darkSpyro

Hey sorry for not posting in forever (not sure if i'm back) but i have run across a problem that i am hoping you guys can help me with. When Giants was launched i picked up 2 Granite Crushers, one for me and one to sell at a later date. Recently i did the same thing with Scarlet Ninjini. Please note that i took ONE extra and didnt clear the shelves in a scalping attempt. Anyways here we are months later and my friend is just getting into Giants. He knows i have these two set aside to sell some time in the future but he wants them and offered to pay for what ever they are on ebay for. I try to look out for my friend so i thought $50 would be a fair price for both of them. This was with me knowing granite crusher was going for $30 last time i checked. Now i see that Granite Crusher is going for $40-50 on ebay and i know in the future scarlet ninjini will be the same. So now my question is what is a fair price to give them to my friend for? he had his chance to get it when they came out and he didnt wanna get into giants and spend his money but i guess now he has changed his mind :/ So i am at a loss on what to do

Screw what I said. Give it to your friend for retail.

Depends (is he a good buddy or more of an acquaintance?)... you could take a charitable approach and give your friend a deal, or you could take a business approach and sell it to him for the going eBay price of $50... or just sell it on eBay later too! It might help to look at it this way; what do you think he would do if the roles were reversed??

If they are truly a friend, you will sell them for your cost. Don't be a greedy scumbag and squeeze a few extra bucks out of your friend.

If this person is truly your friend, just sell them to him for whatever price you originally paid for them. You would probably expect the same if your roles were reversed (again, assuming you two are actually friends).

If he's just an acquaintance, then charge him whatever you want. I'd recommend $60 for the pair of Granite Crusher and Scarlet Ninjini.

If your truly a friend, you can sell it to him/her for regular price or give it to him as a gift, if your friend help you out before, this is the time to return the favor.

I'm going to go against the grain a little here. You picked up the extra figures and you've had your cash tied up for awhile now. There's absolutely no reason you shouldn't make a little profit for your efforts.

If you just picked up an extra figure and sold it to him the next day, that'd be one thing... but you've had the money tied up in Granite Crusher for several months now. Over half a year.

Now, I wouldn't gouge him and charge like twice retail or anything - but a few bucks ($18-$20/figure) is perfectly reasonable. Even more so, considering you could sell them on eBay for quite a bit more.

thanks guys. In a normal situation i would be selling them to him at cost. The reason the problem arose is that i tried getting him into Giants when it was originally released and he said he didnt wanna do skylanders any more. Now months later him changin his mind frustrates me cause i feel like he shoulda got them when he had the chance. Any ways thanks for the input. I think i will stay at $50 for both. $25 each doesnt seem that terrible and i forgot when i posted this that i have gotten him multiple free skylanders since way back when the first one was released. But again thanks

Do what you want, don't listen to anybody calling you a scumbag, and just listen to what you think is right. TBH, I think $25 for one is just fine.

He doesn't have his cash "tied up." They are $15 figures. It's not like he is out thousands or even hundreds of dollars up front.

And sorry, but I still think its a bit scum-baggish to up charge your friend.

Quote: Himewad

He doesn't have his cash "tied up." They are $15 figures. It's not like he is out thousands or even hundreds of dollars up front.

And sorry, but I still think its a bit scum-baggish to up charge your friend.

I dont see that... He has at least $33 tied up in the 2 Giants. Its not like he is charging his friend $40 each like you see on Ebay.

He said he has helped his friend out in the past and tried to get him to get them when they were out. Seems like your friend might be taking advantage of your friendship if he knows you have these hard to find Giants and now wants in...especially since you have said that you have given him some free skylanders in the past. Now who's the friend? I say if there is an issue, and you cant come to an agreement that will not haunt you later, sell them on Ebay like you were going to do and have your friend find them somewhere else. Like others have said above, you have had your cash tied up for awhile and should get a little interest out of them.

hmm i can see both sides of it. I think i will go with the $50 plan. It was cool of him to offer to pay full ebay prices but i'm not gonna gouge my friend for money. In the past i have picked up hard to find figures for him and recently i have been straight out buying them for him because he is broke and in between jobs. You do have a point dinoah it's not the 1st time he's pulled this. I had told him about the lays promotion last year and he didnt do anything but wanted my extra flocked stump smash when i got them.

