The Energon Pub

megatroptimus wrote:When comes WW3, that your city is half-destroyed and a scalper is buying all the bread and water he can find to resell for profit to desperate civilians, we'll see if scalping is still acceptable. ;)

And we'll all be forced to eat our beloved Transformers. I hear Grimlock tastes like chicken.

Counterpunch wrote:
Transformers are NOT requisite for living.

Are you sure? I sure see tons of people here that think finding the next coolest Transformer the second it comes out somewhere in the world is a matter of life or death.

megatroptimus wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:
Transformers are NOT requisite for living.

Are you sure? I sure see tons of people here that think finding the next coolest Transformer the second it comes out somewhere in the world is a matter of life or death.

geez...that made me laugh.

:-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x
That guy is pathetic that he has to buy that many just to curve demand so that the kids that really want it and want to play with it like they are invented have to pay more and get less they guy irritate me as much as the gas companies i think that to keep people from hiking the prices limit it to 5-7 a person if they want them that bad they can go to a few stores to get them

Versa wrote:I remember when they had a Target exclusive Star Wars Episode 3 Obi Wan and Anakin Lava figures.

being a star wars collector as well, thats the example i was going to cite next, or rather, the "lava reflection darth vader," which flew off the shelves quickly, then sold on ebay for (often times) over 100 bucks a pop.

Seibertron wrote:
I'm sticking up for them because they aren't doing anything illegal.

just because its legal, doesn't mean its moral.

Seibertron wrote:I also am sticking up for the scalpers because I want to help you guys BEAT the so called scalpers, which I think a lot of you use as a scape-goat when you can't find a figure. I just want to see someone say when they can't find a figure ... "Dammit! I took too long getting to the store. Some other COLLECTOR got here before me!" Or heck, maybe little Jimmy's mom stopped by on her way home from work and snagged a new TF for her kid as a surprise or for good behavior. It seems that everyone blames an imaginary scalper in their area and that drives me nuts.

sure, sometimes its another collector, or little jimmy's mom, and sometimes its opportunistic jerks who buy 8 of one item in hopes of turning a profit, which in turn deprives legitimate collectors/kids/whatever of finding an item at a fair price. Scalpers aren't the only ones driving up the 'price value' of an item, but it artificially increases it.

Seibertron wrote:

allisonaxe wrote:yes, I do call ahead sometimes, but often, unless I'm calling a literal toystore, they generally aren't helpful: the only time in recent memory that I can recall a store holding something for me was a TRU on katy freeway holding an early-release Primus for me after a friend sighted it, and I called in to ask them to hold it. most stores, when you call to check for availability, they just check the computer, rather than the shelf... retail clerks are lazy, and they're not going to hold an item for one person thats going to sell anyway.

I want to make it very clear that I don't go around calling all of the stores in Chicago to see who's got what. I've got much better things to do with my time. I use the toy sightings sections on Seibertron.com and Unicron.com to figure out what stores figures are showing up in and in what regions. The data is there for you guys to use. You guys just have to figure out how to make it work for you. I have been offering to help you guys analyze the toy sightings data to help you out and not a single person has taken me up on that offer. Not once. Yet, I see you guys complaining about the scalper boogeyman every day. That's not being constructive and it's not helping anyone. If you need help finding figures, let us help you! Please!

as i stated, Houston is a big city, and the sighting section is nearly useless for me (especially the forum), its difficult to find any listings for anything that are actually accurate and up to date. that bumblebee thats listed as being in houston? its likely no longer there (i don't have a way to get down to that store right now, but i'd check it if I could.)
to give you an idea of how difficult to navigate houston is: as it stands, there are 3 Targets, 1 Walmart, and 2 Toys R Us's that i check fairly regularly (and i have a friend who lives in a suburb that can check 1 of each, too.) that stated, in the greater houston area, there's probably about a a dozen more targets, about a ten more walmarts, and about 4 TRU's that are generally outside my typical range of travel. houston is a large city (from what I recall, the largest metro area in America, as far as actual geographical space goes. only 4th in population, yes, but everything is spread out.) and keeping the sightings section up to date would probably be a darn near impossible task; checking them for whats actually out there has proven useless because it out-dates itself quicker than I can navigate the city.

Its a noble goal, and I commend you for even having it, but that doesn't mean that its useful for all areas.

Seibertron wrote:Let's turn this thread into a positive instead of a negative. Let people like me help you figure out how to use the toy sightings section to benefit YOU.

except, this thread was started (and even listed on the main page) as being about scalpers.

Rodimus_Lantern wrote:I gotta say the ignorance of many people here is very very amusing.

