This is for the scalpers!

[siekone]

You know who I am I am the one who told you to piss off and did not spend a dime of my money with you guys! There is a time to make a little extra cash for helping someone out and there is no sense in charging double for a toy that you bought multiples of and played it of with the I need to make my gas money excuse! Well F you! I wasted my gas trying to find the toys you went and bought so whatever, I did have some fellow fans help me out with some stuff but if anybody here has a bulk head for a good deal my 7 year old son would like that to complete his collection. Thanks. and just remember I nor my friends will never purchase any thing again from you and you know who I am talking to!

[MegaMoonMan]

...care to elaborate? Did something happen at Botcon?

[Baccala1976]

I assume you're talking about Animated figures and people charging double what they paid for in the stores. I get that people spent their time going to stores looking for these figures and I'm willing to compensate about $5 above cost for it. I think anything beyond that isn't worth it at this point because these figures will be available in mass market retail in about 2 months.

Some prices for Animated in the Dealers room was crazy as well. Someone was trying to sell a $20 Megs for $50!

[Blackstar]

I'm SO glad Deejay hooked me up a week ago before the plague descended on Cincinnati. I knew this was going to happen.

[Uncrazimatic]

big ups to deejay! he hooked me up also.. picked up the toys at the convention.

[optimusprimadana]

Here we go again with cry babies. MISB Alt Rodimus cost $25 and all those I saw in the dealer room was at least $75 including the TFW booth. Now I'm not knocking them but you purchase if you want. If people don't want to purchase then they don't but how is that your concern? Don't interfere in others sale. Were you bold enough to sell it the supposed scalper? I bet you were not!

You purchase the item for $10 + TAX. You take your time and use your gas driving to find the figures and then you provide a service for others. Without the so called scalpers, a lot of fans wouldn't have exclusives.

[transformers32]

hey i just got a animated bulkhead at wal marts off of ferguson its about 15 to 20 mins from here and they had 3 or 4 left then they had a couple at toys r us off of glen hill ave. sorry i didnt read this untill now or i would of picked one up for you.

[siekone]

Here we go again with cry babies. MISB Alt Rodimus cost $25 and all those I saw in the dealer room was at least $75 including the TFW booth. Now I'm not knocking them but you purchase if you want. If people don't want to purchase then they don't but how is that your concern? Don't interfere in others sale. Were you bold enough to sell it the supposed scalper? I bet you were not!

You purchase the item for $10 + TAX. You take your time and use your gas driving to find the figures and then you provide a service for others. Without the so called scalpers, a lot of fans wouldn't have exclusives.

Whatever ! without the so called scalpers I would have found them when I went and looked for them. Plus these jerk offs were charging double, so yeah if that qualifies me as a cry baby then grab a cup because I am balling my eyes out!

[TreKain]

Im here with no car, so I cant leave the convention to go hunting. But I pretty much expected that even if i did have the means to go hunting for the toys here it would be an aggravating experience. I preordered the toys from HTS and got them for less than I would at retail, so as tempting as it is seeing them on sale in the dealer room, and people playing with them around every corner, i'm ok waiting for the delivery from HTS.

That being said...i agree that it is a little annoying that people would clean out these stores and sell them for more than double what was paid minutes ago. On the other hand everyone really should have expected this to be the case walking into the con.

[Deceptichage]

Without the so called scalpers, a lot of fans would have exclusives.

Fixed!

[Max-prime]

the only reason these sclaper get away with this is because we let them I mean I wonder how much Animated stuff would be on sale Sunday if everyone just left it alone. No one to blame but yourselves people I can understand the Ehobby Omega getting scalped that was a gimme from the moment it hit the front page .... but Animated come on.

I'm not totally mad at them though thanks to the scalpers and the people that can't wait a couple months buying out all the stock in these TEST markets so quickly retailers will probably flood the selves once the release date hits.

[shadow panther]

Hasbro or the club store should have had animated for sale. i dont mind paying a couple extra dollars but double the price??? piss off.

as for scalping the exclusives. i saw someone yesterday in line pick up 16 box sets. 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how the fuck do you reserve 16 box sets???

[videriant]

Siekone, I put up my bulkhead for $22 on the boards two days ago and no one's contacted me yet. I've PM'ed you my information.

[Draven]

I hope you get one Seikone, the dealer room this year is ridiculous for overpriced stuff. I've seen Premium Movie Leaders for $75. Ludicrous.

[SunnyDay77]

Hasbro or the club store should have had animated for sale. i dont mind paying a couple extra dollars but double the price??? piss off.

as for scalping the exclusives. i saw someone yesterday in line pick up 16 box sets. 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how the fuck do you reserve 16 box sets???

This is ridiculous. Especially these sets are going for an insane amount on Ebay. I am surprised he didn't get "scalped" by the attendees at Botcon - how do you walk away with 16 boxed sets and nobody says anything or the convention workers don't say anything? That is what sucks.

I don't have a problem with people hooking each other up and charging extra for their effort - Chris and others on here have taken care of me. But I do think to just clean out stores and then turn around in a days time and sell them for double or triple the cost is really stupid, and I think Hasbro should take hard look at the dealer's room and penalize anyone who is marking up current run lines by more than a reasonable, set price. I can see markups on discontinued line, but these dealers suck and are getting out of hand.

[Vangelus]

I got Prowl and Lockdown for $15 and $16 respectively, I seriously lucked out (that's basically my retail price). Almost all the other deluxes I saw on Friday were 20 or 25 bucks. :(

[shadow panther]

This is ridiculous. Especially these sets are going for an insane amount on Ebay. I am surprised he didn't get "scalped" by the attendees at Botcon - how do you walk away with 16 boxed sets and nobody says anything or the convention workers don't say anything? That is what sucks.

