You know what is funny...when tracks and meister came out last year my two walmarts were clogged with them for weeks past christmas....that's how i got two of each....i had more trouble finding swindle then then tracks or meister....now swindle is EVERYWHERE!  LOL

This sickens me, it really does. From no Tracks to horde-tastic

 

Last I checked $9.92 X 3 = $29.76 CAD. :roll

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TRANSFORMERS-ALTERNATOR...1QQcmdZViewItem

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I love how the auction title says "RARE!" so prominently and then there are stacks of them in the pic.  All I can figure from the pic is that either a) the seller is lying and they're not rare at all, or b) he horded them all for scalping and that's why they're so rare.

 

I feel your guys' pain - I've been fortunate on the rare Alts to find them all at least once so I haven't had to go the online route, but the only times I've snatched up the rare Alts after buying one for myself (and *only* one for myself) was to sell it on here for straight cost plus straight shipping - usually with a buyer lined up first.  No scalping here.

Stores are only allowed to get wholesale prices for which they do not pay sales tax on if their stock is held up for resale.  Not sure what the time requirements are, if any, but in terms of the spirit of the law, I believe they're not allowed to hoard it and then sell it later.  All other little guys like most of us are technically consumers and/or investors and thus allowed to hoard and sell whenever it suits us.  This is not to say that the seller of the stacks of Tracks isn't being kind of an obvious ass about his assertion that Tracks is "RARE!" but it's to be expected.  On the flipside, if people hold out for the rereleases, then this seller will be stuck with a whole lotta copies of the same transformer hehe..

If the scalpers are smart and they get 0 bids. Then they probably have the receipt handy.

yeah when i get the alt tracks in the case i ordered im gonna sell him for cost on here or send him to ebay if not i hate how they chose this line to scalp (even tho its an obvious choice...:( .....)

Ehh, buck up.  Rereleases next year -- the distribution was WAYYY too spotty, even in the major US market overall.  I mean, yeah they don't HAVE to re-release, but while the collectors don't necessarily exercise the greatest amount of pull, Hasbro still knows what it would cost them if they don't.  (I like the new bubble packaging anyway.)

 

Buying from scalpers is like Global Thermonuclear War.  The only way to win is not to play.  (Now excuse me while I plot the best way to scalp some of my reissues.. ^o^)  Beware that selling "at cost" is rather nebulous since it also costs gas and time (which is money) to shop around our local areas for all these things.

I love how the auction title says "RARE!" so prominently and then there are stacks of them in the pic.  All I can figure from the pic is that either a) the seller is lying and they're not rare at all, or b) he horded them all for scalping and that's why they're so rare.

 

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Every eBay auction in America has either "RARE", "L@@K!" or "MINT".  Those are stupid.  Especially "MINT".  That drives me nuts seeing that because most of the time the seller thinks that MINT means "it works even though it's scratched" (games for example).

I've given up hunting, and I now rely on fellow TFans, or dumb luck.  No more of this 2 hours of driving for nothing.

I love how the auction title says "RARE!" so prominently and then there are stacks of them in the pic.  All I can figure from the pic is that either a) the seller is lying and they're not rare at all, or b) he horded them all for scalping and that's why they're so rare.

 

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Every eBay auction in America has either "RARE", "L@@K!" or "MINT".  Those are stupid.  Especially "MINT".  That drives me nuts seeing that because most of the time the seller thinks that MINT means "it works even though it's scratched" (games for example).

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I don't know why those numbnuts do that, it doesn't get my attention and I never use it as a search term.

If the scalpers are smart and they get 0 bids. Then they probably have the receipt handy.

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Depends on where they go.  Wal-Mart in my town has a 30-day policy on many items, including toys--you don't get it back there in time, you're screwed.  Serves the scalpers right.  I also find it interesting how one guy will have four or five "rare" Alts (like Decepticharge and Prowl) and I realize, to get those they had to cover a lot of ground.  Reminds me of a scalper who used to be in my area.  He had run a card/comic/collectible shop in Peru, IL.  Now this guy would get up early in the morning, be on the road by 5am, go all the way to the Quad Cities and hit every store there, then come flying back through all the way to the Indiana border and back to Peru, snapping up every chase figure, every rare toy, anything he could get his grubby, greasy hands on to sell it online (once his brick and mortar folded).  It took some doing, but by making some friends in the stores in my area I and some of my buddies were able to impede his progress, once the stores knew who he was and what he was doing.  I haven't seen his rusty van in almost three years now, so I think he may have moved on.  Of course with gas prices these days I doubt he'd turn much of a profit anyway.  Now aside from that I've been pretty lucky, I've had a shot at every Alt so far and have all the ones that are out now (including Tracks off the first release) and I know there are places I can get more of some, like Wheeljack.  I could snap him up, throw him on Ebay and try to get more cash out of him-but why?  I really wouldn't make enough to go to that trouble.  I'd prolly be happier grabbing him for kitbashing purposes.  Unless someone wants one?  I can get him for cost plus shipping to your location.