The Energon Pub

Transformer fans are idiots*. Latest case in point:

ebay auction

Am I missing something here?? Is there something about this Fast-Action Battlers Bumblebee that makes it that much more desirable than all the other Fast-Action Battler Bumblebees?

Are Transformer collectors such chumps that they are incapable of doing the simplest of ebay searches that would turn up large amounts of the same lousy toy at much lower 'Buy it now' prices?


*okay naturally I'm not talking about everyone here. But there does seem to be a certain lunatic segment that goes around mindlessly inflating prices beyond all sense and reason. No wonder there are so many speculators in the market.

WHOA, this is horrible, I can't believe this, I saw this figure within a few hours earlier today while venturing through the nearest Targets and Walk-Marts... YIKES, I feel sorry for the guy who won this...

Maybe the scalper had another eBay account, jacking the prices up though?! No way, not in the right mind, son!

Skiman wrote:Maybe the scalper had another eBay account, jacking the prices up though?!

...maybe, checking through the seller's feedback, I found an even worse example.

But maybe not. Comparing the bid history, you don't see anything overly suspicious, like the same people bidding on both auctions. And all the bidders seem to have a reasonably long history on ebay.

I can't believe it!

Yeah it could be the seller going in and bidding on his own item to try to cause an inflation.

But if not, this is the kind of stuff about Ebay that really makes me mad. When dolts like this guy spends this kind of cash on a TF it causes every other "Dippy Doodad Seller" who happens to have a Bot that transforms, thinks they just found a box of Gold in their closet and then they put up auctions that have a rediculous starting price.

Whats more rediculous is, just as in this case, some schmuck buys it.

Bumblethumper wrote:

Skiman wrote:Maybe the scalper had another eBay account, jacking the prices up though?!

...maybe, checking through the seller's feedback, I found an even worse example.

But maybe not. Comparing the bid history, you don't see anything overly suspicious, like the same people bidding on both auctions. And all the bidders seem to have a reasonably long history on ebay.

OMG, THIS IS MAKING ME SICK!

Spike Maul wrote: When dolts like this guy spends this kind of cash on a TF it causes every other "Dippy Doodad Seller" who happens to have a Bot that transforms, thinks they just found a box of Gold in their closet and then they put up auctions that have a rediculous starting price.

Thing is, both auctions were started at 99cents! My theory is, some people just bid too high because, on a psychological level,they hate to 'lose' an auction. That's just the topsy-turvy language ebay uses. And there's really no need for any congratulations if you win the auction either. I would offer my condolences to these 'winners'.

Great point BT. This is true about some Ebayers, and I didn't think about that in these cases.

I love what you said: "there's really no need for any congratulations."





Am offering my condolences to them as well.

Bumblethumper wrote:

Spike Maul wrote: When dolts like this guy spends this kind of cash on a TF it causes every other "Dippy Doodad Seller" who happens to have a Bot that transforms, thinks they just found a box of Gold in their closet and then they put up auctions that have a rediculous starting price.

Thing is, both auctions were started at 99cents! My theory is, some people just bid too high because, on a psychological level,they hate to 'lose' an auction. That's just the topsy-turvy language ebay uses. And there's really no need for any congratulations if you win the auction either. I would offer my condolences to these 'winners'.

How does the fairly new saying go for eBay, "Win victoriously!"
LMAO

I am upset about this auction, but it's not because of the buyer. Hell The buyer could be an 80 year old grandma whose grand sone wants Bumblebee from the movie.

My gripe is with the seller, some people will claim that something is really rare, In this case the seller says...
"MANY OTHER VERSIONS DO NOT NOT FULLY TRANSFORM"

I was at a convention and someone was looking for black canary from the mattel JLU line. And the seller said that the figure was rare, hard to fine and exclusive to Target, he then procedded to seel her a DC Direct Canary from a few years ago.

I walked into a 99 cent store later that day and saw a whole bunch of the black canary figs. Rare my ass.

Why are people getting so upset by this?

Did anyone stop to consider that it might be a PARENT and not an actual fan?

Maybe this parent loves their child so much that they're willing to fork out that much money for it.

Heck, I didn't even know this figure was coming out so it's pretty rare to me (as I haven't heard of any sightings in Australia) so maybe the parent is thinking the same things and wants what they believe to be a rare toy for their child.

Honestly, you're all getting worked up over nothing. I've seen far worse than this.

Once again, Burn offers an explanation with sound reasoning.

But, since I can't view eBay at work, can anyone enlighten me as to the actual values of these auctions?

Burn wrote:Why are people getting so upset by this?

Did anyone stop to consider that it might be a PARENT and not an actual fan?

Maybe this parent loves their child so much that they're willing to fork out that much money for it.

That's my other theory: that it's some rich kid's clueless mom, who neither knows anything about transformers, nor the value of money. It has nothing to do with love. Can't buy me love.

But it doesn't upset me. I'm just pointing out idiots.

Leonardo wrote:But, since I can't view eBay at work, can anyone enlighten me as to the actual values of these auctions?

Bumblebee Fast Action Battler: $45.01

And a second of the same: $59.98

...for a Fast Action Battler. These are already released. I bought one in a store about 3 weeks ago. They are not rare: there's like 20 other ones listed on ebay right now.