Quote: Himewad

He doesn't have his cash "tied up." They are $15 figures. It's not like he is out thousands or even hundreds of dollars up front.

And sorry, but I still think its a bit scum-baggish to up charge your friend.

You are, of course, welcome to your opinion. I suggest you get in touch with his friend and sell him the two figures at cost. Sounds like everyone would be happy then, eh?

$30+ isn't going to break the bank, by any means... but, if someone works a minimum wage job, that's roughly 5 hours of work (after taxes). It can be a decent chunk of change to have tied up. I've put off buying games before because I didn't have it in the budget at the time - and $30 buys a DS game, easily.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Himewad

He doesn't have his cash "tied up." They are $15 figures. It's not like he is out thousands or even hundreds of dollars up front.

And sorry, but I still think its a bit scum-baggish to up charge your friend.

You are, of course, welcome to your opinion. I suggest you get in touch with his friend and sell him the two figures at cost. Sounds like everyone would be happy then, eh?

$30+ isn't going to break the bank, by any means... but, if someone works a minimum wage job, that's roughly 5 hours of work (after taxes). It can be a decent chunk of change to have tied up. I've put off buying games before because I didn't have it in the budget at the time - and $30 buys a DS game, easily.

Look buddy, I'm not the one who purchased an extra figure with the sole intention of holding it and selling it at a profit at a later date. He's the one who decided to "tie up his cash" as you put it. And if he's working a minimum wage job where $15 or $30 is going to hose up his budget, perhaps he shouldn't be purchasing Skylander figures in the first place.

I actually did purchase two Scarlet Ninjinis when they came out, and DID sell the extra one to someone who I knew was looking for Ninjini, and I sold it for what I paid for it. I walk the walk.

Quote: Himewad

I actually did purchase two Scarlet Ninjinis when they came out, and DID sell the extra one to someone who I knew was looking for Ninjini, and I sold it for what I paid for it. I walk the walk.

For someone who "walks the walk," you seem to be selective about when you do so, seeing as in another thread (//forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=81356) you're talking openly/brazenly about how you bought a 3 pack with Flameslinger in it and plan to register Flameslinger and then return it. To me, that indicates a morality that's conveniently flexible so long as it suits you. To me, anyway, that's not "walking the walk."

-Doug

Quote: darkchylde28

Quote: Himewad

I actually did purchase two Scarlet Ninjinis when they came out, and DID sell the extra one to someone who I knew was looking for Ninjini, and I sold it for what I paid for it. I walk the walk.

For someone who "walks the walk," you seem to be selective about when you do so, seeing as in another thread (//forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=81356) you're talking openly/brazenly about how you bought a 3 pack with Flameslinger in it and plan to register Flameslinger and then return it. To me, that indicates a morality that's conveniently flexible so long as it suits you. To me, anyway, that's not "walking the walk."

-Doug

I fail to see how returning a figure to a store, thereby allowing others to purchase the figure, puts me on the same level as a scalper.

I have made no bones about the fact that I purchase S2 figures, register them (unlocking the heroic challenges), and return them to the store. You could make the case that I'm stealing from Activision, but I counter that I already paid for those heroic challenges once and I'm not going to pay for them a second time. You can say it's a lack of morality, but I say I'm getting what is rightly mine to begin with.

Activision could get rid of this altogether by unlocking specific content for each generation character, thereby providing unique value to each that would warrant individual purchase. They are well on the way with making re-poses effectively in game variants (with also unique in game capabilities)...differentiation is key--but I also recognize their games are going to get HUGE quickly if they go this route.

Quote: Himewad

I fail to see how returning a figure to a store, thereby allowing others to purchase the figure, puts me on the same level as a scalper.

I have made no bones about the fact that I purchase S2 figures, register them (unlocking the heroic challenges), and return them to the store. You could make the case that I'm stealing from Activision, but I counter that I already paid for those heroic challenges once and I'm not going to pay for them a second time. You can say it's a lack of morality, but I say I'm getting what is rightly mine to begin with.

It definitely puts you on the same level as all of the folks who buy clothes at various department stores, wear them once or twice and return them. You both got what you wanted and then take advantage of a legal/policy loophole that allows you to return your purchase so that you don't have to actually put forth any permanent investment on your part but, in your instance still "get[] what is rightly [yours] to begin with." If there's nothing morally wrong with that, I guess I may just have to start relearning what morality is since I certainly can't see it that way.

