I think both your points hit the nail on the head.

 

So are you suggesting that none of those extra 1400 sets could have been sold to other collector's or even friends of attendees for cost? Was there a waiver that had to be signed by attendees that required them to immediately put the loose set up on ebay for $500? I don't remember seeing that on the registation form. Must've missed it.

 

Umm, no, but if you think for a second that those sets wouldn't have sold out anyway....plus, even if they didn't, where do you think you would have bought them? If they put them on HTS.com, you would have still paid 350.00 for them. So, really....

 

You win the thread, my good sir.

 

Screw this bickering.

May all that did not have the means to go to botcon this year and wanted a set of the con exclusives at least find a set thats halfway decent on price or at least get one of the con exclusives for a fair price. hopefully you guys can attend the one next year and get all the goodies that you want. good luck and I'm outta here boys.

 

You should be careful who you speak for besides yourself

 

why, what are you going to do?

read my last post, I'm over it and I wish everyone well in their quests to find the toys they want. this thread doesnt need any more fuel. leave it at that.

 

<---Please, let this post die peacefully....

 

I don't understand why that's scalping. It's capitalism. Things are bought and sold every day with the express intent of making a profit. This might be a question of a disagreement of defintion between us, but to me, scalping implies an artificial manipulation of the supply of a product below the current demand in order to create a shift in the supply/demand curve, then taking advantage of the resulting increase in cost.

Convention exclusives have a fixed supply (both numbers and availability), which is already below the existing demand. Thus, once they're available to the general public via eBay, the price is going to go up. This is an economic given.

So no matter what, not everyone who wanted these exclusives was going to be able to get one because of preexisting factors. Those preexisting factors are what differentiate selling exclusives from scalping retail toys.

And I don't know a better way to determine who should be able to buy those exclusives than the person who wants to pay the most. Sure, they could be sold to person A for a fixed, low cost, but then persons B thru whatever are still going to be dissapointed. Ability and willingness to pay should be used to select those who do get them.

 

Edit again: I'm not gonna start any shit so nevermind.

 

I brought the big bag for everyone who wants to watch.

 

Man this thread has taken off.....well i can agree with either side b/c they both have good points. I do belive that it's scalping to start a auction off at $500 for something that you payed $250 for but in return it's not scalping if you start it out at $.99 and the price gets driven up to $500 b/c of fans that want the items. Another thing is i don't believe that anyone that is selling an item should charge a person buying the item for waiting in line, attending the convention, or anything other thing like that b/c that person chose to go there in the first place. That's all i wanted to say

 

A scalper goes to a store or series of stores and purchases ALL of a highly-desired figure, creating a shortage, and driving up prices. Since he now has a high quantity of said figure, he reaps the benefit and fans get shortchanged. This stinks!

If you purchase a Primus or Iacon package for Botcon, you get a set of toys. You also are granted the EXCLUSIVE right to purchase a second set of bagged toys--an option not available to the general public whatsoever. That is FP's business model, so if one wants to take issue with that, that's a different story.

If I take my second set (which, again, is only available to ME as a Primus purchaser) and put it up on eBay (which I did, for a starting bid of 0.99), I am making a set of figures available to the general public that was never available to them through official distribution. I didn't buy them all up from my local Walmart before other collectors could get them--I took something only available to me, and made it available to others.

To call that scalping is to misunderstand what scalping is.

 

lol true. My 2 cents in the matter is that scalping is human nature. It's in many of us to turn a quick, easy buck. I don't condone it and I don't participate in it, but I can't stop it either. As long as people pay, scalpers are set.

 

....EVERY single one of us fans had the SAME EXACT OPPORTUNITY to get 2 sets of the Boxed Set exclusives for 500-600 bucks. Everyone. Many many MANY people chose not to. Those who chose TO get said deal can now do whatever they wish with those items. They did not prevent you from getting *anything* and if they decided to sell it, at ANY price, then they are actully giving those who regret not getting the items the first time a second chance. No one forced a shortage of these figures other then the makers themselves. No one prevented each and every fan from obtaining one of these sets other then their own personal limitations (mine being I only want 2 out of the 10-11 total exclusives).

Selling Botcon exclusives at ANY PRICE is not scalping. Especially seeing as there are fans willing to *spend* any amount to obtain them, yet decided to wait until AFTER they had the initial chance to get them at 'retail' value.

As for the actual at con exclusives...if people didn't buy extras to sell, most people wouldn't even *get* a chance to own them. So for those people that didn't attend for whatever reason, they're given a chance to get something they had no chance of getting before. And once a few weeks pass, and all the ones who can and will spend 600+ for these figures start slowing down, prices will drop on some items.

But to insult your fellow fans because they bought something to sell to others for profit, at no harm to anyone, is a bit much. *Everyone* who went to that con was a fan(barring family/friends who get dragged along) of Tfs. They went to enjoy themselves, buy toys, see panels and to obtain a nice big Hasbro 'Thank You' in the form of the Botcon exclusives. But Hasbro, or more specifically FP, didn't just limit people to one set, they *specifically* offered people who've already gotten a set to buy a second, much cheaper set. People shouldn't be damned for taking advantage of that offer, especially seeing as we ALL had that same offer proposed to us whether we attended or not. *Everyone* had their chance to get these items at 'retail' costs, now that chance is gone, these guys won't be made again and those that are out there will be giving to whoever is willing to pay the most.

If a G1 Misb Optimus Prime can sell for a 100+ nowadays, which is far more then what it was at retail, why isn't that considered scalping? Because it's rare or highly desired or not produced anymore? Well so are these exclusive items and they'll be sold for higher then retail in the same exact fashion.

 

man, just think, what if ebay id: PLAYADIA was there. if he scalps the shit out of basic cybertron figs, I wonder how high he would go on the botcon sets. Note to everyone here: this motherfucker is a true blue pure bred scalper, and botcon attendees aint got shit on him.

 

^lol QFT

 

Then you don't really know what scalping is then. Just think about concert tickets. Scalper doesn't have to buy all the tickets to be a scalper. You buy something desirable with the sole intent of making a profit on it? You're a scalper. You sell something you got tired of? You're a seller.

 

what if your tired of your newly acquired botcon set and exclusives already?LOL