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[Javaman]

A similar thing is still happening with ammunition, particularly .22LR. A great, normally dirt cheap plinking and practicing round. All these goobers are still buying them up by the thousands whenever they rarely show up on shelves and pricing them 2 to 3 times the price. Also to blame are the delusional doomsday preppers that seem to be coming out of the woodwork as of late and the "Dems are gonna take our gunz!", nuts.

 

[Syriel]

remember all those scalpers who got stuck with wiiu's nobody wanted? that was fun.

Scalpers don't get stuck with items. It is a zero-risk endeavor.

1) Buy item (or reserve pre-order on Amazon).
2) Put item up for sale at markup.
3) If item doesn't sell, return to original store for full refund.

Basically, scalpers push the entire risk onto the retail store yet reap the entire reward.

If hot items were sold "final sale, no returns, exchange for defect only" then scalping wouldn't be quite as bad, because not nearly as many people would want to take the risk of getting screwed over.

But if you can get guaranteed profit at no risk? Why would a scalper turn that down?

receipts exist

Proving my point.

Again...how are scalpers negative when you are purchasing for below market value?

Explain.

Because you're not purchasing for "below market value" from scalpers. If they can't sell the item for a profit, it'll get returned for a full refund before a scalper will take a loss.

Being a scalper doesn't make you an asshole. I came across product that nobody was purchasing, I sold it for a value that locally wasn't there. How is that bad?

Buying a product that isn't moving and selling it online isn't the same as scalping.

Don't see what the fuss is about. They are providing a very valuable service at great risk to their own wallets.

They only control a vanishingly small portion of the supply. Don't get upset with them, be upset that production is far outstripped by demand, especially if the manufacturer is intentionally limiting supply

You mean, at ZERO risk to their own wallets.

I already do.

There is a difference between purchasing an extra something to make profit and buying out the entire fucking store. People tried that shit with BB8 here during force friday and now they are all selling at a loss because they are widely available. Same thing happened to the assholes who bought like 30 wii-u's here.

Except they're not selling at a loss. The BB8 scalpers and the Wii-U scalpers just returned unsold stock to the retail stores. Nothing lost.

But they didn't buy them all you were just too lazy to buy them when they were on sale.

Most complaints about scalpers don't come from people who missed a legitimate chance to buy. You usually see them pop up when the window to buy is insanely short and people miss out through no fault of their own.

Do any stores/onlines have a "any reason" refund policy that can be used as "insurance".

I think Gamestop has this?

If so that would be an "enabler" for scalpers?

Nearly every American store has that. As long as the item is new/sealed you can return for full refund w/in 30 days.

I bought the Zelda 3DS. Played the game, but returned it to retail.

I was told I was a fucking idiot to do so.

You bought the system, opened up it, played the game and then returned it for a refund?

I don't understand the hate for scalpers. There is X number of things. Anyone can buy it. Everyone has equal access. If their intent from the beginning was to resell it - who are you to deem their reasons for buying something as invalid?

There are plenty of cases where not everyone has equal access.

I'm curious how the pro-Scalper folks would feel if the stores themselves started selling these items at 'market' value and not MSRP.

That would be interesting, to be sure.

Sure, but its a problem with consumer rights.

Realistically, how do you stop scalpels and scalping practices? Consumers have the right to re-sell objects at their leisure and name a price.

I don't like it as well, but there aren't many safeguards to prevent it.

Have stores implement "final sale" rules on all hot items. This way the risk shifts to the scalper, rather than the retail store.

If scalping actually carried a risk, then there wouldn't be as much hate for it.

Does anyone know a good twitter to follow for scalping opportunities?

Slickdeals and Wario64

I wonder how many of those are still in her van.

Hahaha! Poor her....

None of those are still in her van. She probably returned them to the store on the last day of her return window.

 

[dity]

Most complaints about scalpers don't come from people who missed a legitimate chance to buy. You usually see them pop up when the window to buy is insanely short and people miss out through no fault of their own.

Oh pff, bullshit. If you know an item is hot shit and you're not sitting there ready with the trigger almost drawn when an item goes up for sale it's your own fault. Saying it's of no fault of their own is like knowing a new iPhone hits preorders at 3am and being surprised they're all gone minutes later. Being unprepared is basically 100% all on you, no matter what reason everyone else is buying those iPhones.

 

[Josh5890]

While I don't like how scalpers have kept me from owning a few things that I wanted, I can't blame them for making their money work for them.

