Do online stores withold stock for later sale?

[1AZRAEL1]

Now I am just speculating, but does it seem like some of these online stores withold some stock for later sale at a higher demand price?

We seen it before with them finding "misplaced stock" or some other label as that.

This just seems like a blatant cash grab by TFSource, but I could be wrong. They had a restock of TFX-04B Shadow Scyther Trailer Upgrade Set (that sold out pretty quick as I can gather) for a smooth $300. The post on face book said it was leftovers from their "secret stash".

I'd be interested to see if this trend of online stores "finding" more stock in their warehouses, and sticking inflated prices on them.

[Hursticon]

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest really.

[kaiden]

well i remember reading FP made 2 Specific lots - one for Asia through RK and 1 for US through TFsource.

I'm sure FP intend it to stay limited just like their CJ kits. They're done with it and moving on with their other projects - which comes at no surprise since Henkei Wildrider and Botcon SG Rodimus are very limited figures.

So yeah they're withholding stock because they're greedy bastards like ebay scalpers.

[gdmetro]

Generally I assume that online stores do not withhold stock (benefit of doubt) but it is their right to do so. No matter how a collector feels, online stores have no duty to sell a set quota of something at a specific price. But dont let the withholding be public knowledge... or there will be backlash of unhappy customers.

In contrast, TFsource's treatment of shadowscythe kit- went over the line and was IMO, truly unethical considering 1. the scarcity of the kit and 2. TFSource being one of the only 2 distributors worldwide- and sole distributor in the US. These 2 factors made the situation very special and I believe they had a special duty to make available all 300 kits initially regardless of any other external factors.

Instead, they advertised having 300 available but were deceitful in withholding stock. They effectively abused their monopoly on the distribution of this rare kit and truly scalped.

Their biggest mistake was advertising their scalping intentions/action on Facebook. If they had not made this public knowledge, then we would never know if they had withheld some of the kits. They could just slowly sell them somewhere else (Ebay) and reaped their scalped profits. But the fact of the matter is- we do know they scalped and deceived.

[kaiden]

Posted by alldarker on January 27th, 2011 @ 5:36am EST in response to Seibertron.com

Hmm.. you guys are a day late with this news...
TFSource HAD 20 more Shadow Scythers in stock, originally priced at a shocking $359.95 each.
However, this enormous price-hike (albeit at current approximate market value for Shadow Scyther!) for their own exclusive caused a 'slight' shit storm on TFSource's Facebook page and on the TFW boards, which caused TFSource to pull them off their site (after first lowering the price to $299.95 and writing some snarky comments on their Facebook page about keeping and cashing on a secret stash). It now seems as if they are going to raffle them...

But yeah, this all happened yesterday...

[canofwhoopass_87]

Interesting question you raise there, young Azrael. I wouldn't be surprised either if online stores were stashing away high demand / low production stock items. Even still, bit of a shock to hear about tfsource being exposed. Their business is probably gona see a bit of a drop. Public backlassshh!

I've never purchased anything from them though..their prices generally suck and their webpage takes so damn long to load. Always found it confusing as to how tfsource and BBTS stay afloat with RK kicking their asses.

[UltraMagnus]

I think why TF Source and BBTS stay big is the US primarily.

Robot Kingdom's website looks so 2002 so they probably should update it. RK are also in HK if I'm correct so that would be also a concern.

Now living in HK, i hear alot of ppl in Aust ask me if things in HK are fake. So that misconception may also still occur in the US.

RK is not bad, TF source is pretty good, BBTS is good.
Buying in HK is awesome

[Autocon]

this shits me off! i refuse to buy anything from them ever.

[langzixinxin]

Yes they do hold, in hundreds. But they have to rely on selling at fair price today to pay bills.

[Geminii]

It'd be interesting if they put them up through an eBay storefront. First kit sells at maximum price, second kit at just under that, and so on.