Scalpers

[Sweet Stuff]

Hi all! I am a huge fan and collector of Shopkins and have been madly searching for the limited edition Mystabella doll and Rainbow Sparkle shoppet in stores, but no luck.

My question and point here is - Has anyone ever had luck with scalpers? I've seen both of these on eBay for over £100/$100, which is way beyond the cost of them, and I so want them but refuse to pay that price. I wanted to know if anyone has ever tried to reason with sellers who do this? Any success, tips? Or am I going to have to either cave in and pay the price or try to just ignore the fact I will not own them for my collection? (unless I get lucky in stores)

[flutterscotch]

Not really.  I have found the type of person who goes and hoards all of a locally available desirable toy (or sets up proxies to get more than their fair share of a limited web release), who inserts themselves as the middleman nobody wanted or asked for to nickel and dime collectors...they don't seem to care about your "sob stories".

Of the people I have known who do this, some are just trying to get by, so ok, do what you've gotta do...but more often I've found they think they're smarter and superior to the rest of us for discovering this "loophole" to "free money"*.  When really the rest of us are just not selfish enough to do it.  If you wanna do that curation get a Tax ID and open an legit online toystore.

I realllllly do not like flippers who buy out the local stores and create an artificial supply and demand, can you tell?



*This was mostly friends I made in various communities who ceased to be friends once I realized how kinda awful they were. Mostly people from the US.

Edit: I am the type of person that if I happen across the hot toy of a year for the holidays that I'm looking for for someone (kid) I know...I will purchase one extra.  Not to flip, but just in case the parents of another local kid can't find/afford ebay prices for it and give it to them at retail cost. I didn't know until last year that my dad does it too.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I sometimes feel bad for buying 2 or 3 of something when I know I'm buying it to sell it.  However!!!! I never sell things for scalper prices!  I might charge $10-20 more than retail once it's not available in the store anymore, but I always try to price the item on par with what a gift-needing adult would need to pay for Canadian shipping which is about $10-20 on average  

[flutterscotch]

I sometimes feel bad for buying 2 or 3 of something when I know I'm buying it to sell it.  However!!!! I never sell things for scalper prices!  I might charge $10-20 more than retail once it's not available in the store anymore, but I always try to price the item on par with what a gift-needing adult would need to pay for Canadian shipping which is about $10-20 on average  

One Black Friday when those glow in the dark Zecoras were in Toys R Us, I got one, and the woman behind me grabbed all the rest of them, and all the rest of the sets with Nightmare Moon.  All of them, just a sweep into her cart and it made me so mad, because that weekend I saw them all jacked up on ebay.  Had to be the same woman because the location was close, and it was the only TRU around for miles.

[Wardah]

I hate when someone buys up tons of whatever the hot holiday toy is and flips it immediately. That's creating an artificial shortage which is unfair. But I don't think it's wrong when it's a Limited Edition item that is already in short supply. I was lucky enough to find multiple blind bags with a Limited Edition item for a line I'll call "Toyline A". I wanted to trade my extra for a Limited Edition from what I'll call "Toyline B" but nobody showed any interest on social media. I finally resorted to selling the Toyline A item for what the going price was and using the money from it to buy the Toyline B item.

[jrr74]

I broke down and bought both limited editions (shoppie and shoppet) on ebay.  One person, according to their auction, had 25 of Mystabella and was selling them for just over $100 each.  Seeing how there were only 10,000 produced, and not sure if they were just released in the US, how much traveling did that individual do to accumulate so many?  And then how many actually landed in the hands of kids and collectors versus scalpers?   

[Sweet Stuff]

I broke down and bought both limited editions (shoppie and shoppet) on ebay.  One person, according to their auction, had 25 of Mystabella and was selling them for just over $100 each.  Seeing how there were only 10,000 produced, and not sure if they were just released in the US, how much traveling did that individual do to accumulate so many?  And then how many actually landed in the hands of kids and collectors versus scalpers?   

I think I may end up doing this. As long as I save the money for it in time before it sells or something. I have to consider shipping too  Someone in the UK is selling Mystabella... for £230! I refuse to pay that.
That's disgusting. To grab so many and not leave a chance for children/collectors. Particularly children, they suffer the most in these circumstances.

Everyone is making good points, and it is sad to see so much of this happening. I have no problem with people buying a couple of things to make a little profit, as lovesbabysquirmy said, but if it exceeds the value and goes beyond reasonable pricing, that is what bugs me.

Post Merge: August 05, 2018, 02:33:29 AM

Not really.  I have found the type of person who goes and hoards all of a locally available desirable toy (or sets up proxies to get more than their fair share of a limited web release), who inserts themselves as the middleman nobody wanted or asked for to nickel and dime collectors...they don't seem to care about your "sob stories".

