All you to do is make a friend that works at TRU. And let him put it aside for you. I have buddies in 3 toys r us.

Most people have one priority in life - profit. Every time I set foot in a retail store I expect the toy aisle to be raided of everything but what only children play with. That is the sad reality of this hobby - so many people do it, and lazy people out there want to make a profit from that revenue stream. It is also very easy to do, and scalpers have every right to clean out a shelf before anyone else even notices new items existed to begin with.

Never, ever, EVER, trust a Hot Wheels collector.

They are all scalpers. That's what they do. That's all well and good, but still, they are our enemies.

Probably not a bad idea. I've had a couple of those trolls watch me while I looked at stuff, even follow me around to see if I put anything down. Damn vultures.....

Oh so you're that little @)%(£!_ who stole the stuff from my cart!

Really hope that was as funny as I thought it was...

Out of interest. How big are you? I'm 6'7, and really wide look scary but I'm actually not... unless I'm angry!

Also I'd not do anything in store but I'd follow the guy then threaten him once i'd left, stab him in the kidneys and take everything, then I'd get his wallet out of his pocket and ask him to tell me his pin number just before he left consciousness. Go withdraw some cash and go buy some more toys...

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it. It's not worth getting mad over a bunch of plastic. Literally, when I've got home and got it out of the packet my desire for that figure is over, I just want something else I've not got, although they all do look fantastic!

I left a bunch of Hazard Vipers and Cobra Troopers at TRU the other day for someone else to get even though my original impulse was to buy them all up because they're supposed to be hot right now.

I wasn't following a code so much though, I just decided I didn't really want them.

I don't think there is anything wrong with a scalper buying everything up if they beat you there, they put the time in, right?

I don't think you should have pulled stuff out of their cart/ hands though... that seems wrong to me.

had a run in with a scalper today.
fun little story, decided to go to target for the hell of it, but once i got out of the car, I saw sombody looking at me. I looked at him and realized he was a scalper I've seen a few times before. he probably recognized me perusing the toy ailes before.
so it was funny, we both kind of dashed into the store and ran to the toy aisle. lol
didnt get anything. nothing good I wanted, but I did pick up a Target Exclusive Ash Ketchum for my "Videogame Heroes" shelf. I made a big deal about how awesome the figure was and hid the rest just to see if he'd waste his money.
Ash and Pikachu will look badass next to Kratos and Duke Nukem. lol

What did he get?

The code is, You snooze you lose.

Hot Wheel collectors I tell ya. No offence to anyone its just from personal experiance Hot wheels collectors are some of the worse collectors. Myself I have never bought anything with the sole intent of reselling it. I have bought doubles of things for myself that I end up trading or selling one of but thats very rare. I also dont sell on ebay. Id rather sell it to someone I know wants it for a few bucks more then what I paid instead of selling it at scalper prices to a possible nother scalper

My problem is no wheels so my hunting is limited to 1 of my days off every 2nd thur on payday which results in most of the time wasting $$ on a bus or taxi, but sometime I do luck out and find newer product or updated shelving. I know if I found a full peg of visions I'd buy it in a heartbeat same with warpath and vision, frankly I'd sell them for less the ebay scalpers but more then retail enough to make my initial investment back plus a lil extra. but that's only if I found doubles, anything new/rare gets added to my collection first, and everybody's second. Still hoping to see some "new" waves, due to our damn language laws all our MU figures need to be repackaged with french descriptions. And by doing so delays importing the good and distribution, latest waves I'm seeing are the aim soldier wave, seen the wwh wave, and even seen some of the new 3packs but not a single damn angel or cable.

I was reading a post over at Actionfigurepics.com and I'm pretty sure the author was talking about this site, and this thread specifically. He goes into a spiel about how the original poster in this thread is basically immature for even making his post on the topic and calling the person in the store a scalper. Too bad he didn't call out Toyark.

I dont get scalping in general, sure there are 1 or 2 that make great profit but I do not see much profit in a few extra bucks. Especially teh Hot WHeels guys. One guy showed me one and said I will get 6 bucks for this. Is that worth it to scour and resale? If I am not goint to get 100s for 10s then I dont see the lure of paying gas . shipping and initial price to make maybe a few bucks. Just me

Good find, he does have some valid points in his blog.

Quick update: I ran into the guy I had problems with yesterday he tried to snub me which he has every right so I walked up to him n I apologized to him n we talked for like 10 mins n he starts telling me he has had several other altercation with people over the years n he has been banned from a few different stores because he has went in the back stock room n opened boxes to find certain treasure hunt hot wheels( Idk what that means treasure hunt) I thought to myself I should have just apologized shook his hand and walked away cuz the next thing he said kinda pissed me off he said "i still do that from time to time I even got two 3 packs of that guardians of the galaxy lastnight at Walmart I walked back there n grabed two boxes that said marvel universe box set n waaaalllaaaa I found that green fella" ( I been looking for that 3 pack forever!!! ) I told him "man you shouldn't do that because you can screw there whole system up n they might not order new shipments " he said "hell with them" that's when I just walked away back to my car n played my music really loud so he wouldn't come over n talk to me lol till the store opened

Wow you have a real arch nemessis on your hands. lol I have never waited for a store to open but I have waited in plenty of ticket & Convention lines that can get brutal when conversations get heated and line jumping gets going.\

I'm glad to hear you made amens on your part. I wanna say you should let some air out of his tires but that would be wrong.

All I read was he found the Guardian of the Galaxy at Wal-Mart :). Thought I was the only one. lol. But it was good of you to apologize.

Yeah, one might say he's like your Lex Luthor or your Ivan Drago. I was originally going to Photoshop a Lex Luthor/Dolph Lundgren mash-up but then I found this...
http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/arti...1279129169.jpg

Guy sounds like a tool. I would take his picture and take it to every walmart and target and whatever In the area and say "This guy told me he goes into the backrooms of stores and opens product that isnt on the shelves. He's already been banned from some stores in the area" as a heads up, and if they ask why your going around telling stores this, just say "Cause he's a menace to society"

I think the guy sounds pretty awesome.

He's a doer, a man of action as it were.

While others stand idly by, he gets things done.

LMAO!!! Classic I never thought of that way

Shop Early & Shop Often.

The only code to collecting is dont talk about collecting! <--see what I did there :)

He's a scalper. He was just fishing information from you to see what's hot to sell on eBay.
Do scalpers really make any money? Wouldn't it be easier and take less time to get a real job? The time they waster on this buying and jumping thru eBay hoops and in lines at post-offices...they could get MUCH more $ per hour working minimal wage. It must be some kind of thrill or a rush to feel like you are ripping someone else off.

^ Exactly. I don't get it. I mean, how much could you really make doing this??? There's always gonna be one or two figures that are worth a lot, but on the average you might make a few dollars. Doesn't seem worth the effort.