ZenPrime wrote:xyl360 wrote:ZenPrime wrote:vectorA3 wrote:I would say BBTS gets their supply from TRU directly. (Once a Hasbro item is a store exclusive, you can only get it from that store -I've asked H about this b4). Although BBTS costs more, I recommended them because they double box and ship with care. (At least the last MP I received was double boxed). Don't feed the scalpers!!!!!!!
If that's the case, it makes it even worse. BBTS probably got their stock at wholesale price point lots lower than the MSRP of $69.99 and yet they mark it up to $100+ and in doing so also take stock away from TRU and TRU.com to be able to offer them to customer at the lower MSRP price. So how is that different than scalping?
It's different because BBTS' supply of the figures will be factored in to what TRU requests/orders from Hasbro. Scalper supplies are not.
so even if that is true, it's ok for BBTS to take a $70 item and mark it up to $100+ but it's not ok for others to do so? I see the double standard there...
My issue with scalpers was never the price. It's that they generate a false demand by reducing the retail availability of a product, thus preventing other actual consumers from purchasing the product from a valid retail source.
BBTS, regardless of price, is a valid retail source. It's just like the shared exclusive BBTS has with Amazon and the G2 Bruticus set. If BBTS had it marked up 200% of Amazon's price, that's their business, and they have every right to do so, but them getting those figures does not impact the retail availability of the product to the consumer. Scalpers do affect the retail availability of a product to the consumer and are acting as retailers by purchasing products at retail and then turning around and selling it for a profit. This turns TRU's stores in this case, into a supplier/wholesaler, which they are not and allows the scalpers to act like licensed retailers with exclusive stock of a product, again, which they are not (or at least they aren't supposed to be).