darkSpyro

"Greed is Good", said Gordon Gekko.



Now, don't get me wrong. I love capitalism. I love making money. But you do have to think about the sheer number of stock this person has to offer, and how he got about getting this stock. Clearly this stock never made it to the shelves.

Over 18 have forked over 4x the retail cost to get one. No one forced them. Simply market forces at work. I don't feel sorry for the buyer. I'm not cheering the seller--nor condemning him (other than the dubious number he has and the questionable nature in which it was obtained).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Skylan...=item485df2ac1c

Discuss. Happy Holidays.

Well, I give him this: at least he's selling figures he has in hand and not disguising them as preorders. It makes me mad when I see people selling them as preorders at Christmas time (very often without making the "preorder" part very obvious) knowing full well that not particularly knowledgeable parents/grandparents will buy it thinking they will have it in time for Christmas. Mind you, if the buyer wants to pay $80 for something that should be $15 without bothering to research that the product has been released then that's their affair. But it still irks me.

Quote: wombatandchips

Well, I give him this: at least he's selling figures he has in hand and not disguising them as preorders. It makes me mad when I see people selling them as preorders at Christmas time (very often without making the "preorder" part very obvious) knowing full well that not particularly knowledgeable parents/grandparents will buy it thinking they will have it in time for Christmas. Mind you, if the buyer wants to pay $80 for something that should be $15 without bothering to research that the product has been released then that's their affair. But it still irks me.

Amen!! Ebay's policy is not allow a pre-order to be sold untill 30 before the street date. Yet, somehow they are allowed to sell these 'preorder' *cough cough*...sorry, while there isn't even a street date set yet!

I email everyone of them and ask them, "How can you do this, during the holidays no less? You know you have no idea when that figure is being released, yet you happily take people's money on a false promise! Happy Holidays, indeed."

I've yet to get a response....lol

Well, so long as people continue to be willing to pay the over-inflated mark up prices, people like this will continue to exist. 20+ people have already bitten, and that is just this particular listing.

As said, this stock never made it to the shelves. I wish I had the kind of disposable income to be able to throw x4 the retail price on figures.

Quote: GothamLord

Well, so long as people continue to be willing to pay the over-inflated mark up prices, people like this will continue to exist. 20+ people have already bitten, and that is just this particular listing.

As said, this stock never made it to the shelves. I wish I had the kind of disposable income to be able to throw x4 the retail price on figures.

Unfortunately true as the seller assumes no risk. If the figures don't sell, they keep the reciept and simply return the unsold marked up price figures.

I sent a question into the seller last week, he is ordering them from Italy where they have been released already. He's still probably making a killing, but it costs more in euro and to ship globally.

You can't really blame parents trying to rush these things for Christmas, can ya?


But the sad part; The guy probably won't even receive most of them until way after Christmas; Customs, international shipping, etc.

Quote: Matteomax

You can't really blame parents trying to rush these things for Christmas, can ya?

Yes....?? The game has more than enough characters for anyone to have an enjoyable Christmas of stuff waiting under the tree. When in doubt thats when the kids can get cash to spend at the store later on when more come out.

Well the one picture is of the US release so if he is getting them from Italy they should have the international hang tag correct, I also sent message for proof of how they came upon having these and to be sure how I would have these before Christmas since they have not been officially released. There reply was they have been released and I bought them from my local US retailer. I am sorry they are not in stores in your area yet, but they are here. What a load of crap so I sent back that I would like proof and show me a receipt for the purchases no response yet

The sad part is that Activision is making these sellers richer by not having them available for everyone at the same time....bravo Activision...bravo.

Quote: Matteomax

You can't really blame parents trying to rush these things for Christmas, can ya?


But the sad part; The guy probably won't even receive most of them until way after Christmas; Customs, international shipping, etc.

Hey, if they have the money...I've seen people spend much more on a far less worthy product.

However, I fear you may be correct. One I saw said, "Immediate payment only" which tells me, he hasn't even ordered any yet. He's waiting till people order, then buying them from Italy.

Just my guess.

The seller is not forcing anyone to buy. If someone has cash and no patience then this seller is providing them a great service providing they can deliver on time. Personally I don't mind they are not affecting me but I will wait and pay regular price.

Well, given the US type hang in the pic I assumed this was US based...also it DID say guaranteed US delivery... so someone's wrong...either his listing or the comments here.

Greed is not at all good.

Quote: WickedRogue

Greed is not at all good.

Ironically, ALSO the reason why I used the quote.

Whilst unbridled greed is detrimental, without a modicum of greed, there would be only limited progress and advancements in technology.