Looking at the whole situation I don't see anything wrong with buying up all of one figure at a store or several stores for that matter. Sure it is annoying when you can't find a figure but life isn't fair after all.

lovely. now you're calling us ignorant. way to keep this discussion mature and rational.
and no, life isn't fair. its not fair that I have a friend who is confined to a wheelchair, and its not fair that i have my own biological issues which make living just a little bit more difficult, but you know what? that doesn't mean that I don't hope that people will have some common farking decency and at least behave in a way that is kind (and yes, fair) for other people. Life isn't fair by default, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do our best to PLAY fair.


to close out this overly massive post, I'd just like to ask for a definition of scalper from all of you, and maybe we can come to some conclusion as to what is and isn't acceptable. I'll be the first to provide my own answer:


In my opinion, someone who saved their G1 Optimus Prime, mint in sealed box, which nobody makes anymore, and walmart/target/whatever doesn't carry anymore, and sells it on ebay for a high price, is NOT a scalper, nor is someone who buys more than one item (one to open, one to keep MISB).
A scalper is someone who acquires large amounts of a recently released item which has a high demand (either due to a recent popular movie, or a new technology: look at the ps3 and scalpers) in order to sell it at a high price, and, whether through design or coincidence, drives the natural price of said commodity higher by depriving others of acquiring it at the standard, given price (via acquiring an unfair quantity of the items on shelf.) Scalpers use the same skills, abilities, and tricks that a hardcore collector will use, and may, in addition, useunfair practices, such as paying/bribing/being an inside man and taking said products off the shelf or out of the warehouse before the general public can even get a hold of them.

and with that, i'm going out. I've heard a sighting from someone I know that there's a Leader Brawl at a store i visit frequently, and I may as well check up on that lone Concept bumblebee as well. I'll let you know how reliable the sightings section proves in this case when I return this evening, but I'm not keeping my hopes up.[/b]

Maybe I'm one of the few to remember the Cabbage Patch Kid craze in the 80's. Those things were impossible to find and we didn't have nearly as many resources as we do now. But you know what? My parents were patient and sure enough Clovers got in a shipment and both my sister and I got one. I think the biggest thing people need to learn, more so than anything Seibertron (no offense) is preaching, is to be patient.

Neat topic and interesting discussion. In fact it made me register finally.

I suppose my problem is that I live too close to Mr. Seibertron. Oh and that I don't try too hard. I think the best part of my collection are the toys I don't have.

Versa wrote:How a store could morally allow that to happen knowing they'll sell out anyway to individual customers is beyond me.

Ah, morals and retail chains. There's nothing moral or immoral about a store selling more than one figure to a customer. All the retail chain cares about is moving stock. They don't care who gets it.

If you want to talk about retail store chain morals, let's talk about unions, health insurance, fair wages, fair hours, etc. I'm not advocating anything regarding all of that stuff, but that's when you should talk about morals.

Versa wrote:I remember when they had a Target exclusive Star Wars Episode 3 Obi Wan and Anakin Lava figures. They were 1 per customer, no exceptions, until they went on clearance, heh...

But at least they had the decency for their exclusive items to be treated as such for the consumers and was very considerate. This is just really crummy.

While I think it's nice that some stores do that some times, I think it's really a poor judgement on behalf of the chain ... especially when I see figures on clearance later down the road.

Counterpunch wrote:Inappropriate comparison.

Transformers are NOT requisite for living.

Thats just, like, you're opinion, man...

sure, you can survive without TF's, but can you really call it "living?"



ok, i'm really going now. try not to take everything so seriously, folks, in the end, yeah, it is just toys.. even though we're all super-passionate about it, and its really easy to get riled up over people who don't play our game fair (and especially since they're only in the game for the money, and not the passion of collecting. I think that may be what bothers me most about scalpers.)

upther wrote:Maybe I'm one of the few to remember the Cabbage Patch Kid craze in the 80's. Those things were impossible to find and we didn't have nearly as many resources as we do now. But you know what? My parents were patient and sure enough Clovers got in a shipment and both my sister and I got one. I think the biggest thing people need to learn, more so than anything Seibertron (no offense) is preaching, is to be patient.

Be patient, but not too patient, b/c once it hits november -its game over- we still have tf2 to look forward to. Who knows- if tf2 is horrible the market will surely die and then there will be complaints about how crappy TFs are.

lookjerk wrote:Neat topic and interesting discussion. In fact it made me register finally.

Welcome aboard!

(Warning: Seibertron contains nuts!)


-S.P.

Seibertron wrote:

Versa wrote:How a store could morally allow that to happen knowing they'll sell out anyway to individual customers is beyond me.

Ah, morals and retail chains. There's nothing moral or immoral about a store selling more than one figure to a customer. All the retail chain cares about is moving stock. They don't care who gets it.

