I found this artice while I was searching on the web and I thought....It is a bit old, but what a perfect topic for a discussion here...
http://www.articulateddiscussion.com/post/Scalped!-Interview-with-the-Enemy.aspxScalped! An Interview with the Enemy
More often than toy-collectors would like, we find ourselves staring at row after row of lame characters on the pegs. And though we like to blame poor distribution and uninteresting character-choices, we can also add scalpers to that black list. They are a twisting thorn in our collective sides, it's bad enough that there will only be one Raven for every 10 cases of DCUC, but there is always a scalper somewhere willing to make you suffer even more. But is this pain justified? Can it be justified, much like war? Join us as we probe the brains of two successful scalpers, doing what they do best for different reasons.
Here we have two fine gentlemen who admit to committing what many in the toy-community consider a crime on par with murder. But there is no law against scalping, and some simply call it Capitalism. Though there are laws against certain practices involved with scalping, like making back-room deals with store-employees, there is no penalty for buying a mechanical hamster for $10 and re-selling it for $100. And by the way, I am totally kidding about the Raven short-packing, don't start mauling each other, please. We will refer to our guests as Biff and Moe... for their safety.
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Articulated Discussion: Kindly walk us through a typical day in the life of a toy-scalper. Try not to dwell too long on the ritual baby-sacrifices.
Biff: Sacrifices are appropriately done during "dead time" (around 2AM) and never children... they are too expensive.
Typical day is just like your average toy junkie, one that has a job anyway. You get up, get ready for work, grab some breakfast...usually on the road (Side note: McDonald's breakfast burritos are surprisingly filling!) and then off to work! You follow your plan hitting the stores in a pre-determined order (if you are smart about it). You gather up any and all goodies (if any) and take them to market (eBay). Some days you end up wasting an entire days time and come up with nothing, and some days you strike gold! You usually come up empty handed, or you break even for the day... Gold is rare these days, that is why I do not do it on a daily basis any longer. But if I ever see anything of value on the shelf when I'm in a store, I'll scalp it.
Moe: I hit Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us each two or three times a week, either in the morning on my way to work or during my lunch break to see what they have in the lines I collect [Such as Transformers, Joes, Marvel Universe, and every now and then a Star Wars piece]. I frequent HissTank and a Transformer board where I learn what is out there, and what is rare/valuable. So if I'm looking for more Pit Commandos for my army and find a couple City Strike Snake Eyes I will grab those too. But I don't make a special trip to the store just to see if they have something "scalpable."
AD: Is having a spy working with you on the inside of the major retailers a necessary detail? Is it easier to run a scalping operation solo?
Biff: Not necessary, the people on the inside that scalp just steal the items and eBay themselves anyway, and with the little amount of money in it, it's best as a solo operation.
Moe: I don't have any spys that work at the stores but I often see the same group of buyers (don't know if they are scalpers, collectors, or a mix like me) many mornings and some of them have long conversations with the employees. Since I try to get in and out so I can get to work I don't have time for that and don't like to be associated with some of the guys who get a little too carried away and give the rest of us a bad name. I know if something isn't on the shelf then I'm not getting it so I don't bother to ask. I do believe that some employees at my local TRU hold stuff back to scalp themselves.
AD: How do you choose what toys to scalp? What do you do when you can't sell all the figures you bought and don't have the receipt anymore to return them to the store?
Biff: The collectors choose what toys I scalp... if they are buying it on eBay and I can find it, then that's what I buy. You have 90 days to use a receipt, stay organized and keep your receipts so that you can return them properly.
Moe: Any time I buy at retail I keep the receipt in a drawer so that I can return it later. I also have the benefit of having a son, 3 nephews, and two nieces of various ages so some items I buy can be gifts if they turn out not to be worth much on the aftermarket.
Experience is a good teacher. Target exclusives go on clearance if they stick around long enough. So I will buy some at full price and sell them "at-cost" but save my receipt. Then if I find it on clearance later I will return on the original receipt so now I've made a profit. If I see something small on clearance at Target for 30% off, I know it will get to 75% off if I wait so I will hide it in the store until it drops. If it is a larger item I will buy it, wait a couple weeks to return it and buy it again for the lower price.