I don't have a problem with people hooking each other up and charging extra for their effort - Chris and others on here have taken care of me. But I do think to just clean out stores and then turn around in a days time and sell them for double or triple the cost is really stupid, and I think Hasbro should take hard look at the dealer's room and penalize anyone who is marking up current run lines by more than a reasonable, set price. I can see markups on discontinued line, but these dealers suck and are getting out of hand.

again if Hasbro or the Club store was offering animated and premiums instead of the god awful ammount of shelf warmers that they seem to have enough of. these scalpers wouldnt be getting away with these out of hand prices.

[Darkwing48]

Scalpers should be banned from the community and botcon. We are here and at Botcon for our love for the Transformers, not Lazy-Unfair captialism. (I know how it it spelled, but its how I feel when people greed interferes with the Laissez-Faire). Scalpers don't work hard to get the items than a buyer. But if you keep inflating the market. You will kill (the demand for) it.

[TF@TM]

This is ridiculous. Especially these sets are going for an insane amount on Ebay. I am surprised he didn't get "scalped" by the attendees at Botcon - how do you walk away with 16 boxed sets and nobody says anything or the convention workers don't say anything? That is what sucks.


You sure the guy didn't work for a shop, as dealers can normal buy a boxset of boxsets at the conventions.

[flywheels]

I hope you get one Seikone, the dealer room this year is ridiculous for overpriced stuff. I've seen Premium Movie Leaders for $75. Ludicrous.

This year? I thought every year the dealer room was overpriced!!

I kinda thought last year stuff would be more expensive than normal thanks to the movie and the interest it drummed up, but then again I'm not surprised to hear prices are still high.

Makes me wonder how some people are able to afford this hobby w/ the escalating secondary market prices and the way the economy is.

[unicronhq]

people that have money to blow it will do so ...economy or no economy issues....plastic crack needs must be met after all :crazy:

i definitely have seen the board switch between the "hey hook a fellow memeber up" that you usually see....to the FTW it is now time to make $$$ off of botcon......

[Baccala1976]

Wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at the dealersat Botcon. One booth was selling Animated Bumblebee for $50!

$50 PEOPLE!!!!!! THAT IS INSANE FOR A $10 FIGURE THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 2 MONTHS AT THE STORE.

[aprim]

And the dealers were also buying addons and boxsets for more then cost.
And taking heavy trade damage if you wanted store credit.

[NIDARAM12]

Wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at the dealersat Botcon. One booth was selling Animated Bumblebee for $50!

$50 PEOPLE!!!!!! THAT IS INSANE FOR A $10 FIGURE THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 2 MONTHS AT THE STORE.

So what are you so worried/mad about then?

[Baccala1976]

So what are you so worried/mad about then?

Not worried or mad dude, just stating my opinion that $50 is an insane price is all.

[Chaos Muffin]

<still waiting for the stores to stock the animated goodies

a little patience, yeaaaaah yeah

[shadow panther]

I am very cheesed off the way Hasbro handled animated. I mean come on they had to know this was going to happen. If the damn club store sold newer stuff instead of all the shelfwarming crap that they had this wouldnt of happened. I saw a dealer pop into the dealer room Friday Afternoon during setup with 9 TRU bags bursting at the seems, He had a big ole grin on his face. I wanted to knock that grin right off his face with a sledge hammer.

[Velcrohead]

Ever think that part of the reason you couldn't find TF:A toys had nothing to do with "scalpers"? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Cincy suddenly had an influx of about a thousand TransFans, almost all of whom knew about the test market?? So you realize that they're to blame as well, right?

And do you really expect someone to re-sell these to you at the exact same MSRP that they paid? Get real. They charge these prices because people will pay them (and judging from a lot of your pics, you paid.) If you wanted them that bad, you should've been there when they got there, plain and simple. Stop whining because someone beat you to the punch. Hell, what was TRU supposed to do, telepathically divine that you were coming and place a copy of each figure on hold until you got there?

Oh...and as far as scalping hurting demand... if all the toys disappear from the retailers' shelves, they'll consider them a sound investment and order more. In a twisted way, it actually helps.

(P.S. I've never sold a Transformer in my life, so no, I'm not a "scalper." Just someone who has for some time understood the economics of the hobby.)

[KING KONVOY]

Ever think that part of the reason you couldn't find TF:A toys had nothing to do with "scalpers"? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Cincy suddenly had an influx of about a thousand TransFans, almost all of whom knew about the test market?? So you realize that they're to blame as well, right?

And do you really expect someone to re-sell these to you at the exact same MSRP that they paid? Get real. They charge these prices because people will pay them (and judging from a lot of your pics, you paid.) If you wanted them that bad, you should've been there when they got there, plain and simple. Stop whining because someone beat you to the punch. Hell, what was TRU supposed to do, telepathically divine that you were coming and place a copy of each figure on hold until you got there?

Oh...and as far as scalping hurting demand... if all the toys disappear from the retailers' shelves, they'll consider them a sound investment and order more. In a twisted way, it actually helps.

(P.S. I've never sold a Transformer in my life, so no, I'm not a "scalper." Just someone who has for some time understood the economics of the hobby.)

Let them know!

[NotFastEnuff]

You know, these thread come up EVERY DAMNED YEAR!!! I'm sick and tired of listening to people bitch and whine. If it upsets you that much, DON'T BUY THE STUFF!!!! It's that simple. Quit clogging the board with this crap. WE DON'T CARE!!! If you'd taken 10 minutes to drive around Cinci, you'd have found them. I left the show, and within 15 minutes had all of wave 1 and Ratchet from wave 2. Damn that was hard. It took me 2 stores. I didn't see any scalpers, dealers, or other convention goers. The dealer room is full of what? DEALERS!!! These are people that many times pay retail for a toy that is in demand, and pay a large sum of money to be in the dealer room to make sure whiney ass people have something to buy and bitch about. If you don't want to pay what people want, DON'T BUY IT!!!

