beatsing

Hardlynever, I like your comments, especially that people don't like to judge themselves and drawing the line where it is most convenient for them. Here's my 2 cents: Scalpers are using unfair competition practices (bots, lining up to buy multiples when others are working, etc) to corner the market. They are not "responding" to what the market can bear, but artificially manipulating the market like mini wolves of Tokyo. They drive up the price on collectors who don't "mind" paying another $50-100 or even twice that. If the scalpers didn't do that, there would still be limited supply, but the collectors would have 100% of the stock at the MSRP. Both the producer/retailer would have earned their fair share of the profits, and the consumer would enjoy the product. The middle man is the retailer. Both are unlikely to make 100% profit over cost, typically just a percentage. In all business, there is profit with risk. The manufacturer takes the risk to produce and sell to make a profit. The retailer has to buy and sell these through its store which is built on reputation and service. This is productive behavior. The collector hands over his/her hard earned money for an item they enjoy. This behavior promotes economy. The scalper doesn't produce the product or provide service/access to the product. He denies access. He corners the market . He limits access and produces artificial demand to skew the price. This is parasitic behavior. There are those on this forum that wear 2 hats. One a collector, one a scalper. See my prior comments on what I think makes a collector, and what makes a scalper. Collectors collect, and over time, their collectible may appreciate or depreciate in price, but it's not what collecting is about. Collectors collect/hoard their collectibles because they enjoy them whether or not they go up in value. Years later, whether the collector has space or has moved on or lost interest in the collectibles, they may sell. It's very likely that another better product has already come along and made it obsolete. Eg. Dx valk vs Yammie 1/48. or the multitudes of Optimus prime and megatron etc. If the collector sells at a profit, it's not because they sold at the highest price they could. The scalper is typically flipping a property in a short amount of time. On preorder night, scalpers were flipping 1S they don't even own, and have never touched, the collectible isn't even produced yet. I had one in my cart from 3 different sites. Within seconds it was all gone. On Amazon, the first page of resellers were asking starting at 39000Y, more than double the MSRP. That prices many peeps out of the market. That is not an open market, and not the fair market value. Cornering a market when demand is high, there isn't much risk, and the gains are almost 100% or more for using a bot. This is gaming the system, and ripping off your neighbors. Some scalpers may hold onto and sell at a later date, because they think they can sell for astronomical prices as the supply gets smaller, but they bear the risk of losing their money. If they are holding the items, it will cost rent, the items may deteriorate, etc. At this point the scalper is acting sort of like a store front business. Most don't do this as the profits are very unpredictable and most want their money now, not years later. Another member said they think you can't do anything about it. Ticketmaster probably thought so too. They're being investigated for their kickbacks from scalpers. Some collectors pointed out that for peace of mind, they don't mind paying extra. While I appreciate their advice, I could otherwise have donated more money to charity than hand it over to people who parasitically feed off our hobby. As another member here said, if I can't get it MSRP, then I don't bother. I walked away from DX Frontier because of this. I came back cuz peeps told me the 1J wasn't preorder madness. Some collectors on this board are pretty cool, supplying those who missed the preorder. I should point out that the collector/scalper is like the drug dealer who touches the inventory... And I got notice from HLJ, they could not fill my order. Not the first time either. I really like Macross and many of Shoji's art. But the scalping has got to stop.

I was late to the whole SH Monsterarts and but the store owners told me that the figures were being reissued. And they did, with small increases to the prices. If Bandai did that for the Macross fans, or had long preorder windows like some companies, we'd all get the valks we want. And Bandai wouldn't overproduce like yamato did.

OK Valks shouldn't be compared with Godzilla, they are very different IP. And yes, they are "cheaper". But not by much. Ghidorah goes for about 15000Y on preorder. Their resale on ebay and auction sites can go pretty high though not as high as valks. But it's also partly due to the re release of the popular monsters (just in small variation of paint, but same mold).

