Scalpers... Come on in and say "Hi!"

[Pascal]

Most of the stuff I buy is used, except for test shots. The rest, I buy from stores.

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

That is a little harsh. Capitalism as a whole depends on people selling stuff to other people. Be it Ipods, Playstations, Tomatoes or toys.

I have bought thousands of toys in my life and only 2 to sell.

- One was a Alt Camshaft which I sold on Ebay to a guy in the states. I listed it for what I paid and still made a letter extra. The guy was so happy that he was able to find one. If I had not scalped the figure, he would have never gotten it.

- A marvel legends Doom bot. I don't even collect them, but new enough to buy it as it was a chase figure. I sold it to a comic book shop for credit. I knew enough about the toy market that this was a rare figure, meant for collectors, and took advantage of it.

What you did wasn't scalping, it was helping out somebody. It's not like you bought all the Camshafts you could find and sold them back for huge profit on Ebay. To me, scalping includes the notion of "exagerrated profit".

[MangaSpawn64]

Originally Posted by megatroptimus

What you did wasn't scalping, it was helping out somebody. It's not like you bought all the Camshafts you could find and sold them back for huge profit on Ebay. To me, scalping includes the notion of "exagerrated profit".

But then again I might have found 1 Mirage for 10 bucks, put it on eBay and get 70 $... doesn't mean I'm a scalper.

To me a scalper is kinda like a hoarder... people who buy entire carts of popular stuff to sell on eBay for ridiculous BIN prices (kinda like the 36 Alt Optimus retard). Sometime hoarders do it for a purpose (selling at cost).

Notice I said "sometimes"

Edit: Missed "bought all the Camshafts" in your post sorry, we seem to be on the same page . But my argument was going toward your "exagerrated profit" quote.

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by megatroptimus

What you did wasn't scalping, it was helping out somebody. It's not like you bought all the Camshafts you could find and sold them back for huge profit on Ebay. To me, scalping includes the notion of "exagerrated profit".

The problem is, where do you draw the line between scalping and helping someone out. I bought the Camsaft with the intention to sell it on EBAY. I had hoped to get a bunch of money as I new that he was in limited supply in the states and I could almost guarantee if I got more money from the first sale I would be snapping the rest up as they are pretty well just sitting there collecting dust.

I do get annoyed with people who feel the need to clear out all the stores of new product (08 BB seems to be the popular item) and sell it on ebay, but unless the store wants to put restrictions on the items sold it will keep happening.

[jourdo]

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

The problem is, where do you draw the line between scalping and helping someone out. I bought the Camsaft with the intention to sell it on EBAY. I had hoped to get a bunch of money as I new that he was in limited supply in the states and I could almost guarantee if I got more money from the first sale I would be snapping the rest up as they are pretty well just sitting there collecting dust.

I do get annoyed with people who feel the need to clear out all the stores of new product (08 BB seems to be the popular item) and sell it on ebay, but unless the store wants to put restrictions on the items sold it will keep happening.

With point number one, we've all done that. When I do buy them for this purpose, I usually post them for what I paid and let the free market system take over from there. Otherwise, when I buy an extra it is for the purpose of trying to help someone else in the community out.

The people who clean out the shelves tick me off. First and foremost, these are toys for kids. They should be able to have a fair crack at getting "that cool yellow robot" from the movie. Us collector (or over-grown children... which ever term you prefer) should really come in behind the kids.

Anyone remember when the Energon Omega Supreme's & Sentinnels went on clearance here. What was the name of that shop in Marlborough who cleared out the Sentinnels from Walmart? Whoever... These are the people I dislike.

[Pascal]

I remember getting Omega Sentinel at clearance price from a fellow fan in Ontario while I was in BC. I was pretty stoked.

[Nightscrabbler]

I just went to Wal-Mart to buy a whole bunch of Alts and frankly, it's an unpleasant experience. There is something just too strange about this 'hobby'.

[y2jversion1]

Originally Posted by Shan

I just went to Wal-Mart to buy a whole bunch of Alts and frankly, it's an unpleasant experience. There is something just too strange about this 'hobby'.

What happened?

[Nightscrabbler]

Originally Posted by y2jversion1

What happened?

Nothing "happened" per se, I just didn't like waiting there trying to grab all these toys as the associates unloaded the shipment. They don't really like one person buying all of this stock and there were other collectors, taking each and every Alt Mirage that came out of the boxes leaving nothing for casual buyers. It just doesn't feel right to me.

[-KG-]

Originally Posted by Shan

Nothing "happened" per se, I just didn't like waiting there trying to grab all these toys as the associates unloaded the shipment. They don't really like one person buying all of this stock and there were other collectors, taking each and every Alt Mirage that came out of the boxes leaving nothing for casual buyers. It just doesn't feel right to me.

I was there too in that crowd and I know exactly how you feel. All I went for is Camshaft, then I thought to myself "maybe I should buy another Mirage." Then I see these guys grabbing every Mirage coming as it comes out of the box. I could've had one, I just thought it was really a pathetic sight to be fighting over these Transformers. I don't think I'll go back to that Wal-Mart unless they get different alts. The same asian guy loading up his buggy again. It just gave me a bad vibe and it's almost not fun collecting when it gets to that point.