The "I hate scalpers" venting thread

[C - 310]

What if I got a figure with manufacturer defect?

 

Btw, have you ever shopped at entertainment earth?

[Yuyuyami]

There is one and I mean ONE, ONLY way to stop scalpers but it can only be done at the corporate level of the company: on toys, there should be 5 day return policy store credit ONLY with proper receipt.

 

5 days, no more, to return a toy

 

Store credit ONLY!

 

This would stop scalpers dead in their tracks and at the same time INSURE that the store is actually making money selling said toy lines.

 

What scalpers are doing is turning your local Target, Walmart, TRU into their personal inventory room. They buy up boxes of toys they think that are going to be hot and then when they can sell anymore or just before the "generously stupid" 90 day return policy expires.

 

And trust me, this really is a damn good scam if I have ever seen one. You need about $500 to start up...so you can buy cases and afford shipping to start. Then you buy or cases ($400 worth), get your ebay store up and running, then respond to orders. When you end up with old stock that just wont move with in the 90 period, you return it back for a full refund! the store is so ignorant that they dont see the game and are just happy that you are one of the rare few refunded who return a toy MISB! But the store lost money on that toy being returned because they never really sold it...they had to give the money back.

 

Scalpers who return en masse are KIND of douche baggy.

 

BUT!

 

When they do that is the perfect time to get the figures you wanted. Just adjust your shopping schedule, if you live in a high scalper area, to fit the 90 day return policy.

 

And now-a-days, most stores only let you return stuff later than a week if you're willing to accept store credit as a refund. At least, that's how it is in my area.

 

 

I say, use scalpers in every way you can instead of complaining about them. Studying them can allow you to figure out BETTER ways to get what you want than if they didn't exist.

 

For one, they've all ready figured out GREAT ways to get everything.

 

For two, their stock has such a high turnover rate when their predictions turn out wrong, which is a lot of the time, that you can guarantee that you will get what you want if you time yourself right.

 

For three, getting to know them can be incredibly beneficial. My family is full of scalpers and I'm getting a LOT of cool shit from their hauls that I otherwise wouldn't have even glanced at (Neo-Shifters FTW).* Make friends with them and see if they can help you and if you can help them.

 

For four, If you absolutely CAN'T find the item in your area because of an item being popular(so possible scalping included in that), bad distribution, and a lot of the online stores are sold out, you still have a good chance of being able to find what you want on stores like Ebay BECAUSE of the unreasonable prices that most are unwilling to pay. If you want the item bad enough, spend the money. In the end you'll have saved money anyway by not going back and forth every other day looking for the toy. (of course, a better option is to wait, but you can't always do that in the case of a birthday or something)

 

For five, if a bunch of scalpers clear out a store's inventory of transformers, the store will most likely order a lot more transformers in the next shipment, increasing your odds of finding the toy if you know the restocking hours.

 

 

There are other ways to use scalpers to your advantage, you just have to look for them. Complaining about them does nothing, especially since they're a hell of a lot more useful than they appear on face value. The energy you put into complaining could be put into research instead. And what better place to compile everyone's research than on these forums?

 

It's just like, we could all complain about bad figures, or we could take up our knives and experiment with them and then post our findings on how to make them awesome figures.

 

 

*We're not douche bags, though. We don't hoard everything for ourselves and never think of others. You'd be hard pressed to find a more generous family, quite honestly. But we scalp to survive and flourish, not to be assholes and we're not assholes about scalping. It's actually more of a game for us than a hardcore, white knuckling, arduous task at which we MUST succeed.

[cmm21nj]

There is one and I mean ONE, ONLY way to stop scalpers but it can only be done at the corporate level of the company: on toys, there should be 5 day return policy store credit ONLY with proper receipt.

 

5 days, no more, to return a toy

 

Store credit ONLY!

 

This would stop scalpers dead in their tracks and at the same time INSURE that the store is actually making money selling said toy lines.

 

What scalpers are doing is turning your local Target, Walmart, TRU into their personal inventory room. They buy up boxes of toys they think that are going to be hot and then when they can sell anymore or just before the "generously stupid" 90 day return policy expires.

 

And trust me, this really is a damn good scam if I have ever seen one. You need about $500 to start up...so you can buy cases and afford shipping to start. Then you buy or cases ($400 worth), get your ebay store up and running, then respond to orders. When you end up with old stock that just wont move with in the 90 period, you return it back for a full refund! the store is so ignorant that they dont see the game and are just happy that you are one of the rare few refunded who return a toy MISB! But the store lost money on that toy being returned because they never really sold it...they had to give the money back.

 

Scalpers who return en masse are KIND of douche baggy.

 

BUT!

 

When they do that is the perfect time to get the figures you wanted. Just adjust your shopping schedule, if you live in a high scalper area, to fit the 90 day return policy.

