My desire for Special Edition (heh, Special Ed has a different connotation) Drag Strip made me gravitate toward TRU, then their $40 price tag made me gravitate away!
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My desire for Special Edition (heh, Special Ed has a different connotation
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
You could say you were depolarized severely then heheheh, which TRU Gok? (is it....the nearest one here?) they really should lower their prices. ah well...Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
My desire for Special Edition (heh, Special Ed has a different connotation
Wanted AM partner Vanguard, Myclones Dirge, G1 Victory Leo, e-hobby Dark scream ( the black version), e-hobby Magnificus
Parts- AM partner Basher-side guns, G1 Actionmaster Elite Windmill's blades[I][B]
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Nobody's talking about scalping here. Scalping is an entirely different (and evil) practice.
This tends to happen more because of scalpers not because of active toy-hunters. Remember that toy-hunters are basically only buying for their own needs. Scalpers will take _everything_ - as in, fill up an entire trolley full of toys and then purchase them. There's stories of scalpers fighting with children over toys. Scalpers also tend to camp outside stores when they know there's a new stock coming out and they rush in and scoop everything up before anyone else can have the chance to get in there. They then sell the toys off to collectors at inflated prices.
A person who buys a bunch of toys for him(her)self and his(her) friends is an entirely different thing. First of all, they usually don't take as many toys as scalpers do, and secondly their motivations are far more altruistic. It's one thing to grab a bunch of toys to help your friends/fellow collectors and basically sell them at the same price that you paid (i.e.: you're not making a profit). It's an entirely different thing to grab everything and then sell them at an increased price, with the intention of making a profit. The former is effectively doing a favour for other people, the latter is exploitation of collectors.
And as I said before, if you're worried about other people missing out then the only thing you can do is _stop_collecting_ because every toy you buy is a toy that someone else can't have!!
On some rare occasions toy stores have been known to enact anti-scalping policies, like restricting the sales to say a limit of 3 of the same toy to any one customer. I remember some toy stores doing this when Star Wars The Phantom Menace toys first came out - there was a limit of 3 per customer (of the same figure). The vast majority of stores don't do this though.
I remember in late 1986 Kups were shelf-warming and they were marked down to like $5 each or something really cheap like that. My mum went and bought a crapload of Kups! I got one, my brother got one and she kept the rest as presents for my cousins and her friends' children... so for the next year it was like, "Happy Birthday!" "Oh wow, Kup!" or "Merry Christmas! Oh wow, Kup!" over and over again.
So blame Santa. ;P
The one we went to last time.
Last edited by GoktimusPrime; 12th December 2008 at 04:21 PM.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Just for the record, I didn't say what you've quoted me as saying.Nobody's talking about scalping here. Scalping is an entirely different (and evil) practice.
This tends to happen more because of scalpers not because of active toy-hunters. Remember that toy-hunters are basically only buying for their own needs. Scalpers will take _everything_ - as in, fill up an entire trolley full of toys and then purchase them. There's stories of scalpers fighting with children over toys. Scalpers also tend to camp outside stores when they know there's a new stock coming out and they rush in and scoop everything up before anyone else can have the chance to get in there. They then sell the toys off to collectors at inflated prices.
A person who buys a bunch of toys for him(her)self and his(her) friends is an entirely different thing. First of all, they usually don't take as many toys as scalpers do, and secondly their motivations are far more altruistic. It's one thing to grab a bunch of toys to help your friends/fellow collectors and basically sell them at the same price that you paid (i.e.: you're not making a profit). It's an entirely different thing to grab everything and then sell them at an increased price, with the intention of making a profit. The former is effectively doing a favour for other people, the latter is exploitation of collectors.
And as I said before, if you're worried about other people missing out then the only thing you can do is _stop_collecting_ because every toy you buy is a toy that someone else can't have!!
On some rare occasions toy stores have been known to enact anti-scalping policies, like restricting the sales to say a limit of 3 of the same toy to any one customer. I remember some toy stores doing this when Star Wars The Phantom Menace toys first came out - there was a limit of 3 per customer (of the same figure). The vast majority of stores don't do this though.
