darkSpyro

So I went to gamestop, looking for the dark element pack, and I see this guy buy the last 2! I think he was a scalper.

Or he could just be buying one to keep and one to play.

Or one for him and one for a friend.

Apart from buying two of the same thing, was there any behaviour indicative of a scalper?

Even if the person was buying multiples, I would take a "softly, softly" approach before casting dispersions. After all, if I see several Kaos traps I will now be preemptively buying them for others. I already am on the look out for one for somone in another forum and I would broadcast to the sundry forums I frequent that I have some - the intention being people will happily pay retail plus the small shipping cost to get one. No (physical) profit for me (but a "karma" profit of helping my peeps).

I may also grab a couple of Wallops if I see any, for the same reason.

I remeber when it was the day when Trap Team came out, and I remeber seeing all this guy buying 8 of everything. He also bought like 10 traps, bu then I acted like a little kid and went in front of him and got 6. I was like, excuze me.

What chaosworrier said. Just getting two is normal, and the person could just be trying to get something for a friend. It's definately not the same as getting in everyone's way to clear shelves of X rare figure and being visibly mad at people buying it before they get to it.

I purchase 2 of certain figures/sets as I buy for family in another state. I got one each of the light/dark packs the day of the release, but left them with family this past weekend, so am in the market for both of them as I can't build light/dark towers in my game anymore and I don't have light/dark traps or figures, but will patiently wait for a sale on them as these will drop in price in time. I just passed up on a dark pack at Walmart last week at the $30 price tag.

Either way, it's ridiculous to think that somebody buying 2 packs is a scalper. Have you checked EBay lately? According to listings, the light/dark packs may make anywhere from $5-20 max over retail...after fees and shipping, it's barely worth the time or effort to resell these. These are perhaps for the lower rung of scalpers who are unemployed and wouldn't mind making just $5 off them or those who don't mind breaking even since they are into reselling for racking up credit card points/miles. Then again, I don't know the mind of a true scalper...you'd like to think they calculate percent profit off their initial investment, costs/fees incurred, and time spent buying/packing/mailing to make each sale worthwhile.

I was talking (complaining) about a certain person (scalper) at toys r us. The clerk told me he spent over 30,000 on Skylanders and Disney figures. That was when Swap Force was out. I would love to see these people stuck with what they bought! I'm pretty sure this is the last one for me. At least collecting all the figures, because I refuse to pay the scalpers. Maybe we should start a thread, a kind of petition, saying that we won't by from these greedy mongers, then sign it?

I wish there was a way everyone would stop buying from scalpers but a petition wont do it. They provide a service for those that are to lazy or dont have the time to hunt. So you pay for the convenience. Yeah it sucks for those of us thathunt but really my toys r us has plenty of each figure. You could easily walk into several stores in my area and buy anything you need. My toys r us today had about 8 of each wave 3 figure. Outside of the kaos trap all you need is a little patience and you can run into anything you need besides specific traps. Swap force was the same way. Even now my stores are overloaded with swap force figures and giants figures. If people didnt have the gotta have em all right now mentality you can get just about anything for retail price. I don't know why the scalpers even bother to be honest with you. Especially with gamestop allowing you to pre order anything you need. Starting a petition for activision to start having actual release dates instead of saying oh wave 3 will start showing up soon, would actually hurt the scalpers more. All the money we spend on gas looking everyday and time that could be spent doing something productive some people find it worth paying scalper prices and not having to deal with this crap. I don't support scalping I'm just saying I understand it. I guess I'm a way I support it bc I've bought things off ebay whem the price is reasonable just to save myself the headache but I've never paid more than double the retail price for any figure including shipping. Some of the prices people pay is ridiculous. I'm not going to Max out credit cards to make sure each member of my family has 3 of each figure either like some people do though.

Seriously, is this a troll topic, or what?

A guy buying two of something - with no other information whatsoever - hardly makes a "scalper".

The Skylanders fan community has its collective "Scalper Radar" turned up waaaay to high at this point, it's freaking toxic.

During Giants when I was looking for Series 2 Spyro or Ninjini the cashier told me that an earlier customer cleared the wall of them both so I suspected they were a scalper (which is suprising considering Skylanders isn't to popular where I live.)

Quote: turtle20000

I was talking (complaining) about a certain person (scalper) at toys r us. The clerk told me he spent over 30,000 on Skylanders and Disney figures. That was when Swap Force was out. I would love to see these people stuck with what they bought! I'm pretty sure this is the last one for me. At least collecting all the figures, because I refuse to pay the scalpers. Maybe we should start a thread, a kind of petition, saying that we won't by from these greedy mongers, then sign it?

Petitions won't solve anything. Don't let the bastards get under your skin and speak with your own wallet. It's just one of those things in life where you just have to look the other way. Scalping isn't going away...every hot item where supply doesn't meet demand is going to have people scalping to make a quick buck. Quite frankly, I find it ridiculous that somebody buying 2 of a Skylander product set off a scalper radar and prompted a thread on here. Next time, share a story of some jerk who cleared out a wall of product or filled his cart with 30+ Skylanders. Perhaps we should have a sticky of scalper stories for those who find the topic amusing.

Scalpers are still sort of a necessary evil, as I mentioned so many times they're one of my only means to get toys without waiting 5 months after release to have them overpriced in Brazil. But definately there should be stricter regulations in buying many of the same figures at once; it's pretty shady already to have a single person get every single figure on the shelf, and just letting the other customers walk home empty handed is a way of making them never return to the store.

Not skylanders but did anyone else see an article from The Tanooki a North American Rep said that Nintendo is not happy about the amiibo scalpers?

Well, the Amiibo avaliability is driving people crazy with speculation. Are they going to be super rare and expensive over the years? Will Series 2 be released once the figures get more games or they'll stop awarding things eventually? Combine that with the fandoms of every franchise and the smash fandom looking for merch and it'll only get crazier.

The only way for the manufacturers to battle scalpers is to ensure there is plenty of product at release. There is always that rush at first launch, but scalping lessens as the figures are widely released. Anyone that pays eBay prices, due to impatience, deserves to get ripped off. I understand that international buyers may not have a choice, but for someone living in the US feeling that he/she MUST have the just-released figure NOW is silly. Too many times has initial stock been low, and/or only seen at one store, and then weeks later stock is more than plentiful.

Nintendo shouldn't be surprised that scalping is occurring for the figures they discontinued. That happens with everything. I went through this with Lego minifigures. Buyer either chalks it up to a loss or pays the price.

If someone buying two is thought to be a scalper, then I must be one too! I bought three of each trapper in Wave 3, and the light/dark expansions. I've got two kids and myself who collect....mind you I suppose we could share. Don't jump to the conclusion someone is a scalper or whatever just 'cause they buy multiple. Look at GameMaster78, pretty sure he was buying 4 or 5 of everything.