Maybe he's not so easy to come by in Canada, or other areas? That would be my guess.

I mean ... people are willing to bid on it. More times than not, people won't bid an item past what it's worth.

There are always reasons that we all can't be aware of, unbunch yer underwear and calm down!

Skiman wrote:How does the fairly new saying go for eBay, "Win victoriously!"
LMAO

Well.. As cynically as I might regard such campaigns, I gotta hand it to them - they certainly know their business.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:Maybe he's not so easy to come by in Canada, or other areas? That would be my guess.

The winning bidder is in the U.S.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:I mean ... people are willing to bid on it. More times than not, people won't bid an item past what it's worth.

LMAO!

i came across this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... 9&sr=1-129
i hope nobody goes and buys this .

I guess there's no shortage of sellers high-balling their prices. I'm just surprised when there are actually people willing to pay that. Especially when it's so easy to find cheaper alternatives.

On the one hand I feel sorry for them because they got ripped off, but on the other hand I don't because it's entirely their own fault, and the way it's being splashed around I wish I had their kinda money.

How can you say it's easier to find cheaper alternatives?

Just because YOU found it and in numerous quantities doesn't mean another person will have the same luck.

For all we know this person could be living in a remote area or doesn't have easy access to a TF carrying store.

I was pissed off at seeing all the concept BB's on E-Bay AU going for over $50 at a time. I sure as hell couldn't find one after months of looking and waiting. Eventually I was lucky enough to find a fellow collector in Australia who was more than kind enough to send him postage free to me because he wanted to a fellow collector.

Not suprisingly, concept BB turned up locally within a few days. But I still had to wait months for it, I had patience, though it was very bloody frustrating.

So lay off this person, you don't know their situation or why they're willing to pay that much.

Bumblethumper wrote:

AlienQuiksilver wrote:Maybe he's not so easy to come by in Canada, or other areas? That would be my guess.

The winning bidder is in the U.S.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:I mean ... people are willing to bid on it. More times than not, people won't bid an item past what it's worth.

LMAO!

Well ... I guess "short bus" taxi services aren't readily available to take that particular auction winner to Walmart on a regular basis.

I've sold quite a few things on ebay, not the best way to make money.

If you're seriously laughing your ass off, why don't you quit your job and sell TF's for a living?

I guess the occasional overpaying does happen, but I don't pay attention to auctions that go past what I'm willing to pay. I delete 'em from my watched items.

In all reality, the winner was probably a very poor sniper ... and got called on a stupid bid by another poor bidder. It was $32 when all of that started, so maybe not in this case.

I guess whoever posted in this thread that the account owner, or friend of the account owner ... was "shill bidding" it from another account, was right. Only a 3 score on the opposing bidder. Doh!

If so, hope they get caught.

Burn wrote:How can you say it's easier to find cheaper alternatives?

Just because YOU found it and in numerous quantities doesn't mean another person will have the same luck.

For all we know this person could be living in a remote area or doesn't have easy access to a TF carrying store.

So lay off this person, you don't know their situation or why they're willing to pay that much.

...I don't know if this person's out there, but I sincerely hope feelings haven't been hurt

If you read the original post, there's numerous quantities of this particular toy at more reasonable prices, including buy-it-nows actually on ebay right now. Being able to use a search engine has nothing to do with luck. And since many of the sellers ship worldwide, it really shouldn't matter what their situation is.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:I've sold quite a few things on ebay, not the best way to make money.

If you're seriously laughing your ass off, why don't you quit your job and sell TF's for a living?

I guess the occasional overpaying does happen, but I don't pay attention to auctions that go past what I'm willing to pay. I delete 'em from my watched items.

I don't do that, I leave a lot of stuff in my watch list because I like to see how much something will go for. On one level it's a guide to how much something is worth, but on another level it can demonstrate the wide discrepancies between what some people are willing to pay for the same basic things. Sometimes there's reasons, often there's no real reason.

All the time I see things sell for more than they're worth. It only takes 2 guys with deep pockets who want the same thing bad enough to drive the price to unusually high levels. The same thing next week can often sell for a third less, because one of the guys already got what he wanted and now there's no bidding war.

I'm not complaining about it, nor do I think the sellers make easy money. I see plenty of stuff that doesn't sell. That's just business, and the way the game works.

of all the reasons to call Transformers fans idiots and you pick this one?

... well I can think of lots more, - but then I might completely alienate myself around here.

Bumblethumper wrote:Transformer fans are idiots*. Latest case in point:

ebay auction

Am I missing something here?? Is there something about this Fast-Action Battlers Bumblebee that makes it that much more desirable than all the other Fast-Action Battler Bumblebees?

Are Transformer collectors such chumps that they are incapable of doing the simplest of ebay searches that would turn up large amounts of the same lousy toy at much lower 'Buy it now' prices?


*okay naturally I'm not talking about everyone here. But there does seem to be a certain lunatic segment that goes around mindlessly inflating prices beyond all sense and reason. No wonder there are so many speculators in the market.

Maybe he's a foreign buyer perhaps?