PS: I'm not a dealer, but I have become friends with at least half of them there. Oh, and the comments about everyone in the dealer room being low life scumbags with the glowing exception of BBTS, you might want to remember that TFW had a booth set up and at least 1/3 of the dealers are members on this board. You lose at the interwebs.

[Dragonclaw]

While I fully expected it I do find some of the reaction funny.

Personally I do think purchases like the 16 box sets more than excessive...especialy when there were attendees that missed out because of it...and I've heard that wasn't the only insanely large qty to 1 person...and the stories of "fans" in line talking about nothing but the killing they were going to make on Ebay. I have no issue with the person that buys an extra set to try and recoup...Botcon is damned expensive...but there is a line where it becomes ludicrous when crossed...

As for the scalping of Animated, personally I'm not a fan of the line so it's not that big a deal to me (at SDCC last year there were people doing the same with movie figures...some guy had Arcees for $85!)...while I may not agree with Animated wave 1 & 2 basically being more Botcon exclusives while the rest of the country pays scalper prices (hard to just "hit the local Cincinatti stores" when I'm in California...) so IF I was a big Animated fan I think I'd be a bit cheesed off.

[Max-prime]

I can see where both are coming from dealers need to get theirs fans want to get theirs as well. I guess just pick you battles animated is 2 months away no need to pay 4 to 5 times retail just ignore them and move along. If you mad at the dealers that are buying out entire stocks then just don't buy and let him eat it.

As for the dealers you guys need to be realistic and quit contributing to what destoying the hobby. Especially if you want to do this for any extended amount of time.

[siekone]

You know, these thread come up EVERY DAMNED YEAR!!! I'm sick and tired of listening to people bitch and whine. If it upsets you that much, DON'T BUY THE STUFF!!!! It's that simple. Quit clogging the board with this crap. WE DON'T CARE!!! If you'd taken 10 minutes to drive around Cinci, you'd have found them. I left the show, and within 15 minutes had all of wave 1 and Ratchet from wave 2. Damn that was hard. It took me 2 stores. I didn't see any scalpers, dealers, or other convention goers. The dealer room is full of what? DEALERS!!! These are people that many times pay retail for a toy that is in demand, and pay a large sum of money to be in the dealer room to make sure whiney ass people have something to buy and bitch about. If you don't want to pay what people want, DON'T BUY IT!!!

PS: I'm not a dealer, but I have become friends with at least half of them there. Oh, and the comments about everyone in the dealer room being low life scumbags with the glowing exception of BBTS, you might want to remember that TFW had a booth set up and at least 1/3 of the dealers are members on this board. You lose at the interwebs.


Same go's for you buddy! If your sick of these threads don't post in them!
Some people did not have the luxury of a car to drive around and find any and it fucking sucks that some of your friends were overpricing there toys to real transformers fans! I made freinds with some dealers to and you know what they hooked me up on a reasonable price that I was more than fine with but to charge twice as much or even more is ridiculous! This isn't a bitching fest here this is a message to the scumbags that were being scumbags and they know who they are if you wan't to take there side than we know where you stand!

[shadow panther]

Same go's for you buddy! If your sick of these threads don't post in them!
Some people did not have the luxury of a car to drive around and find any and it fucking sucks that some of your friends were overpricing there toys to real transformers fans! I made freinds with some dealers to and you know what they hooked me up on a reasonable price that I was more than fine with but to charge twice as much or even more is ridiculous! This isn't a bitching fest here this is a message to the scumbags that were being scumbags and they know who they are if you wan't to take there side than we know where you stand!


yeah what he said

[Twin Twist]

<still waiting for the stores to stock the animated goodies

a little patience, yeaaaaah yeah

But but I want it nooooooow.

[shadow panther]

this morning i saw another dealer mosey on in the dealer room loaded with Animated, big ole smile on his face. when i left the dealer room around noon to go home, he wasnt so smiley as his table was still loaded with unsold animated stuff.

[Liokaiser]

I'm so tired of threads like this. I'm done with it.

[Macross7]

I personally don't see the need for someone to get upset about not getting Animated at the con. These figures will be plenty in a month or so. Sure it would be nice to get them early, but is waiting a month really going to kill you? I guarantee that in a few months, people will not find seeing Animated in stores all that special. Same with the movie line last year. Before they were released, it was so awesome to find them. Now, you see them & go 'ehh'.

The only thing people would be justified getting mad at scalpers is with exclusives that might not be found later.

You could have some fun with the dealers. Go up to them and ask how much for the Animated figures. You hear the price, start to go for the wallet & then tell him 'Eh. I'll just wait a few weeks and pay retail for them.'

[Weirdwolf]

I saw so many people buying the Animated stuff at double the price, and was astonished. I mean really. Insane Galvatron and I ran into a Walmart on the way home and easily scored Animated figures AT RETAIL price. I gave $9.96 ea. for Lockdown and Prowl. They had plenty of Bulkheads, and Prime/Megatron 2-packs. Amazing what a little thought before you spend and a little patience gets you. :p The only people I could understand paying the inflated price for the figs were overseas folks. Their wait to get Animated will probably be even longer than it will be here the States.

[aprim]

Well it wasn't only dealers, someone who clearly walked in to the hotel with a bag full of animated figuers was charging 18 bucks for prowl and 40 for voyager's .
If it wasn't for King Konvy (thanks buddy) who charged me retail I wound not of brought my son home a Lock Down and Prime - Megs 2 pack.
I gave him 5 bucks on top just for his efforts , gas whatever.

