The Energon Pub

by **It Is Him** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:44 pm

[quote="Autobot032"][quote="Lapse Of Reason"]If I see something in a store that I can resell for twice as much, I'm going to do it as many times as I can. $$$$!

by **Autobot032** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:54 pm

[quote="It Is Him"][quote="Autobot032"][quote="Lapse Of Reason"]If I see something in a store that I can resell for twice as much, I'm going to do it as many times as I can. $$$$!

News Credits: 1 · by **Galvatron X** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:55 pm

I noticed that someone was oh-so concerned about the children, but didn't feel bad about grabbing that last Laserbeak or one of the last Powerglides.

News Credits: 16 · by **It Is Him** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:04 am

You know, I'm not serious about burning any toys, right? I mean come on, that's like burning about $5 in scalper dough, per toy, right?

And I really do have great toys to sell you. I don't have to sell 'em. I could keep 'em if I chose.

by **dinogeist** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:47 am

I honestly don't mind the scalpers as long as their doing a general service to the fandom. examples: like taking care of older out of production toys that are over 10 to 20+years ago. going the extra mile by keeping them as mint as possible & in excellent collectors condition.

I dis-like the botcon scalpers. but can't go into great detail why because i'll get banned if I do so.

I live on the far,far east coast of America,so we get newer TF toys dead last. because of this we don't have much scalpers running to stores & buying up everything.

This is why I love the bigger sized new mold TF toy like leaders & supremes,because the shipping fees are a lot & this is a scalpers NIGHTMARE. Scalpers can't charge beyond high shipping cost & make extra money off shipping fees. scalpers don't like buying bigger/heavier TF toys because they know buyers don't like to pay $12 to $20 in shipping fees in america between the states.

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:57 am

[quote="Galvatron X"]I noticed that someone was oh-so concerned about the children, but didn't feel bad about grabbing that last Laserbeak or one of the last Powerglides.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:59 am

I think i've been pretty fortunate, I live in an area with next to no TF fans (other than those darn kids) so haven't had to deal too much with scalping.

Until DOTM. As far as i'm concerned, Australian retailers have become scalpers. Slow to put their stock out, AND they've put the prices up despite being able to import at a cheaper price.

But that's an entirely different discussion.

Does it exist? I have no doubt about it. Some are bastards for do it, while others like Amelie are doing it just to get by.

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 4:05 am

What age childeren are we talking about here? When I see kiddos in stores these days all I hear them say is " Oh mommy/daddy I like the bright green one" or " Oh look at that one it's Bumblebee!!" .. let's be serious guys, how many kids wake up and think to themselves, " Man I really need to get a case fresh Warpath today"..

Sure scalpers do their part to jack up prices and make certain figures more rare than they should be. Hell I spent the last 2 days driving around my city hitting every ross, tj maxx and marshalls I could find. I found lots of great figures, some of which I do plan on reselling. most of them I have already sold to members of this site. While there are some unscrupulous people out there that cause the avg collector alot of frustration, companies knowing a certain figure will be a huge hit and limiting them in a case doesn't help either.

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:08 am

I'm not so much concearned with the kids for the reason LiKwid stated. I think we shouldn't overrate the passion of children for their toys. If I want a certain figure, I'm not going to leave the last one in fear of some hypothetical child maybe wanting that specific figure a toystore is able to restock.
I once snagged the last 'Twilight Princess' on release day from the shelves right in front of some doubting kid. Karma bit me in the ass the day I wanted a leader Starscream and one guy right before me picked it up, leaving me empty-handed.

Overinflating prices is what bothers me. But then again, customers are what keeps scalpers going. Stop scalping, stop buying.

News Credits: 104 · by **Cyber Bishop** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:18 am

What did I say about keeping this discussion civil??

Remember the site rules

general-rules-for-seibertron-com-s-forums-t14626.php

[quote="The Rules"]1. No flaming, trolling, harassing, or baiting other guests.
Flaming should be self evident, trolling means to make posts or threads for the intended purpose of starting an argument, while baiting is any post intended to make another user resort to flaming. Harassment means following a user or group of users around through multiple threads to flame them, bait them, or otherwise cause them to want to avoid the boards because of a user's actions towards them. If there is a discussion and there ends up some sort of disagreement on someones personal opinion, simply try and respect each others opinions without forcing them on others.

by **Doubledealer93** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:59 am

[quote="Galvatron X"][quote="Prime Riblet"]I admit that it truly pisses me off to have not even seen a single Warpath, but whatever. Oh well.

by **Evil_the_Nub** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:21 am

It's especially bad with store exclusive, they should put a purchase limit on those. Back when I was looking for MP Grimlock I asked the manager when they were getting them in, he told me ONE GUY bought all of them that day. It was the same with Animated Arcee, I'd go in and there would be dozens of Ratchets and not one Arcee. I was lucky enough to get them eventually, only because I work in the same shopping center and go in all the time.