 

And now-a-days, most stores only let you return stuff later than a week if you're willing to accept store credit as a refund. At least, that's how it is in my area.

 

 

I say, use scalpers in every way you can instead of complaining about them. Studying them can allow you to figure out BETTER ways to get what you want than if they didn't exist.

 

For one, they've all ready figured out GREAT ways to get everything.

 

For two, their stock has such a high turnover rate when their predictions turn out wrong, which is a lot of the time, that you can guarantee that you will get what you want if you time yourself right.

 

For three, getting to know them can be incredibly beneficial. My family is full of scalpers and I'm getting a LOT of cool shit from their hauls that I otherwise wouldn't have even glanced at (Neo-Shifters FTW).* Make friends with them and see if they can help you and if you can help them.

 

For four, If you absolutely CAN'T find the item in your area because of an item being popular(so possible scalping included in that), bad distribution, and a lot of the online stores are sold out, you still have a good chance of being able to find what you want on stores like Ebay BECAUSE of the unreasonable prices that most are unwilling to pay. If you want the item bad enough, spend the money. In the end you'll have saved money anyway by not going back and forth every other day looking for the toy. (of course, a better option is to wait, but you can't always do that in the case of a birthday or something)

 

For five, if a bunch of scalpers clear out a store's inventory of transformers, the store will most likely order a lot more transformers in the next shipment, increasing your odds of finding the toy if you know the restocking hours.

 

 

There are other ways to use scalpers to your advantage, you just have to look for them. Complaining about them does nothing, especially since they're a hell of a lot more useful than they appear on face value. The energy you put into complaining could be put into research instead. And what better place to compile everyone's research than on these forums?

 

It's just like, we could all complain about bad figures, or we could take up our knives and experiment with them and then post our findings on how to make them awesome figures.

 

 

*We're not douche bags, though. We don't hoard everything for ourselves and never think of others. You'd be hard pressed to find a more generous family, quite honestly. But we scalp to survive and flourish, not to be assholes and we're not assholes about scalping. It's actually more of a game for us than a hardcore, white knuckling, arduous task at which we MUST succeed.

 

So basically your defense of scalpers stems from you being one and/or being associated with them? Scalpers are good for nothing but aggravation.

[sgt__york]

So basically your defense of scalpers stems from you being one and/or being associated with them? Scalpers are good for nothing but aggravation.

 

I noticed that myself.

 

Climb onto my back... I will help you cross the river... said the alligator to the frog.

[Ardenrobo]

The black and white...

 

Scalpers buy up the hot items to make cash. That gets in our way to collect the items we crave. There's no way any scalper EVER helped me in my quest for what I'm looking for. The thrill of the hunt and seeing items at retail are ALOT better than eBay or going to a toyshow and paying inflated prices. Sure you save time but I'm talking about the fun in collecting.

 

Hell, the only way I notice them at all is,

 

1 - It's harder to find the items I want (which wastes my time & money/gas).

2 - Stores put signs up saying they will limit the # of collectibles sold to any one person.

 

But then again, I'm not related to anyone who makes their living selling toys for as much as they can get. And I've always had a job to make $, I'm not a eBay store selling off extra stuff I bought while I was at the store.

 

I remember years ago when my girlfriend couldn't find the Beanie Babies she wanted months after they came out, but she could find em' for 8 or 10 times what they cost at retail at a BB show. Yeah, $50 for a little stuffed toy.

 

Thanks scalpers.

[Yuyuyami]

So basically your defense of scalpers stems from you being one and/or being associated with them? Scalpers are good for nothing but aggravation.

 

Sure, that's one way to ignore what I have to say. What I have to say and my bias are different things. The validity of the arguments I have made is not influenced by my bias. What I have yet to say is influenced, but not what I have all ready said.

 

But if you must know, I supported scalping WAY before my family really started scalping, before we considered ourselves scalpers.

 

The black and white...

 

Scalpers buy up the hot items to make cash. That gets in our way to collect the items we crave. There's no way any scalper EVER helped me in my quest for what I'm looking for. The thrill of the hunt and seeing items at retail are ALOT better than eBay or going to a toyshow and paying inflated prices. Sure you save time but I'm talking about the fun in collecting.

 

Hell, the only way I notice them at all is,

 

1 - It's harder to find the items I want (which wastes my time & money/gas).

2 - Stores put signs up saying they will limit the # of collectibles sold to any one person.

 

But then again, I'm not related to anyone who makes their living selling toys for as much as they can get. And I've always had a job to make $, I'm not a eBay store selling off extra stuff I bought while I was at the store.

 

I remember years ago when my girlfriend couldn't find the Beanie Babies she wanted months after they came out, but she could find em' for 8 or 10 times what they cost at retail at a BB show. Yeah, $50 for a little stuffed toy.

