The Energon Pub

nemesis zenith wrote:I went out to my Dad's truck this morning, and learned something AWFUL!












MY DAD'S A SCALPER!!!!

OUR DAD IS A SCALPER!!!???

Autobot032 wrote:

vpvpvpphil wrote:

Toyotus Superion wrote:I dont know......this story sounds a bit......stretched......
What mother knows about DPCI's? And visits forums? I'm not buying it. You've had so many opportunities to end this pointless bickering.......and now you step in? And all you've done is thrown chum into the water.

Sorry I forgot, once you push a baby out of you hooha, you no longer have an IQ! How could I possibly visit a forum or figure out how a store finds out if they have an item in stock!

Granted, he should've worded it better, ubt he's only confused, upset, and angry like the rest of us.

That whole "hooha" comment wasn't necessary, and is a slap in the face to other women who take themselves seriously.

You know, this just dawned on me, but I bought a G1 Starscream repaint from vpvpvpphil via eBay, and it was an excellent transaction. I live in Chicago and I paid for the auction Wednesday night and Thursday after our first explosion of rain, the UPS man showed up with my package. When I go to Target and don't find G1 Jazz or Starscreams sitting around, instead of cursing vpvpvpphil, I just remember that they aren't being released in retail until September and today is only August 25th. Thanks vpvpvpphil, I love my G1 Starscream figure!
As far as Seibertron goes and his horrendous scalping and shameful practices, I bid on one of his G1 Starscreams and lost, and he didn't give me a second chance offer! MAn, what an immoral scalper!!! (Sarcasm, Ryan, you've been taken a pounding in this dumb ass conversation. I didn't get a second chance offer though....)

I think my favorite part of this whole conversation is that the poor guy vpvpvpphil joined the Seibertron forums just to defend his free market industriousness, and people are calling him a liar when trying to justify his so aggregious and heinous actions. It should sting your own overinflated senses of morality to question someones' story with such venom.

This thread has become tremendous parody. With all the time typing and complaining herein, everyone could have taken the DPCI numbers to their local Target and bought themselves a G1 Jazz and/or Starscream from the stockroom.

There's no september release date man, all the stuff is already out. Ultimate BB was supposed to be released mid-September and it's been out for like a month now.

***** EVERYONE PLEASE READ THIS POST *****

[quote="vpvpvpphil
I went to target one morning at 8a.m. I went to guest services and asked them to do a location search on the G1 Jazz DCPI. They told me that they had 16 in stock. I asked them for 4. I was buying one for my husband whom collects, 2 for my 8 and 10 yr old boys whom also collect and one for my 4 year old to open and share with his brothers for playing. As I was paying for them a comic book store owner was there and bought the rest and bragged that he was going to sell them for 50 bucks a pop. This personally pissed me off, so I went to several different target and did the same thing, so I could give collecters or parents a chance to get them. For the G1 Jazz, ebay and paypal fees amount to about 5-6 dollars. After tax and those fees it costs 16-17 bucks for me to sell. I ship ups ground and it costs anywhere between 8-14 dollars to ship depending if they live in a rural area. Charging 8-9 buck for S/H and starting the bidding at 18 bucks, I am selling these at cost. If the bidding goes higher which it hasn't gotten that high, I might make a couple of bucks off of it. If you look at my ebay rating you will notice that since 2002 I have only sold 20 something items. I'm not a "scalper". I know how frustrating it is to not be able to get your hands on a hard to find toy. I have 4 sons and a husband whom all love transformers and star wars. I have been in the position where I have gotten two of a certain figure, for instance the star wars commander cody. Two of my sons wanted it, to play not even collect, there was a mother with her son that saw i had them, asked me if they had anymore, I handed her one of mine without even batting an eye. So I do understand how you feel, I just think some people should get all the facts before they judge.[/quote]



Personally I don't believe vpvpvpphil's story at all, there are too many things she (more likely a HE) didn't cover up well enough, very poor story lines. Please see below for my insights/discoveries:

1) If a father and his 4 sons share the same toy collecting hobby, he should be the one running around hunting, moms got too many other things to do.