You paid for the unlock for the Heroic Challenge in SSA by buying the SSA version of a figure. When Activision/TFB changed the way that worked and required you to buy a S2 figure in order to unlock that same challenege in a new game (thus enabling Giants and Newlanders to use them), you absolutely did not pay for that. It was obviously never intended for you to get those challenges to be unlocked in Giants by SSA figures nor for Giants and Newlanders to be able to be played in SSA to take advantage of those challenges. Did you physically steal something? Technically no. Did you, in a sense, steal intellectual property from Activision/TFB? Yes, in a very real sense.

Feel as justified as you want in doing so, but don't put yourself on a pedestal and talk down to a guy who purchased an extra couple of figures for whatever reason (to be a pure scalper, to make a few extra bucks toward rent/groceries/Christmas/whatever, etc.) and still wanted to collect a little interest on his investment. There's a reason it's called "friendship" and not "charity." I might have sold those figures to a friend at cost, I might not, but I can certainly understand and respect someone else's decision to make a couple of extra dollars when the current value of the original investment is 2-3x the original cost and someone who was invited to get in on the ground floor suddenly wants a free/cheap ride.

-Doug

Ah, but you forget that's it's pretty morally wrong and snake-like that Activision isn't allowing SSA figures to unlock Heroic Challenges in Giants. We bought the figures, they should remain fully functional. Making them not unlock HCs in Giants makes them less functional than they were in SSA.

Now, granted, if they had allowed unlocking, that complicates the Lostlanders... Many had their HCs reassigned as unassigned ones in Giants that you buy from Auric, so they'd have nothing left to unlock... The best solution I can think of is to make the unassigned ones all new, like they had to do for the Newlanders/giants anyway.

Stop getting on Ace's case.

Quote: Ryanator20x6

Stop getting on Ace's case.

It's fine I dont really see this affecting me <.< thanks to whats been said i feel justified in the price. As for the who "having my money tied up" thing, $30 is about 4hrs of work seeing as i am a cashier at target for $8 an hour. I' decent at managing my money so i dont really see it as "tied up" since it was 2 $15 purchases months apart. This came out of my designated spending money. My checks r generally $150-190. 100 is set away to live on (food, gas, phone bill, school) the rest is what i let myself spend. I am also very sure i am not a scalper whats so ever. If i wanted to clear out my target of granite crushers and scarlet ninjinis i could have. But no it was just one extra bringing my total to 2 of each, which is what a lot of people get in the 1st place (one to play with, 1 in packaging)

Quote: niceguy1

Ah, but you forget that's it's pretty morally wrong and snake-like that Activision isn't allowing SSA figures to unlock Heroic Challenges in Giants. We bought the figures, they should remain fully functional.

The figures are still fully functional and do every single thing they were ever advertised to do.

Quote: Himewad

He's the one who decided to "tie up his cash" as you put it.

And his friend is the one who passed on the chance to get the figures at retail.

We all make our own choices in life.
Like, you. If you make a choice to commit retail return fraud, that's totally your choice.

Quote: niceguy1

Ah, but you forget that's it's pretty morally wrong and snake-like that Activision isn't allowing SSA figures to unlock Heroic Challenges in Giants. We bought the figures, they should remain fully functional. Making them not unlock HCs in Giants makes them less functional than they were in SSA.

While it would have been fantastic for them to leave the SSA guys unlocking their respective HC's, I completely understand why Activision did it this way. If your Series 1 guys would unlock all of the same challenges in Giants, why would most people bother with Series 2 characters? Plus, if the SSA characters would unlock their challenges, how would folks who didn't get into the series until Giants unlock the unreposed 8's HC's without dumping a load of money on them? The SSA guys didn't lose any functionality whatsoever--they still do everything in SSA they were meant to and got the bonus of being completely usable in Giants, save the level 10 experience cap. We didn't gain as much as we might have, but we certainly didn't lose anything.

Quote: ace

If i wanted to clear out my target of granite crushers and scarlet ninjinis i could have. But no it was just one extra bringing my total to 2 of each, which is what a lot of people get in the 1st place (one to play with, 1 in packaging)

Thank you for making this point. I was thinking this but keeping my mouth shut. If you're a scalper, then I guess all of the folks who buy 2 (one to open, one to display) who either hit hard times or just decide they don't want the carded figures anymore are scalpers too.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Himewad

He's the one who decided to "tie up his cash" as you put it.

