Scalping on eBay

Don’t feel bad. It’s Nintendo’s fault for not producing enough units to meet demand. The people buying these for huge markups could have gone out and waited in line 45 minutes at Target, but they were willing to pay you an extra $140 so they didn’t have to go to the trouble.

I don’t think you should feel bad. You are running a business, not a charity. The market will currently support $140 for that game system. You earned it.

I didn’t feel bad this past summer when I bought a bunch of talking Chewbacca masks for $30 each, and flipped them for $75 a piece. The profit paid for my dog’s surgery!

I can see why people get ad because you’re buying up precious products just to resell.

But as Zach said, people are paying you to stand in line because they dont have time for it. And these companies are creating a false scarcity anyway. They have factories pumping out these products. There’s no reason that every person who wants one shouldnt be able to pre-order online and have it delivered directly to their home.

The companies created a game and you’re just playing it well.

I flipped (scalped if you want to call it that), Smash Bros 4 bundles when they came out. I think I paid $100 and was selling them for $200-250. I had my wife run to the stores when I found some in stock. I had buyers thank me profusely for selling them one at double retail because they wanted one and weren’t able to find one. Yes, some people will “hate you” but such is life.

I’ve been on both ends. I’ve bought with the purpose of reselling at a much higher rate (including tickets) and I’ve been the buyer from a scalper. I feel both good and bad things about the issue. I hate it when 1 person buys up everything so a person who just wants one can’t get it locally. It’s like the couponers who take all of the item and the little old lady comes in just wanting one but their all gone to one person who couldn’t just take a few. I’m running into this issue with that Pokemon Go thing that my nephew wants and I can’t find one anywhere because people are buying whole cases and reselling them for 100 dollars each. If its a clearance item then I don’t care at all if they take them off. They’ve been sitting there unsold. Or if i have to wait in line and do work just to get one the way you did then I wouldn’t care. I earned the right to throw mine up for a high price. But on the flip side if i can’t buy one locally for other reasons and they have them online for a higher price, Im happy to buy it from them because i wouldn’t have it otherwise. Or maybe i didn’t have money at the time of the sale but i do now and want a higher end version, im willing to pay more for that. I shelled out 1000 dollars for tickets once and I was happy to do so because it meant I was on the front row of a show i really cared about.

I have no issues with this. Price gouging is only an issue in matters of life & death.
An NES Classic is not a necessity. Noone is entitled to have one. You did the work, so now you can do what you want with it – open it or sell it. There are plenty people in this world who are happy to pay a large surcharge to ensure they get what they want when they want it. Now they don’t have to stress about it or run from store to store for weeks on end.

After the Sandy Hook tragedy, there was a huge run on firearm ammunition. Specifically for .223 caliber rifle ammo. I happened to be at Walmart one night when they got in a shipment of ammo tins in this caliber for standard price. I bought my limit of three as did my wife and then sold them. I made over $500 on that stuff. Not one customer complained I was gouging them. Matter of fact, they were super happy to have the product in their hands.

Bottom line, don’t capitalize on rational fears. Feel free to capitalize on irrational fears all day. Capitalizing on irrational fears drives our entire economy. Happy scavenging!