Of the people I have known who do this, some are just trying to get by, so ok, do what you've gotta do...but more often I've found they think they're smarter and superior to the rest of us for discovering this "loophole" to "free money"*.  When really the rest of us are just not selfish enough to do it.  If you wanna do that curation get a Tax ID and open an legit online toystore.

I realllllly do not like flippers who buy out the local stores and create an artificial supply and demand, can you tell?



*This was mostly friends I made in various communities who ceased to be friends once I realized how kinda awful they were. Mostly people from the US.

Edit: I am the type of person that if I happen across the hot toy of a year for the holidays that I'm looking for for someone (kid) I know...I will purchase one extra.  Not to flip, but just in case the parents of another local kid can't find/afford ebay prices for it and give it to them at retail cost. I didn't know until last year that my dad does it too.

Whoa, I can definitely tell. But the feeling is mutual. I agree with this. And that is so sweet of you, I would do that too. I hope one day I can do it for a stranger who is looking for some happiness within a toy.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Ugh it looks like the scalpers and resellers got most of them in Canada as well  
*sigh*  Well I will nevertheless keep an eye out for that particular one because sometimes they still slip through the cracks and make it to shelves...

[invaderhorizongreen]

I am ok if you are kinda in straights and have urgent bills to pay, to buy it and artificiality inflate the price is a huge no in my book. That is the kind of scalping that I despise, as well as ripping off other collectors. 

[Taffeta]

This makes me think a little bit of what happened with the IT Jem dolls. The whole stupid IT club thing with members who mostly hated Jem but still bought up a lot of the dolls to scalp on ebay after. For that reason it's really hard now to get some of the dolls for even retail price, which is considerable. The only reason I even have Regine is because some lovely jem person tipped me off about a French seller who still had her in stock...but I had her last one. And there were only 500 Regines, and they all sold out on or before release date, mostly to scalpers. So yeah :/

I am not a fan, can you tell? I mean, what has happened with the Basic Fun ponies is evidence of that. Some of them being priced up to $40 and $50 when they're $10 ponies in the store. I don't mind if someone picks up ponies for you and asks you to pay tax, gas and so on to cover costs, but that's not a $40 addition.

I will pick up something for someone if they ask me to. I will then sell it at retail price at actual conversion to whatever currency or in £. I don't hoard stuff other people are looking for because it would annoy me to have other people doing it to me. I feel like if you want to make a living from it, make a store. I don't think it's a plausible explanation to be just 'doing it to get by' because if that were the case you wouldn't risk spending £10 on a doll you might not sell on the offchance you might make £50...not if you had food to buy and bills to pay. You only can flip and scalp if you have enough disposable income to take the risk.

I do see Wardah's point about buying something to trade it for something else not available in your area. That's a little different. But otherwise I don't really hold with it. Leave it on the shelves unless you have someone who desperately wants it - let the kids have their toys too. I mean it's fine to buy one for your collection, but seriously. :/

On the other hand.

NOT a fan of limited edition toys.

[BlackCurtains]

I was interested in collecting Zelfs when they first came out but was quickly put off by the high prices that some were being flipped for. In particular I wanted the Egyptian cat (my late cats name was Bastet and I semi-collect Bastet related stuff) but not for what she was going for on eBay.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Scalpers suck! I recently began collecting Shopkins and would love to add Mystabella and Rainbow Sparkle to my collection, but I guess I'll have to wait until there's people other than scalpers selling them...

[Zapper]

I already hate supply and demand driving up prices. So I double hate it when it's a result of someone just buying piles of it to flip.
I don't collect Shoppies but I liked the Petkins and corresponding dolls because they fit the MLP look/feel. I was looking for Mystabella and was really annoyed. Shoppies are already unreasonably expensive here but her price is nuts. I wish Moose would stop that. They don't benefit from it and fans, especially completists, are just getting angry when they can't find the item anywhere but ebay for 100 bucks.

Imo, chase dolls or figures that are not blind boxed are just a stupid idea in general for exactly those reasons. Anyone can identify the item and buy all stock. At least when they are blind the chance is higher for a regular person to find the chase.
Also, in blind boxes a chase is actually a way to get people to buy more than they plan to. When the chase is visible all the company creates is angry fans who beat each other up over something only a few chosen ones can get.

[SilverStarApple]

I'm confused, why do you like Shopkins?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I'm confused, why do you like Shopkins?

Why do any of us like ponies?  :-p 

"Because" is a perfectly acceptable answer in this case.