ANyway its not just dealers.

[Draven]

This year's dealer room was, quite frankly, Satan's World Of Scalpers.
blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
blahblahYou lose at the interwebs.
And you lose at manners. In future I'd suggest you stay away from threads that will annoy you, and learn some goddam politeness while you're at it.

[NotFastEnuff]

Same go's for you buddy! If your sick of these threads don't post in them!
Some people did not have the luxury of a car to drive around and find any and it fucking sucks that some of your friends were overpricing there toys to real transformers fans! I made freinds with some dealers to and you know what they hooked me up on a reasonable price that I was more than fine with but to charge twice as much or even more is ridiculous! This isn't a bitching fest here this is a message to the scumbags that were being scumbags and they know who they are if you wan't to take there side than we know where you stand!

I'll add 2 things to this, and I'm done. 1. My friends that were dealers there with animated were the ones selling deluxes for $15 and sold out within 10 minutes of showing up with them each time they got their hands on them. Look at Deejay's feedback here. 2. Did you haggle? My son wanted the 2 pack. We went to a guy that had them marked $40. My son asked what's the least he'd take? $30. If you figure $20 for the toy, I know tax at home would be $2. I'd have at least a gallon of gas in going to get it. That comes to $25. A $5 profit is reasonable. Every dealer I talked to (save for 1) was willing to haggle on prices. If a price is too high, ask for a lower one. If they won't budge, walk. If a dealer is a true scapler, boycot them, and tell everyone else to. This is the nature of any toy show, whether it's TFs or anything else.

Was this your first Botcon? I'm sorry you were shocked in the dealer room. You should have been there last year and seen what movie toys that had been released nationally were selling for. It's part of a toy show.

[Ra88]

Fun story: A few friends of mine from another board were snarling at one of the worse scalpers, and he gave one of them a free Prowl to leave him alone. Thought that was amusing.

[Basketball Jones]

Personally, the US MP Starscream exchange and group MP Megatron purchase were both examples of how the community can band together to ensure everyone has the figures they want to purchase.

[siekone]

DUDE! Stop posting you make no sense and obviously do not understand the thread! You are so far from what I am saying here .


I'll add 2 things to this, and I'm done. 1. My friends that were dealers there with animated were the ones selling deluxes for $15 and sold out within 10 minutes of showing up with them each time they got their hands on them. Look at Deejay's feedback here. 2. Did you haggle? My son wanted the 2 pack. We went to a guy that had them marked $40. My son asked what's the least he'd take? $30. If you figure $20 for the toy, I know tax at home would be $2. I'd have at least a gallon of gas in going to get it. That comes to $25. A $5 profit is reasonable. Every dealer I talked to (save for 1) was willing to haggle on prices. If a price is too high, ask for a lower one. If they won't budge, walk. If a dealer is a true scapler, boycot them, and tell everyone else to. This is the nature of any toy show, whether it's TFs or anything else.

Was this your first Botcon? I'm sorry you were shocked in the dealer room. You should have been there last year and seen what movie toys that had been released nationally were selling for. It's part of a toy show.

[trebleshot]

Quite a few people were complaining about the unusually high pricing at the dealer room this year, myself included. There were/are specific examples that I won't go into detail about, but they weren't Animated toys.

I do expect the dealers to have higher-than-retail prices at the con, but I was hoping for better deals as well. I found a few, but not nearly as many as I did 2 years ago. On the other hand, a few of my friends got some amazing deals this year, in spite of the generally higher prices.

[Velcrohead]

I personally can't see going to Botcon to purchase new toys anyway. Seems like a waste. When I went to Botcon, it was to see Peter Cullen and to purchase toys that you can't get by walking into Wal-Mart. And since I'm a "loose figure" type of guy, cruising the parts bins netted me a lot of figures that I'd been wanting forever. Granted my G1 Prime had no fists and no roller, but what the hell, right? I pieced together a complete G1 Starscream for like $20. Picked up Windcharger and a couple of Insecticons for a dollar each. Got a loose and slightly yellowed G1 Jazz for $5, and same price for Slag. All in all I spent maybe $200 and came home with a sackful of G1 goodness and had a great time hanging out in the dealer room, talking, shopping, haggling, and then running into Simon and Don and getting them to autograph a bunch of my comics for free. All the expensive MISB and currently retail-available stuff I left sitting on the tables.

Double or triple price for toys that I can get for MSRP in a month? Get the F outta here. You pay that, that's YOUR fault.

[funkatron101]

Here is the thing. It's not worth it for a dealer to charge $12 for a $10 toy. You sell 10 toys, and you only get $20 for your trouble, they most likely went to 4-5 stores, asked multiple store employees, etc.. I understood why they tried to get $20 for them. I wasn't going to pay that, and I'm a little disappointed that Foster and I went to about 5 different stores with no luck, but I got over it.

If you don't like it, wait until they are officially released, or haggle. It's as simple as that.

[Dragonclaw]

Yeah, I would NEVER have purchased Animated at the 'con...to me anyway, the convention is for finding things that I can't normally find locally or items I don't want to plunk down on shipping for...and to find custom fodder and the occasional token old loose toy for my son. Last year was the same, but with Classics instead of Animated...

[cromagnus]

Yeah, I would NEVER have purchased Animated at the 'con...to me anyway, the convention is for finding things that I can't normally find locally or items I don't want to plunk down on shipping for...and to find custom fodder and the occasional token old loose toy for my son. Last year was the same, but with Classics instead of Animated...
Dude, right on the money. I was so tired of seeing animated/encore and henkei everywhere and I actually like those lines!

