revengeofstarscream wrote:Kidding! I only got one for myself. I could have purchased more, but to me scalping is immoral. Scalpers should burn in hell. If you buy a bunch of Blasters at Comic Con and then sell them on EBay, then I have no problem with that. The seller is actually adding value by making them available to those who were not able to attend. Additionally, the seller does not know for sure if they will be made available on HTS or not. If you buy a bunch online from HTS with the intent of selling them, then you should be castrated. Buying them online is something everyone can do. The seller is adding no value by slapping on his steep markup and then reselling them on EBay.
revengeofstarscream wrote:I could have purchased more, but to me scalping is immoral. Scalpers should burn in hell.
revengeofstarscream wrote:If you buy a bunch of Blasters at Comic Con and then sell them on EBay, then I have no problem with that. The seller is actually adding value by making them available to those who were not able to attend.
revengeofstarscream wrote:Additionally, the seller does not know for sure if they will be made available on HTS or not. If you buy a bunch online from HTS with the intent of selling them, then you should be castrated. Buying them online is something everyone can do. The seller is adding no value by slapping on his steep markup and then reselling them on EBay.
Seibertron wrote:revengeofstarscream wrote:Kidding! I only got one for myself. I could have purchased more, but to me scalping is immoral. Scalpers should burn in hell. If you buy a bunch of Blasters at Comic Con and then sell them on EBay, then I have no problem with that. The seller is actually adding value by making them available to those who were not able to attend. Additionally, the seller does not know for sure if they will be made available on HTS or not. If you buy a bunch online from HTS with the intent of selling them, then you should be castrated. Buying them online is something everyone can do. The seller is adding no value by slapping on his steep markup and then reselling them on EBay.
I haven't done this in a while, but I have to get it off my chest again. In the interest of full disclosure, I do buy and resell some new Transformers that I come across. For the most part, these figures end up going to international buyers on eBay.revengeofstarscream wrote:I could have purchased more, but to me scalping is immoral. Scalpers should burn in hell.
I don't believe in the scalper phenomenon, at least not in the scale that collectors think that it happens. The problem with the scalping myth is that its very definition is more-or-less extremely self-serving to the supposed "victim". Basically any time a fan can't find a figure, it's because their "local" "scalper" was at it again! Seriously, there's a scalper in every town in every part of the world?
I don't get any special favors from anyone at Hasbro when it comes to buying figures first. Maybe once or twice a year I get something sent to me for free from Hasbro but I have to buy each and every other figure that I own just like you guys. Somehow though, I don't have a problem with the scalper phenomenon and haven't had a problem with it ever since I built the Toy Sightings section way back in 2004. Once I built it and started watching toy shipping patterns and following the sightings on several different Transformers fansites for my area as well as a couple of surrounding states, I've had extremely good luck with going out to a store and buying something the moment it comes out.
I missed out on Blaster this morning. Was it the fault of the evil boogie-man scalper? No. It was my fault. I was up until 5am working on Seibertron.com, had my alarm set for 9am, alarm went off, I forgot about SDCC stuff, and I immediately turned off my alarm, slept until 11:45am, and lo and behold the figures are sold out by noon, just like they have been in years past. No, that was my fault. Not a mysterious mythical scalper that selfishly made it so that I couldn't buy a toy. Nope. Just me. My fault.
As for going out to stores to buy figures, I take it very seriously about buying new figures as soon as they come out. I obviously have a much bigger motive than just getting a new figure. I want to get the figure, and get pictures up of the figure ASAP so that I can post that content on Seibertron.com to share with the rest of the world. I don't buy every figure in stores, however. I pre-order EVERYTHING on BBTS. If it shows up in stores first, then I go out, buy it, then cancel my BBTS pre-order. I don't care where I get the figure from as long as I get it first. BBTS charges a little bit more for items that show up at brick-and-mortar stores but when you calculate my time, gas, and having to pay taxes at the store, the difference in price betweeen retail and ordering online is usually insignificant.revengeofstarscream wrote:If you buy a bunch of Blasters at Comic Con and then sell them on EBay, then I have no problem with that. The seller is actually adding value by making them available to those who were not able to attend.
