I have never purchased a toy for resale at a profit, and have left extremely high demand figures in stores for other collectors/children to find. Gas can easliy become a factor, how many stores have you hit in a single day looking for a single toy, I've gotten up to 8, and it take some time and gas to get between 8 stores in 3 cities.

 

I've never known of a need for a guy to buy 8 of the same toy for the purposes of his collection, but to each his own I suppose. Now if you truly think that this doesn't happen then you need to look around you and look at what's going on in front of your eyes. Is it mysterious that though there are toys that cannot be purchased in retail, though they are supposedly out there somewhere, yet you can find no less than 500 of them on eBay for 2-5x retail pricing. About two weeks ago I was at Target looking for whatever was out, I wanted a new toy damn it, and there was a guy in the TF section with a shopping cart literally taking every single figure on the shelf, I noticed up to 5 of the same one in his cart, and when I tried to at least look what was still on the shelf he did his best to get in the way, and proceeded to unload the shelves into his cart even quicker...but he was doing it for the benefit of mankind right?

I'm not saying its the way-to-go, just by WM Dictionary's definition, that seems to be their definition of scalper.

 

Its all just so subjective and silly to discuss.

 

There's no debate. Get Earth to stop buying the secondary market toys on eBay. That's the solution. All else is a few people who get screwed over yelling at one another, which sucks even more.

 

This and the 'KO's are bad or good?' threads. Why do people start them?

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: scalp: to buy and sell so as to make small quick profits

 

by that definition, we're all scalpers or have been at some point. You use the word like a scarlet letter because you just hate he got to it first and now you can't pay retail or less for it.

 

i don't get the big debate on all forums. Is it denial of our own individual scalping here and there, or maybe self-righteousness?

WRONG! I've never sold a TF in my life. Why? Because I buy them because I'm collecting them :P

 

And why do people start them, well, both me and Pete have proved you wrong. Not everyone buys and sells them. Most people I know who collect TFs just buy them because they want them, and that's it. End of...

Since Hasbro announced back at the end of October that MP Starscream was showing up in stores, I have made at least 100 trips (and I'm being literal, here) to various Wal-Marts in my area to find one. Despite this, I have never, ever, seen Walscream in the wild. All indications are that MP Starscream is a relatively rare figure, with many Wal-Marts never even getting what is probably the most sought after Wal-Mart exclusive figure ever. Last night I was looking for Walscream on ebay and came across a seller that had NINE available for sale.

 

No, scalpers don't exist at all.

 

Anyone who buys something at retail for the express purpose of turning a profit on eBay or elsewhere = a douche-sucking ass bandit whose mom gives it up at after-prom parties for heroin

 

While the libertarian in me believes that we all have the right to buy and sell goods for whatever price they will fetch in a free market, the TF fan in me agrees with El Padre Grande.

No, scalpers don't exist at all.

The greatest trick the scalper ever pulled...

No, scalpers don't exist at all.

The greatest trick the scalper ever pulled...

*waves hand*

 

"These aren't the scalpers you're looking for"

Scalpers weren't real. I just imagined them. But they came into our world through the Imagination Doorway.

 

Seriously though, when you see unopened store cases of TF's going up on eBay, there's no explanation for that other than scalping. But I don't think scalping is the real issue so much as hoarding. Granted, the two almost always go hand in hand but I think the hoarding and depleting supply is what causes the problems.

It's fans trying to profit at the expense of other fans/buyers and have convinced themselves "it's a business". This is the nature of the problem regardless of whether it fits the exact definition of "scalp" or any other word. (We also 'misuse' the term "knockoff" around here too! :thumb)

Scalpers weren't real. I just imagined them. But they came into our world through the Imagination Doorway.

 

Seriously though, when you see unopened store cases of TF's going up on eBay, there's no explanation for that other than scalping. But I don't think scalping is the real issue so much as hoarding. Granted, the two almost always go hand in hand but I think the hoarding and depleting supply is what causes the problems.

Oh, forgot to mention that, too. The cat that had those NINE Walscreams for sale had, in the product description, mind you, something to the effect "These are MISB. They have never been on the shelves and came from an unopened case."

 

Waste of a sperm cell, that guy.

Need real proof that scalpers exist outside the realm of the TF universe? LOOK AT HOUSING!

 

They try to be PC and call it speculation, and the legal term for it is "flipping", but that is a great example of scalping.

 

1) Douchenugget buys a house sight unseen for $150,000

 

2) Douchenugget holds house for 6-12mos to get tax writeoff or complete agreement from escrow

 

3) Douchenugget sells house for $200,000, turning a $50,000 profit and escalating property values.

 

Look what scalping did the the housing market. Of course, there's also the thing with bad sub-prime lending, but you could also technically count that as scalping, as some lenders where duping signers to accept a higher rate than what they could have qualified for.

 

Scalpers are everywhere. Any high profile concert, sporting event or housing market you go to... they'll be there. And they lurk in the toy aisles as well. Hell, I wouldn't doubt that they flip merchandise on eBay!

 

1) Douchenugget buys a 2008 Bumblebee for $20 on eBay

 

2) Douchenugget holds figure for 1-2wks to make sure figure has low amount of listings

 

3) Douchenugget sells figure for $30 on eBay, turning a $10 profit and encouraging more scalpers.

 

It's a sick, sad world.