Scalpers are individuals who buy copious quantities of items, which are highly sought after, at normal price to resell at a higher cost. Say I buy thirty limited edition haros for five dollars then I resell them for like fifteen.
This happens quite often. You can see it with event tickets, such as football games, or with clothing, like limited edition Nikes. People will buy substantial portions of items with the only intent of reselling.
Many hobbies are familiar with the impact of scalpers as well. Just this week I stumbled upon an article on Eurogamer about a situation involving scalpers and a limited run of promotional Pokémon cards and the collaboration of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
There was a limited Pikachu card available to those who visited the exhibit, aimed towards children mind you. Most were snatched by greedy hands for reselling, leaving many unable to obtain the card, along with any other related merchandise.
I can only imagine the frustration of a parent wanting to get one for their kids or a genuine fan eagerly waiting in line only to find out someone is buying it all in bulk.
From what I have read on forums, many individuals walked away with STACKS of the same merchandise item. I am sorry but you cannot tell me that it is not an action of greed.
Surprisingly, The Pokémon company did nothing but issue a statement of “yeah, we might have some more of these items in the future.”.
This is not just an issue with Pokémon. We can see it Gunpla, Warhammer, Magic the Gathering, and about any fandom.
Look at when a new Gundam Kit drops. It will sell out fast and then start popping up for double, even triple the price (not including shipping). Insanity. It is absolute insanity.
I remember the fiasco with the entry grade Rx-78-2 ‘Merica themed gramps. It’s like fifteen dollars at Target? People bought it up in bulk and tossed it online for about four times the price. There is no way in hell that it should sell online for more than twenty dollars if we do not include shipping.
Shit, I will pick up the kit for someone and ship it to them before making them buy from scalpers at that price. It is highway robbery!
And scalping is abhorrent with Magic. Wizard of the Cost does little to prevent scalpers to the point it is enabling them. I am hoping that this holiday season is not too terrible with scalpers because I have been on a quest to collect the Lord of the Rings set. There’s new LotR products coming out in November. Fingers crossed on that one.
Dealing with scalpers is not an easy feat to deal with. Many stores have begun to limit purchase quantities as one form of dealing with scalpers.
Some countermeasures often harm individuals who may want a few items for themselves or gifts such as a parent who wants to buy the same card for their kids or an individual who just wants two kits to build. I have bought three of the same kits before to use in a build-competition. Granted, they were Zakus and not a hot new kit.
Other measures are slightly less of a hassle for normal buyers, such as removing the plastic wrap on booster boxes and so on. If I can recall Bandai stopped releasing its monthly release schedule due to scalping?
What else can these stores do though? It’s a crap situation.
How do you think scalpers should be handled? What should these businesses do?
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Have a great Monday!
-J
Creeping for Scale Models 
Correct, they stopped sharing their release calendar and it’s really inconvenient for those of us who like to keep up on new releases!! Scalpers suck!
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That’s unfortunate, really. It must be annoying.
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