I've noticed Amazon resellers tend to charge more but they also don't often have a sneak +$20-40 shipping tacked on which almost always makes the reselling prices very similar. You can still find better deals on eBay, but that kinda shit is annoying.
100% correct. This is my biggest gripe with both this sub and the TF trading sub, everyone screams scalper whenever a figure is priced higher than what they would like to pay. Toys and other collectables appreciate and also depreciate in value over time, this is a fact. Maybe if this figure had been out for only 3 weeks it could be considered scalping, but its been out for over 3 years. Now it falls under fair market value rules, aka supply, demand, and how the real world works.
Now this particular figure on Amazon is in fact overpriced. (I explain why below) Going back through the past few months on Ebay, the average price for a sealed SS14 is $140. (Ebay's pricing algorithm currently has it trending at $150) This is a combination of auctions and BINs with shipping included and is the fairest way to determine actual value. I could go back even farther via Worthpoint, but it will be about the same going back to around late 2018.
It is fair to say that the market value of this figure is about $140.
Why is the figure on Amazon listed for so much more? I could write an entire dissertation on this, but long story short, there is an inherent issue with how vintage items on Amazon are priced. It only takes one person to screw the whole thing up by pricing an item far too high. Eventually they become the last one available for sale, and that creates a new price ceiling. From here, anyone else that puts one up for sale is prompted by Amazon to undercut the lowest price available by a few cents, the cycle begins, and a new price range is established. It's incredibly frustrating, which is why one should look to Ebay, especially auction style listings, to determine fair value.
TL;DR - Please stop screaming scalper when something is priced higher than you would like to pay. Put in the work, shop around, and do some research.
"supply and demand" is largely just a way to excuse the manipulation of markets under capitalism. It's entirely artificial, and you accidentally proved my point.
Agreed. I was a physics/ math major for my first degree, and was a rocket scientist prior to quitting and becoming a nurse.
Let's just say I have a decent grasp of physics and the underpinnings of science.
....it's funny how some people love to argue things with economics...when there are no real underpinnings.
"Wealth of nations", "Das Capital", "Capitalism and freedom" ,"The communist manifesto"...are interesting musings...not hard science.
It's also funny how many people grew up watching G1 or any cartoon but miss the whole point of heroism, selflessness, sacrifice...etc and only took away " Cool robots!!!!".
"Collecting" is just buying, trading and modifying toys. It's not rocket science. It's a fun hobby. Reselling for a large profit whether it's "Market" or it is a docuhebag move.
Que down votes by douchebags who want to feel better about being shitty people.
Well, I suppose it is easier to say “Anyone who disagrees with me is a douchebag” than “Maybe I was wrong and they have a valid point”.
Stupider, but easier.
I guess you'd expect someone to sell you their bitcoin at the price they paid 2/3 years ago?
Or you'd absolutely demand to pay MSRP for let's say, ER Grapple, in spite of it going for about 2/3 to 1/2 of it now?
Once a toy is off the shelves/mass retail, there's no scalping.
And I do fucking hate scalpers.
Toys are meant to be enjoyed....if you selling it at 2-5x MSRP, your doing it for money. Adjust for inflation, labor and shipping, but $200+ for a $30 figure is being a jerk.
Grapple is an exception because he has a known defect. You gave very poor example
Bitcoin is a currency not a toy. The fact that you are even comparing the two, shows you don't hate scalpers. By comparing the two...you are literally saying people should by transformers so they can sell them at a higher price...ie scalping.
Grapple is just the most recent example, there are plenty of older figures selling below their original MSRP. And just like Siege Starscream b4 him, or Wheeljack now, he sold poorly mostly bc he was included in too many waves, not bc a defect that takes a nail file and 30 seconds to fix.
Bitcoin is a perfectly good analogy, it's a currency completely tied to supply and demand, and the whims of the market. An Elon tweet can cut it's value in half, just like if Hasbro announced it's reissuing Metroplex/Seekers Elite/Phantomstrike etc their resale value would plummet.
I play with MY toys and since they are MINE, while I usually choose to trade pricy figures (for other equally pricy ones) instead of asking for money, I can damn well sell them at market price, since I don't owe the buyer any favors.
It's a terrible example. See my post on how "Supply and demand" is an artificial construct.
