Subject:
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Re: No really - a rational discussion of people selling via eBay?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Wed, 19 May 1999 17:27:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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545 times
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On Tue, 18 May 1999 02:40:39 GMT, "Janet Zorn" <lighthouse@bonzai.net>
wrote:
> In general, to economists, scalper is not a meaningful term./1/ People
> have things that others want more than they do and they want to get as
> much as they can for those things. What they can get is determined by
> how much people want them. Do you have to sell at cost not to be a
> scalper? How much profit can you make before you are labeled a
> scalper?
Scalpers typically buy large quantities of a limited supply of items which
have a significant value for only a limited time. Common target-items for
scalpers are concert tickets and collectable toys.
The goal of a scalper is to acquire and resell these items before they lose
their value.
In collectable circles, scalpers are villified for the following reasons:
1. (Not the primary problem) Scalpers have no interest in the items they
are selling -- they are only in it for the money.
2. 'Scalper' sometimes equals 'vulture'. When I see verbiage like "LEGO
X-Wing! Super Rare!", I cringe. Strictly speaking, this was a true
statement. At the time of that auction, those items were hard to find.
But the whole truth was that they were only rare for a short time, and now
are available in most areas. Scalpers often prey on the uninformed.
3. We all expected that SW LEGO sets were going to be in short supply for a
time. There was a certain feeling that most people were willing to 'share'
the available items, and not clean out what few sets were in stores.
Instead of buying 5 or 10 X-wings, people would buy 1 or 2, because they
figured later on, availability would be greater, and they could get more.
This way, more people could enjoy them now. Scalpers place themselves
first.
4. Scalpers misuse/abuse the system. They don't break the rules, but they
don't 'add value to the community'.
5. If a scalper fails to resell a collectable toy before it value drops
(due to increased availability), they will use the liberal return policy of
retail stores, and return the unsold items.
For me, it's not necessarily any one thing a seller does which marks them
as a scalper (although the points I listed above are a big part of it).
It's as much the attitude as anything else.
Steve
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