Blog Post: My Take on Hoarding

Over at Articulated Discussion, there’s a great interview by Dr. Nightmare with two “scalpers” about their practices and motivations. It’s a great read. I’ve been posting there as well, figured I might as well make some content out of it and hit those two birds.

I’ve noted that scalping’s become a big thing in the Philippines too, mostly because of the proliferation of big malls with pre-release announcements and a growing collectors community. It’s pretty easy for people to go online and get news about hot items and when they’ll be released here. To make matters worse, toys go on sale relatively quickly here, with huge discounts on some very good figures, sometimes ones that were delayed in the States (like the Nemesis wave of Marvel Legends). This allows regular eBayers to buy up figures in staggering numbers on the cheap, wait until demand is high, and re-sell them at insanely big mark ups.

Fortunately, toy stores and distributors are learning that the collector community (who are the ones who do a lot of the promoting of these items) is frustrated by these practices and have implemented some steps to help. Things like limiting of one hard to find item per customer and staggering the shelving of new items help ward off opportunistic hoarders. In addition, stores that are selling scalped items often get called on it and lose potential patrons when their names begin popping up on local toy collectors’ forums. Scalpers are having a hard time making all those trips to the stores pay off.

Many of the younger collectors I meet have that mentality that scalpers are the reason for everything that’s wrong with life, and go out of their way to vocalize their hate, posting pictures and calling for boycotts. It’s a waste of energy, folks. After a few years in the hobby, you learn that there are ways to maximize your chances of scoring items. For the most part, getting what you want is just like everything else, you gotta work at it.

Because the Philippine market is still largely brick and mortar stores rather than online sites, it’ll be more than just staking out online auctions and sniping at the last second. There’s a fair amount of walking involved. Walking and waiting.

Many toys are big hits when they’re first released and have a HUGE demand. They fly off shelves like you wouldn’t believe. For a month or two, that toy is very hard to find. Scalpers start selling off these hard-to-find items at 200%-400% the suggested price. But then Hasbro goes and ships out more assortments and the toys flood the market, allowing collectors to get them at their liesure. This happened with the recent Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen line. How many of you paid a ton of money for that Ice Cream Truck?

However, the restock thing works only part of the time, and only on something like Transformers where popularity of the line almost gaurantees re-stocks in future case assortments. Keep in mind that it’s also only good for areas like Metro Manila where demand is high. Just like in the States, if you live in rural areas where Toy Stores get maybe 1 box of new toys a week, you’re shit out of luck.

Here in the PI, I make it a point to try and use every chance I get to look for things I’m targeting, since you really never know which will pan out. I check the stores whenever I have time, mostly the ones closest to me and on my way to work. When I’m in other areas, I drop by local stores and check things out as well, though I don’t try to go out of my way. I’m also a member of several local groups that let’s people know what’s coming out. You can talk to sales reps about case assortments, deliveries, stocks, or if any other branches have the items you’re looking for. Events, product launches, and conventions are a big part of the hunt, too.

If I REALLY want a toy, and have exhausted all the methods above, or I judge from responses on the boards that it’ll be a hassle to try and find this particlar item myself, then I’ll consider paying the premium to get it from a scalper or a specialty store.

And there’s another issue. What about the specialty store? Owners of these small shops would also be considered scalpers by some of the definitions laid down by the anti-scalper squad. They buy toys on the cheap and re-sell them for profit. For example, I sold my G1 Metroplex for Php 1000 (about $20) to one and later saw it being sold for about 4 times as much. Was this wrong of the owner?

I don’t think so. For one, I didn’t have the means to find a buyer for it as I don’t use eBay, nor did I have the means to complete the few missing parts. The owner of the store had both, as well as walk-in traffic to his store. The same argument could be made for scalpers as well. Many people don’t have the access or time to find these toys. Scalpers do.

Would I love it if there were no scalpers and both production runs and distribution of toys were perfect, making sure everyone got the toys they wanted? Yes, of course. But I realize that’s highly unlikely in the real world.

I also realized that I’m more annoyed by people flooding our “What’s Available” boards, complaining about scalpers than I am with the scalpers themselves.