 

Thanks scalpers.

 

They only get in your way if you let them. There are ways to use them to guarantee that you'll get what you want (I outlined a few of them), even if it's a little bit later than you want. No one's entitled to have the things they want without working for them, and it's not JUST work: It's the right KIND of work. I'm saying, none of us should be like Sisyphus when it comes to collecting. Instead of going through the same old channels to get Transformers that we did when we were kids (as those are turning more and more into bottlenecks), we need to develop and seek out new ones CONSTANTLY.

 

I'm proposing that instead of people complaining about scalpers and potentially flaming the scalpers who admit that they're scalpers (not exactly me, I don't have the income to scalp), we start talking about ways to use them to our advantage.

 

It's more productive for us as collectors, it will allow us to get what we want in the best ways possible, and it will make this community FAR more valuable and it will give us an appreciation for scalpers that I think they deserve.

 

While you may not agree with me that scalpers are a valuable part of our hobby, almost no one here has given them a chance to shine by looking at the benefits they give us. Instead they get all of the blame for product shortages, when they're only a small part of it and even then, only for a limited amount of time per item.

 

 

There's a better way to see scalpers, not as scape goats, but as boons to our hobby. There's better way to use scalpers, not as scape goats, but as ways to help us get what we want. Just pushing a rock up a mountain over and over only for it to fall back down again isn't the way to go, and that's exactly what many of us are doing by insisting that going from store to store is the way buying TF's SHOULD be.

 

If you like the thrill of the hunt, then you just need to accept the frustrations that come with it. It's unreasonable to accept that anyone should stop making part of their living just because you want to play a game a specific way.

[cmm21nj]

But none of us should have to pay 3 or 4 times the retail price for something we want to support sad, middle-aged men who have nothing better to do with their time than to go from store to store and do what they do. To call scalpers a valuable part of our hobby is sorry and sad, but I guess you have to defend your trade.

[sgt__york]

the problem with scalpers is they buy retail and dry up a market for the sole purpose of driving costs UP - thus not providing a SERVICE to buyers as your so naively suggesting -- but forcing people into either paying far above retail -- or wait much longer past actual release dates. Either way, the interest of the scalper is in DIRECT DISSERVICE to purchasers.

 

If you want to get into the toy selling business - get into busienss and stop scalping. Go buy wholesale and then sell RETAIL! Better yet, sell a few bucks "UNDER" retail and really provide a service. given that you would not have the huge overhead that many corporate storefronts have - there is no reason you shouldn't be able to sell under retail. Of course your not interested in that, are you?

 

There is a reason stores like BTTS and TFSource are much loved by the TF community and scalpers are hated.

 

No offense, but you sir are extremely deluded if you think scalpers help in any manner. There is a reason they are illegal in many states. Your rational is simply wrong.

[cmm21nj]

the problem with scalpers is they buy retail and dry up a market for the sole purpose of driving costs UP - thus not providing a SERVICE to buyers as your so naively suggesting -- but forcing people into either paying far above retail -- or wait much longer past actual release dates. Either way, the interest of the scalper is in DIRECT DISSERVICE to purchasers.

 

If you want to get into the toy selling business - get into busienss and stop scalping. Go buy wholesale and then sell RETAIL! Better yet, sell a few bucks "UNDER" retail and really provide a service. given that you would not have the huge overhead that many corporate storefronts have - there is no reason you shouldn't be able to sell under retail. Of course your not interested in that, are you?

 

There is a reason stores like BTTS and TFSource are much loved by the TF community and scalpers are hated.

 

No offense, but you sir are extremely deluded if you think scalpers help in any manner. There is a reason they are illegal in many states. Your rational is simply wrong.

 

seconded

[Ardenrobo]

So basically your defense of scalpers stems from you being one and/or being associated with them? Scalpers are good for nothing but aggravation.

 

Sure, that's one way to ignore what I have to say. What I have to say and my bias are different things. The validity of the arguments I have made is not influenced by my bias. What I have yet to say is influenced, but not what I have all ready said.

 

But if you must know, I supported scalping WAY before my family really started scalping, before we considered ourselves scalpers.

 

The black and white...

 

Scalpers buy up the hot items to make cash. That gets in our way to collect the items we crave. There's no way any scalper EVER helped me in my quest for what I'm looking for. The thrill of the hunt and seeing items at retail are ALOT better than eBay or going to a toyshow and paying inflated prices. Sure you save time but I'm talking about the fun in collecting.

 

Hell, the only way I notice them at all is,

 

1 - It's harder to find the items I want (which wastes my time & money/gas).

2 - Stores put signs up saying they will limit the # of collectibles sold to any one person.