And his friend is the one who passed on the chance to get the figures at retail.

We all make our own choices in life.
Like, you. If you make a choice to commit retail return fraud, that's totally your choice.

Hahahahaha...! Thank you UncleBob, I needed that. I actually woke my wife up cackling when I wrote this, read it to her, wherein she started chuckling as well. Good show. :-D

-Doug

Quote: UncleBob

We all make our own choices in life.
Like, you. If you make a choice to commit retail return fraud, that's totally your choice.

How, exactly, am I committing retail return fraud? I'm returning the exact same figure that I purchased.

Agree with you about choices though. Activision made a choice to try to trick people into buying the same figure twice. To say that the consumer got the shaft is an understatement. We were told that our SSA figures would still be playable in Giants and level to 15, and they did. But one of their key functions (unlocking heroic challenges that make the figures stronger) was removed for no reason other than they wanted to sell the public the same figures all over again. I refused to give in, and I found a way around their little scheme with a scheme of my own.

And to respond to the post that says I'm no better than someone who wears clothing just to return it later, that's not even close to the same thing. Wearing clothes and returning them is unhygienic and disgusting. The clothing is in no way brand new when returned. Registering a figure in no way harms the product itself. It's just as good and useful as when it was first produced. Nice try.

Quote: Himewad

And to respond to the post that says I'm no better than someone who wears clothing just to return it later, that's not even close to the same thing. Wearing clothes and returning them is unhygienic and disgusting. The clothing is in no way brand new when returned. Registering a figure in no way harms the product itself. It's just as good and useful as when it was first produced. Nice try.

There is no try--it's very much the same thing. You're purchasing something from a store only to get your own, limited use out of it, with no intention of keeping it. Cloud this discussion all you want (eww, that's gross, etc.), but it doesn't change the facts. The clothing isn't brand new? Would you like to wager how many brand new clothing items the average person has purchased in their lifetime that someone has tried on, in or out of the store? That's "unhygienic and disgusting," but nobody would deny that it's a new item being purchased. So, in all of your self-justified moral gray purchases, you've always used gloves to handle the figures then thoroughly wiped them down before returning them to get your money back? No? Why not? It's just as unhygienic and disgusting since you're also getting your castoff cells, body oils, etc. on the product that you don't intend to keep. You're getting something that was specifically intended for you to have to pay for (again) and yet didn't.

Argue all you want about how someone else can/will buy the figure, "nobody gets hurt," etc., that doesn't earn you the white hat as the good guy would have bought the figure and kept it or done without the HC being activated, as Activision intended. By your rationalization, if you could get someone to accept it as a return, you'd have no issue with buying a DVD, watching it (or, since HC's stay after you return the figure, ripping or burning a copy) and returning it. And, since someone else can buy it, no harm done, right?

Hop off the pedestal man, you tower above no one on here morally no matter how much you like to pretend and go on and on.

Edit:

Quote: Himewad

How, exactly, am I committing retail return fraud? I'm returning the exact same figure that I purchased.

On a lark, before going to sleep, I actually looked up the specific definition of Return Fraud on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_fraud). You fit the very first bullet to a T: "Wardrobing or renting: Purchasing merchandise for short-term use with the intent to return the item, such as a dress for a special occasion, a video camera for graduations and weddings or a big-screen television for the Super Bowl." Guess the English language and/or this whole concept is wrong...right?

-Doug

Trying on clothing is not the same as wearing clothing. Surely you can see the difference unless you are a 10 year old chylde. Your DVD example is invalid. You need to open the package to watch a DVD. I don't need to open the Skylander package. It's a brand new item, even after I have returned it.

Same thing with your wiki definition. I'm not actually USING the product. To get use out of a dress, you need to WEAR it. To get use out of a video camera, you need to unbox it, breaking all sorts of seals, and actually RUN the machine. Same thing with a TV. What I'm doing is more equivalent to buying a video camera, taking it home, deciding that I don't really want it (without opening the box), and returning it.

