From top of my head, Huelen bought 5 Rosalina & Luma from few Target store and posted a picture of 5 Rosalina Amiibo without explaining those 5 amiibo for.
Chris got all over him about it, and he decided to refute it later on.
Ah.
Let me get this out of the way real quick before I get into my thoughts. I do not like, telling people how to spend their money. Or what to do with the things they buy. I've always personally felt uncomfortable doing that. I feel as long as someone didn't break the law, if they followed the rules, if they paid for something with their money, then they now have the right to do what they want with the item they own.
Having said that...my view on scalping has always been that, it's Nintendo's fault for not supplying enough (they have especially done this on purpose, to artificially create demand). Scalping only exists because people WANT to pay for something Nintendo isn't selling.
So my views have always been that, ultimately Nintendo shares the most blame for doing a poor job supplying things, and not meeting demand (and again, in this case, we know they are doing it on purpose. So it's even more scummy).
I myself, have never been a fan of scalping. I think it's sleazy. Not the idea of selling something you paid for, for whatever price. That I get. But it's the whole MARKET behind it, where they go out and exploit the lack of supply, and start cornering the market. This is where I can see the overlap happen with people that buy extra in general. So a scalper that goes to a store and buys all 30, to me that is totally fucked. The store is stupid for allowing them to buy all 30. But morally, that is really fucked up to everyone else that is waiting in line. It's just to me, really no shame.
But I can understand the overlap. Because there are two aspects to scalping people hate. I. That they buy up a bunch of stock, which then takes them out of the hands of people that wanted to buy them. II. They make a second hand market and sell them for 3x the price.
The problem is, I. Buying up a bunch, is something that someone that isn't a scalper could do. Like let's say you just want a bunch of those amiibos to collect. You've gone and bought 10 of them, and now 9 other people can't buy one. Or if someone goes and buys 3 of them, because they want to give them to friends or family, or someone they know that might need one.
Even if the INTENT behind what they are doing isn't as sleazy as a scalper, they are still effectively taking away multiple units that someone else could have gotten. So I do get the argument (which is why I myself, feel a bit iffy on what I've done).
I've always made sure to follow the rules and be courteous. So let's say I go to Target. I'm first in line. If they have a 1 per customer rule, I will ONLY get 1 (I won't have my fiance act as a second person and get 1 at that store, as I know other people in line are there to get one). IF a store didn't have a 1 per limit, I still would only get 1 because I would see that line behind me, and wouldn't do that to them.
It gets trickier when it's online or a store that isn't having a release. Let's say I walk into a random TRU, there is no line. They just have shit on sale. I might get 2 Toon Links. I almost never buy more than 2 per store. If it's online, I only buy ONE (if it's a pre-order or something that just went on sale). But if it's something that isn't a pre-order or not something that just went on sale, I usually will buy whatever the limit is set. I've never gone over 3 though (even if there wasn't a limit set).
Sorry for the long wall of text.
TLDR; I get the debate. I'm not angry or upset, or offended. I actually understand how it could be seen as bad to buy extras, even if you intend to give them away free, or trade, or give them to other people at cost. You are still taking away units that someone else could have gotten.
I myself, feel torn on me buying 3 Rosie's on Target.com. I went with what the companies limit was. But I dunno. I wonder if I'm a bad person. I wonder if I'm just as bad as a scalper (well maybe NOT as bad, because I'm not selling them. But eh). But it's something I'll think about. My intent has always been to help others, and make them happy. I guess in some way, I've always thought that what I was doing, was kind of anti-scalping, in that I'm helping others obtain things without having to turn to scalping. But I do get the problematic nature of buying extras. Something I'll think on.