For the v2, I think they dropped to about 6000Y (?) at one point, same with their destroids. Not really sure why Bandai limits stocks on valks since they seem to provide a lot more stock on other properties like the recent Godzilla stuff in their SHF line. It was easy to get the preorder, and it's a fairly popular line even before the recent movie. They also rerelease stuff for that line.

This. you echo my thoughts. That scene at that end of the movie with Hikaru shooting up the Dobber is so cool. Peeps posting it here was cool. Then the frustrating preorder madness leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Like Cartman said. Paying the scalper price also makes me feel dirty. Everytime I look at the toy, I'd think - I got ripped off, instead of that cool scene at the end of DYRL. It'll be Do You Remember Last night's rip off?

I still walk into stores and see Bandai SHFiguarts, Monsterarts, and BAndai Spirits and tons of Gundam on the shelf. It's not that Bandai couldn't turn a profit, they still do, but they limit certain lines, while other lines shelf warm and are likely losing money. Also, I'm talking about when the 1/60 line was new, and the 1/48 line had lots of variants. The new line was pricey. Was Yamato already going bankrupt and introducing the v2? I don't know as I was starting to collect, it didn't seem like supply exceeded demand - peeps made offers to buy my 1/60 v2 hikky strike cuz it was new. Good I hung onto it since I got cart jackedon this DX 1S. If it's a fact that Bandai makes retailers buy their other crap to get more units of DX, that's idiotic behavior to keep pushing crap that doesn't sell. Bandai could easily do what other cos do and ask for preorders and keep the preorders open for months. Then they would have exact figures of demand. If they are limited by production size, they can just produce as close to the numbers they want, rather than leave money on the table for scalpers.

Yup. If a fan is enjoying displaying all three modes, or staring at a mint box, they're enjoying it. The scalper just treats it as inventory. Collectors generally collect/hoard. Scalpers flip. Days when you could walk in a store, and look at all the variants in the big boxes with plastic windows, the valk and it's missiles and decide, do you want the plain valk, the hero valk, the low viz, the stealth, the set with the strike parts. No rush, no scalping, no bs. So far we're only dreaming. Both Max and 1S have been nightmares.

I just mentioned the Ticketmaster case earlier today. If it's big enough of a deal that reporters send in an undercover squad, it's a big deal. I also mentioned that collectibles do appreciate in value over time due to their collectibility. But twice the price in 2 minutes at preorder date, five months before the actual release of the toy is almost criminal. If a collector holds the toys for years or decades and they appreciate in value, the collector has taken the risk (and probably enjoyed the artistic value) of the toy. How many of your toys depreciated in value? Especially when they were rereleased in larger quantities. Holding it for a long time as a scalper would take up space, and inventory costs rent. Collectors aren't holding it; they're typically displaying/playing with their toys. The intent is different. The collector collects whether it appreciates in monetary value or not. The scalper is in it for profit. The offers on auction mean that the scalper isn't holding on to the product; it'll sell before it's even released.

Or like Mr. Healy (Russel Crowe) in "Nice guys" so they'll get the "message". Now, I feel like Cartman was right. "Preorder doesn't mean sh!t...You know what you get... a big d!ck in your mouth". Preorders should be easy, considering what we pay. Not a rip off and crap show.

I don't think it's Bandai, but probably just a few employees who are running the DX preorders like this. They're probably also getting the kickbacks from the pro scalpers.

Check out the scam that Ticketmaster got caught on last year. They get fees from professional resellers (scalpers) and lied to the press that they don't allow bots and scalpers. Some reporters posed as scalpers and were recruited to scalp with hundreds of accounts, and ticketmaster got a cut.

Your wife is cool. Your collection (projected) sounds nice. I've got quite a few of the HMRs, since I couldn't really get into the DX Frontier line. It's looking like Frontier preorder madness again. I think that's what's cool about the HMRs, no preorder madness. The DX collection is so cool. But this scalper thing makes it not cool. They're just screwing us. If I were Shoji, I'd be pissed that my fans were getting screwed, and the money the fans pay wasn't going to the artist but some creeps.