I'm not on a pedestal, brah. I've found a way around their tactics, and I have admitted what I am doing for months now. I'm not ashamed, and I don't feel guilty because the next person who buys the product gets a pristine, MIB figure. Unlike any of the examples you keep throwing at the wall that don't stick. I eagerly await your next attempt so I can shoot down those examples, as well.

In every state I've dealt with the issue, the accepted layman's definition of return fraud is "Purchasing a product with the intent to use the item for its intended purpose then return the item to the store."

If you're okay with the fact that YOU can justify what you're doing in your own mind, more power to you.

Most people who do bad things are able to justify them to themselves.

You think it's a victimless crime, but the store that you're cheating:
A) Loses opportunity to make a sale - they have several customers that come in and out of the store the entire time you're using the figure for its intended purpose and any one of those could be interested in a legitimate purchase.
Has to pay a cashier to check you out for an item that you have no intent to keep, a cashier to process the return on the item that you used for its intended purpose with no intent to keep and a sales floor employee to restock the item to the shelf.

Congrats on finding a way to cheat the system.

Nice try Bob. I would argue that a figure's "intended purpose" is opening and playing the game with it. I am doing neither.

These stores get plenty of traffic. They will sell the figs whether they are on the shelf on a Saturday or a Tuesday. They aren't losing out on an opportunity at all. Maybe for a day or two, yes, but that's not going to cripple their sales.

Those cashiers get paid whether I am there buying a figure or sitting on my butt at home.

Thanks for the compliment. Finally.

While those employees are tied up in assisting you in your return fraud, they're unable to assist other, legitimate customers and unable to do other tasks, like clean the store, bring new merchandise to the shelves, etc.

Are you familiar with the "Theft Circle"?

Quote: UncleBob

While those employees are tied up in assisting you in your return fraud, they're unable to assist other, legitimate customers and unable to do other tasks, like clean the store, bring new merchandise to the shelves, etc.

Bob, you specifically mentioned cashiers. Cashiers, when they are not ringing up customers, are standing there waiting for customers to check out. Don't try to make it sound like they are in constant motion. I've seen them. They are not.

Besides, it's not time consuming. It takes me a maximum of 1 minute to make my purchase, and another 1 minute to get my refund. Heck, if I'm at Wal-Mart, I've gone through the self checkout lane to buy figs. Not even tying up one single employee.

Quote: Himewad

Trying on clothing is not the same as wearing clothing. Surely you can see the difference unless you are a 10 year old chylde. Your DVD example is invalid. You need to open the package to watch a DVD. I don't need to open the Skylander package. It's a brand new item, even after I have returned it.

Same thing with your wiki definition. I'm not actually USING the product. To get use out of a dress, you need to WEAR it. To get use out of a video camera, you need to unbox it, breaking all sorts of seals, and actually RUN the machine. Same thing with a TV. What I'm doing is more equivalent to buying a video camera, taking it home, deciding that I don't really want it (without opening the box), and returning it.

I'm not on a pedestal, brah. I've found a way around their tactics, and I have admitted what I am doing for months now. I'm not ashamed, and I don't feel guilty because the next person who buys the product gets a pristine, MIB figure. Unlike any of the examples you keep throwing at the wall that don't stick. I eagerly await your next attempt so I can shoot down those examples, as well.

If you weren't using the Skylander, you'd still be needing Heroic Challenge to be unlocked, pure and simple. As for putting yourself on a pedestal, you might not be able to see it, but lots of other folks do. You openly admit (and now try to get everyone else to buy into your personal justification) to return fraud and then act like you've done nothing morally wrong but a guy who bought one extra of a figure to potentially make a few extra dollars down the line deserves to be looked down upon. You're either both wrong or both right. Which is it?

Quote: Himewad

Nice try Bob. I would argue that a figure's "intended purpose" is opening and playing the game with it. I am doing neither.

These stores get plenty of traffic. They will sell the figs whether they are on the shelf on a Saturday or a Tuesday. They aren't losing out on an opportunity at all. Maybe for a day or two, yes, but that's not going to cripple their sales.

Those cashiers get paid whether I am there buying a figure or sitting on my butt at home.

Thanks for the compliment. Finally.

If one of the figure's intended purposes wasn't to unlock a Heroic Challenge in Giants I don't know what it is. Just as one of the intended purposes of a SSA Skylander was to unlock a specific HC in SSA and not in Giants. So, are you either rationalizing/bargaining here, or are you simply lying about the fact that you ever did the whole return fraud thing? Because if you didn't use those figures (however briefly) for their intended purpose, you certainly never unlocked those HC's in Giants that your SSA figures wouldn't.

