The Energon Pub

[Lapse Of Reason]

Chances are it is not a Transformer "fan" buying it. A true fan would know the value of the figure. It could be some parent or grandparent thinking they got a good deal on an Ultimate Bumblebee for all we know. I suspect ignorance over stupidity.

[DISCHARGE]

The thought that a buyer would continuously
keep pushing up the price in a bidding war is ridiculous
for this item, especially when I found this only 3 pages deep:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRANSFORMERS-MOVIE- ... dZViewItem

With a but it now of just under 20 bucks, why isn't one of those bidders buying that one instead.
That is a blatant example of padding a bid and someone should report the guy. I am sick of deadbeats using ebay
to scam people.

[Dr. Z]

Are you sure it's not just an unsuspecting mother trying to find a Bumblebee for her son? I was at TRU yesterday and 2 moms almost ended buying Robot Replica BB thinking it was the transforming one. Had to tell them the truth to avoid disapointed kids on Dec. 25th.

[Spike Maul]

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.

I really like your mature approach to things Burn. You have a good head on your shoulders. But remember these forums are for TF fans to discuss their thoughts/ideas and all are welcomed including yours. We should always consider the feelings of others, however, if everyone here based every thread on that ideal alone, nobody would ever post in them.

I think WE as TF toy fans believe everyone should be able to enjoy them without being decieved or cheated. If these people paid for these prices by choice or because of some cirtain situation, then you are correct, its none of our business. But if they paid these prices because they were led to believe these items were "rare" or are special above other identical items, as the auction suggests, then I see no reason why it wouldn't raise the eyebrow of everyone here and be criticized as it has.

[TheStarScreamer]

Unless I missed it if someone already posted this, there one really big point many are missing about this particular item:

It's a packaging variant

Notice the trilingual text on the insert? It's a Trilogo item, which many carded/boxed collectors are interested in. At least from my experience in Star Wars collecting, this is true.

[Gutter Bunny]

its not transformers fans, its a small portion of ebay users slowly infecting the rest of us.

take for example the people willing to pay for an empty ps3/360/wii box(or picture).

for a more recent example there was an auction over the weekend for a dummy iphone(the kind you see in stores that DO NOT WORK). This particular auction was over $400 at the time i looked at it. The auction description and title made it very clear that this was a non-working dummy phone.

on a similar note. I believe it is "shop victoriously", "win victoriously" would be redundant.

[Bumblethumper]

With a but it now of just under 20 bucks, why isn't one of those bidders buying that one instead.
That is a blatant example of padding a bid and someone should report the guy. I am sick of deadbeats using ebay
to scam people.

Even if the seller were padding the bid, and making false bids to push up the price, no one has any excuse for putting on a maximum bid that is more than they would want to pay.

I'm with the clueless parents on this one. Parents can be hopelessly clueless.

[Bumblethumper]

Unless I missed it if someone already posted this, there one really big point many are missing about this particular item:

It's a packaging variant

Notice the trilingual text on the insert? It's a Trilogo item, which many carded/boxed collectors are interested in. At least from my experience in Star Wars collecting, this is true.

Interesting...I hadn't noticed.

If that's actually the case, I dunno, that would be pretty sad. Specially for a toy that's not really worth getting in the first place. Seems like a lot of trouble to hunt down packaging variants on such a worthless toy.

I mean, when I bought mine, - I knew I was a sick man. And I only got one at store price.

[City Commander]

**** it, I think I'll just become a scalper. Can't deny the perks it brings.

[Tekka]

This thread makes for interesting reading. I wonder how much money I could make selling an empty Wii box on eBay. I'm sure there's someone out there who can't read properly that wants one for Christmas badly enough. Though it would more than likely cost me my 100% rating.

[Glitcher]

This thread makes for interesting reading. I wonder how much money I could make selling an empty Wii box on eBay. I'm sure there's someone out there who can't read properly that wants one for Christmas badly enough. Though it would more than likely cost me my 100% rating.

Then you can just neg the buyer for the oversight.

Anyway, just the other day I saw a Classics Starscream sell for 36 euros on eBay Germany. I purchased mine loose locally for a tenner. I think BT's right about the fact that out-of-control bidding wars occur between people who hate to lose an auction.

[Burn]

I think WE as TF toy fans believe everyone should be able to enjoy them without being decieved or cheated. If these people paid for these prices by choice or because of some cirtain situation, then you are correct, its none of our business. But if they paid these prices because they were led to believe these items were "rare" or are special above other identical items, as the auction suggests, then I see no reason why it wouldn't raise the eyebrow of everyone here and be criticized as it has.

But criticizing it will achieve what exactly?

I'd love to see E-Bay set up a system where "experts" (such as collectors like us) can freely contact sellers and advise them that the auction is misleading, that it's not rare.

Alternatively E-Bay could go one step further and have people edit the auction listing if there's a consensus that it is misleading.

Of course E-Bay will NEVER do anything like that as it would turn people off and their income revenue would drop.

But like I said, sitting here on our little forums criticizing it will achieve what?

[Bumblethumper]

But like I said, sitting here on our little forums criticizing it will achieve what?

... better inform us. You can try to think up or bring about various systems that would make things fairer, but ultimately there's never any getting around the fact that it is always 'buyer beware'.

If you're selling you may find that what's expected of you is more of a case of 'the customer is always right'(even if they're a blatant liar). I've heard a lot of people suggest what they thought would be better systems, but what is often overlooked is that it needs to be fair for both buyer and seller, and not just one party.

Besides, ebay's an unchallenged monolith. I don't see them making any significant changes any time soon. It's better to just be informed about stuff to watch out for.

[dragons]

to be honest i wouldnt just say transformers collectors personaly its just jalf of ebay members or more that are like that if you look under other stuffits the samething with comicbooks, modles, figures, cds, movies and stuff i put a bid in on some comic 45 dollars maybe day after i have my bid in there was another one for the same price or lower and the user was bidding on the same comic when there are 20 or more on ebay some ending the same time as mine and even cheaper than mine and i got out bid its not just transformers fans its just ebaymembers them selves and depends how bad you want the item.

[fnlrun]

Amazing, somebody bought and sold something in a free country. The fact that SOMEBODY ELSE paid $43 for it makes the SELLER a scalper... Get a life..... To the purchaser that was a a fair price or they WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT IT!!!

[Satomiblood]

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'.

It could be shill bidding as was previously mentioned.