[CookSux]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artist77

It was $20 bucks to people here on the Ark. I was TRYING to sell one at $20, not $30, I BOUGHT ONE AT $30, as added a mock up I thought was fair (seeing how, last time I checked, they were going for avg. $35 shipped before I rechecked) to get a little back since I'm also paying my house bills, cell phone bills, internet bills, electricity bills, food, gas, cable and covering my girlfriend, so yeah, if I want to try to make a few bucks to try and even it out, that's my prerogative, and if you don't like that coupled with my story about the scalper, fine, but don't try and use my story as some example of great hypocrisy. Scalper had 11 goddamn HTF figures, I bought 2 Colored Stranges, a Skaar and a Scarlet Spider and a Falcon for myself, and I gave a Skaar to the kid next door who likes Hulk. I left no less than 6 of each there, so if you want to come to Ames, IA, to the Target on Duff Avenue and buy some figures for cost, then please be my guest. Otherwise, again, don't pick up some torch and fling it in my direction just because I tried to take care of myself (which we ALL do) while trying to be reasonable; thus the massive mark down on the figures I ended up selling to two Arkers. I sold a Strange for 15, and a VARIANT Skaar and another Strange for 27- after cost of figures, ($25), gas (say, 2 bucks, so $27), shipping materials (3 bucks for boxes at PO, so $30) and shipping ($8 more, so $38), I made $4 out of the deal. That's easily less than minimum wage, heck, that's probably less than what I have in all my couch cushions.

So, ignoring how you're defending yourself and your prices the exact way I came to mine (going off ebay, where the avg sold Strange is $26.50 before shipping, btw), and ignoring the fact that you didn't even acknowledge my lowering my prices after people pointed out the dropping prices, I'll rest my rant with this;

I tried to sell a few items to fellow collectors at mark up, yes, but less than the avg price on eBay, and I did so here first so that you all would have a chance.

So forget coming to this forum with finds to try and help people finish their collections at WHAT I BELIEVE to be reasonable prices, since hypocrites will just jump down my throat for my own self interest (which everyone has), going so far as to mock me (quintens thread, anyone?) and try to compare me to the guy who bought every villain from a toy line our town has seen, when I bought less than 25% of new items in a store that has gotten its first new MU product since March.

I know you're not, in your view, trying to jump down my throat, but I can't help but feel attacked here. I over-priced something, sure, that I sold while telling a story about someone far worse than I, but I changed my price accordingly when people pointed out my mistake. But are you honestly telling me that what I did is as bad as the Troll?

1) I have no problem with you pricing your stuff the way you do. All that stuff is valued however much you want to value it. You can sell a rock for 100 bucks for all I care.
2) I also never said that you were as bad or even as close to being bad as a scalper. I never accused you of being one.
3) All I said was, as great as the story is of 'sticking it to the scalper' you shouldn't then go around and do something very similar. Which you have rectified by your defense.
4) About my prices - Here's a question. You have a MIB Fort Max and someone asks you for a price. You've never put it up for sale before so you don't know what it costs. Are you going to sell it to him for 80 or whatever it cost brand new back 20 years ago? No, you gauge it on completed ebay auctions or other research. The toys omega asked me about are about 10 years old, and my prices are going off completed auctions... actually cheaper then completed auctions. I also am losing money on what I paid for some of them. As much as I'd like to make money off fellow collectors, I don't really care about a few extra bucks... I do care about losing money when I shouldn't. I have a bunch of current toys that are currently out right now (even wave 14) but I'm not selling them for profit. Just putting it up for trade wares.

You didn't have to lower your prices, and no one would have said anything otherwise. Like I said, you could have even charged 40 bucks for them. I just tend to come off as being very honest when it comes to what is on my mind and I don't intend to ruffle feathers, but I'm also not going to sugar coat anything. So when I saw you coming here and blasting a rude scalper, and even a bad store employee I didn't think it was very appropriate when you were then selling the same product for a significant markup (just cause you made the mistake of buying same item).

These tales, as relatable as they are, don't make you our Robin Hood is all. If you're going to do a service for the fans, then be consistant is all I'm saying, and you have been. I just thought that the store employee, as much of a dildo they were, was just doing their job. Not in the best way, but whatever. Let it go. At the end of the day these are just toys.

And if I'm coming off as just bashing you Al, I don't mean to. It's more to retaliate against omega; who I'm sure is a great guy. If I paid 100 for a toy, why should I sell it to someone for anything less... especially when I'm not desperate for the money or desperate to sell it off? He didn't even send a reply after I sent a quote, which I would have gladly negotiated.