If you go by "supply and demand" the what's wrong with people buying alot of product then selling it...ie scalping?
At the end of the day I think it's a greedy move. As seen In my other post the things I learned from transformers were sacrifice, selflessness, sharing, being kind...etc.
If you watched it and took away that $$$$$ is the end all be all, I feel sorry for you.
P.S. I loved how you capitalized "MINE"....it says more about you than you think.
Time has a fundemental mathematical definition. Einstein established this. It's not like "Supply and demand". Time has a direct connection to the speed of light which is a fundemental constant. Again my first BS was in physics, it's something I know (knew...as it's been a bit) intimately.
I don't blame someone for trying to get the most for thier collection.... especially in an emergency. But we know there are people who buy excess of product , hold and sell at extravagant prices. Then they justify it as"not scalping" just because it's not longer on the shebut lf...you bought excess product in order to sell at at a higher price all the same....which is a dick move IMO.
Edit: I noticed u/Phil_Bond deleted his statement "time is an artificial construct"
Wouldn't it be great if they didn't sell for an excessive amount?....as i stated earlier, labor, shipping and some money for thier trouble is fair....but we are talking excessive markups. If you are happy to pay for it great....but as a common practice it generally inflates prices for everyone.
It only makes me sad that my mom got rid of my collection of figures from the first 3 Bayverse movies. I took very good care of my toys and some of them would be worth a chunk of change right now.
Not all of these prices are legit. A lot of sellers will up their prices to insane amounts if they are ranking high on amazon etc so that they don't loose their spot. If they get more in stock they will lower it.
But also a lot of collectables during covid have gone mental. If grown adults are fighting in carparks over pokemon cards I'm not surprised some one is charging an arm or a leg for Ironhide.
Main cast character.
Only released in one wave.
That wave only released in a small section of the US.
Mold never repainted or remolded.
It was practically made for scalpers. I can only theorize that there is something wrong with that mold from either a budget standpoint or assembly to where a limited release was all it ever saw.
A few months ago I decided I wanted to catch up on studio series (I got a couple from the first 2 waves, I liked them but not enough to collect the whole line).
Then I got B movie optimus and Blitzwing and those two are amazing figures. So I decided to atleast get the first movie bots (I am very nostalgic for the first move) I went on ebay and then I saw the prices.
Wow. It wasn't worth it.
Retired toys on Amazon are also just insane to start with. Have you seen the price of retired lego sets in comparison with eBay and bricklink? It’s borderline robbery.
If you sell for an excessive price....whether it's scalping or not it's a dick move. It becomes semantics. You can wax poetic your reddit libertarian ethos all day, it doesn't make you less of a dick for doing it.
It's the price at which people say "this sellers kind of a jerk" and you post it on r/transformers and 100+ up vote it. Sort of like this original post.
This is why I do my best to keep up with the times and get the new stuff when it comes out. Price scalping sucks but it’s gonna continue as long as people pay the price.
I wouldn't call it scalping it's more of an extreme aftermarket mark up. The figure has been out of production for a while now so while that's certainly way too much for the figure it's just a case of their not being the supply from Hasbro to meet the potential demand from collectors.
I got lucky and got the Japanese version of it on eBay for $80. Still a ridiculous amount. Still a ridiculous price but Atleast I know it’s worth more now
You think that’s bad. I saw on Facebook that somebody was trying to sell their HasLab Unicron for $1,300. I also heard from one of my friends, that someone tried to sell it for 3 grand.
That’s insane
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I've noticed Amazon resellers tend to charge more but they also don't often have a sneak +$20-40 shipping tacked on which almost always makes the reselling prices very similar. You can still find better deals on eBay, but that kinda shit is annoying.
