darkSpyro

We went to TRU yesterday to purchase the Legendary Bone Bash Roller Brawl and it was sold out. That seemed odd, so I asked a worker and he told us that someone had bought all of them on Friday. He said there were approx 8 figures that were on the pegs. Was it really worth it? Are sales that vigorous on eBay? I wound up just ordering it, with some other items. The whole things seems silly. Even with the Rewards deal of buy 3 for $25, it just wouldn't seem worth the effort to sell on eBay.

What I don't get is where are the purchase limit policies we heard so much about. If it's low on stock, the store just allows someone to clear that on their own, possibly wasting everyone else's time when they arrive later after the figure?

Some stores are more vigilant about purchase limits than others. My TRU has management that puts a halt on that, unless it has been on the shelves for some time or isn't in demand. If there is a line, one is strictly enforced. If not, they are usually ok with two. Skylanders isn't that hot this year and they have a bunch of new guys working the area, so I'm not sure how closely it is enforced, but I know that they still do it for Amiibos.

If they were really serious about it they could program it into registers to enforce it. Corporate really doesn't care, they just want the sale - it is the store managers that have to deal with customers that have a vested interest in preventing it.

Unfortunately, if you program the limit into the register, employees will just ring them up in multiple transactions. I've seen it. And not even the employee being friends with the person, just the employee trying to take care of the customer. And when you ask the employee, they state they didn't know about the limit. Then, you ask them why they broke it into separate transactions, and they explain it's because the register only lets you sell two per transaction. Then, you ask if, perhaps, there's a reason why the register limits it to two per transaction - and the employee just looks at you like you're from Mars.

Sorry. Sore spot there. ;)

Aside from that, sometimes, resellers who know the limits will bring them to the register and ask for separate transactions - something that's not too uncommon, but they're counting on the employee not knowing/caring enough to argue.

The only way to stop resellers is to stop supporting them. Stop being impatient and demanding to have the newest items the day they come out, stop being so willing to pay a premium to get it before someone else, and realize that your life isn't going to be over if you don't get a little plastic toy.

I don't understand how in this time of the franchise, ANYONE would try to scalp these. There's NO SHORTAGE of these on shelves.

Speaking purely from the business perspective, Skylanders sales are struggling, so it makes no sense for any retailer to impose limits on Superchargers merchandise. During the height of the Amiibo craze, I understand imposing purchase limits as that merchandise was flying off the shelves where demand far exceeded supply. Simple economics tells us that supply is greater than demand for all Superchargers stuff except maybe in the first 2-3 weeks of release for that very small segment of the collector population which are impatient and must have their toy first. If I owned a store which sold Skylanders Superchargers, my number one concern would be moving as much merchandise as I could...not imposing any silly purchasing limits.

I agree with Unclebob...patience is a virtue. Patient people don't go online starting "I got burned by a scalper" threads online. One day you're going to realize having or not having a toy is going to be at the very bottom of the list of issues you've encountered in life.

Yeah, I know it isn't all that practical - but maybe employees should be trained to not workaround register locks. If it says quantity limit, then that should be what is done. I know most know better than to ring up things that are street dated. Then they tell re-sellers they cannot have them in multiple transactions either. Register workarounds require manager approval in most stores.

And yeah, purchase limits really only need to be enforced for things that are instant sell outs, of which no Skylander qualifies or has for quite a while. Amiibos don't even really qualify anymore since Nintendo upped production.

And I totally agree the best course of action is to simply not encourage scalping by not using them. It's hard knowing something is out and might not come back in, but at this point it has become fairly obvious that isn't going to be the case with Skylanders. And even is something is short shipped, just find it used at Gamestop. These guys that bought out Roller Brawl or Pop Fizz are trying to take advantage of the impatient. No way either is going to be rare.

I am a retail supervisor, not in a store that sells electronics really, but I think the same will hold true. Most large retails are more concerned about the bad potential review/complaint from the dissatisfied scalper because you are directly disappointing him. The next customers are disappointed indirectly because we don't always have direct control over our inventory. When we sell out of hot items, we try our best to restock, but sometimes corporate has the final say. I'm not condoning scampers, I hate them too. I just feel like companies can't always control these things easily. We routinely work around the computers where I work to change coupons and other discounts to appease the customer. It's not my fault they can't comprehend basic sales, but we still do it all the time. And during past Skylanders games I have had to turn to eBay to buy less common figures because my local retail options aren't very good with Skylanders

It is not always comprehension of basic sales. Often it is poor coding on the back end of valid discounts. For example, last week Target had a "50% off Superchargers Vehicles" Cartwheel discount. But, it was coded to be valid for only certain ones. That required manager interaction to correct. The discount was not "50% off Select Superchargers Vehicles". Those kinds of overrides are completely understandable.