As for the argument of "those people would still be there if I wasn't," not necessarily. Most employers that have hourly employees have some sort of practice of "early release" in place in order to save money on labor when the demand for customer facing employees (etc.) isn't as high as it was thought. The company that I work for does the same thing--when the number of calls into the center is much lower than anticipated and the average time between phone calls is exceedingly high they'll first offer folks the opportunity to volunteer to go home (which most rejoice at, at least occasionally) and then start drafting people. Please stop trying to rationalize this all away. Just because you've made a small dent in someone's profits, ability to purchase the Skylander you're "renting" illegally, etc. doesn't mean that it doesn't happen and doesn't have an effect.

Quote: Himewad

Quote: UncleBob

While those employees are tied up in assisting you in your return fraud, they're unable to assist other, legitimate customers and unable to do other tasks, like clean the store, bring new merchandise to the shelves, etc.

Bob, you specifically mentioned cashiers. Cashiers, when they are not ringing up customers, are standing there waiting for customers to check out. Don't try to make it sound like they are in constant motion. I've seen them. They are not.

Besides, it's not time consuming. It takes me a maximum of 1 minute to make my purchase, and another 1 minute to get my refund. Heck, if I'm at Wal-Mart, I've gone through the self checkout lane to buy figs. Not even tying up one single employee.

See my above explanation on how stores deal with hourly employee staffing. If you hadn't been in Wal-Mart, they may have sent the employee responsible for watching over the self checkouts home and shut them down. You'll never know for certain, which means you can't effectively argue that there's no way you made an impact. This is really starting to turn into the "5 Stages of Himewad," as it seems like we've been through versions of Denial and Anger and are now at Bargaining (rationalization).

-Doug

So, you are saying that in a store as large as Wal-Mart, my singular presence in that store was seen by management, and word was relayed down the chain of command until a specific employee was affected and couldn't leave early? That's a bit far-fetched, don't you think? You're grasping at straws. And there isn't always someone watching over the self-checkouts. I've been there plenty of times when no one is around.

How have I gone through denial and anger? I haven't denied anything. I openly admit what I am doing. And my posts have not been angry at all. Just putting forth my point of view, chylde.

You guys are really getting all worked up about nothing. Let it go. I'm not going to purchase the S2 figs - you can go ahead and buy them if you want to. I'm not going to buy the S3 re-poses, either.

Quote: Himewad

So, you are saying that in a store as large as Wal-Mart, my singular presence in that store was seen by management, and word was relayed down the chain of command until a specific employee was affected and couldn't leave early? That's a bit far-fetched, don't you think? You're grasping at straws. And there isn't always someone watching over the self-checkouts. I've been there plenty of times when no one is around.

Great, so you think trying to make the issue seem ridiculous will win your point? Every little bit counts, no matter how small. The number of returns that a store receives directly affects their bottom line whether they're able to re-sell the item or not, contributing to their ability (or lack thereof) to employ people. A friend of mine works at Target and has had his hours slashed to 15-20 hours a week from a full 40. The reason given by management? Enormously larger than normal amount of returns, but all technically within policy. Yeah, you're not hurting anybody.

Quote: Himewad

How have I gone through denial and anger? I haven't denied anything. I openly admit what I am doing. And my posts have not been angry at all. Just putting forth my point of view, chylde.

You keep directly denying that you're doing anything wrong. Fraud is wrong, whether you get away with it or not. There are consequences, not necessarily to you (as illustrated above), but real ones to your behavior nonetheless. The vehemence that you're defending your ability (and the way you champion it, I believe you'd call it a right) to purchase and return items you've gotten your full use out of denotes, to me, at least, a non-even emotional keel.

Quote: Himewad

You guys are really getting all worked up about nothing. Let it go. I'm not going to purchase the S2 figs - you can go ahead and buy them if you want to. I'm not going to buy the S3 re-poses, either.

As UncleBob said above, you're free to make your choice to continue committing return fraud. It doesn't make it right or give you any higher or more moral standing than Ace who you decided to declare a scumbag for making an extra couple of dollars on his investment.

