Scalper

[Famine]

I got BLOCKED off from the Star Wars figues because this hotwheels family was digging through trying to find the treasure hunts or whatnot, saying "We gotta find them, so we can sell them on ebay." They had a cart on either side of the isle, where the smaller SW section was, and he sent his daughter to the larger section to buy the clone pilots and take them to her car.

Rediculous.

Kevin

[Angry Ewok]

I was thinking about this, and I wonder how others feel about this issue.

What if I were to buy a case of some exclusive Star Wars collectable (Target Clones, Lava Vaders, etc, anything that is HTF/Rare/etc), not with the intent of profit, but instead with the intent on selling it to JD members, at price.

While people here locally would suffer from me buying these up, at the same time I'd be doing a service to folks here at JD - is there anything wrong with that?

[DoctorPadawan]

AE, that's where I get stuck too.  I can see the pros and cons from both perspectives and it's a situation where I think location might have a lot to do with it.

People in rural areas might have very limited options to get an exclusive figure or ship or doll or whatever.  If I was to walk into Mega-Lo-Mart and buy all 12 of a figure to sell to people on the boards or friends at cost, it would be doing them a favor, but in such a small area where collectors pretty much have one shot at getting things, I'd be causing them some problems because now they might not even see the things ever.

In a city, however, you've got more "competition" both in terms of the number of stores and in terms of number of collectors.  If you walk into Mega-Lo-Mart A and buy all 12 of their Megator figures to sell to people on the boards at cost, it is likely that the other 18 Mega-Lo-Marts in the immediate vicinity will have them and other area collectors would hopefully be able to get them there.  (I'm sure that this never happens thanks to people who buy everything at all the stores in a 100 mile radius and sell them on Ebay to finance their Cheetos habit).

It's really interesting area of consideration, and one that I'm not exactly sure where I stand on.  I'd be interested to hear other members' thoughts on this, as, like I said, I can see both positive and negative aspects from both sides of the argument.

[JesseVader08]

That has got to be one of the toughest questions in this hobby, and something I think about often.

I think I'm still trying to figure out an answer.

Certainly, I've benefitted often from this due to the incredible help from many JD'ers.  At least when you buy them for other collectors, you know they're going to guys genuinely interested in them for their collection, and not for eBay.  

If you didn't buy them, they could potentially be bought up by scalpers and sold for profit.  So no harm done, in my eyes.

But maybe not.  Perhaps, they would be purchased by collectors in your area.  In that case, you would be hurting your local collecting community.

So...

I think that if you bought a couple of those figures because a couple of fellow JD'ers specifically requested them, then I don't think you're doing anything wrong.  But if you buy every one of those rare figures off the shelf, not knowing if anyone here actually needed them...  I don't know.  Obviously, your heart is in the right place, but perhaps it would be more fair to leave them on the shelf, and just hope that they go to a good home.

Tough question, Brad.  Definitely one of those "grey areas".

[Nathan]

It has a lot to do with volume not just pricing.

In many ways buying a single figure and selling it for 200% profit does less damage than buying 20 and reselling them for cost at, say, a flea market or convention. Because you are limiting the availability for others. And if you simply must do that, at least get 4 from 5 different stores instead of cleaning out what may be a store's entire stock of that figure.

And like JesseVader said, even if you're grabbing multiples to swap/resell to fellow collectors you wouldn't want to buy up loads just "in case" somebody wants one. Because then you will likely be stuck with leftovers and then someone else will not get them.

[Darth_Anton]

The thing that gets me are the people who do pick up things and put them on e-bay to help fund their collection and get offended when other people call them scalpers. There is no fine line. You either scalp something or you don't. I don't think less of those people who do that, I just don't think they have any point to argue.

[Jesse James]

The thing that gets me are the people who do pick up things and put them on e-bay to help fund their collection and get offended when other people call them scalpers. There is no fine line. You either scalp something or you don't. I don't think less of those people who do that, I just don't think they have any point to argue.

Gee, that reminds me of someone...  Hmmm  A site I used to go to, long, long ago...

Anyway, yeah, I agree with that 100%, though I'd say I DO think less of those people since they often get beligerent when you call them out for what they are...  Their excuse has always been, "Well all I do is sell stuff on Ebay to fund my collecting habit...  See, I'm a collector!  Yay!"

I'm never any less amazed every time I hear that uttered by someone.  It's like it is ok since they're turning around and buying more stuff with their $.  If I scalped, I'd buy more stuff too with profits I made...  More SW figures, gas in my car, food...  It's still scalping though.  That point has evaded so many people though, who've tried to make that above argument.

[Morgbug]

So I have $10 burning a hole in my pocket here.  Who's got a Darktrooper to sell me?  Or less, I suppose, if you got it in one of the clearance baskets for about $2 or so.  Loose or carded is fine, at $2 per, I'll take one of each

Still waiting on the first offer on this.  I'll be happy with just one.  I'll even spring for regular retail.   

[JesseVader08]

So I have $10 burning a hole in my pocket here.  Who's got a Darktrooper to sell me?  Or less, I suppose, if you got it in one of the clearance baskets for about $2 or so.  Loose or carded is fine, at $2 per, I'll take one of each

Still waiting on the first offer on this.  I'll be happy with just one.  I'll even spring for regular retail.   

Oh, go suck on a grasshopper, will you?      

[DSJ™]

So I have $10 burning a hole in my pocket here.  Who's got a Darktrooper to sell me?  Or less, I suppose, if you got it in one of the clearance baskets for about $2 or so.  Loose or carded is fine, at $2 per, I'll take one of each

Still waiting on the first offer on this.  I'll be happy with just one.  I'll even spring for regular retail.   

Oh, go suck on a grasshopper, will you?      

I thought only grasshopper's were found in Saskabush!              

[Dressel Rebel]

I got BLOCKED off from the Star Wars figues because this hotwheels family was digging through trying to find the treasure hunts or whatnot, saying "We gotta find them, so we can sell them on ebay." They had a cart on either side of the isle, where the smaller SW section was, and he sent his daughter to the larger section to buy the clone pilots and take them to her car.

Rediculous.

Kevin

Soccer Moms.  Nascar Dads.  And now, coming to a WalMart near you, "Hotwheels Families."

[Matt_Fury]

Interesting point AE, but I wouldn't consider it scalping.

To me, scalping is purchasing a rare or potentially rare collectable for the express purpose of selling it for a profit.  I don't care if you're doing it strictly for the money or to "fund your collecting habit".  To me, the latter argument is actually a worse category....you could always buy the "rare" item and trade it to fill holes in your collection.