[Dragonclaw]

I know some of the east coast dealers pitch a fit whenever the talk of the 'con going out west comes up, but I LOVED the variety that the Pasadena show had...There wasn't nearly as much of the "currently on the shelf" stuff and a lot more oddball stuff like the jumbo seeker bootlegs and Toy Arena's huge spread (and GREAT deals!)

[hockeygamer40]

big ups to deejay! he hooked me up also.. picked up the toys at the convention.

Hope he gets my Starscream from Hong Kong to me soon and then I can leave positive feedback too!

[hockeygamer40]

Hasbro or the club store should have had animated for sale. i dont mind paying a couple extra dollars but double the price??? piss off.

I asked Fun Publications if we were allowed to put out Animated, and they said yes. I also asked if Hasbro Toy Shoppe was going to have any, and they could not answer it. Therefore, we had Animated at our booth.

Today -- the day after BotCon. The stores were cleaned out except for some Bulkheads, one Prime (Deluxe), one Prowl, three Starscreams (plus one broken), one Megatron, one Lockdown, and some two-packs. No BB anywhere.

Good job cleaning us out and sending us to Wave 2! :) Can't wait to pick up Ratchet and Blackarachnia now if the scalpers in the area don't get there first.

[Hollywood Hoist]

I'll join in on this. I talked to someone about the $20 for a deluxe animated. They had the usual "you know what I had to go through to get these".

It didn't really occur to me until a few minutes later when I thought. YOU DIDN"T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT. So that excuse is essentially BS. If it was such a big deal, don't go. Say what it really was, you wanted to make money that's all, I'll have a lot more respect for you.

that being said I paid nearly $40 for a deluxe BB animated, before I knew they'd be out in Ohio for the con, and I was happy paying that price because it meant I'd be able to get it signed. I thank the person who sold it to me. He offered me a service and was up front with me about all of it. He was a person I respected. I knew he was making some extra money and he said he was.

[Hoolagrin]

I drove every where and couldn't find animated. I hit almost eight stores.

Walking around the dealer room I overheard a dealer on the phone saying "They got more animated? Buy them all!"

I tried to haggle with a dealer for a deluxe prime. He had them for twenty. I offered $15 and he looked at me like I was crazy. This was Sunday.

I usually don't care about scalpers, but that line about "buy them all" really pissed me off.

[Draco Nomicon]

For all of you who are complaining about the prices, there is one thing that you really must remember. If even ONE person is willing to pay that price, then the price isn't too much. If you don't like the price being asked, don't buy it. If EVERYONE does that, the price will go down.

The dealers that go to Botcon are there to make money, so a lot of the time they will intentionally price things high, to see if someone will buy it for that price. But here's the big secret folks: instead of just getting mad at the dealer for the high price, make a counter offer. When it was all said and done I probably spent about $50 less on the stuff I went home with than what the dealers I bought from were asking. That might not seem like much but when you consider that I only spent about $200 outside of the hasbro store....that's 20% that I didn't have to spend, all because I thought to ask. "Hey you wouldn't by any chance be willing to go a little lower on that would you?"

[trebleshot]

You may want to reread some of the posts a little better. You'll find that several of us did that very thing, but it fell on deaf ears most of the time.

[funkatron101]

You may want to reread some of the posts a little better. You'll find that several of us did that very thing, but it fell on deaf ears most of the time.

Yeah...Oh well, the ebay market will decide on if it was a mistake or not. I know they had a bunch left over when the dealer room closed.

I think it all depends on the quantity. If I picked up one or two Animated toys for one of you guys, I would just sell it to you for the price + tax + a buck for the trouble. But if I got a whole case of them, I would want to sell them for as much as I could.

I was personally hoping to pick up 7 deluxe toys at Toys R Us. I have a $10 off coupon of a $50 or more purchase. I was going to sell 5 of them for about $12-13 each. Then I would have two toys for free. But they were all gone, and we didn't find a Toys R Us until we were leaving for home.

[sunlink]

It's amazing that people want things cheap yet they want the toys now; even though the rest of the U.S. isn't getting them til June. Is having patience really that hard?

HTS + 20% off + free shipping for TF:A is a freaking bargain!

[trebleshot]

It's amazing that people want things cheap yet they want the toys now; even though the rest of the U.S. isn't getting them til June. Is having patience really that hard?

HTS + 20% off + free shipping for TF:A is a freaking bargain!

Which is exactly what I did (well, mine was for 10% and free s&h). I wasn't referring to Animated toys, though. I was talking about discontinued or non-US lines.

I did splurge on Lockdown because I think he's awesum and worth $16 to have one now. I'm still getting one in June with the rest of wave 1 anyway. I'll probably give that one to my nephew for his birthday.

[Obvious Prime]

....What? I got Screamer for $30. That's not that bad.

[Washu]

I was in Cinnci from Monday on. The toys were all over the shelves at all toys stores. The reason why the toys sold out, is because of all the Botcon people. Not scalpers. There were so many toys shipped to Cinnci and surrounding areas that no one could buy them out.

I bought a few, and as I did a employee got another case out and restocked the shelves. They had... TONS.

Am I upset about scalpers? No. Is is stupid and greedy to ask more than $20-$25ish for a Deluxe, Yes.

But again, in no way was it the dealers faults. As you can see in posts in this threads, there are still TONS of animated toys left in surrounding areas. I drove out 20 minutes of downtown on MONDAY (after Botcon) and still found Wal Marts with all Deluxe and 2-packs etc. Only Megatron and Starscream were gone. If I drove out another 10-15 minutes I bet I would find them.

They are still there... waiting.

The real reason is your pist for wasting time driving around at the peak hour of when Botcon fans have already cleaned out the stores.

This is my recommendation that I got a bunch of friends to do.

1.) CALL IN ADVANCE. I called up Toy R Us's on Monday for some friends. Elimiated all the ones sold out and drove to Union City? Everything was roughly there and spent only 15 minutes on the phone.