It's ok in some situations, I managed to find an extra HA Mudflap for really cheap that I've been meaning to sell, but I've never sold anything online so I have no idea what I'm doing. Before you start gathering you torches and pitchforks I'm planning on selling it for only $20.

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:19 am

There will come a time when them scalpers will be stuck with too high an inventory and 0 profit margins.

And......whats the big deal with Cyberverse Powerglide anyway?

From where I live, he's just hanging around on the display aisle.

Could scalping somewhat be related to either too much hype or speculation on availability for an otherwise above average fig?

by **NTESHFT** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:05 pm

My opinion varies on this subject:

I too know a comic book store owner who will go to TRU and grab ALL exclusives off the shelves, take them to his store and mark them up 30 to 50 a pop (no joke). That, I think is unreasonable. I argued with him over this. The only thing he could come back with is the whole "supply and demand" theory. But I don't think it's right to grab them all so someone will have to come to his store and pay 60 for a 10 dollar toy.

Now when it comes to the con and/or club exclusives, I'm kind of more understanding.For the most part, they are already fewer in numbers and go extremely quickly. I, myself have paid a nice chunk of change for those exclusives, plus I like seeing them go up in value, as opposed to the TRU or Walmart exclusives that don't really hold that kind of value, yet certain specialty stores still sell them like they are.......does this make sense?

by **necr0blivion** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:05 pm

[quote="headsortails"]My opinion varies on this subject:

I too know a comic book store owner who will go to TRU and grab ALL exclusives off the shelves, take them to his store and mark them up 30 to 50 a pop (no joke). That, I think is unreasonable. I argued with him over this. The only thing he could come back with is the whole "supply and demand" theory. But I don't think it's right to grab them all so someone will have to come to his store and pay 60 for a 10 dollar toy.

by **Motorthing** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:14 pm

I live in the UK - the regular retailers and Hasbro ARE the freakin Scalpers.....nobody else needs to bother with our prices.

News Credits: 4 · by **craggy** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:36 pm

Motorthing, Hasbro doesn't even know what toys they release here, how can they restrict the flow of the popular ones?

News Credits: 3 · by **bvzxa** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:08 pm

I used to chase down Treasure Hunts from the Hot wheels line before they made the split into regular and super, where the super was the T-hunt.

We ran into scalpers and old "wanna fight ya'" white men. No offense and no joke. We would see them run down the aisle at 8 o'clock in the morning to get to the hot wheel pegs at Target, and this still goes on today.

I worked at Target and Kmart and yes, I scalped all the t-hunts and sell them on ebay. When I actually hunted I could buy a car for a dollar, and sell it for $40 sometime $60 dollars. Johnny Lightning cars can go higher for a white lightning.

I stopped because I have a better job and school, but the profited went straight to TF's. I'm not a scalper of TF's, but I do duplicate and triple my figures when I can, So I may pop up on ebay selling for profit.

Truth be told you snooze you lose.

by **dinogeist** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:32 pm

[quote="Evil_the_Nub"]It's especially bad with store exclusive, they should put a purchase limit on those. Back when I was looking for MP Grimlock I asked the manager when they were getting them in, he told me ONE GUY bought all of them that day. It was the same with Animated Arcee, I'd go in and there would be dozens of Ratchets and not one Arcee. I was lucky enough to get them eventually, only because I work in the same shopping center and go in all the time.

It's ok in some situations, I managed to find an extra HA Mudflap for really cheap that I've been meaning to sell, but I've never sold anything online so I have no idea what I'm doing. Before you start gathering you torches and pitchforks I'm planning on selling it for only $20.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:03 pm

[quote="bvzxa"]Truth be told you snooze you lose.

News Credits: 104 · by **Cyber Bishop** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:12 pm

[quote="bvzxa"]We ran into scalpers and old "wanna fight ya'" white men. No offense and no joke. We would see them run down the aisle at 8 o'clock in the morning to get to the hot wheel pegs at Target, and this still goes on today.

by **Evil_the_Nub** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:15 pm

[quote="Cyber Bishop"][quote="bvzxa"]We ran into scalpers and old "wanna fight ya'" white men. No offense and no joke. We would see them run down the aisle at 8 o'clock in the morning to get to the hot wheel pegs at Target, and this still goes on today.