Of course there is the "big one that got away" too. I remember walking through a Wal-Mart when the Dark Knight toys first hit. I wasn't into them but I saw this thing called a Movie Masterpiece Joker and they had two of him on the peg. I thought to myself how these might be worth something since Heath died and all the hype but then I figured "Nah, I wouldn't find two on the peg if it was highly desirable" so I put them back and left. Within two weeks they were going for around $200 on ebay, damn. Of course, now you can find him at Big Lots, funny how the toy market works sometimes.
My best score ever was a [2002 ToyFair] Silver Darth Vader exclusive. I thought it looked butt-ugly but people on message boards were going apeshit over wanting one. HasbroToyShop had some on their site after the convention and I bought my limit of 2 for $5 each. One went for about $200 on ebay and the other went for about $150 a week after that.
Speaking of worth, since I have a regular job and a family it has to be worth the time and effort for me to scalp. If I'm only going to make a buck or two then I usually won't bother. The exception would be if I earn something like rewards points or a gift card for my purchase. My TRU had the deal where you could buy 2 joes for $10 and you got a $10 gift card if you spent $30, several people on Hisstank discovered you could buy just 4 figures at TRU for $20 and still get the $10 gift card. I earned 5 or 6 gift cards that week and sold most of the figures on the 'Tank for $5 each.
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AD: Some view your kind as an evil plaguing the toy-community. Some (mostly you guys, heh) say you're just an average citizen getting by in this capitalistic country as best they can. How do you define "scalping"?
Biff: I usually view those people as a stupidity plaguing the community. Scalping is jealous word, used by jealous people, who do not have the same opportunity to do what you do. The jealous people who complain about scalping are the same hypocrites who will buy items at retail to stash away for twenty years to sell to try to put their kids through college... which would be "Future-Scalping". (BTW the toys today will never put your kids through college tomorrow...because everyone who wants them is collecting them and the future value is extremely low...don't collect for money... first it doesn't work, second you become a scalper yourself). If you have ever bought and sold ANYTHING, you are a scalper. If you buy more than one of ANY item, you are cheating another collector from having it, "Army Builders" and "Hoarders" are FAR FAR FAR worse than any scalper because they are NOT sharing with other collectors for profit or otherwise.
Moe: As you can tell, I've done some scalping but not nearly to the degree that others out there are doing it. I've probably missed out on more stuff I wanted because of scalpers then I have ever tried to scalp. My wife gives me crap about my spending so I see it as a way to help fund my hobby and make up for the extra I pay sometimes for a piece I want. That is what I meant when I said Ebay has been both a blessing and a curse to the hobby.
Some guys do defend it as a "business" and say they have a right to make a profit. I don't look at it that way. As a buyer, whether you make a profit or not does not concern me. You robbed me of a chance to buy something at retail to line your pocket, get a real job. If we were talking about something like milk, the government would end it in a heartbeat. Similar to how it is illegal to scalp concert tickets in most places. The problem with toys is how do you distinguish between a scalper or someone just selling a piece of their property they no longer desire?
AD: What's your opinion of re-packers and have you ever worked with or caught one in the act?
[Nightmare's Note: Re-packers buy a figure, open the package, and replace it with a different, usually crappier figure, then return it to the store]
Biff: Re-packers are thieves and thieves should die. In my experience, re-packers are usually cheap-ass collectors and not scalpers. A professional scalper will never resort to theft. If you can not buy it and profit from it as it is, you leave it on the shelf. It is not worth the time of a scalper to repack and return. But certain cheap-ass collectors would rather steal than pay retail or secondary market prices.
Moe: I've never done it to sell but I have done it. I have a bunch of single carded vipers with the crap hands and then Hasbro went and released that 5-pack with the chrome head and fixed hands. I was afraid switching the heads for the chrome would be easy to spot so I didn't do it and wasn't really that excited about the chrome anyway, but I did buy several packs to swap the hands and then returned them.