My position on scalping is fairly well documented. I think capitalism is great, I believe in the basic principles of supply and demand, but things like this are an abomination of it. You have your producers, your distributors, your retailers and your consumers. What this guy is is basically a second level of retailer, an additional layer in the system, on who serves no purpose other than to skim significant profits out of the system. If he were to not clean off those shelves to offer others that "opportunity" to purchase them from him, other fans would no doubt have bought them. He has taken "food out of the mouths" of one group to give to another that will pay a great deal more - if you cannot see the problem in that, you are simply blind (non-directional "you", of course). It is yet another example of how money is used to tilt favor towards those with more resources. Is the system really working where the people that make and sell a product command less than a quarter of the final price to the consumer? Shouldn't innovation and production be more rewarding than simply being "overhead"? If scalpers dried up and blew away, there would be practically zero negative impact (and yes, you probably can come up with some rare example).

My main issue with the typical response to that is the victim blaming. It's their fault for letting themselves get taken advantage of! Just take advantage of someone else if you get taken advantage of! Of course, that is usually the benefactors of a transaction (or others that are unaffected) that has that view point. The people that can't find a figure usually have a much different point of view. Vulture capitalism is great, as long as you aren't on the side that is missing out. Much like our country's healthcare debate, the system is just fine - until it is you that cannot afford coverage. Unemployment coverage is unnecessary, until it is you that gets laid off. It's an artifact of the old 80s "welfare queen" Reaganomics to assume that wealth = hard work, therefore not being able to afford something = work harder! A whole bunch of hard working people learned the harsh reality of that falsehood in the past few years. Bad stuff sometimes happens to hard working people. Even the most self reliant sometimes needs a hand.

And yes, we are just talking about toys. Big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal. If we can't even have fun without people trying to take advantage of it, then how are we supposed to deal with things that really matter? Yeah, I know I'm not convincing anyone, and some have rabidly different opinions - and that's fine, may you never be the victim of your own viewpoint. Karma can be cruel, though.

I'm good with sellers actually providing some sort of value. The fact that he's doing the 'leg work' to find out where the item's been released so you don't have to, and then providing it before you Christmas...it's worth something extra. It's not worth it to me, but to someone.

It's value to me to get a rare item at a high price, or something you just can't find in the stores anymore.

What bothers me is when sellers tell you it's rare when it isn't, just to justify a markup. No value there. When they do a preorder deal, knowing that the item will likely ship to the customer after they can get it in store. No value there. When they attempt to cheat a big box store by buy items on sale over the 'limit per customer' so that they can turn around and selling it at a higher price.

I even think some sellers try and set the market by putting one item at a high 'buy now' price, then auction another. When auction goes for half the price of the buy now, buyers think they got a steal when they actually paid over market.


Aside: The other day, I found some hot dogs and camos at TRU and bought them up, with the thought of possibly selling them one day. Wonder if this makes me a hypocrite. Then again, don't see a problem with anyone snatching a green scorp from the store and selling him for hundreds.

well the way i see it is if i do sell something on ebay i do it auction not buy it now, then i add it up my cost of product,plus what shipping will cost me, ebay fee, paypal fee then i ad $2 and that is what i use as my auction start price. this way i am getting my money plus a couple dollars if it sells just with 1 bid, but if it goes for a lot more then that is off me and if buyers want to battle it out over it and raises the price then that is fine with me, but putting an extreme buy it now price in the beginning then no.

Main reason why we never got into Disney Infinity, randomly packed power discs.

Quote: GothamLord

Quote: Matteomax

You can't really blame parents trying to rush these things for Christmas, can ya?

Yes....?? The game has more than enough characters for anyone to have an enjoyable Christmas of stuff waiting under the tree. When in doubt thats when the kids can get cash to spend at the store later on when more come out.

Great point!

If you want the kid to have the toy right at Christmas (but it's not actually available yet), then give a gift card for the appropriate amount to Target/TRU and take them on a fun trip the following week.

Common figures are not worth more than retail.

Patience.....my friends....no need to spend $90 on a $15 figure even if it is something you child wants for xmas. Like Crocko said....give them a gift card for the cost.

I just did the math at amazon.it. I went all the way up to the point where you hit purchase and it was about $38 to get Stink Bomb shipped here (US) with 5-10 day shipping. BUUUUT that 5-10 day shipping also said the package would arrive between Dec 31 and Jan 9? 5-10 day shipping should put it here no later than the 30th or thereabouts. So I'm not sure what gives with the date discrepancy.

Quote: Dog Dude

I just did the math at amazon.it. I went all the way up to the point where you hit purchase and it was about $38 to get Stink Bomb shipped here (US) with 5-10 day shipping. BUUUUT that 5-10 day shipping also said the package would arrive between Dec 31 and Jan 9? 5-10 day shipping should put it here no later than the 30th or thereabouts. So I'm not sure what gives with the date discrepancy.

My only guess would be if it was held up at customs? Sometimes international orders go straight through customs and sometimes they get held up for awhile.

Amazon Global Express delivers in 2-3 days...he probably ordered a set number and can simply return whatever doesn't sell.