy seemed way too enthusiastic for someone buying MTB shorts for their "kid". Any avid BC North Shore rider knows about Roach and their legacy and this mofo was definitely one but he was failing at playing the "These aren't for me" card so I walked. Eventually found another buyer but I'm sure that guy was kicking himself hardballing.

[Shockwave 75]

The only time I ever used the "It's for my son" excuse (and yes I do have a son), was at a TRU, but it wasn't to get a discount, it was to coerce someone to go look in the back to see if they had anymore Prime FE voyagers, specifically Bulkhead.
I got my Bulkhead!

[Rodimus Prime1]

The only time I ever used the "It's for my son" excuse (and yes I do have a son), was at a TRU, but it wasn't to get a discount, it was to coerce someone to go look in the back to see if they had anymore Prime FE voyagers, specifically Bulkhead.
I got my Bulkhead!

Awesome!!

I've done the same but, it was a MP grimmy, I just told the TRU manager it was for me, and he got one off the pallet .. wow great CS

[MULTIPLEX]

Hey thats my line, but my sons 25 yrs old :D




Ahh. So it's a two man operation, eh? :innocent::D

[Rodimus Prime1]

Ahh. So it's a two man operation, eh? :innocent::D

yup :D :D , also I can get him to text people in "kid grammer" and tell them " I'm buying it for my dad for his birthday and I only get $5 allowance a week, all I have saved up is $10" :D

[edvc520]

i usually use the opposite excuse.
Whener i buy toys with my kid at TRU, the cashiers would always push those warranty for the toy. I always just cut them off by saying "its for me, i never open my toys." It shuts them up everytime

[AutobotCBL01]

My son love hot wheels, so you think you could knock $10 000 off the price of your 2014 Dodge Charger? It's his favorite car... Oh and also he's sick, so make it $13 000 off... For the kids... I mean kid...

All that said, I have had a great mom buy some TFs for her sick son a few years ago. She called me on the phone and honestly said her family didn't have a lot of money, due to circumstances related to her son's sickness, but he loves Transformers and it would brighten his days a bit to have some cool ones to play with while recovering. The stuff she wanted was listed for only about $30, and she asked if I'd take $20, to which I agreed.

When she showed up the next day I gave her the bag, and told her I threw in a couple more her boy might like, she was very grateful and went to pay me the $20. I told her not to worry about it, and hoped her son got better soon, and that she's an awesome mom. She teared up, and gave me a big hug before leaving, and still trying to give me the $20.

That was a great feeling, and part of the reason why I get pissed off when I'm pretty sure someone's lying and using their kid or fake kid or fake sick kid to get a deal dishonestly. Those people are dog shit.
That was so nice!

[Sun Swipe Prime]

"It's for my son, so I don't want to spend too much on it."

"Oh, so your son must not mean that much to you if you're not willing to spend a little extra money to make him happy. That's why I'm selling my expensive toys. It'd make my son really happy when I can finally afford that operation for him, and he can have himself a working kidney. Actually after thinking about it, I'm going to have to double the price. That's just how much I love my son. Come on, give me double. You wouldn't want to deprive my son of his kidney, would you?"

[ironclaugh]

Hey I see your selling a Complete MIB Fortress Maximus. $1200 is a bit much, would you take $40, it's for my son. :innocent: :innocent: :innocent: :innocent:

[CBII]

LMAo...funny this just happened to me yesterday.

Guy contacts me for $480 (listed price) worth of Masterpiece figures and offers $300 and that's all he "feels" they are worth and since they're for his "sons" that was a fair enough.

F@CK OFF

[DuG]

I often buy transformers for my nephew. He likes older figures that are harder to find because he wants the figure that are shown on the in product advertising flyers or on the boxes or card backs. Thanks for the great marketing strategy Hasbro.
It sometimes makes finding the figures he wants hard to find as they are often no longer available at mass retal. With all that said I don't believe I have ever used him as an excuse to give a low ball offer on an item as I know those items are hard to find and I just want him to be happy and excited. To me that is worth any cost.

That being said I would never buy my nephew botcon, TFCC, MP, or 3P figures until he's older and can appreciate the figures more than just play things that he'll break or lose the parts for.

On the opposite side, I've agreed to purchase items at a lower price than advertised only to find out that the person was selling them for their son so that he could have enough money to buy some more toys. Once I found that out I paid the full listed price as I know how hard it is as a child to save money to buy your own toys.