2) I have visited Target stores at 8am opening hours many many times already, most of the small crowds I saw were young or middle aged men who would speed walk down the toys isle (literally racing), only a few of the ladies were there to return some products at the customer service.

3) Comic book store owners don't brag about their money making schemes. EVEN IF THEY DO, average moms don't get ticked off by hearing this brag. vpvpvpphil even wrote "This personally pissed me off...". Well to me this sounded more like common and instant reaction from a younger guy aged 18-30, not our moms!

4) "REVENGE OF THE MOMMY" okay now the mom gets so pissed, and she went on loose and going thru several other Targets and picked up more cases of G1 repaint Jazz, And G1 repaint Starscream, AND '08 Concept Bumblebee, AND Ultimate Bumblebee. Hasn't this mom gone too far already? Read on the next point for the final blow...

5) Everyone please check out one of her finished auction pages for Ultimate Bumblebee, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0144561614 . Wow it ended with $145.50 (Kaching!), HEY LOOK, the ending date was 8/05/2007 and in the auction picture she had several Ultimate Bumblebees and a Hasbro carton shown. This 8/05/2007 date was way before the release of G1 repaint Jazz, way before she got pissed off by this comic book store owner.

Clearly you can tell now vpvpvpphil is not a wife/mother of 4, let me conclude this post by revealing her (or HIS) real name and identify...

She is a.......




LYING SCALPER!!!



Cheers all!

Theres one more foot note that I wanted to add, that I have been meaning to do since I found this thread.

I am fully with Ryan. Staring at free money in a store to help offset our own TF expenses, which have been VERY high this year is extrmemely tempting. And where does this oney go, back into TFs and the webiste you love to come hang out on. And you KNOW if he had not grabed that case of SS, someone else would have. There was no way it was not going to end up on ebay. So for once, the TF fans won. Atleast the money is going back into our hobby.

Secondly, where do you guys come off calling the person who spends a huge chunk of his spare time photographing TFs for you and maintaining one of the best TF sites on the net a scalper. Ryan has done more for the hobby than anyone else here. What is you big contribution? You buy some toys, whine on the boards, and what else?

Really, you should be ashamed of yourself. (You know who you are.)

And finally, ebay reselers are not al out to rip yo off. They are providing a necesary service. Sure, there are times that a reseler has cased yo to miss a retail release. Butthose same selers are the ones who go out there and find some seriously obscure G1 and JPY releases and get them to ebay, so we have a chance to buy them. Without them, we would be paying a grand for Brave Maximus to BBTS instead of 300-400 online, guaranteed. They also get us product before it hits shelves, which is always fun.

So, sure, when people buy out targets, it is wicked annoying. However, you cannot overlook the fact that that is a neceary evil in order for the secondary market to continue funtioning as well as it does.

Dagon wrote:As far as Seibertron goes and his horrendous scalping and shameful practices, I bid on one of his G1 Starscreams and lost, and he didn't give me a second chance offer! MAn, what an immoral scalper!!! (Sarcasm, Ryan, you've been taken a pounding in this dumb ass conversation. I didn't get a second chance offer though....)

I'm confusled, why is it his responsibility to offer you a second chance offer? If the winning bidder paid for the item then there's no reason to giving a second chance offer. I've sold plenty of items on eBay and have only offered one second chance offer and that was because the winning bidder decided not to pay.

Bonger wrote:Theres one more foot note that I wanted to add, that I have been meaning to do since I found this thread.

I am fully with Ryan. Staring at free money in a store to help offset our own TF expenses, which have been VERY high this year is extrmemely tempting. And where does this oney go, back into TFs and the webiste you love to come hang out on. And you KNOW if he had not grabed that case of SS, someone else would have. There was no way it was not going to end up on ebay. So for once, the TF fans won. Atleast the money is going back into our hobby.

Secondly, where do you guys come off calling the person who spends a huge chunk of his spare time photographing TFs for you and maintaining one of the best TF sites on the net a scalper. Ryan has done more for the hobby than anyone else here. What is you big contribution? You buy some toys, whine on the boards, and what else?

Really, you should be ashamed of yourself. (You know who you are.)