Now for those who scalp survival needs like water, tools, ect during a natural disaster, shame on them. That is soulless and inhumane.

 

[DOWN]

Did you consider it might take $30 worth of time to pick up the pre-order, take it home to relabel/package it up, then take it to a post office to ship it? $30 on a $120 item ain't too bad

But yes, scalping can be harsh

 

[Caayn]

Scalpers are shit and need to stop already.

"Hey look at me I'm super smart for buying this an selling it to you for 30% more" No you're not smart, you're an asshole. One that the world could do well without.

 

[LUFTRAUSER]

The problem is these items are already not at market value. How much does it really cost to manufacture all this plastic stuff anyway?

 

[Sanjuro]

Because you're not purchasing for "below market value" from scalpers. If they can't sell the item for a profit, it'll get returned for a full refund before a scalper will take a loss.

Buying a product that isn't moving and selling it online isn't the same as scalping.

You bought the system, opened up it, played the game and then returned it for a refund?

That isn't true at all, unless you are only talking about one specific type of scalper with a clear pattern. More often than not, I am paying below retail cost.

And, yes. I returned the product. That is the reason return policies exist. I didn't like the product. Brought it back.

 

[King_Moc]

Oh pff, bullshit. If you know an item is hot shit and you're not sitting there ready with the trigger almost drawn when an item goes up for sale it's your own fault. Saying it's of no fault of their own is like knowing a new iPhone hits preorders at 3am and being surprised they're all gone minutes later. Being unprepared is basically 100% all on you, no matter what reason everyone else is buying those iPhones.

Oh, fuck off. Sometimes stuff sells out instantly and you literally can't get hold of it if you're there 'trigger ready', or not. Taking advantage of that makes you a full on cunt.

 

[PG2G]

That isn't true at all, unless you are only talking about one specific type of scalper with a clear pattern. More often than not, I am paying below retail cost.

And, yes. I returned the product. That is the reason return policies exist. I didn't like the product. Brought it back.

Don't think I've ever returned something that wasn't either unopened or defective. If I don't like an item I normally consider it a fault of my own. Do stores really accept your return that easily?

 

[Sanjuro]

Don't think I've ever returned something that wasn't either unopened or defective. If I don't like an item I normally consider it a fault of my own. Do stores really accept your return that easily?

Of course. Many have even no questions asked returns. Whenever I make a purchase I try and educate myself with the store's price matching and return policy.

 

[Syriel]

Oh pff, bullshit. If you know an item is hot shit and you're not sitting there ready with the trigger almost drawn when an item goes up for sale it's your own fault. Saying it's of no fault of their own is like knowing a new iPhone hits preorders at 3am and being surprised they're all gone minutes later. Being unprepared is basically 100% all on you, no matter what reason everyone else is buying those iPhones.

There's no way to prepare for a store website that can't handle the load.

At that point, the only ones getting through are those with botnets or multiple AWS instances all spun up and ready to go. The average person isn't going to be able to do that.

Being awake at 3 am, with the page loaded and clicking "buy" at 3:00.01 am often isn't enough.

If you want to say that the average person is "unprepared" because they don't know how to automate mass purchases, then your point is valid. Otherwise, you're reaching.

Did you consider it might take $30 worth of time to pick up the pre-order, take it home to relabel/package it up, then take it to a post office to ship it? $30 on a $120 item ain't too bad

But yes, scalping can be harsh

Amazon = 1) Edit pre-order. 2) Change shipping address.

That isn't true at all, unless you are only talking about one specific type of scalper with a clear pattern. More often than not, I am paying below retail cost.

And, yes. I returned the product. That is the reason return policies exist. I didn't like the product. Brought it back.

It's true of pretty much all scalped items, with the exception of event tickets since those are final sale. That is the only type of scalper that ever sells below cost and only right before an event.

Scalped consumer goods either get sold for a profit, or returned to the store. The scalper never takes a loss. The loss is entirely contained to the store. That is why scalpers are often called "economic parasites." They extract value from the system without assuming any of the risk.

Don't think I've ever returned something that wasn't either unopened or defective. If I don't like an item I normally consider it a fault of my own. Do stores really accept your return that easily?

Most stores do not. You're only likely to see a US store refund a used game under the following circumstances:

1) Mom/Pop store makes an exception for a high value customer.
2) Hot item that is sold out. Someone claims the return is "defective" so store processes return for store credit.
3) Game code is horribly broken/effectively unplayable in shipped state. Stores accept return with publisher OK.

