ShilohCyan Posted January 30, 2022 Obviously there are those of us dying to get our hands on sets we wanted as a kid and willing to pay the prices. But.... At what point does "collecting" mint sets bleed into scalping? The way I figure it, if a set's still on the market and being produced, it's not like a ticket where a limited number are available. The 501st battle pack and Bonsai eventually adjusted the supply to the demand for them. But still. I'm at the point where I should start saving and "investing" and I'd rather do so with something I love than play the stock market game which morally repulses me. But my thoughts on saving sets in mint condition isn't much better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ExeSandbox Posted January 30, 2022 What you've described probably wouldn't be considered as scalping. Usually (toy) scalping refers to the act of flipping sets very quickly by buying up large quantities of the same set (especially rare or limited edition ones) to create an artificial scarcity, and then selling them for considerably marked up prices by capitalizing on said scarcity. If a set goes through it's natural lifespan and gets retired only for it's value to go up and collectors are farsighted to collect multiple copies early on, there's nothing wrong with that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mylenium Posted January 30, 2022 Scalping can ever only happen on sets that are still being produced/ currently sold. You need to keep your terminology straight on that one and distinguish the act of proactively draining the market vs. supplies simply depleting over time. Of course there can be any kind of overlap a "scalper" can sit on a stockpile of sets for years after his devious act, but that is merely a side effect. The rest is not worth having a discussion over from POV. I loathe both types of people and it's stupid. Why can't they just enjoy LEGO and build their stuff? I yearn the day when all their sets have fallen to dust from natural degradation of the plastic... Mylenium Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAB Posted January 30, 2022 LEGO investments can be very good ones, if you pick the right ones. I typically buy at the end of shelf life when anyone that wants the set has had as much chance to buy it as they can possibly have, then store them for a few years, then make my profit. I think I have only ever scalped on one set, when Minecraft was first done at IDEAS. There was a decent promo in Oct 2012 and Minecraft was just enough to get it. So I bought a load expecting to just get close to RRP back on the Minecraft sets while keeping the promo sets. Then at Christmas parents were paying high prices for them as LEGO misjudged demand, so they went for about 2x RRP on ebay auctions even though started very low. Scalpers are never going to have an issue with degrading plastic, as they flip quick. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
koalayummies Posted January 30, 2022 "Capitalism consists of irrational activity, such as the purchasing of commodities only to sell at a later time when their price appreciates (known as speculation), rather than for consumption. Therefore a crucial criticism is that making money, or accumulation of capital, does not correspond to the satisfaction of demand (the production of use-values).This spurs the development of new, non-productive industries that do not produce use-value and only exist to keep the accumulation process afloat. An example of a non-productive industry is the financial industry, which contributes to the formation of economic bubbles." Source. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShilohCyan Posted February 4, 2022 On 1/30/2022 at 4:45 AM, MAB said: LEGO investments can be very good ones, if you pick the right ones. I typically buy at the end of shelf life when anyone that wants the set has had as much chance to buy it as they can possibly have, then store them for a few years, then make my profit. I think I have only ever scalped on one set, when Minecraft was first done at IDEAS. There was a decent promo in Oct 2012 and Minecraft was just enough to get it. So I bought a load expecting to just get close to RRP back on the Minecraft sets while keeping the promo sets. Then at Christmas parents were paying high prices for them as LEGO misjudged demand, so they went for about 2x RRP on ebay auctions even though started very low. Scalpers are never going to have an issue with degrading plastic, as they flip quick. idk, I've found myself trying to get sets I wanted but missed lately. Winter Village sets are gonna rise and fall in demand at the same time every year, and retire shortly after. So to buy a bunch up at that time would be bad. I feel way less crappy about buying a bunch of 501st battle packs in the middle of its shelf life than when it's about to retire and people are rushing to get it. THAT feels more like artificially affecting the demand far more than just getting several when they're still being produced but readily available Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAB Posted February 7, 2022 On 2/4/2022 at 8:16 PM, ShilohCyan said: idk, I've found myself trying to get sets I wanted but missed lately. Winter Village sets are gonna rise and fall in demand at the same time every year, and retire shortly after. So to buy a bunch up at that time would be bad. I feel way less crappy about buying a bunch of 501st battle packs in the middle of its shelf life than when it's about to retire and people are rushing to get it. THAT feels more like artificially affecting the demand far more than just getting several when they're still being produced but readily available Primary market demand and sales are of course seasonal. But demand for secondary market sets doesn't change that much though the year despite being seasonal sets. In fact, sometimes secondary market demand for winter village spikes in summer and autumn, especially if it is rumoured that a winter village set is not coming back the following year. In the past, they have changed cycles from being available for 2 Christmas periods to 3 periods or vice versa and this can catch people out, thinking they have missed out so will often buy if it is clear one they want is not coming back for a third year. Buying VW early for the third Christmas appearance is often a very good investment as they are likely to disappear forever once out of stock, especially if it is November or early December when they go. They can then be flipped quick with the gain in price due to lack of primary market stock but still high demand. So it is either very good or very bad, depending on which side of the fence you are on. Whichever side you are on - anyone that doesn't buy a set when it appears one Christmas, and still doesn't buy it the next Christmas, is risking it if they don't buy early when/if it appears for the third Christmas. If they miss it after three goes, chances are they didn't care that much about it. They had plenty of opportunity to get it. If resellers buy some of the 3rd cycle of stock, it is the buyers fault they missed out - they should have bought before given the ample time to buy it. People waiting for something to retire are presumably waiting for a discount, if they gamble to save money hoping for a discount, they are no less greedy than someone buying for resale when stock is cheap. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
