How is one per appropriate ticket holder good for scalpers?

These releases will have been produced at the same time as the Botcon numbers but then separated with 850 going to Botcon and the rest going to RORC.

All the Airrazors were bought by TFSource or BBTS (Can't remember which) so that in itself is a sure fire sign that these figures never went to Botcon.

Besides which, a convention organiser going overseas to get another convention's exclusive in bulk sounds incredibly stupid.

I would love to have one of those Megatrons, but I'm not going to RORC and I do have the Beast Wars Metals version of the character so I'm cool not getting him unless there are some at TFNation that aren't stupid money.

 

I just checked eBay. The going prices for Megatron are anywhere from $500 to $800, just like they've always been. And if one did sell for $480, it probably had nothing to do with supply and demand; rather that that one particular seller realized that nobody's going to pay those crazy prices and he just wanted to get rid of it and still make a profit.

I was able to buy mine for $200 when they first went on eBay, and I don't intend to sell him, so none of this really matters to me anyway.

 

You'd be surprised what people are willing to pay for exclusives. Too bad BBTS didn't "cut a deal" with FP; even $200 is better than eBay averages.

 

There's a LOT of speculation in that.

We have NO idea what FunPub charged them.
Shipping would be miniscule per unit for a palette of them shipped together.
Do small businesses really pay a full 10% handling fee on all imports on top of 20% tax? Even assuming they had to pay $90, 20% brings it to $108, 30% = $117.

Looks like the trend is around $500, with a while slowly up to $800 and slowly back down, and occasional unusual exceptions.

I know I shouldn't be surprised that it went above $500, since I suspected it would be just as bad as the $1K BotCon 2006 Megatron, but I'm not too impressed with a "drop" to $500. I'd consider an BotCon Alpha Trion market price of $200-$300 as moderate.

Why do you even talk to us poor peasants then?

Hm. The cheapest eBay listing after Friday was $220, $225, but then $250+. All the ones below that price sold on Friday the 8th.
On Friday I called my middleman attending BotCon, not realizing that he wasn't going to try to buy one for me until Saturday because I wasn't explicit in asking if the Minicon package his son was on would allow him to buy one before then.
You live and learn, except that I've either been to BotCon or had my middleman picking me stuff up every year and this was the last one and I'll still make stupid assumptions that cost me hundreds of dollars in the future.
So yeah, I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU. *gritting teeth to make an insincere smile*

 

Any UK members going and not want Megatron and sell for a little extra, please pm me.

 

With all due respect, and regardless what one thinks of this in terms of harm to Botcon attendees or benefit to our friends in the UK:

RORC clearly bought their stock from FunPub. Does it really make a difference whether they did it before or after the rest of us were allowed to get in line for it?

 

Yeah. Anyone not turned off by me being bitter, please help me. I'm a poor NEET with a plastic addiction.

 

Yes, all businesses have to pay both handling fee and tax - unless the value of the package is under £15. Hence why, as mentioned a while back, we order our CW deluxes from Amazon.com only one at a time.

 

so airazor is $80 usd? man, i kinda want it but that's a lot for a small deluxe

 

Here it is. Another chance at Megatron and there's still so much excuse making for not getting one. Put on your big kid pants and make it happen. Maybe peek your head into the UK conventions threads and do some asking around. It won't kill you.

 

Hope these last until closer to the show. Already got my Energon tickets for this, but can't afford to upgrade for Airazor and Megatron right now.

 

Sorry; didn't mean to come across as a jackass.

 

You're quite right. This just didn't raise questions about the exact numbers at the time since BotCon has been having so many left over at the end of recent conventions.

 

Personally, I only care insofar as I want to keep accurate records. If there were only 850 available for purchase, full stop, that's one thing. If there were only 850 available for purchase at BotCon, but there were more available elsewhere, I'd want to include that information in the data pages.

If I ever do decide to sell the toys I have left, I don't want to misrepresent a toy as being more rare than it really is. Even if I'm working from the best information I have available, I want everything to be as above-board as possible, and if credible information comes along that says there were really (say) 1200 toys when I said there were only 850, that looks bad.

 

I think the anger at FP is warranted; not all of us can attend Botcon, and in past years most of the exclusives could be had for reasonable prices on the aftermarket.

Megatron was in high demand as he was one of the big exclusives that people never thought would happen...then he happens and the run is so low the peons don't even have a chance at him.

Except it turns out FP lied and made an extra batch. Oh, yeah, that's fair.

 

Leaving aside what constitutes "lying" here (there is some question as to whether BotCon's promotional materials specifically suggest only 850 available "full stop" vs. 850 available at BotCon, and while this UK show in question has had BotCon toys in the past, they were toys not already known to have sold out at BotCon, so the question of an additional number beyond the BotCon amount never came up), I don't see that anything's changed for you who couldn't attend.

If it is indeed the case that the UK show has had an existing arrangement for their own stash of BotCon stuff, it has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not BotCon's 850 would have been available at the club store. You wouldn't have the opportunity to get this toy without attending one convention or the other, either way.

Sorry you haven't been able to get this toy, but while you may have other reasons to be upset with Fun Publications, I don't see how this can legitimately be one of them.

 

Yeah; this feels like a case of "the optics are bad but the actual deal was made above board."

And the added cost is presumably a case of "it costs a LOT to ship from the US to the UK."

 

No. Just no. Whether or not one can attend a convention doesn't change anything about the availability. This is the second opportunity to get this toy. If you want something, make it happen. It's incredibly easy to talk to other people who attend these things and make plans to acquire practically anything. It has never been easier as a matter of fact. There's an entire forum for conventions here.

 

Anyone going willing to pick up my package if I order one online? I'd kick in $50 bucks for the trouble. Shameless plug I know.

 

But hey, there are plenty of Botcon 2015 Megatrons for fairly cheap!

Mostly because no one really likes THAT toy.