-Doug

Bottom line: I .......... DON'T .......... CARE .......... WHAT .......... YOU .......... THINK

If you're trying to make me feel bad, just save your energy. Target is struggling just like all retail stores are struggling. This Obama-conomy just plain sucks. Quite predictably, I might add. Activision (and/or Toys for Bob) is the one that started all of the bad blood with their piss-poor decisions about how to handle S1 figures. I am simply reacting to their anti-loyal-consumer policy and voicing my opposition in this way. I could have just stayed away from Giants altogether, but my son and I still enjoy the game, so I decided to go another route.

And the reason I called him a scumbag is because he was gouging someone he called his friend. Personally, if one of my friends was looking for a figure, and I had one, he would get it with no up-charge. But that's just me. I guess a true friend is someone who makes sure that they get a little extra for, you know, the effort.

It's a free country--if you don't like it.....

CALM DOWN!! Tis place is busy enough as is. Stop having this sissy fight and stop already. This is just plain annoying. Himewad can do whatever he likes, and It does NOT affect anyone badly. He is giving another customer a chance to find that figure. It might be better even that he does just return it. But Himewad, you really shouldn't get figures just to get heroics. You might as well keep the figure.

Ace,
I believe you got enough info to do what you want. Please close this post before Himewad gets more people against him. I don't believe this was your intension, so lets put it to rest.

Thank You

P.S. I had to bite my tounge a few times already so please close this.

"One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right"

Quote: Himewad

If they are truly a friend, you will sell them for your cost. Don't be a greedy scumbag and squeeze a few extra bucks out of your friend.

Oh don't get me started, you have no right to be calling him names when are getting heroic challenges for free, that's stealing from children pal.

Quote: TheBakonBitz

Quote: Himewad

If they are truly a friend, you will sell them for your cost. Don't be a greedy scumbag and squeeze a few extra bucks out of your friend.

Oh don't get me started, you have no right to be calling him names when are getting heroic challenges for free, that's stealing from children pal.

Well, you started, so you might as well finish. How, exactly, am I stealing? Please explain.

Quote: Himewad

Quote: UncleBob

While those employees are tied up in assisting you in your return fraud, they're unable to assist other, legitimate customers and unable to do other tasks, like clean the store, bring new merchandise to the shelves, etc.

Bob, you specifically mentioned cashiers. Cashiers, when they are not ringing up customers, are standing there waiting for customers to check out. Don't try to make it sound like they are in constant motion.

I'm not sure if your comment is due to an inability to read or simply to comprehend (I suspect the second, as it would tie in to the fact that you don't see anything wrong with what you're doing) - but I very clearly mentioned both cashiers and sales floor employees.

Quote:

Besides, it's not time consuming. It takes me a maximum of 1 minute to make my purchase, and another 1 minute to get my refund. Heck, if I'm at Wal-Mart, I've gone through the self checkout lane to buy figs. Not even tying up one single employee.

Plus the time it takes to restock the figures. Plus the potential for a loss sale while the product isn't on the shelf. Plus the potential for disappointed customers when they go in and can't find the figure you've taken with no intent to purchase, so they're left in a negative mood and thus purchase less.

Your actions have direct consequences that you simply refuse to acknowledge. This is the "denial" that Doug spoke about.

Personally, I have a higher opinion of someone who says "Hey, I bought this for $10, but I'll sell it to you for $12" than someone who says "Meh, I don't like the way they're treating me by delivering exactly what they promised me, so I'll screw them over and screw over anyone who stands in my way."

Quote: Himewad

Quote: TheBakonBitz

Quote: Himewad

If they are truly a friend, you will sell them for your cost. Don't be a greedy scumbag and squeeze a few extra bucks out of your friend.

Oh don't get me started, you have no right to be calling him names when are getting heroic challenges for free, that's stealing from children pal.

Well, you started, so you might as well finish. How, exactly, am I stealing? Please explain.

Don't you remember me from that topic a while back? You are "stealing" figures because others who are doing the right thing have to pay while you get your heroic challenges for free. Plus when your at home with a skylanders you are gonna return the next day, a 8 year old kid comes looking for that skylander and you took the last one. Stealing Skylanders from a kid, how does that feel? But obviously you won't feel bad about this because you obviously don't care.