If you want to talk about retail store chain morals, let's talk about unions, health insurance, fair wages, fair hours, etc. I'm not advocating anything regarding all of that stuff, but that's when you should talk about morals.

Versa wrote:I remember when they had a Target exclusive Star Wars Episode 3 Obi Wan and Anakin Lava figures. They were 1 per customer, no exceptions, until they went on clearance, heh...

But at least they had the decency for their exclusive items to be treated as such for the consumers and was very considerate. This is just really crummy.

While I think it's nice that some stores do that some times, I think it's really a poor judgement on behalf of the chain ... especially when I see figures on clearance later down the road.

Some Targets supposedly limit the number of limited edition items you can buy. Never saw enough Robovision Prime to test that though.

lookjerk wrote:I think the best part of my collection are the toys I don't have.

Nice!!

Xgamer wrote:Ummm...thats not priority mail, thats Parcel Post. Its also not stupid to spend $2 to reinsure that someone says they never received it. You obviously know nothing about Paypal or even the difference between Priority and Parcel Post. Paypal requires signature on hot items if you want to satisfy the seller ins. requirements. Yes, they make new rules all the time too- sometimes they want proof of inventory.

Er, Priority Mail, while it is more expensive than it used to be, still starts out at $4.60 for packages.

Here's USPS' shipping calculator. See for yourself. Use my current zip code (60613) and Fenton, MI's zip code (48430, the town I grew up in). 2 lb box that's 10x10x10 starts out at $4.90. If you use Paypal to generate your USPS shipping labels, delivery confirmation is free and insurance is only $1.65 to cover items valued under $200.00.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/

DevastaTTor wrote:Some Targets supposedly limit the number of limited edition items you can buy. Never saw enough Robovision Prime to test that though.

they were supposed to limit them, but i was able to buy three robovisions: two for myself: one to open, one to keep sealed, and one for my best friend, whose suburban target location sold out before he was even able to get down there. after the first two weeks, i haven't seen a robovision on the shelf since. (granted, I bought the one for me and the one for my friend first, and came back for the sealed one during the week... but that still means i bought two of a "limited" item in one go.)

i'm really going now! stop me before i click refresh again!

allisonaxe wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Inappropriate comparison.

Transformers are NOT requisite for living.

Thats just, like, you're opinion, man...

sure, you can survive without TF's, but can you really call it "living?"

You're new, so it's cool.

What you may not realize is that opinions passed down by the High Court of Counterpunch read like legal opinions from the Supreme Court of the US.

Now that slut Punch often writes a dissenting opinion, but who cares about that anyway?

If we're not careful this thread's length with rival "He is coming..."

[/derail]

Seibertron wrote:

Xgamer wrote:Ummm...thats not priority mail, thats Parcel Post. Its also not stupid to spend $2 to reinsure that someone says they never received it. You obviously know nothing about Paypal or even the difference between Priority and Parcel Post. Paypal requires signature on hot items if you want to satisfy the seller ins. requirements. Yes, they make new rules all the time too- sometimes they want proof of inventory.

Er, Priority Mail, while it is more expensive than it used to be, still starts out at $4.60 for packages.

Here's USPS' shipping calculator. See for yourself. Use my current zip code (60613) and Fenton, MI's zip code (48430, the town I grew up in). 2 lb box that's 10x10x10 starts out at $4.90. If you use Paypal to generate your USPS shipping labels, delivery confirmation is free and insurance is only $1.65 to cover items valued under $200.00.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/

Well try my zip at 77591. You will see there is a difference - and PayPal doesnt guarantee insuring you with just delivery conf. - they usually require sig. Most people dont figure this out until they have the unfortunate experience of someone doing a chargeback.

megatroptimus wrote:

Xgamer wrote:
GD ...give up on this guy- he's hopeless. If the seller values feedback - he will use Priority - either way some people dont know the difference between Parcel Post and Priority.

I do know the difference, just saying it's stupid to pay for priority, by experience, not worth the extra money at all.

I strongly disagree. I only allow Priority and Express Mail shipping with the items I sell on eBay. This is to cover my ass, to cover the buyer's ass and to cover USPS' ass (though they probably don't really care). I'll pay for whatever shipping I can get so that I have a tracking number, not to mention the speed difference. You might think it's stupid, but I think it's extremely smart. In my opinion, a seller is stupid for even thinking of shipping a package without being able to track down where the package is. You're just asking for some negative feedback on eBay later down the road. I want to be able to know where my goods are that I've shipped people when they ask "where's my package?"

DevastaTTor wrote:

megatroptimus wrote:When comes WW3, that your city is half-destroyed and a scalper is buying all the bread and water he can find to resell for profit to desperate civilians, we'll see if scalping is still acceptable.

And we'll all be forced to eat our beloved Transformers. I hear Grimlock tastes like chicken.

