I have found hard to find figures, and sold them at a higher price because of low availability, and i didn’t consider it scalping (still don’t) because i bought 1 or 2, not a whole stores stock. I want to know, what is considered scalping for you guys?
Scalping isn’t dependent on the quantity of your supply. What you described is textbook scalping, although it’s at least polite of you to not fully take advantage. You do you.
I agree. I'm a collector. I collect things...often multiples when the item is especially desirable to me. Since I collect so many thing, I run out of space so sometimes I sell some things that I have extras of. Luckily, most the things I collect also seem to be highly desirable to other people so if I do need to sell something, it is usually a painless process that involves compensation for me having to give up my beloved collectible and a buyer who is willing and grateful that I can supply them with a well persevered and curated example of the item they have sought after. I do not care if my items sell or not because in the end, i would rather keep them since that's why I bought them in the first place. I would never give something away for less than I paid since that would be the equivalent of me paying someone to take away my things and having me store and preserve those things for them for whatever amount of time on top of it. I gladly give my things away as gifts to people I like. I will also sometimes but rarely sell things at cost to help fellow collectors who are having trouble finding something that I can spare but this is usually for items that I did not intend to buy multiples of (sometimes I lose track or get too eager with the add to cart button). I find the community here to be extremely friendly and reasonable when it comes to helping each other out and I am very proud to be a part of it. There have been so many posters here who have reached out to me and gone out of their way to help me get something I wanted and was unable to find for myself. If profit was made or not, I don't consider any of what I just described as scalping.
I think it can kinda depend on how much it's resold for. Buy a $15 figure, sell it for, say, $20-25 after shipping, that's not really scalping.
People who know when a delivery truck comes in and buy the case of figures just so they can eBay it or put it in their flea market booth. I guess. I don't know. Maybe they are just Goldsteins. A convenient scapegoat to blame and vent repressed anger on.
I don't really sell anything on online places, rather, I sell anything I don't need (nerd related) to my comic book store. They usually find the value, and make a deal. This is a very controversial topic that, in my opinion, I have a varying belief depending on how it's done. Now, if it's an exclusive, hard to find item, or a product that's no longer being produced, I can see why there would be a slight mark up. However, there is a limit before it becomes scalping. Again, in my opinion. If your on the home page, you'll see 2-4 eBay ads for TFs, depending on what device your using. I've seen some fair prices, like a MP Sideswipe that was $60, which I missed out on because I don't have eBay. However, most of the time, the prices are f$&@$@! ridiculous. I saw a MP Megatron for $500~! I believe that the highest mark up you can put on a figure, that has ACTUAL value, can have a $15 mark up. TOPS. Seriously, there was a leader figure that was priced at $169.99.
This pretty much nails it for me: the guy who deliberately acts to reduce supply for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the people he prevented from paying retail. Also applies to those who jump on pre-orders and grab them before anyone else for the same reason.
I think the time elapsed also makes a difference. If you bought a figure 10 years ago and are charging more for retail now because the item is rare, in more demand, whatever, I don’t consider that scalping. It may be annoying but not scalping. On the ofher hand, if the time elapsed is on the order of days to months, it’s scalping
I've talked about this in other threads before. If it is an opened and used item that you already enjoyed, selling for less than you paid absolutely makes sense to me. For me personally, this would never happen because I would never sell something I opened because again, I don't buy things I don't want to keep. I only sell things I have extras of, I already have an open version that I enjoy amd decide I don't need another misb version of.
Buying something you don’t want specifically to sell it at an inflated price. That’s scalping to me. I left three SS Thundercrackers on the shelf when they were selling for $90. I could have cleaned them out and made an easy profit, but I left them for others.
People moaning about "scalping" is silly. If you find something that the open market says is worth a certain amount. If you don't sell it for close to that amount, depending on how fast you want to sell it, you are a fool. I think its just as bad if people offer to pick up a load of toys they find locally (the grim north) and ship them to people in other areas (London). The local people still lose out. And the people who didn't even leave their house gain. Plus if you don't do it then someone else wiiiiiiillll! (That's a very good point, Mr Onceler)
With the downfall of TRU, this is a bit of a moot point, I think. Go ahead, pick up the rare figures. People like me won't pay the bizarre over RRP prices that you THINK an item is worth. Gets my goat whenever I go looking for a specific item only to find that some unemployed moron has bought them all up to try and sell online (Amazon/eBay) for an idiotic amount. It's like the people trying to sell old 2 penny pieces on eBay for £14k. Good luck with that - at the end of the day, it's only really worth 2p...
Scalping, plain and simple. It would be one thing if you bought a case and were selling them to recoup your costs ala flipping, that'd be one thing, but going in and buying up all the POTP Moonracers, let's say, and then reselling them at a higher price, there by manipulating the market, that's scalping. Yes, the buyer's just as much at fault for giving into your trap, but you needn't set it to begin with. If you need to scalp to make money or supplement your income, then you're not living right and you have bigger issues than being a scalper, it's just an outlet for your behavior with reinforcement telling you it's okay.
Scalping is playing Russian Roulette with five chambers loaded. If people can't afford retail (an epidemic as of late), they can't afford what you need to pay shipping and eBay fees on top of retail. Years ago, I would've said "do it right and open a distribution account" but people not being able to afford retail just means you're loading that sixth chamber. And to mirror TFXProtector's last line, if you're dependent on Ollies double secret clearance for your collection, you're not living right and have bigger problems than imaginary scalpers.
There's poachers and scalpers. Poaching all the concert tickets using bots so nobody can go without paying huge bucks to scalpers, that's the wrong end of the spectrum. Poaching a few figures and scalping for a few bucks, that's fine. An epidemic of poaching and scalping is the real problem. Both are situations including the OPs are indeed scalping.
From dictionary.com: "a small profit made in quick buying and selling." and "to resell (tickets, merchandise, etc.) at higher than the official rates."
And the root of _that_ problem is distribution practices making it unprofitable to enter the market correctly. You can suffer through 3/4 of every case being utterly unsaleable at any price or you can cherry pick from Walmart on your lucky days. Scalping's not reliable or lucrative but there's _far_ less risk than the alternative.