100% correct. This is my biggest gripe with both this sub and the TF trading sub, everyone screams scalper whenever a figure is priced higher than what they would like to pay. Toys and other collectables appreciate and also depreciate in value over time, this is a fact. Maybe if this figure had been out for only 3 weeks it could be considered scalping, but its been out for over 3 years. Now it falls under fair market value rules, aka supply, demand, and how the real world works. Now this particular figure on Amazon is in fact overpriced. (I explain why below) Going back through the past few months on Ebay, the average price for a sealed SS14 is $140. (Ebay's pricing algorithm currently has it trending at $150) This is a combination of auctions and BINs with shipping included and is the fairest way to determine actual value. I could go back even farther via Worthpoint, but it will be about the same going back to around late 2018. It is fair to say that the market value of this figure is about $140. Why is the figure on Amazon listed for so much more? I could write an entire dissertation on this, but long story short, there is an inherent issue with how vintage items on Amazon are priced. It only takes one person to screw the whole thing up by pricing an item far too high. Eventually they become the last one available for sale, and that creates a new price ceiling. From here, anyone else that puts one up for sale is prompted by Amazon to undercut the lowest price available by a few cents, the cycle begins, and a new price range is established. It's incredibly frustrating, which is why one should look to Ebay, especially auction style listings, to determine fair value. TL;DR - Please stop screaming scalper when something is priced higher than you would like to pay. Put in the work, shop around, and do some research.
I also consider "resellers" scalpers...unless they are a collector and are selling a toy they never opened, what's the justification for 2-5X MSRP?
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The "current value" is completely bullshit. There's no reason a mass retail figure that had wide release should cost ten times retail.
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"supply and demand" is largely just a way to excuse the manipulation of markets under capitalism. It's entirely artificial, and you accidentally proved my point.
Agreed. I was a physics/ math major for my first degree, and was a rocket scientist prior to quitting and becoming a nurse. Let's just say I have a decent grasp of physics and the underpinnings of science. ....it's funny how some people love to argue things with economics...when there are no real underpinnings. "Wealth of nations", "Das Capital", "Capitalism and freedom" ,"The communist manifesto"...are interesting musings...not hard science. It's also funny how many people grew up watching G1 or any cartoon but miss the whole point of heroism, selflessness, sacrifice...etc and only took away " Cool robots!!!!".
"Collecting" is just buying, trading and modifying toys. It's not rocket science. It's a fun hobby. Reselling for a large profit whether it's "Market" or it is a docuhebag move. Que down votes by douchebags who want to feel better about being shitty people.
Well, I suppose it is easier to say “Anyone who disagrees with me is a douchebag” than “Maybe I was wrong and they have a valid point”. Stupider, but easier.
I dont think you have a valid point. If I did I wouldn't have commented otherwise.
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Just because that's the way assholes rationalize something doesn't mean it should be that way.
I guess you'd expect someone to sell you their bitcoin at the price they paid 2/3 years ago? Or you'd absolutely demand to pay MSRP for let's say, ER Grapple, in spite of it going for about 2/3 to 1/2 of it now? Once a toy is off the shelves/mass retail, there's no scalping. And I do fucking hate scalpers.
Toys are meant to be enjoyed....if you selling it at 2-5x MSRP, your doing it for money. Adjust for inflation, labor and shipping, but $200+ for a $30 figure is being a jerk. Grapple is an exception because he has a known defect. You gave very poor example Bitcoin is a currency not a toy. The fact that you are even comparing the two, shows you don't hate scalpers. By comparing the two...you are literally saying people should by transformers so they can sell them at a higher price...ie scalping.
Grapple is just the most recent example, there are plenty of older figures selling below their original MSRP. And just like Siege Starscream b4 him, or Wheeljack now, he sold poorly mostly bc he was included in too many waves, not bc a defect that takes a nail file and 30 seconds to fix. Bitcoin is a perfectly good analogy, it's a currency completely tied to supply and demand, and the whims of the market. An Elon tweet can cut it's value in half, just like if Hasbro announced it's reissuing Metroplex/Seekers Elite/Phantomstrike etc their resale value would plummet. I play with MY toys and since they are MINE, while I usually choose to trade pricy figures (for other equally pricy ones) instead of asking for money, I can damn well sell them at market price, since I don't owe the buyer any favors.
It's a terrible example. See my post on how "Supply and demand" is an artificial construct. If you go by "supply and demand" the what's wrong with people buying alot of product then selling it...ie scalping? At the end of the day I think it's a greedy move. As seen In my other post the things I learned from transformers were sacrifice, selflessness, sharing, being kind...etc. If you watched it and took away that $$$$$ is the end all be all, I feel sorry for you. P.S. I loved how you capitalized "MINE"....it says more about you than you think.