Hey that's what the one lesbian frog said to the other lesbian frog!

allisonaxe wrote:

DevastaTTor wrote:Some Targets supposedly limit the number of limited edition items you can buy. Never saw enough Robovision Prime to test that though.

they were supposed to limit them, but i was able to buy three robovisions: two for myself: one to open, one to keep sealed, and one for my best friend, whose suburban target location sold out before he was even able to get down there. after the first two weeks, i haven't seen a robovision on the shelf since. (granted, I bought the one for me and the one for my friend first, and came back for the sealed one during the week... but that still means i bought two of a "limited" item in one go.)

i'm really going now! stop me before i click refresh again!

I know the feeling. Must... stop ... .... posting.

Seibertron wrote:
I strongly disagree. I only allow Priority and Express Mail shipping with the items I sell on eBay. This is to cover my ass, to cover the buyer's ass and to cover USPS' ass (though they probably don't really care). I'll pay for whatever shipping I can get so that I have a tracking number, not to mention the speed difference. You might think it's stupid, but I think it's extremely smart. In my opinion, a seller is stupid for even thinking of shipping a package without being able to track down where the package is. You're just asking for some negative feedback on eBay later down the road. I want to be able to know where my goods are that I've shipped people when they ask "where's my package?"

Except for that one scammer from Hong Kong, I never had shipping problems on Ebay as a seller or a buyer is well more than 500 transactions involving Transformers, cds, bike parts, hockey cards. etc. And by experience, priority is not that much faster than regular airmail. So yeah, that extra day or two faster is really not worth the extra money. Not that I wasn't ever forced to buy using priority or UPS though, but that's another story. I always offer all options to my buyers (especially for pricey items) but most of the time, they chose the cheapest option since they get the same result.

Snarlus Prime wrote:If we're not careful this thread's length with rival "He is coming..."

[/derail]

QFT!

I don't think anyone is going to see eye to eye on this. It is clearly a case of the haves vs. the havenots. 20 minutes ago I was clearly on the side of "scalpers suck, they are a blight that needs to purged from this planet". A few minutes ago a buddy of mine scored me a '09 Bumblebee so right now I am one happy camper and can care less about scalpers and hunting for toys in Scalperville USA, where I live. One the one hand I can relate to the frustration of not finding the supposed "holy grail that everybody must have" from the movie line; of being anywhere from 2 min to 2 hours too late to get the figure you want. I understand that that is part of the "game" of toy collecting but what really bothers me is when pure greed gets into the mix. Let's say you see 5 BB figures at a store and you buy all 5. You decide to open one, keep one MIP and sell the rest on eBay. Honestly, I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem is if you hit all the stores in your area and end up buying a total of 18 BB to sell on the secondary market. To me that is nothing but pure greed, and the havenots have a right to complain about this. On the other side of the coin I also understand that the constant whining from the havenots and the inane conspiricy stories that they conjure up gets annoying to the haves. There's nothing worse than having 11 "I can't find X in my area; scalpers suck" threads pushing down the good threads to page 3. The only solution to this is to have a venting thread for the havenots so they can vent their frustrations and if the haves get too upset, stay out of the thread.
Just my 2¢.

allisonaxe wrote:as i stated, Houston is a big city, and the sighting section is nearly useless for me (especially the forum),

Wait. Stop right there. I live in an even bigger city. How can it be helpful for Chicago but worthless in Houston? Holy crap, Target G1 Starscream has even been sighted in Houston, which means the figure has been at the stores in your area which means there's probably one there right now or at least there was in the past week.

http://seibertron.com/sightings/item.php?item_id=624

allisonaxe wrote:its difficult to find any listings for anything that are actually accurate and up to date. that bumblebee thats listed as being in houston? its likely no longer there (i don't have a way to get down to that store right now, but i'd check it if I could.)

It seems you're missing the point of the sightings section. So maybe it's not at that Target but what about all of the other ones in the area? I imagine Houston has tons of Targets just like Chicago. If the Target at 8500 Main St in Houston has Bumblebee, then that also means the other Targets in your area received the figure as well. Have you tried the Houston Meyerland Target at 2300 Meyerland Plaza Mall or the Galleria Target at 34323 San Felipe St or the Westheimer Target at 8605 Westheimer Rd. Dude, you've got 5 Targets within less than a 6 mile radius, just like they have them in Chicago. One of these Targets have this figure. As soon as you saw that toy sighting on the site, you should have hit up all 5 of those Targets. If you're at work, you should call these stores to see if they can hold it for you OR race there after work to get it.

What you should be getting out of the toy sightings section is not necessarily which store location you should go to, but which store chain.

http://seibertron.com/sightings/item.php?item_id=533