They are buying the resale items in the same methods that everyone else does (i.e. they aren't using "insiders" or other nefarious means). They aren't doing anything illegal. More power to them.
most of them aren't ... quite a few pay off workers at TRU though. I have read their stories ... they do brag about "knowing the stock guy".
I agree. That is one of the biggest problems - they hoard stock then return them when they don't sell. That seems greedy and it takes advantage of many of these stores' return policy, which, I agree needs to be changed to 10-15 days.
After reading that I am so angry . Even though they are all not bad, what they do still pretty much is, buying stuff just to resell on a secondary market as a means of living is ******ed. Just get a regular job and leave collecting to collectors and kids. When furby's were hot I got in a fight at a target with a scalper because I was trying to get my sister one and he got all mad because I picked up the so called rare black and white one that he was planning on selling with the other basket full of other toys. Anyways I made a big scene being the kid I was and he was escorted from the store empty handed, it was my only victory with scalpers and I wish this would happen so much more often.
Please provide a link that shows this is illegal. I would love to read the law and see if there's a similar one in CA.
Gotta love how they justify their anti-social behavior with an economic philosphy. A scumbag is a scumbag, whether what they do is legal or not.
A minimum limit would help, but since big retailers have so many cashiers and locations, a scalper can just keep going to a different line purchasing the limit. I think it would be hard to stop scalpers by any one means, it’s capitalism and if people have the ability to make money off something then they will. I doubt they think of the kids or other collectors as their buying multiple items. I was able to pick up a 6” Titanium Fallen at a Target thanks to a listing in the Sightings forum. I picked up one, and was thinking of getting the last remaining Fallen to kit-bash into a Warpath or Megatron, but thinking as how rare it was to find him I left him behind in the hopes a fellow collector would appreciate the item as well. As noted on an earlier post above, I don’t think a 10-15 day return policy would curtail scalpers. I like it when Target and Walmart have a generous 60-90 day return since sometime we buy something on an impulse and forget about it for a month or so and then see it again and end up returning it. As long as an item isn’t seasonal or opened, then something should be returnable as long as the store takes it. Stores with generous return policies gets my money in the end.
went to a swap meet this weekend. All the Transformers that are supposed to be in stores (but aren't) were all over the place. Except, of course the prices were hiked up.
I wasn't implying that children aren't being affected by the scalping. I was just merely stating that fact that I have yet to see (ProwlDelta being the exception) anyone who has posted that was angry because they couldn't get a toy for their kid. It's always someone who's angry because they can't get the toy for themselves.
I'll be angry if I can't find Bumblebee for my nephew this Christmas. Luckily there's 90 days for retailers to restock. So I'm not hot under the collar yet, and the upcoming revision waves indicate Bumblebee will be plentiful.
Not reading my post was great, huh? I've passed on toys because I've seen kids longingly looking at them, with the hopes that they might goad their parents into buying it for them. I remember way back when, when the new waves of Real Gears JUST came out, I spotted a High Score at Target. Grabbed it to look at it, and then I saw this kid giving me the stink eye as if he were there first. I don't know if he was or not, but I just ended up leaving it for the kid, who did end up buying it. I figured there'd be more where that came from, and sure enough, a few weeks later, they were all over the place.
Actually, if you check out the quote, my reply was directed towards Dark Rage. I read your post, and I completely understand everyone's view. I'm just stating my opinion.
Hah, I know man. I should've added a wink emoticon after that sentence to show you I wasn't actually serious.
These kinds of scalpers are a difficult breed. Housewives with nothing to do. There was one mom I overheard in the church fellowship hall awhile back talking about buying up all the NASCAR Halloween costumes anywhere she could find them to sell on Ebay. (Now she had little girls, so I guess she didn't stop to think how this would affect little boys.) I wouldn't want to speculate on the rest of these soccer moms, but this particular woman was a stay at home mom whose husband owned several shrimp boats and built houses. They weren't hurting for cash. It was probably just shopping money for her. Other women may actually need the money, I don't know. Anyway, I don't think that these types are in it for a living. They see it as a way to add to their income. P.S. If anyone wants to get back at this particular woman I mentioned, I recommend scalping all the Little Mermaid toys in Central Florida. That is what her daughter is obsessed with.
I repeatedly seen parents and other adults talking over what to get while looking over the barron TF section. They are pretty much screwed and they know it. A coworker of mine also has a son who saved up enough money to get BB and can't find him. I told him if I find it I will buy one for him, which I already did for Barricade, since he hasn't found him either and they were recently looking for him. I am actually pretty shocked about the whole situation. I have seen this happen with game machines, but not Transformers or toys in general. I know there were some hot Star Wars toys through the years, and I know there was stuff like Tickle me Elmo- but if I recall they weren't really scalper related (well, partly, obvioulsy), they just sold fast or preorders couldn't be filled. Gamestores have safeguard against it and will only sell 1 system to a family in a day. Anyways, this is a whole line of toys we are talking about. I can't believe people go in to stores and buy 18 voyagers and whatever else, and the stores are ok with that. Gyah! That's my perspective anyways- I just never seen it before or have been exposed to this kind of greed/scam/"business".
No issues! People get really heated about this subject and it's tough to voice your own opinions without stepping on toes...