And finally, ebay reselers are not al out to rip yo off. They are providing a necesary service. Sure, there are times that a reseler has cased yo to miss a retail release. Butthose same selers are the ones who go out there and find some seriously obscure G1 and JPY releases and get them to ebay, so we have a chance to buy them. Without them, we would be paying a grand for Brave Maximus to BBTS instead of 300-400 online, guaranteed. They also get us product before it hits shelves, which is always fun.

So, sure, when people buy out targets, it is wicked annoying. However, you cannot overlook the fact that that is a neceary evil in order for the secondary market to continue funtioning as well as it does.

Looks like I'm on your side Bonger along with Ryan.. This is getting ridiculous... Were talking about toys here not the end of the world!!!!


If people are missing out then you need to hunt harder and make it your mission to find them... I got up today and made a few calls and found Leader Class Brawl, Long Arm, Payload, Final Jazz, Recon Barricade, 1 09 Concept Bumblebee (which I left as I have him)... Proves that they are out there but you can't wait around till late moring as scalpers and collectors are out as well...


I am also more then willing to help out looking to trade up for Thundercracker and White Rescue Ratchet.. So there are plenty of peopl on here willing to trade or sell itemns at cost and help others out yet everyone complains about not being able to get the items.... I think that the hunt is what evryone is getting pissed about as they go into stores later in the day and there is nothing left when they get there....

last warning or I will start moving posts to the junk area.


DEBATE THIS TOPIC AND STOP SLAMMING EACH OTHER!! DISCUSS IT AND TRY TO RESPECT EACH OTHERS OPINIONS!!!!!!!!! THERE IS NO NEED TO NIT PICK AND NAME CALL!!!

I am so sick of seeing this your right and your wrong crap..

You know what it boils down to this (AND I DON'T CARE WHO LIKES IT OR NOT), No one is right an no one is wrong.

Saclping is good - Is an opinion
Scalping is bad - Is an opinion

Everyone has their opinions, and that unfortunately is all the good vs bad scalper issue is..
A personal opinion.

Having said that you guys need to RESPECT each others opinions and STOP trying to force them on others..

I agree, I am very stunned at the posts in this thread. I guess for my opinion, I feel fine with free enterprise. If you find the prices are too high, then wait to find a better price. If you want to pay it, then go for it.

As for offering second chance at an auction, it's not manditory, I wouldn't do it.

Dagon wrote:As far as Seibertron goes and his horrendous scalping and shameful practices, I bid on one of his G1 Starscreams and lost, and he didn't give me a second chance offer! MAn, what an immoral scalper!!! (Sarcasm, Ryan, you've been taken a pounding in this dumb ass conversation. I didn't get a second chance offer though....)

hmmm...i fail to see why Seibs would be "horrendous" and "immoral" in his "scalping" practices. based on your post, it seems that what happened was a perfectly normal eBay transaction. people lose all the time on eBay. i fail to see why that would make him immoral and horrendous. besides, speaking of scalping, how many G1 SS's did Seibs offer? 8?

Dagon wrote:I think my favorite part of this whole conversation is that the poor guy vpvpvpphil joined the Seibertron forums just to defend his free market industriousness, and people are calling him a liar when trying to justify his so aggregious and heinous actions. It should sting your own overinflated senses of morality to question someones' story with such venom.

read the post i made earlier, as well as the ones made by other people where regarding your seller. i don't have to repeat it again, it's on the previous page.

basically, what else would you call this seller? if he/she would have wanted to defend his/herself, she wouldn't have made that story with so many "continuity" errors. i can understand your point on free market industriousness, but she/he TRIED to JUSTIFY his/her ACTIONS with a story so full of holes it wouldn't hold water in for a second.

for my part, i'm not questioning his/her story with an "overinflated sense of morality" in mind. i'm just pointing out the facts that are contradictory to the statement he/she has made earlier. bottom line: FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

the seller should not have posted because especially with an easily trackable website as eBay - what you are saying could undo you, and in this case, i would agree that his/her story is undone.

i never called this seller names. i may have implied, but i never called the seller directly associating him/her as an outright scalper. on the other hand, name-calling the owner of this site, who has provided fans with a massive resource of pics, news, and whatnot, for something that normally happens on Ebay...i don't get it.

just posting this to clear things up Bishop...not here to bash nobody. haha.