 

[dity]

There's no way to prepare for a store website that can't handle the load.

At that point, the only ones getting through are those with botnets or multiple AWS instances all spun up and ready to go. The average person isn't going to be able to do that.

Being awake at 3 am, with the page loaded and clicking "buy" at 3:00.01 am often isn't enough.

If you want to say that the average person is "unprepared" because they don't know how to automate mass purchases, then your point is valid. Otherwise, you're reaching.

I got an iPhone 6 pre-order in for the first batch of deliveries by being persistent with trying to order from multiple devices and trying trying again and again. Tons of people did, going by the #iPhone6 hashtag at the time. Sure shit was stuffing up due to traffic but come on yo, you think only automated mass purchase bots (yeah good luck doing that with Apple's two fold account + credit/debit card limit) got them?

To me it just looks like you're making excuses. I've done the pre-order rush for tons and tons of stuff and can tell you with confidence that the only thing stopping you from getting in early is yourself - even if the system is stuffing up, it effects everyone. You only lose when you give up, you're not restrained.

 

[Sanjuro]

It's true of pretty much all scalped items, with the exception of event tickets since those are final sale. That is the only type of scalper that ever sells below cost and only right before an event.

Scalped consumer goods either get sold for a profit, or returned to the store. The scalper never takes a loss. The loss is entirely contained to the store. That is why scalpers are often called "economic parasites." They extract value from the system without assuming any of the risk.

It's absolutely not true. Again, you are focusing on one specific type of scalper this forum largely relates to. In the grand scheme of things, it's a broad term that can reflect on almost any sort of second hand purchasing market.

 

[Maxim726X]

Yeah but that's the thing man. I'm a broke ass college student,I can't afford that crap. How can it be reasoned that it's not a shitty thing thing to profit off of people's misfortune?

So... You have little expendable income, in school, and we should feel bad that you can't buy a limited edition video game?

Sorry- No.

 

[The_Kid]

Is it specifically the selling above msrp that people have a problem with, or is it the buying of a limited item for the purposes of reselling? I'm legitamitely curious why people have a problem with it beyond feeling upset that they didn't get an item they wanted.

For the former, are you seriously suggesting people should intentionally sell an item at a lower cost just because the buyer gets enjoyment from the item? Why should any factor other than "how much money can I get from selling this item that I purchased?" be considered. Should I only sell at msrp or lower? If you sold a valuable old game to Gamestop or some other retro game store, one that has raised in value over years, would you be like "Oh, I'm not going to take more from you guys than what I paid for, sorry!" The market determines what things are worth. If I go on Ebay and see around the price range something is selling for, that's what I'm going to sell it for; if I price it higher, it won't sell.

If it's the latter, why should anyone care if it takes away from your pleasure? I'm not saying in the case of food, or medicine, or some other item that is necessary or can actually help people. I mean in the case of a toy, a game, something people do for fun. If someone is buying something to resell, they're getting money which will most likely be used for an item they want. Whatever their reason for buying a limited item, they're doing it so that it can eventually bring them pleasure of some sort. They're not doing it to intentionally derive you of pleasure. It's really hard for your want of an amiibo or some phone holder to garner more sympathy than someone who wants money to go buy their dumb collectible. They managed to just get there earlier, or were around when an item went up. Are you upset because the item isn't being used for its intended purpose? What purpose do these things have besides being toyed with once or twice and being put on a shelf to be stared at? That's what these things are, collectibles, made to be looked at or otherwise be put on a shelf and forgotten about. I could understand in the case of a console, like the Wii, but even then I feel like the anger is misdirected.

Out of all the pip boys that were made, how many were thrown on ebay? They must have made thousands. Bethesda said that they believe it was more than they have ever made previously for any game of theirs. So out of thousands, maybe 200 or so were thrown on ebay? Even if they only made 5000, that's 4 percent. And that isn't even counting the few that were probably canceled (which happened quite a bit since they have been popping back up on the website every couple days). That is such a small percentage compared to what they made, the majority of people that are pissed wouldn't even get one. With the Wii, how many were thrown on ebay compared to the amount produced?

I know my thoughts aren't well articulated, but I'm seriously curious in how some people can think scalpers are scum or assholes. Scalpers exist because something is limited, always have, always will. Wouldn't it make more sense to get irritated at the company for underestimating demand of a product, or rather, just realize it is such an inconsequential thing to get upset about?