2.) Ask Employee's about more toys. Many people walked in, saw nothing and walked out. They had cases and cases in the back still. You had to just ask. Granted toward Saturday night those case were mostly gone.

[Geminii]

I hope you get one Seikone, the dealer room this year is ridiculous for overpriced stuff. I've seen Premium Movie Leaders for $75. Ludicrous.

Leader-class toys are consistently around $US90-110 here, even after they've been on the shelves a year. If I'd been in that dealer room, I'd have rightly considered $75 a worthwhile discount.

I'm not saying that it's a good price for locals. But BotCon has one of the largest annual concentrations of non-US fans who have already paid two or three grand just to walk in the front door, and dealers who realise that this demographic exists can sell out just as easily even with a massive markup; rare or impulse-buy merchandise in particular.

Not to mention that even if certain toys are on the shelves in the US, they may not turn up in other places for the better part of a year, if ever. Travellers may be willing to pay a premium if they can get something they otherwise wouldn't be able to lay hands on at all in their home town, especially if they don't want to leave BotCon to go toy shopping or wait a month for an internet order to arrive.

Unfortunately, until and unless retail Transformer prices even out worldwide, large-scale, high-profile conventions like BotCon are going to have those high prices in the dealer rooms.

[Hi Q]

The only people I could understand paying the inflated price for the figs were overseas folks. Their wait to get Animated will probably be even longer than it will be here the States.

And even a double US price generally beats retail. (At least our retail.)

[Vangelus]

Personally I think $15 or $16 for a deluxe and $30 for a voyager in a convention dealer room is quite fair. It's less than Canadian retail (since there's no tax) and I'm -sure- that after taxes those prices are a pittance of a few dollars to those selling them.

$25 deluxes and $50 voyagers, however, are utterly silly and I made a point of telling that to people I was hanging out with. ;)

To do some positive namedropping:
-Got a $15 Prowl from someone at Captured Prey when I inquired about Animated deluxes, after Orson himself pulled me aside to tell me to visit his booth after seeing me turn down an offered $25 Lockdown and $25 Prowl the night before
-Got a $16 Lockdown from Tony Preto, who pointedly warned me about the toy's fragile wrists IMMEDIATELY, -BEFORE- accepting my money
-Fairlady Z successfully talked BigBadToyStore's $20 Bumblebee down to $15 with little effort, as far as I know

Always remember- if you see new domestic toys at prices you think are nuts, politely make a counteroffer. If that goes nowhere, don't buy it. You'll have done more than your fair share towards not supporting heavy newtoy price-uppage.

[BraveMax]

Just to add to all this... I was working at CapturedPrey's booth all weekend. Some of you have mentioned that we had deluxes at $15... Frankly, we did our best to take advantage of the fact that we had a car available and bring those toys to the con. After tax on the toy, gas cost, and tax on the sale, we're really not making profit at $15.

We got a BUNCH of wave 2 in with DeeJay's help on Sunday. And those WERE going for $25. I didn't set that price, and we definitely helped out people we knew with lower prices, but there was a good reason why that price was there as far as helping out DeeJay with his costs. Also - even at that price, the things were flying off the shelf. One guy hung around our booth all day in the hopes that we'd pull out another Ratchet, even after I told him it was unlikely, and pointed out that they'd be at retail in a month or so. My point? The same as others have said - if you don't want to pay that, then don't. The only reason those toys go for that much is because us fans get so caught up in the "NEW TOY" frenzy that we're willing to pay almost anything to have the new thing "first". They were READILY available in the area - we hit maybe three stores in total over the weekend, and they were ALL fully stocked each time we went.

Quite frankly, this is nothing to whine about. These toys will be available widely in a few months - so the dealers who were scalping aren't stopping you from getting them. No one is forcing you to pay a price higher than you want to, and most dealers ARE willing to negotiate. Furthermore, prices that high are a STAPLE of Botcon - believe me, I've been going for 7 years.

Bottom line? The real thing you're upset about is that the dealers are stopping you from getting the toys NOW. Even with general release toys, no one ever promised you that right. Effectively, you're mad because the dealers didn't go, get toys, bring them to you, and sell them to you at cost. Well - most of us did that for our friends. I suggest you befriend people with cars next year if that's really important to you.

[xZAOx]

Effectively, you're mad because the dealers didn't go, get toys, bring them to you, and sell them to you at cost.

....pretty sure many of them are mad because they got/had a car, went to the store, and found the shelves stripped empty to be sold for a $10 profit (2x the cost).

Sure, there are some so naive as to think dealers should loose money, and noone seems to be upset with $15, but the $25 is when people got upset.

Me? Mine are on preorder at HTS with a coupon and free shipping - I'm good :)

[Vangelus]

I should probably add, before I inadvertently hurt some feelings:

I'm not -angry- at people selling stuff that high. :D

[Velcrohead]

Do people really expect dealers to give them stuff? What was it that one guy said "price of toy + tax + a buck for your trouble"??? Seriously, you expect that out of a dealer who's trying to not only recoup his expenses (from coming to Botcon, to say nothing of going out and finding the toy) and make it profitable to even be there? And I don't know what kind of car you're driving, but toy chasing usually costs me more than a dollar.

All this scalper talk has gotten ridiculous, and pretty much boils down to "give me toys for free."

[Katamari Prime]

IF I had met up with someone going to either store, or gone to mapquest, I wouldn't have had to pay $40 for megatron.

[funkatron101]

Do people really expect dealers to give them stuff? What was it that one guy said "price of toy + tax + a buck for your trouble"??? Seriously, you expect that out of a dealer who's trying to not only recoup his expenses (from coming to Botcon, to say nothing of going out and finding the toy) and make it profitable to even be there? And I don't know what kind of car you're driving, but toy chasing usually costs me more than a dollar.