 

But then again, I'm not related to anyone who makes their living selling toys for as much as they can get. And I've always had a job to make $, I'm not a eBay store selling off extra stuff I bought while I was at the store.

 

I remember years ago when my girlfriend couldn't find the Beanie Babies she wanted months after they came out, but she could find em' for 8 or 10 times what they cost at retail at a BB show. Yeah, $50 for a little stuffed toy.

 

Thanks scalpers.

 

They only get in your way if you let them. There are ways to use them to guarantee that you'll get what you want (I outlined a few of them), even if it's a little bit later than you want. No one's entitled to have the things they want without working for them, and it's not JUST work: It's the right KIND of work. I'm saying, none of us should be like Sisyphus when it comes to collecting. Instead of going through the same old channels to get Transformers that we did when we were kids (as those are turning more and more into bottlenecks), we need to develop and seek out new ones CONSTANTLY.

 

I'm proposing that instead of people complaining about scalpers and potentially flaming the scalpers who admit that they're scalpers (not exactly me, I don't have the income to scalp), we start talking about ways to use them to our advantage.

 

It's more productive for us as collectors, it will allow us to get what we want in the best ways possible, and it will make this community FAR more valuable and it will give us an appreciation for scalpers that I think they deserve.

 

While you may not agree with me that scalpers are a valuable part of our hobby, almost no one here has given them a chance to shine by looking at the benefits they give us. Instead they get all of the blame for product shortages, when they're only a small part of it and even then, only for a limited amount of time per item.

 

 

There's a better way to see scalpers, not as scape goats, but as boons to our hobby. There's better way to use scalpers, not as scape goats, but as ways to help us get what we want. Just pushing a rock up a mountain over and over only for it to fall back down again isn't the way to go, and that's exactly what many of us are doing by insisting that going from store to store is the way buying TF's SHOULD be.

 

If you like the thrill of the hunt, then you just need to accept the frustrations that come with it. It's unreasonable to accept that anyone should stop making part of their living just because you want to play a game a specific way.

 

 

You sir have just lost this thread !!!

 

 

First let me say that I do hear (not understand because I don't believe any of that crap) what you are saying. Why should I learn the ways of dirtbags to change the way I shop. Where have you been meeting these "cool" guys who want to be our friends and will help me collect my figs ??? I've never even had them be courtious enough to even say hello while they are running through a store (classy) to get to the figs before anyone else.

 

Let's put in in an easier way to understand, although a little closer to home. I live in a village where there isn't much clean water, but you can go to a store to buy clean water with a limited supply for the whole area. When I get to the store to buy my water there's none left and the shop owner doesn't know when he will get more. On the way home I find someone on the side of the road, who got to the store right after the shelves were stocked and bought ALL of the tasty H20 to make a profit off me and others, and there's all of the towns water for sale at the highest price this person can squeeze out of me (because I want/need water) to "make a living". Now just down the road there is another man who doesn't have the retail space to have a big store but he can order water from the same distributer as my water store. He's selling water with a fair price to me and his store rivals. Now who do you think EVERYONE would rather buy water from ??? Who do you think EVERYONE will think is a dirtbag for taking advantage of us just to make a living, AND caused the shortage in the 1st place ??? Sure extream but the same thing none the less.

 

I'm a 47 yr old man with a family who has been buying toys most of my life from toy dealers/retail and I know the ups and downs. The only thing that has changed over all of those years IS the scalpers. Why live with a disease instead of going to the doctor and get it fixed ???

 

It's one of the things that makes collecting fun. Going from store to store and coming up empty handed for months after something has been released is not fun. With the main reason that this happens is because of scalpers. Anyone who has paid attention in a comic store knows the owner doesn't pay retail for what he sells, and could sell below retail if he chose to. Now get in good with him and you can save alot when buying large $ items or toys by the case.

 

There is little proof that a store will buy more of a toy just because they sell out in one day, especially if they are returned in 3 months and then can't be sold because whoever wanted said figure has bought them somewhere else. And if that just happens to be from a scalper (eBay, show, street fair...) it was because of what they did that forces you to resort to that. Any honest toy dealer/collector knows this so if you don't think we are giving your ideas a chance it's because we shouldn't have too. DUH

 

I have many retailers around and I've known for years that no matter where you live ONLY the stores in the "nice", "rich", areas will not only get new toys in 1st (because they do go through stock because there's more $ in the homes) but restock faster for the same reasons. In most other areas when figs are sold out the pegs are bare for weeks/months.

 

The only boon a scalper is too is themselves, plain & simple. Unless you suck up to one while you are still filling their pockets. Or related to one and they "throw you a bone" every once in a while.

 

IMHO, of course it just happens to be everyone else's unless they scalp. But I can't change your mind, I'm just getting something off my chest.