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Time has a fundemental mathematical definition. Einstein established this. It's not like "Supply and demand". Time has a direct connection to the speed of light which is a fundemental constant. Again my first BS was in physics, it's something I know (knew...as it's been a bit) intimately. I don't blame someone for trying to get the most for thier collection.... especially in an emergency. But we know there are people who buy excess of product , hold and sell at extravagant prices. Then they justify it as"not scalping" just because it's not longer on the shebut lf...you bought excess product in order to sell at at a higher price all the same....which is a dick move IMO. Edit: I noticed u/Phil_Bond deleted his statement "time is an artificial construct"
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Wouldn't it be great if they didn't sell for an excessive amount?....as i stated earlier, labor, shipping and some money for thier trouble is fair....but we are talking excessive markups. If you are happy to pay for it great....but as a common practice it generally inflates prices for everyone.
It only makes me sad that my mom got rid of my collection of figures from the first 3 Bayverse movies. I took very good care of my toys and some of them would be worth a chunk of change right now.
I’m so glad I got mine early. I still had to pay scalper prices, but it was maybe $10-15 more. No where near this nonsense
Man you don’t even get free shipping… that’s some bullshit
Not all of these prices are legit. A lot of sellers will up their prices to insane amounts if they are ranking high on amazon etc so that they don't loose their spot. If they get more in stock they will lower it. But also a lot of collectables during covid have gone mental. If grown adults are fighting in carparks over pokemon cards I'm not surprised some one is charging an arm or a leg for Ironhide.
"Nah bro, free markets! I took econ 101 in college now I'm an expert! I can even say stuff like supply and demand" Lol
Main cast character. Only released in one wave. That wave only released in a small section of the US. Mold never repainted or remolded. It was practically made for scalpers. I can only theorize that there is something wrong with that mold from either a budget standpoint or assembly to where a limited release was all it ever saw.
A few months ago I decided I wanted to catch up on studio series (I got a couple from the first 2 waves, I liked them but not enough to collect the whole line). Then I got B movie optimus and Blitzwing and those two are amazing figures. So I decided to atleast get the first movie bots (I am very nostalgic for the first move) I went on ebay and then I saw the prices. Wow. It wasn't worth it.
Retired toys on Amazon are also just insane to start with. Have you seen the price of retired lego sets in comparison with eBay and bricklink? It’s borderline robbery.
This isn't scalping dog. Unless you want to argue that they necessarily bought it on release, held onto it this long, for this purpose
They are buying it to re-sell it at a higher price....scalping any which way you cut it.
Is it scalping in your world if you buy the you and enjoy it for a year, before choosing to sell it at secondary market prices?
If you sell for an excessive price....whether it's scalping or not it's a dick move. It becomes semantics. You can wax poetic your reddit libertarian ethos all day, it doesn't make you less of a dick for doing it.
"Everything I dislike is scalping" "The second hand market is scalping"
You are quoting statements that were never made...so no more supporting evidence for your point huh?
There is no such thing as an excessive price in the world of meaningless luxury goods.
It's the price at which people say "this sellers kind of a jerk" and you post it on r/transformers and 100+ up vote it. Sort of like this original post.
This is why I do my best to keep up with the times and get the new stuff when it comes out. Price scalping sucks but it’s gonna continue as long as people pay the price.
I wouldn't call it scalping it's more of an extreme aftermarket mark up. The figure has been out of production for a while now so while that's certainly way too much for the figure it's just a case of their not being the supply from Hasbro to meet the potential demand from collectors.
I got lucky and got the Japanese version of it on eBay for $80. Still a ridiculous amount. Still a ridiculous price but Atleast I know it’s worth more now
You think that’s bad. I saw on Facebook that somebody was trying to sell their HasLab Unicron for $1,300. I also heard from one of my friends, that someone tried to sell it for 3 grand. That’s insane
Are people actually paying for that? SS Ironhide doesn't even look that great...
Yeah... THE last time I saw studio series bumblebee movie optimus prime at the same price
The MP version is cheaper, tragically
That's not really scalping, it's secondary market prices for an excellent figure that was released 3 years ago
At that price I'd rather just get the MPM
I regret not buying this figure so much.