All this scalper talk has gotten ridiculous, and pretty much boils down to "give me toys for free."

You clearly didn't read my post. Try again.

[SCPrime]

Do people really expect dealers to give them stuff? What was it that one guy said "price of toy + tax + a buck for your trouble"??? Seriously, you expect that out of a dealer who's trying to not only recoup his expenses (from coming to Botcon, to say nothing of going out and finding the toy) and make it profitable to even be there? And I don't know what kind of car you're driving, but toy chasing usually costs me more than a dollar.

All this scalper talk has gotten ridiculous, and pretty much boils down to "give me toys for free."


Eh, aside from a very few people who may actually want a toy to be sold to them at cost in the dealer room, the rest of the people don't want dealers to lose money or mind that they make a profit. Just don't buy all the toys from the brick and mortor retailers and leave NOTHING for those who have means of driving. No one asked the dealers to go buy the toys and sell it to them for cheap. All we ask is to LEAVE THE TOYS AT THE RETAILERS SO WE CAN BUY THEM OURSELVES at retail prices. It sucks when we drive around to various stores to try to find them but only find empty shelves. What sucks even more is in order to buy these toys you now have to pay 2 or 3 times as much to scalpers. For pretty much the same amount I could have gotten 2 or 3 toys for the price of 1 when I went to the stores (except there were none left at the stores because the scalping dealers bought them all). Get it? If dealers want to make money then do it the right way and buy it directly from Hasbro.

[BraveMax]

I understand your frustration, but you're ignoring a few points too:

1) We didn't rush to the stores. We didn't hit tons of stores - we hit three. The toys were all over the place. I'm sorry the specific ones you hit didn't have them, but none of them I saw were by any means cleaned out. Nor did we buy every toy we found. The group I was with bought a few, and left the rest.

2) Who says you need to buy these toys now? In two months, the stores will be swarming with them. What's your hurry? No one is forcing you to buy anything. Quite honestly, you're acting like you have no choice but to pay higher prices. You have every choice; the only conflict stems from you wanting the toys NOW. If you want them NOW, and they're released in any kind of limited quantity... Of course they're going to go for more money. That's simple supply and demand.

[SCPrime]

I understand your frustration, but you're ignoring a few points too:

1) We didn't rush to the stores. We didn't hit tons of stores - we hit three. The toys were all over the place. I'm sorry the specific ones you hit didn't have them, but none of them I saw were by any means cleaned out. Nor did we buy every toy we found. The group I was with bought a few, and left the rest.

2) Who says you need to buy these toys now? In two months, the stores will be swarming with them. What's your hurry? No one is forcing you to buy anything. Quite honestly, you're acting like you have no choice but to pay higher prices. You have every choice; the only conflict stems from you wanting the toys NOW. If you want them NOW, and they're released in any kind of limited quantity... Of course they're going to go for more money. That's simple supply and demand.


Ok your right, since I didn't find any this time then I can wait 2 months (unless scalpers AGAIN nab them before I get there in 2 months in which case I have to wait again AND again waste money driving around). So, because of scalpers, I have to either buy them at ridiculous prices OR wait 2 months (AND waste gas). Yeah, so your option of waiting 2 months doesn't fly when there should have been a fair chance for people to buy them now at retail. As for your point about supply and demand, wasn't it $10 for a deluxe and $20 for a voyager at Walmart, Target, TRU (maybe a bit higher at TRU) even when there is this "short supply"? I don't recall them selling them for ridiculous prices. Guys like you were the ones shorting the supply by buying multiples. And just because you left a few there doesn't mean that another dealer didn't come and buy the rest. See, if 100 fans went and bought 1 or 2 for themselves and I happen to come late, then tough luck for me. But if a few dealers came and bought 10 or so for themselves to resell and then I come late, then that's frustrating. Frankly, I would have a much better chance of getting 1 in scenario one.

[Kranix2k]

I can't say much for myself. I simply missed out. I could state my somewhat legitimate excuses - my wife didn't want us to leave the area, she kept telling me the stores were probably all sold out, I didn't want to piss her off by going out anyway - but the bottom line is I simply didn't do what I needed to do to try and get the toys. Yes, it was my fault but I also take solace in the fact that Hasbro fucked up by releasing these toys the way they did.

Did I like what I saw at Botcon? Hell no. However, was it really the dealers (some call scalpers) fault for selling the toys the way they did? Not really. The only ones to really fault are Hasbro for not releasing these toys sooner, and far more of the blame goes to the Walmarts, Kmarts, Targets, and other stores. NOWHERE in this country should buying stacks of the same toy be allowed, especially when those same stores acknowledge that many of these toys are "collectors items". Capitalism is one thing, but stuff like this crosses over to pure stupidity.

[Geminii]

Just curious - does anyone phone stores ahead of time to see if they have certain items in stock, or are the store employees in the relevant area not always terribly accurate about such things?

[Washu]

As stated before, I called them all and within 2 minutes I get a yes or no, and then what exact items there were.

[Galvatro]

Hello All! Warning- somewhat long.

Not to be heartless about this subject- if you did not go get the toys in the stores, you didn't get them. If you didn't buy them at the Dealer Room, you lost another chance. The reason that there were not enough toys in the area was due to the fact that 1000 or more (probably a conservative number)TF fans arrived in the area for BotCon. Seeing as most probably wanted them and wanted them now, it was a no brainer that there would be a shortage of figures, or of complete sets. This is especially the case for Megs and Starscream, both of which were somewhat rare in the region.

