Scalpers take all the fun out of getting desired items.
Deathsauras
cost is just low life scalping in my book.
I can understand the need to make a huge profit from a item that is 15
to 25+ years old. after all that's a long time to keep something in
mint condition.
it's also out of production for a long time.
I HATE SCALPERS that buy up all the low volume or rare items that were
made in under 8 years. then sell them for 4 to 5times there original
paid value.
WHY THE NEGATIVE RANTING THREAD? Because for the longest time i've
wanted a Botcon Vector prime,energon ultra magnus overload repaint.
but the scalper price just isn't worth it. i'm not going to go into
debt or skip a bill just to feed a scalper.
Zobovor
> WHY THE NEGATIVE RANTING THREAD? Because for the longest time i've
> wanted a Botcon Vector prime,energon ultra magnus overload repaint.
> but the scalper price just isn't worth it. i'm not going to go into
> debt or skip a bill just to feed a scalper.
Scalpers are only half the equation, though. Buyers determine the
final value of an item through online auctions. A scalper can set the
Buy It Now price at $200 but if nobody takes a nibble, then the toy
isn't worth that price to people.
The best way to look at it, I think, is like this: Ask yourself the
following questions. What is the current going rate for this toy on
the secondary market? Is the toy worth owning at that price? If not,
do you have reason to believe the price will change in the future? If
so, track some auctions over the course of a few weeks and see if
you're right. (Prices tend to be the worst right after BotCon and
right before Christmas, I've found.)
Also, patience is a virtue. Check auctions every week, if necessary.
It may take you months, but eventually you'll come across an auction
that, for whatever reason, has slipped under people's radar (because
the seller took a bad photograph or misspelled something). Also,
timing is important. I've gotten some good deals on stuff during
periods when, I think, a majority of the Transformers-buying populace
was spending money on other things (like when the movie toys first
came out).
Sometimes you just need to tighten your belt buckle and start setting
money aside. Anybody can plonk down ten bucks for a Deluxe-class toy,
but sometimes you need to make sacrifices to get the expensive stuff
you want. I used to tell myself I could never afford the Japanese
toys I wanted because they were too expensive, but I was also spending
hundreds of dollars a year buying all the domestic stuff I could find,
just for the sake of completism. Once I shifted my priorities, I was
able to budget $50 or $60 toys a lot more easily, which I tend to
enjoy a lot more than any four or five random Deluxe redeco toys.
Zob
G.B. Blackrock
we're clearly talking about toys that haven't been available at retail
for several YEARS now?
Surely, by now, the market's figured out what a toy is worth....
G.B. Blackrock
Deathsauras
Zob,The problem is most Ebay sellers won't lower there prices. some
try to force a high scalper price on the market. other sellers see it
& set there prices following the poor example.
then there's all those ebay stores,that items can sit there longer.
some sellers even go as far as to have 30 day+auctions.
whenever I bid on something,it's always at the last 30 seconds of the
auction.
Yesterday some ebay seller was selling loose/out of the package botcon
items. he lived in america & was charging $15 in shipping fees. high
shipping fees like that pisses me off more than anything else.
G.B. Blackrock
Unless all these "scalper" sellers are only listing 5 auctions a month
(which they can list for free), they're actually LOSING MONEY by not
having items sell. If they list high prices, it's in their own best
interests only to do so because they think the item *really is worth
that much.* The longer the items fail to sell at those prices, the
worse it is for the seller, so they really do have an interest in
lowering prices to the level that people will actually pay.
The market system DOES work. No need to make accusations of nefarious
activity here.
My two cents,
G.B. Blackrock
(who notes with some chagrin that Zobovor says that the pre-Christmas
season is one of the worst for high prices, and yet STILL had to let a
BotCon Elita-1 go for a mere $15.99 + shipping.)
G.B. Blackrock
> items. he lived in america & was charging $15 in shipping fees. high
> shipping fees like that pisses me off more than anything else.
Lest it sound like I'm just criticizing, I do agree that high shipping
prices are annoying. Depending on the item and where the selling is
shipping from, $15 may not be so bad, though. If it's more than 3
pounds (granted, this is only likely for the largest items, or several
toys grouped together. I HAVE found that keeping packages under 1
pound--my usual goal, which I generally achieve--can often be
difficult even for deluxe-sized toys, though), and the seller is
shipping more than a couple of zones away (say, from California to
Kentucky), they'll actually be LOSING money.
G.B. Blackrock