Transformers Venting thread!

[nalops]

I've chosen just to accept the 100 for my pre-order that I'm letting go but I can see why people would want more. In saying that, I don't think it's fair to make someone pay almost double and justifying it by saying people shouldn't have been lazy/ stupid for missing out like this person was, especially when it's their spare one. Grrrrrrrr. Sorry, I had that bottled up.

[griffin]

It's unfortunate for anyone who had to offload one for equal or less than what was paid... but ultimately it is just capitalism (and some luck) - supply and demand... especially on the secondary market.
Unlike what some people say about toys "needing to be sold for what they were at retail for", they wouldn't sell a house or car for the price they paid for it 5, 10 or 20 years later... the car wouldn't sell, and they could be giving away a house for half of what it could have given them.

BotCon exclusives were a classic example of secondary values. Ignoring 1996, the early years (1994-1998) didn't sell out, or increase much in value until about 2000, because it was a fairly niche event, and very few fans were online to know about it. Then during the peak years of popularity (2006-2010), the demand of each year by those who couldn't attend (or missed out when many of those years sold out their limited number of pre-registrations) forced the secondary prices to go through the roof.
The Beast Wars year (2006) sold out everything at the event and had such demand, the prices on some went up by 5 to 10 times their original (already expensive) prices... it actually convinced me to not miss any more BotCons, as it was cheaper to fly to the convention, than to chase up all 15-odd toys on the secondary market at double or triple their original prices. Over the next 4 or 5 years, I probably saved money by going all the way over there to secure the toys at their original prices, compared to fighting for them on ebay and paying postage to Australia.
But then, in the last few years of the convention (2013-2016), almost none of their toys sold out at the event, and many from these years were the ones that were collecting dust in their warehouse and discounted heavily when they had their closing down sale in 2017. The secondary market for many, particularly outside of America, was still at or slightly above their original prices, but within America (and if you had contacts) the secondary value of many from those last four years were less, making it a loss for anyone trying to offload theirs that they bought at the convention.
It also didn't help that FunPub were producing about 30-40 toys each year at the end of their run, which for collectors means less money you have available per toy if you are needing to buy more toys at once. You either have to be selective to secure what you want, or risk missing out by spending more time trying to find a cheaper option.

An auction with more than one interested buyer would give us a more accurate value of an item, as the buyers set the value of an item, not the seller.
I think when Unicron is released in most countries in 1-2 months time, check out ebay auctions (not buy-it-now listings) of sealed Unicrons, and the more common sale prices will show us how much the demand has affected its price.

[Tha_Phantom]

Someone on FB is trying to sell their Unicron pre-order for $1600!!!!??? I have no words.

That person used to be a member here. Just block them and move on, they aren't worth your time.

[Sinnertwin]

People wouldn't have batted an eyelid if he'd had said yeah, it's $1600, but it's an import, shipping, GST, import taxes blah blah blah just looking to get back what it cost yada yada yada

[Handsprime]

Mild vent:
I tried to see if I could collect all the Transformers Pop Vinyl figures, I managed to pick up Jetfire to no issues, and when I thought this was gonna be easy, turns out I completely ignored Nemesis Prime which is not easy to find, and at prices I’m not willing to pay for a simple redeco. Argh.

[nalops]

Nemesis was available via Popcultcha but I imagine it sold out fairly quickly.

[Bidoofdude]

Was transforming my Power of the Primes Snarl with very little force and the back/tail split piece snapped randomly in the middle in my hands. The part was made of glossy grey plastic. I can still nestle it in fine in both modes, but I’m hoping this is not a major problem that will start showing up with all my dinobots.

[DELTAprime]

Sigh. I got a slightly defective WFC K Rodimus. His right arm isn't connected properly to the shoulder. There is a metal post with barbs that are meant to have dug into the plastic to keep the arm connected. But on mine, the barbs only provide enough friction to hold the arm on and not enough to withstand the pulling pressure of transformation. Fortunately, it's not a bad enough issue to make me return it.

[Golden Phoenix]

Ugh. Today while dusting I gave Combiner Wars Dead End a big 'ol stress mark on the roof piece which holds onto the windscreen.
It's at least hidden on the underside of here
Screenshot 2021-06-05 181837.jpg

I had no issues with any of the others that share the same moulding. So frustrating.

[GoktimusPrime]

Picked up T-Wrecks from Casey's Toys yesterday but mine is defective as the hips won't separate. I tried using knives and a nail file to try and wedge it open to no avail. Dropped a hobby knife on my ankle during the attempt.

Thankfully I still have the receipt, but yeah... this one is getting exchanged or refunded.