At any rate, Target store did not get any of the Animated (that I am aware of). TRU, KMart, and WalMart were the ones that got them. Then, case packing played an issue as there were just so many of each character. Combine local stores only for sales, case assortment, and rabid TF fans arriving in large numbers and it was only a matter of time before they were all bought up. At least initially as additional Animated toys were found in the area during the course of the weekend.

When the Animated toys are released at mass retail @ June 22, there will be no scalping as the toys will be available at all the usual outlets. There will not be an additional horde of TF fans around trying to get them as was the case in Cincy. Relax, people, Hasbro gave us a chance to grab some toys early. The ones that were first in line got the spoils. Some brought them to the show to make a modest profit. Some may have gourged on them. I still don't have a Starscream which means I don't have all of them either. The writer of this thread is receiving a Bulkhead from me because he wanted one for his son. I bought an extra accidently, and asked if he would like to take it off me. I would love to see the expression of his face as his dad gives it to him. I understand his frustration as I am a parent too. For those of us that are not kids though, these are just toys. Be nice to a kid in the TF aisle at a local store sometime- the smile is worth every dollar. Be patient. Sometimes, there are just not enough toys to go around. As some of us are adults here, it is much easier for us to wait than a kid. That is the simply fact of it.

Galvatro, being a bit long-winded.

[rework]

I know some of the east coast dealers pitch a fit whenever the talk of the 'con going out west comes up, but I LOVED the variety that the Pasadena show had...There wasn't nearly as much of the "currently on the shelf" stuff and a lot more oddball stuff like the jumbo seeker bootlegs and Toy Arena's huge spread (and GREAT deals!)

As much hastle as it was to try and set up as a dealer in Pasadena, you are right that there was an interesting selection of toys there... A lot of stuff we don't normally see...

And there were a few dealers we don't normally see... There was this one guy selling parts.... :wink:

[Maximum Burn]

Scaplers ain't bad. It's just that they prey on the stupid and slow. I don't see how either one gets to complain. If you feel special because you spent $10-20 to get something before everyone else or have no self control, you are tool. Maybe a good tool, you guys move the economy up in way. If you feel like you spent all the time amassing these toys and sell for inflated price and don't like getting a lot flak for it, you are a bitch. Man up people. You know this cycle will not end. To those who stood their ground, congratulation. You saved money. Those those complaining about it though, you are guys are preaching to the wrong crowd. It's the dumb and slow people you should talk to. Taking down the cycle means you start from the bottom, not the top. If they know what's up, then they'll be all the wiser. Now they know, and knowing is half the battle. :D *here's my secret plan on getting the tools tied down so the scalpers won't get them: get them wives and children. NOW that's control and they'll be broke too :wink: Only problem is that the tools might breed young tools that aren't tied down, making the scalper's market to bounce back so...back to the drawing board for me*

To those complaining about gas prices, walk or use public transportation. It ain't hard and it's cheaper. Time consuming yes, but cheaper. To those who don't have time, make time. You got responsibilities and such, and that understandable but you are the one in control of what you spend time on. I think you can figure out a way to do it.

Better yet, hitch a ride. Make a mini-convention with local collectors or make a raid with them. Carpool, split the cost of gas, and you all win! Beating the scalpers aren't easy but with numbers you get a higher chance of getting what you want. Plus, you know who are dealing with and well, some friendships come with perks.

The only problem that I have with scalpers is that they don't leave the shelves for anyone. They grab everything; which isn't smart by the way (too much of something is never good). This is a particular problem for stores that don't stock often or much *cough*Wal-Mart*cough*. Store exclusives or short packed are not fun either. And of course, you got to ask the employees, which are most of the time, unreliable. I get mad if I don't find what I am looking for, but eventually I can get it.

[gen1fan]

After read all the post about this tread, I can understand people being upset that some of the Dealers/ Scaplers, Bought up some of those toys and then put them on ebay or try to sell them for 10 or more dollars. As a fan I can understand buy 1 or 2 for the collection, and then buy a few for freinds that said he if your can get your hand on them i pay you back once i see you at the show LIKE MegaMUs did. Personal I have try helping out other board member by looking for toy, but when u do fine the toys for them. The problem I had is they do not want to repay for the taxes or for shipping. Which mean money out of my pocket, and I do not even get what I paid for the toy. That is why I no longer go out looking for toys for other members To much trouble.

[nkelsch]

Scaplers ain't bad. It's just that they prey on the stupid and slow. I don't see how either one gets to complain.

I mostly agree with your assessment but there is a 3rd type of person the scalpers are funded by... The casual collectors who don't really care about price.

A friend of mine last week saw some animated toys for the first time and said 'wow! those are cool' and he wanted a few. He doesn't want to hunt shelves. He will never drive to a single store to buy the toy. He wants it, he will pay 10$-20$ more for the ease of use and immediate gratification. And he doesn't care if it drives a cycle. Tough titties.

I am partially of the same mindset except I am aware enough of the ebbs and flows to have the option of casual store hunting or stocking times before I simply give in and pay the extra $$ for the ease of getting a full wave of figs from an up-priced retailer who people scream are scalping.

Like right now... Animated Voyager prime is gonna be scalp city and he is the only animated toy I do not have or preordered through some means. And guess what? I will gladly pay more money to avoid hunting him down and having him generally around release time.

I can't wait for all the people who didn't get it through HTS to realize that the shelves are gonna be bare because kids will love these toys and they will scream 'scalpurz!' and then be forced to buy from them in order to get the figs.

[Dragonclaw]

As much hastle as it was to try and set up as a dealer in Pasadena, you are right that there was an interesting selection of toys there... A lot of stuff we don't normally see...

And there were a few dealers we don't normally see... There was this one guy selling parts.... :wink:

:lol Yeah, Sorry I missed out on hanging with you guys this year :) Next year I'll be there for sure though...