I understand it isn't always feasible or really necessary, particularly not now with Skylanders. But, I know that my closest Target really messed up an Amiibo release a while back. They had a woman that literally ripped figures out of the hands of people that had been waiting longer in line and bought many of them. That situation create a single happy customer and about two dozen VERY unhappy ones. I know it is easy to please the one directly in front of you, but you have to remember on hard to find things if those customers end up buying from scalpers that is less money they have to spend in your stores.

While I understand crappy reviews can be painful, it should be fairly easy to explain "I wouldn't let the guy buy all two dozen Amiibos we got in". I've had bosses as well that were over-dependent on raw rating numbers on customer reviews - so I do get it though. But, customers that see people walk out with all of the hot new stock also phone in reviews as well. The example I mentioned above resulted in most of those people calling in reviews. So many that the manager of that Target drove to TRU to apologize to those people that ended up there in line (they opened up later) for screwing up the situation so bad.

I haven't seen scalpers in my area for a loooong time (except for one back in wave two or early wave three of trap team. However, now Ive not only heard of a lot more scalpers in stores, but I've also seen more myself. It's like they are making some sort of comeback. Perhaps they feel that if this is the decline of the franchise, some figures will become rare (not gonna happen)? I'd wager the Nightfall incident also had an effect.

I haven't seen a scalper (or heard of one) for Skylanders in a long time, either. I think it is just a natural reaction of new figures coming out. People don't see them, so they assume something nefarious. Or they hear of a case where someone bought them out and think it is more common than it really is.

I got Nitro Soda Skimmer on Thursday evening. When he got them out for me, he stocked the rest of the case of 12 immediately. I was a little curious if they would sell out by today for the ad - it bothered me a little someone might miss out. But, checking stock this morning on BrickSeek, they still had half of them still on the pegs. That's a brand new vehicle that isn't available at any other store in any other form yet at a Target on a major highway that get a lot of traffic and they cannot sell 12 in three days at a time when vehicles are half price. I really don't think we have to worry about Skylanders Road Warrior conditions this year.

Wouldn't be like this if this latest legendary was flooded like the past legendaries. It's like we're going back down to SSA levels of illogical thinking. No legendary has been scalped since before L-Trigg, now look at it.

This brand is bringing this all on itself. Bad sales due to miscommunication not telling people when new stuff is out because those who handle releasing figures don't know themselves, will lead to less stock, which will bring the scalpers back.

Yet, when they flood legendaries, people panic that the brand is failing because the exclusives are rotting on the pegs. It's a no-win, because whatever they do, someone will find a reason to cry about it.

Quote: mastermc54

I agree with Unclebob...patience is a virtue. Patient people don't go online starting "I got burned by a scalper" threads online. One day you're going to realize having or not having a toy is going to be at the very bottom of the list of issues you've encountered in life.

I am patient. I wrote the post to point out the absurdity of scalping this figure. If you READ my full post, I mention that I ordered it online and it will be here in a week or so.

Quote: UncleBob

Yet, when they flood legendaries, people panic that the brand is failing because the exclusives are rotting on the pegs. It's a no-win, because whatever they do, someone will find a reason to cry about it.

Well, there is a potential win to be had. If they would do figure releases like the other TTL franchises it would go a long way to quell the complaining. There is no reason why they cannot date and ship figures on a schedule, enabling pre-orders. This "excitement of the hunt" crap was acceptable back when it was new - but they have had ample time to figure it out.

While I would really love set release dates, having set release dates on amiibo sure didn't help stop resellers from impacting that market. In fact, set release dates help the resellers just as much as they help us regular collectors. If you're a reseller and you know hot figure x comes out next Friday, it's easier to get your friends/family to set aside an hour or two next Friday so you can get around limits vs. having to check the store every day.

At this point, any Toys to Life sales should be a free for all at retailers UNLESS there is a line of people at each store like at the height of the Amiibo craze. If there is a line of people at opening waiting for a product, good customer service dictates that each person waiting in line get the opportunity to purchase a figure before letting any collector or scalper to get multiples. That being said, the market has died for Amiibos to a point where lining up at opening is no longer necessary to get a figure. Disney Infinity and Skylanders certainly aren't "must line up" at opening franchises either. Less than 1% of the Skylander purchasing population is the must have them on release (or soon after release) type and supply in general has vastly exceeded demand, so it's quite ridiculous to be imposing purchasing limits simply to cater to that very very small segment of the purchasing population which won't help a store's bottom line as much as the rare scalper coming in to purchase 5-10 of a figure. Let's not kid ourselves...these Skylanders scalper incidences are isolated to certain areas and certainly aren't the norm for a vast majority of the country. Stores really don't need an action plan in place for preventing scalping of Toys to Life products at this time as it would be a waste of resources/training in my opinion.