I remember in late 1986 Kups were shelf-warming and they were marked down to like $5 each or something really cheap like that. My mum went and bought a crapload of Kups! I got one, my brother got one and she kept the rest as presents for my cousins and her friends' children... so for the next year it was like, "Happy Birthday!" "Oh wow, Kup!" or "Merry Christmas! Oh wow, Kup!" over and over again.
So blame Santa. ;P
The one we went to last time.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Sorry Doubledealer - I've corrected my last post.
We do have a problem with scalpers on some toys. As you said, movie Bumblebee was heavily scalped and so was Masterpiece Starscream. I wonder if you would find it so amusing/charming if it was happening to a toy you wanted. :/
I don't care what the toy is, if I see a scalper I will hurt his janglies. A lot.
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Guys I think we should stop "arguing" about whether it's right or wrong to help friends buy TF figures (otherwise this might get to be a "heated" thread.)
Everyone has their own perceptions and no one's bound to agree. From what I have read, there's no right or wrong in wanting to help your friend buy a TF. Maybe it's just a different way to approach it and also a compromise.
Instead of buying say 6-8 packs of the same TFs for yourself and other friends from one store (and other fans or parents nearby have less chance of buying), why not just buy extra for a couple of friends? In that way the shelves will still have more stock for parents and other fans who go over and buy for themselves later.
Some of us here have their little mini-groups of 2-3 who are on the look out for each other more as compared for other members (and we all know that). There's nothing wrong in that, so sometimes when we see in acquis that Member A bought extra for friend B or C, no one is really fussed about it.
But when it becomes heaps like 6 or more of the same TF item, then yes that would cause the jealousy, "why-was-I-left-out", "you're a scalper, you buy so many of the same item" factors that will come out.
Remember, not everything is on your "MUST HAVE NOW" list.
~ JuzMel ~
My son is taking over all my TFs!
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Did masterpiece Starscream get scalped? really? I saw it twice in Toys R Us and purchased it the second time... and that was the northland store so I must of had plenty of competition.
I liked the toy but thought that $100 was pretty steep. Am pretty sure you can still order it online for $100-110ppd... could've probably got it cheaper from the US before the US shipping skyrocketed.
And GP when you say;
I think you are talking to the wrong person... My collecting is really based heavily on G1, I'm not a completist and most of my purchases are agonisingly slow and well thought out. I do not own one single Animated toy, I consider them toys for the new generation of children along with every other post G1 series (with the exception of the 2007 movie line... even then this was simply treated as a curiousity).if you're worried about other people missing out then the only thing you can do is _stop_collecting_ because every toy you buy is a toy that someone else can't have
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Only a handful were available to begin with in Brisbane but it appears that MP Starscream, among a few other toys, has been scalped heavily here (hence my assumption about what you were getting at when you said collecting was a bit like Monopoly
I thought $100 was steep but scalping is all about shrinking supply to artificially create demand. Even at $100 I was prepared to buy a couple of spares (*NOT* to scalp). It turned out I got the last one at TRU Garden City the first day they were released! They showed up online and elsewhere, often for several hundred $$ to begin with. This scenario was foiled for MP-3 scalpers with additional releases in the US but still continues to be a problem here, esp. with exclusives. *cough* MP4 *cough*
My Brother is a manager at a non TF-retailer (but owned by one of the big 2) and says, with some disappointment, that it is better to ignore 'retail quantity' rules that prevent scalping when the stores are usually under a lot of pressure to continually grow their sales... So this situation is unlikely to improve until management culture changes
Edit: BTW I am in no way affiliated with the Melbourne buying group, nor do I benefit from their arrangement.
Last edited by DigDug; 12th December 2008 at 06:29 PM.
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You really didn't read that twice before posting, did you?
I was attempting to clarify a comment D*R*J made earlier and you chided me then turned around and did exactly the same!
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Leave Brittany alone!!!!
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