My favorite repack ever (I saw it, I didn't do it!) was Firefly versus "The Breakers" at TRU. Someone had bought that pack and replaced the four greenshirts with four Breakers! I'm guessing they had bought a bunch of the ram/flight-pod packs and had too many Breakers.
AD: Have you ever had to wrestle a City-Strike Snake Eyes out of the trembling hands of a frightened child? Ever had to fight someone over a toy because you were buying 10 Powergirls and they just wanted one?
Biff: Again, in my experience, cheap-Ass collectors are usually the ones who would stoop to this level, because of their jealousy. They are so irritated that they can never find what they want, they feel "entitled" to get it any way they can... by repacking or by beating up children.
In addition, NOT all collectors are "Cheap". I am a "scalper" (I refer to myself as an honest American businessman). I am also a collector. I started making a business out of toys to support my plastic crack habit. I have a VERY large toy collection and would never have it, if I were flipping burgers somewhere.
Speaking of flipping burgers...these jealous hypocrites like to tell scalpers to go get a "real-job". I challenge each and every one of those lazy, cheap-ass, hypocritical, jealous, future scalpers to do what I do for a living. They don't know what work is. They would not have the patience to supply and manage an eBay store. 1 or 2 items does not make an eBay store. Try 10,000 items, now you have a "real job."
All of this jealous BS aside...the big question on most collectors minds is why do we buy at retail and not go factory direct? I tried going factory direct. I offered Hasbro 1 million dollars per year for their product and here is the answer(s) I received from a "live" Hasbro sales representative during a phone conversation in 1995. (BTW I did not start scalping until after this conversation with Hasbro)
•A). "Your one million dollars annual does not compare to the billions that the box stores give us. We can not offer you the same price because you would be buying less."
•B) "Your wholesale price will be $4.99 each. (Retail price at the time = $4.99 @%@@&*^?). AND we can not guarantee new stock. For instance...you order a case of Star Wars 3.75 characters in October, we could fill that order at any time within 12 months and we could send you old stock from 6 months ago. AND... you have to carry a percentage of other Hasbro products such as Mr. Potato Head and Sorry."
In closing... Scalping IS a legitimate business. The secondary market IS a market. All of your bitching and complaining and jealous antics will never do anything to stop these two things from being fact. If your concern is where we buy our items from, then perhaps you should take the time to fight the problem appropriately and more effectively by writing Hasbro and Mattel and NECA and all of the other corporations. Tell them that you would like to have the "choice" to purchase between small business and large business. For that choice to be made by you the consumer, those companies would have to give small businesses the same opportunities and prices that big businesses receive. You could also tell them that until they support the small businesses of America that you will refuse to purchase their product. Unfortunately, I don't believe that enough support would come from the average collector to make a difference, most would find it easier to complain rather than fight to solve the problem.
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If you're wondering why these two individuals were interviewed separately, it's because I find that most scalpers, like most super-villains, don't get along for various reasons. They have different morals, they don't like competition, whatever it is, it's just best to live and let die, har har. Hopefully you've all learned a few things from this, some people scalp to pay college dues, some make a living off of it, it really isn't for the rest of us to tell them what not to do. But honestly...why toys? Can't they go scalp metal t-shirts or lipstick instead? I hear Rosy Peach #4 is to die for!
And here's a fun bonus fact I'd like to add:
The Origin of the Term "Scalping"
In the early days, when the Puritans began settling in this land, they would often trade with Native Americans for valuable resources like furs and food, or even trinkets like jewelry. The early settlers had never seen such jewels, with all the rare stones and colors, and the Native Americans realized very quickly that their jewelry was unique, and valuable to these White Folk.
So, the NAs began raising the costs of their items. It got to the point where the NAs would only trade their rarer goods for something equally rare from the White people, mainly their blond hair. So, the White people would trade their blond hair, which was rare and strange to the Natives, for the NAs trinkets, and this became known as "scalping"
(By the way, I totally made that up.)
-DrNightmare