Yeah, they really don't need a plan for just Syklanders. Just really talking about the past and about other items, many items could benefit from a standing plan. Monster High, Furbys, Tickle Me Elmo, Hot Wheels, Pie Face - Skylanders aren't the first nor the last item that has felt the sting of scalping of children's toys. There should be training/policies in place for this reason, it is an ongoing problem.

Amiibos aren't dead, just the scalpers have wandered off looking for better avenues since Nintendo has shown they are perfectly willing to reprint rare figures. You still need to stay on top of it for really hot ones, like Shovel Knight that just came out Friday. I'm sure Ryu will be the same.

I like the idea of release dates for Skylanders not because of it stopping resellers, just for the predictability. It also prevents the mad chase and checking all the stores. You know what day they are going to be out. If a scalper brings the whole trailer to stand in line, that's fine. At least it isn't a guessing game which day and when Fedex will come by the store, then whether employees have them in the back and just didn't know to put them out.

Quote: defpally

Amiibos aren't dead, just the scalpers have wandered off looking for better avenues since Nintendo has shown they are perfectly willing to reprint rare figures. You still need to stay on top of it for really hot ones, like Shovel Knight that just came out Friday. I'm sure Ryu will be the same.

Out of curiosity, I just checked Bestbuy.com and the Shovel Knight Amiibo is available for shipping and for pick up at every Best Buy store in my area. Amiibo are now produced in quantities that exceed demand. I wouldn't call that "hot" by any means. People tried to hype up Animal Crossing Amiibos as well and they were recently sold at very discounted prices on Amazon since supply vastly exceeded the demand. Other than the mega yarn Yoshi, there haven't been any "hot" Amiibos in quite a while. The hype generated by underproduction/limited quantities of Amiibos is a thing of the past.

Well Shovel Knight was closed off for orders for a long time prior to release after the first opening for it. You couldn't order for anything other than pick up if your store had some leftover until Friday. Shovel Knight is still pretty popular. As was Mew two and some others. Hot doesn't mean sold out instantly, it just means that they aren't swimming in stock that won't move. But no, little has come out in the past six months that is unobtainable.

Part of the fall of the hype is the big reprints they just did. Little Mac, Lucario, Greninja, Captain Falcon, Marth and Ike used to all be pretty rare and command a high resale value. All have come back in huge numbers (particularly Marth) which pretty much killed the scalper/speculation market. Why rush to buy figures if Nintendo can just whip up some more and destroy the rarity value? It's great for those that just want them, but terrible for people that are looking for profit. And once they got frustrated and stopped adding to the rush - then surprise, surprise, figures don't sell out in 5 seconds (but still do well). The only ones I would call duds are the Animal Crossing figures, mainly because they were greatly over-produced to support two pretty terrible games.

Agree with point about Mega Yarn Yoshi. That was the last Amiibo that was hot and unavailable at retail. At least, I haven't seen it since launch. I did see a couple of Shovel Knight figures at TRU when I was there too. The next Amiibo that could potentially be hard to get after launch is gold Mega Man.

Someone buying up all the Legendaries is absolutely hilarious to me.

Legendaries any more shelfwarm for years after the games come out. I can still find Legendary Free Ranger and Zoo Lou occasionally.

Quote: GamerDrone

Agree with point about Mega Yarn Yoshi. That was the last Amiibo that was hot and unavailable at retail. At least, I haven't seen it since launch. I did see a couple of Shovel Knight figures at TRU when I was there too. The next Amiibo that could potentially be hard to get after launch is gold Mega Man.

I haven't seen any Mega Yoshi's in any store except EB Game's, but then again they're selling it $59.95 where as everywhere else was selling it for $46.

I don't collect amiibos but I've seen a ton of yarn tosh I where I live in nc

Mega Yarn Yoshi is an exclusive to TRU in the US (at least for the short term), I believe. The only time they have been out was early November on that Sunday they released. They were $39.99 at the time, but TRU had a 20% off coupon floating around that worked on it.

Quote: acriley91

I don't collect amiibos but I've seen a ton of yarn tosh I where I live in nc

He means Mega Yarn Yoshi, a much larger version of the little ones you see all over the place. He behaves just like one of the small green ones in game, he is just bigger.

Quote: ZapNorris

I don't understand how in this time of the franchise, ANYONE would try to scalp these. There's NO SHORTAGE of these on shelves.

maybe it was someone that loved skylanders and just had to have all 8 of that specific one.