I have read a bunch of twisting of information here. And it is quite comical to see how people interpret the situation. Any situation can be twisted around enough to make it sound like it is okay. I for one agree with all the people saying this is fraud. I see the intended use of the Skylander toys as placing the toy on the portal of your home console. What you decide to do after you place the toy on the portal is up to the individual. It has long been known that you can still play a Skylander while still in the packaging. I believe the packaging was designed this way so that kids could test characters on the in-store display and not so people could take them home to unlock heroics and return them.

Obviously Himewad sees it a different way than I do. It is interesting that you seem to have a "They screwed me with the heroics, so I will screw them with my return fraud scheme". What ever works for you I guess. I'm not sure if it is a funds issue or a principal thing. But if it is principal, then it is quite ironic. Either way I don't think your moral compass points north but that's just me.

2 more against Himeward...Body Blow - UpperCut


This is like a Mike Tyson fight in his Hay-Day, except the fact that this has gone past the first round.
Ace, Stop this mayhem, PLEASE!!!

Quote: dinoah2005

2 more against Himeward...Body Blow - UpperCut


This is like a Mike Tyson fight in his Hay-Day, except the fact that this has gone past the first round.
Ace, Stop this mayhem, PLEASE!!!

Yes but instead of Mike Tyson biting off an ear, it's this guys taking from children. Hey they should be related!

"Let's get ready to rumble!"

Well, Himewad isn't getting enough support, so count one more on his side.

Is there some questionable morality in this whole return scheme? Sure. But it's the most victimless crime there is, no matter how much people might try to argue the contrary. And I agree with the motive of sticking a pin in Activision for their questionable actions.

To use one of the proffered examples, if he was to buy a video camera to use to record one event, he would have to bring it home and unpack everything, then possibly repack everything before bringing it back. The store, in turn, would have to repack whatever he didn't, and reseal it however well they could. Then, as it would be clear that it has been resealed, the store would have to lower the price and throw it in a discount bin. They would no longer be able to sell it for full price. There are people willing to buy such resealed packages, but due to the unknown state of the contents, the customer would not be willing to pay the same price (after all, why not then buy a never-sold package instead?). So this buy-it-and-return-it fraud would hurt the store, costing them money through no fault of their own. But a returned Skylander is still fully sealed, can simply be returned to the shelf and sold for full price.

Taking up employee time? Ha! It gives them something to do. As has been pointed out, a cashier is there anyway. The person who restocks the shelves is already restocking a ton of other items, one more isn't affecting his day, really. Same with the person accepting the return. And one item more or less isn't really going to affect whether people can go home early. Besides which, if you want to take that into account, you have to also take into account people like me, who don't WANT to go early, who don't want to give up the earnings. I've had times I was sent home early, there's some "Yay" in there, but it's tainted by the knowledge that I'm losing income.

In the end, all this hypothetical minutia is too much to take into consideration, and impossible to fully predict, so it has to be removed from consideration. What will happen will happen, it can't be predicted to anywhere near the amount of accuracy it would take to use this information to affect decisions.

Then there's the ridiculous "stealing" argument. Returning a thing in mint condition is nowhere near stealing. Try this on for size: Himewad buys Flameslinger (for simplicity lets say its the last one on the shelf). Kid A comes looking for Flameslinger, doesn't find him. Himewad returned Flameslinger. Kid B comes looking, finds him. So Kid A is disappointed, Kid B is ecstatic. If Himewad had not done this, Kid A would be ecstatic and Kid B is disappointed. So how do you decide who to "bless", Kid A or Kid B? Who to curse? Without any further information there's no real way to decide, and without omniscience there would never be a way to know what's happening or even that any of this IS happening. There's no guarantee that ANYONE will miss Flameslinger while he is out of the store, but it's a fair bet that someone will get him after, one way or the other. And if it's NOT the last Flameslinger, Himewad's antics have no effect on consumers whatsoever. Again, there's too much What If to take any of it into consideration. Sorry.

As for the original poster's dilemma, this is where I have to disagree with Himewad. Would it be nice to offer at cost? Sure. But then it would be the friend who isn't being fair to ace, a good friend to ace. This solution is best, offering at a better price than cost, but still FAR better than market value. Good deal for both. Ace makes some of the profit that market value says he should, and his pal gets a better price than anywhere else. Everybody is happy.

ENOUGH! Stop the arguments!

"LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!"