Subject:
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Re: Gotta clear my conscience...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.shopping
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Date:
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Wed, 16 Feb 2000 12:19:54 GMT
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Reply-To:
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rsanders@!AntiSpam!svic.net
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Viewed:
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572 times
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Jeff Johnston wrote:
>
> If you were deliberately trying to create a shortage of WP sets to drive the
> price up, up, up and then sell before the market crashes - that's scalping. (One
> of the worst things about capitalism, IMHO.)
OK, I'll bite. How does someone "deliberately try to create a shortage"
in Lego ?
Occasionally I come across something that is HTF (examples being
exploriens and armada). I *usually* find these languishing on a store
shelf where they have been stuck for years. Is it scalping that I buy
these (making the store owner happy), move them on lugnet or ebay
(making me happy) and they find a home in a different part of the
country where they are no longer available (making the buyer happy) ?
The fact that mass marker retailers (WM, KM, TRU, KB, etc) don't have
the sense to do stock balancing, stock unloading, or just plain cleaning
up the stores is why these conditions exist. If it wasn't for rtl, ebay,
lugnut and others, then most of these items would just sit there. The
existing market functions would have little or no capability to exist.
The store would eventually keep slashing the price and (if not sold)
would donate them to charity or the trash heap.
The only example I can think of that comes close to "deliberately try
to create a shortage" is the feeding frenzy over the stuff at WBStore,
Lego outlets and the like. The "Blue Hopper" incident *may* come close,
but this has been hashed over multiple times and we need not go there again.
Someone once asked me how I find the stuff that I do find (like the
5870s). My response: I drive hundreds of miles, stopping at ever little
out of the way place. Digging thru store shelves. Resetting Lego shelves
so that I can find those two sets shoved behind and lost for years.
Bargaining with store managers. Talking to clerks & listening. I work to
find the stuff I find.
Lately there have been a few choice descriptive words bantered around
on lugnet, things like 'scab', 'vulture', 'scalper' and others. I think
this is a bad trend. These are the kind of words that are divisive,
rather than inclusive. They also imply a 'purity test' as in: "my
resales are more pure than yours, so I'm not one of of those". If you
are going to use these words, then they apply across the board. Buying
100 of a set so that you can sell 50 to pay for the first 50 still makes
you a scab.
Ray Sanders (who thought about this long and hard during the 472 miles
of driving yesterday)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Gotta clear my conscience...
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| (...) It's not. There's a difference between reselling for profit and scalping. It seems pretty clear that you're just going to re-sell at a profit. If you were deliberately trying to create a shortage of WP sets to drive the price up, up, up and (...) (24 years ago, 15-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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