Dagon was being sarcastic when calling Ryan's actions horrendus and immoral hence the "Sarcasm, Ryan, you've been taken a pounding in this dumb ass conversation" comment.

I saw 7 Starscreams, 1 Jazz, 1 Barricade Recon, 1 Payload, 1 Dreadwing, 1 Dropkick at my SW Florida Target today at 3:00 in the afternoon. Folks, these sets are coming and soon will be filling the shelves. Don't fret over the "scalpers".

Ryan (site admin)
Please lock this topic. it's getting pointless.

bumble_bee_68 wrote:Ryan (site admin)

Just in case he forgot ey?

Hey guys check this auction out. He has 4 Deluxe 08 Bees which he is selling at AUD$80.00 a pop with AUD$10.00 shipping on top of that!
Holy cow!
-That's about US$66 for the toy alone by the way.

ok, ok every1 put down ur energo swords and plasma cannons jeeze were all tf fans here arent we...theres plenty of ways to get the figures that every1 wants i asked a couple of targets today wats the limit they said one per person so yes they do kno about the limited quantity issues and slandering eachother isnt gunna change that in a month this debate will b over because the demand will go down

prowlstreak wrote:ok, ok every1 put down ur energo swords and plasma cannons jeeze were all tf fans here arent we...theres plenty of ways to get the figures that every1 wants i asked a couple of targets today wats the limit they said one per person so yes they do kno about the limited quantity issues and slandering eachother isnt gunna change that in a month this debate will b over because the demand will go down

I agree about calming down, but disagree about the limited quantity for purchase.

I bought two today without problem. Plus there was no sign saying they were limited to one per person like they had with TMX Elmo a few months ago.

Autobot032 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Why is that bad? You could've called your local Target as well to find out what they had in stock. Those of you who just randomly hunt stores without a battle plan in place are just wasting your time. Be proactive. Find out the SKU #s, the DCPI #s, etc. Call the stores ahead of time with that information.

Watch the toy reports on sites such as Seibertron or TFW to see when figures start showing up in stores. If there's a news post on Seibertron tomorrow that says Movie So-and-so has been sighted, don't wait until next Wednesday to go looking for that figure. Figure out how you're going to obtain it tomorrow. If you wait until your next paycheck in 5 to 10 days, I can guarantee that that brand spanking new figure will be long gone already.

Remember, every time you point a finger to blame someone else (i.e. the scalpers in this case), just remember that there are three fingers pointing back at you. Take responsibility for figuring out how to obtain new figures. It's not rocket science.

Please top blaming the so-called "Scalpers". They're just doing it the smart way.

No. It's scalping. Especially in this case. 18 of Jazz? Come on. What about Target's "oneper" rule? That's been violated obviously. You and I couldn't do that, but this guy can. Scalpers know the angles and they sure do know how to screw everyone they can.

You're entitled to your opinion, but turning a blind eye to scalpers even existing is just silly bullsh*t.

God bless your country's capitalist nature. Except, of course, when you realise you're the one paying for it. Waht's wrong with him selling on some toys he's bought? He's not breaking any legal, moral, or ethical code here. If you're all so hard-on for these figures, listen to Seibs and be smart about it.

By the way, Seibs, what's a 'case', exactly? Like two, three dozen figures? More?

I'm just bummed there aren't any targets in canada and locating anything exclusive without a car is nigh impossible. for me to go to walmart, it's a 30km round trip and the last 3 times I've been there, there has been diddly squat.

I just have a question, how is it that some people can get entire CASES of figures, cases included? I thought only retail stores could do that?

am i the only one who misses the days when u didnt need dcpi numbers just to get a freakin toy i mean cmon if i was younger and all this nonsense kept happeneding i would b incredibly ticked off at the fact i cnt get a toy....

Bonger wrote:Theres one more foot note that I wanted to add, that I have been meaning to do since I found this thread.