How many peeps are returning these toys? I think most would keep it even with a minor defect. Thanks. That extra $50-100 is probably trivial. It's probably not worth our time and sleep. It can add up though. That's another HMR. Or the Strike pack itself. Ahem you guys' wives must be cool about scalping.

Amazon doesn't even know why do crazy stuff. I've talked with their supervisor and manager and even they don't know why they can't ship stuff. They shipped me the VF1D HMR ok. Now I'm worried about my other orders from them.

now I'm conflicted. I really like the Strike parts and DYRL. But I don't have the valk. If I order the parts, what am I going to do with them? Or should I hold off until I get a valk? What are the odds of me scoring a valk at MSRP? I refuse to feed the scalpers.

This problem has gone on for many years. We should screen shot and post to Shoji's page or feed. Or just get someone to translate our forum for Shoji to read what preorder madness is, and what big fans we are.

Agreed. But many of the fans can afford the markup and don't want to deal with the headache of preorder madness. or of the "hunting" afterwards. That's what the scalpers feed on. I'm not saying that collectibles can't appreciate in price; Yammies did over time. But they weren't hard to get when they sold. Peeps joining the collecting in later years would have a hard time finding them, and that's what collectibles are. 39000Y in less than 2 minutes from preorders open? That's scalping gone mad.

I'm not a huge fan of Max Tv, and I don't know if there are a lot of fans that go for it, but I think that the scalpers did. I think the fans here on this board are die hards and probably (individually) collect more valks than individual Japanese collectors, mostly due to space and tiny apartments in Japan. So probably not as many fans in Japan would buy it as they would buy Hikky's 1s. Then Max could theoretically flood in Japan. But past history shows that all valks of any Dx always sells out, and is marked up crazy prices on ebay etc. I don't think that increasing the price or pay up front would stop scalpers. Scalpers aren't much at risk since history is that this stuff sells like hotcakes. And the scalpers pay at release and put them on auction. Increasing the price might cut into the scalper's profits, but they'd still do it, since someone who can afford a luxury item at 27000Y can probably afford 39000Y. Ahem 31a Ahem. Increasing the price just makes it unaffordable for peeps like me. 18000Y isn't cheap. You can buy a phone for that cash. Taking preorders like other companies that make supply according to the demand really limits the scalping since preorders are open for months, and everyone in this hobby can get one for the same price without preorder madness or crazy lineups like the Eva. Or Bandai can just reissue like other brands do. That combats scalping and ko's because those guys can't make money off Bandai and shoji's work.

the amazon valk was in my cart but wouldn't send outside of japan. in 2 minutes, there were listings of 39000Y that populated Amazonjp. scalpers

probably. but the shelve warmers are not moving; they take up space and rent. Why crank out stuff that shelf warms when you have another product line that clears so fast it doesn't touch the shelf? And since Bandai already knows about the Eva crap event, it's not a stone's throw to figure their other fans are pissed too. Does anyone know how the fans for Eva got Bandai to do another run?

We should complain to shoji and Bandai. I understand that producing more high valks takes up factory but it’s like the iPhone. It wasn’t Apple’s bread and butter. But it sold. Even though it was so expensive compared to the competition. So Apple now gets 60% of its revenue from iPhone sales(I saw that on the news, don’t quote me). How many full shelves of Hg and Mg and rg and pg gundams have you seen at plenty of stores? Is that stuff flying off the shelves? And when they have a popular model kit or toy figure they reissue those quite often. Even less popular robots get rereleased. it doesn’t make sense

This This

Thanks Valkyrie23

Yeah I got screwed on Ny system on my Link a while back. Their after sales service is not good

Congrats on getting one. Again empty handed. You’re right about Bandai restricting it, but it could be the employees who are in cahoots with the scalpers. Ticketmaster was doing that with scalpers, they got a cut.