This is what I mean by the definition of a scalper is one of self interest. In this instance, revengeofstarscream feels that it's ok for someone to buy a bunch at SDCC to resell them, which in theory makes less stock available for people to buy the figure at SDCC. So were those people victim of the scalper phenomenon? Apparently not according to revengeofstarscream because it didn't affect him.revengeofstarscream wrote:Additionally, the seller does not know for sure if they will be made available on HTS or not. If you buy a bunch online from HTS with the intent of selling them, then you should be castrated. Buying them online is something everyone can do. The seller is adding no value by slapping on his steep markup and then reselling them on EBay.
Herein lies the problem with the scalper phenomenon that so many fans believe in. The seller never knows if something is going to be of value. Yet, any time a collector can't find a figure it's because of the wicked scalper, not because another fan of a major brand like Transformers just happens to collect the same thing as you and just happened to get there first, or heaven forbid that a kid (yes, a child my friends ... who these toys are intended for minus a few here and there) actually got their hands on something while their parent(s) was shopping with them at your local Target or Wal-Mart or Toys R Us.
Yes, from time to time there are figures that are absolute gold mines, but there isn't a science to it and it affects so few figures every year that I don't believe in the scalper phenomenon.
So what do I believe in? I believe in supply and demand dictate price. If you really want a figure, you have to watch the sightings online, figure out the shipping patterns at your local stores, and be prepared to go out to buy a figure at whatever time of the day you read that someone online said they saw new toys at a local store. If you see someone write "hey the brand new Transformers are at the Walmart down the road" at 8pm and you decide not to stop by until the following morning on your way to work, well, I don't know what to tell you when the figures are gone. I'm pretty certain it's not because of a mysterious scalper.
Counterpunch wrote:There have only been 3 figures since 2002 that I have not seen at retail...
Universe Soundwave and Spacecase
Alternators Camshaft (because I was in the middle of a move)
Human Alliance Mudflap (and he's probably on his way with the next wave again)
Toys these days are mass produced and plentiful. The issue is that they are not on shelf for a long period of time (by design) so you have to jump at the opportunities when they are present.
Seibertron wrote:Counterpunch wrote:There have only been 3 figures since 2002 that I have not seen at retail...
Universe Soundwave and Spacecase
Alternators Camshaft (because I was in the middle of a move)
Human Alliance Mudflap (and he's probably on his way with the next wave again)
Toys these days are mass produced and plentiful. The issue is that they are not on shelf for a long period of time (by design) so you have to jump at the opportunities when they are present.
Notice that all 3 of those figures are figures that came out at the end of a line. This happens with almost every series that the last way or two of figures are hard to find. Retailers cut back on their orders toward the end of a series and/or Hasbro cuts the numbers down on their end. I've seen this happen with just about every series since all the way back to Beast Machines (remember Blast Punch Optimus Primal and Rattrap anyone?)
BBTS got in HA Mudflap way back in January or February. This is one of those times that I was really glad that I pre-ordered him from them. He's also widely available in Asia. I keep thinking about ponying up some cash to buy and sell them back here but that's quite an investment only to make $5 to $10 a figure (which is about how much over retail they're selling for on eBay).
Esoen wrote:3rd times a charm for me!
3.8TransAM wrote:Currently showing available again at HTS.
Its funny, been out of stock 3 times now and magically restocked.
Interesting
RiddlerJ wrote:Got 'em this time.
Thanks for playing Blaster Whack-a-mole.
Seibertron wrote:3.8TransAM wrote:Currently showing available again at HTS.
Its funny, been out of stock 3 times now and magically restocked.
Interesting
same thing happened with soundwave last year
3.8TransAM wrote:Seibertron wrote:3.8TransAM wrote:Currently showing available again at HTS.
Its funny, been out of stock 3 times now and magically restocked.
Interesting
same thing happened with soundwave last year
Hasbro works in mysterious ways
Anyhow , Ryan (it is correct?), I owe u a beer some day, live in NW IN(so not far away) and its just to say thanks for this site, so thanks
Return to Transformers Toys Discussion
Registered users: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Majestic-12 [Bot], Yahoo [Bot]