I am fully with Ryan. Staring at free money in a store to help offset our own TF expenses, which have been VERY high this year is extrmemely tempting. And where does this oney go, back into TFs and the webiste you love to come hang out on. And you KNOW if he had not grabed that case of SS, someone else would have. There was no way it was not going to end up on ebay. So for once, the TF fans won. Atleast the money is going back into our hobby.

Secondly, where do you guys come off calling the person who spends a huge chunk of his spare time photographing TFs for you and maintaining one of the best TF sites on the net a scalper. Ryan has done more for the hobby than anyone else here. What is you big contribution? You buy some toys, whine on the boards, and what else?

Really, you should be ashamed of yourself. (You know who you are.)

And finally, ebay reselers are not al out to rip yo off. They are providing a necesary service. Sure, there are times that a reseler has cased yo to miss a retail release. Butthose same selers are the ones who go out there and find some seriously obscure G1 and JPY releases and get them to ebay, so we have a chance to buy them. Without them, we would be paying a grand for Brave Maximus to BBTS instead of 300-400 online, guaranteed. They also get us product before it hits shelves, which is always fun.

So, sure, when people buy out targets, it is wicked annoying. However, you cannot overlook the fact that that is a neceary evil in order for the secondary market to continue funtioning as well as it does.

Wait wait....someone has been calling ryan a scalper? Wtf? Thats shameful and disrespectful to someone who does a whole lot for us. Ryan I appologize for anyone saying those things.

Lemme get this straight, some folks here are "justifying" RIPPING OFF OTHER TF COLLECTORS to offset their own collecting expenses. Sorry, but that is a bunch of ****. You're feeding off your own fellow collectors, and driving the prices up on each other. There's a vicious cycle if I ever saw one.

Want to "offset" your Transformer costs, rip off different collectors like Hot Wheels, or GI Joe. At least you're not hurting your own buds, whether you know them or not. That's pretty f-ing disgusting to screw each other over like that, plain and simple.

It's also disgusting creating scarcity. You know how many f-ing scalpers put "RARE" or "VHTF" on their auctions? Too many to list! They MADE it VHTF and RARE by buying craploads of the stuff.

How about I buy up all the pants that are in your size, and put them on ebay for twice to three times or more the price, and slap on VHTF on it? You wouldn't like it, would you. I seriously doubt that since you'll need pants to coveer that shamefull ass of yours when you go outside.

How about if I bought all the gasoline, and sold it for $11/gallon? Or bought anything that you like or need, and you can not find any at stores? But hey, it's business right. Buy my **** of go f--- yourself, right? That's pretty messed up.

Make money the honest, and moral way, go out and EARN it instead of ripping folks off. Get a job, or a second one if you have to, but don't prey on others to cover your own VOLUNTARY expenses.

Do I sell stuff on ebay? Yes, but I don't scalp. I sell stuff that I have owned but no longer need. Sometimes I just give it away. And I charge a fair price, and I do NOT over-charge for shipping.

Sportimus Prime wrote:I just have a question, how is it that some people can get entire CASES of figures, cases included? I thought only retail stores could do that?

I could of gotten a case of the G1 Jazz today from my targets. The lady at Customer Service ask me how many I wanted and if I want the case(which is only 8 figures in the case and all 8 are G1 Jazz cause it's a Targets only figure) and the same with G1 Starscream, I could of gotten a case of that one to. And there's 4 to that case. But I didnt want it and didnt want to put all that money on my credit card.


blkbitcloud1

blkbitcloud1 wrote:

Sportimus Prime wrote:I just have a question, how is it that some people can get entire CASES of figures, cases included? I thought only retail stores could do that?

I could of gotten a case of the G1 Jazz today from my targets. The lady at Customer Service ask me how many I wanted and if I want the case(which is only 8 figures in the case and all 8 are G1 Jazz cause it's a Targets only figure) and the same with G1 Starscream, I could of gotten a case of that one to. And there's 4 to that case. But I didnt want it and didnt want to put all that money on my credit card.


blkbitcloud1

Thank you for the 411.

bumble_bee_68 wrote:Ryan (site admin)
Please lock this topic. it's getting pointless.

We can't. It is a "news item" and on the main page.. And those things cannot be locked.