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Yadda Yadda...
Well...this sucks :( last modified: Thursday, November 05, 2015 (1:35:13 PM) This morning I noticed a new DBZ auction on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DRAGONBALL-Z-VEGETA-ANIME-PRODUCTION-CEL-4-/401021984377?&;_trksid=p2056016.m2516.l5255 The reason this cel stands out extra for me is that last week I was watching this very same cel on YJ. Unfortunately I could not bid on it because the deposit I had made at my new deputy service was still being processed at the time the auction ended. Powerless to do anything I saw this cel end at around $60! So add some fees and shipping back and forth and lets say that this cel cost the winner around $100. And that is a generous calculation. Now, I understand people like to make some money. I am not saying I condone it, because the only reason this person bid on this cel was to resell it with profit, but in a way, I understand. Another hobby I'm involved in is collecting steelbooks and this hobby suffers a lot from scalpers. Nothing new there. Okay. But you know, a mark-up of $230 is downright insulting!! To be honest; I don’t really understand the reasoning behind this sort of actions. Cel collecting is not exactly a hobby with a huge market and a lot (if not all) of the people who collect cels, have access to the same websites. Chances are the people who might be interested in this cel, are the very same people this seller bid against and/or who saw this cel end at $60! I MIGHT have been willing to buy this cel from him for a reasonable price, but for a $230 dollar mark-up this cel will not end up in one of my celbooks. I know of another dark place where he can put it though. Bah. I am not liking this trend at all ):<
That seller "urbantreasurehunter" is probably the most notorious scalper on eBay. So many Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, and Bebop cels have gone for cheap on Mandarake or YJ, and ended up marked up 200-400% more the next day on eBay. After a week, the seller will mark down the cel by 25% (which is still a huge profit) and usually take another 25% off through a best offer. Very shrewd tactics, especially considering how many nice cels they''ve acquired. Less experienced cel buyers may fall into the trap, or collectors who really want a particular cel and have no choice but to deal. Royally sucks, but in a largely auction based hobby, this is the worst end of the spectrum, a reseller who is only interested in maximizing the profit, while disenfranchising a lot of collectors. Most of their cels for auction have been up for up to 2 years.
Yeah, and I think I know who he is too. Wasn''t he a member of Beta too? Sadly it seems profitable, otherwise this person wouldn''t be able to pull it off for so many years. It used to happen too when I was still actively collecting, but not on this scale though :(
Yeah...he''s terrible. And pretty much any DBZ cel that doesn''t get bids gets picked up by scalpers, but it''s reaaaaally frustrating when they actually bid pretty intensely on things only to resell. I''ve seen them go way higher than $60 only to resell. *Sadness*
Frustrating it is :( I felt bad I couldn''t bid on it, because $60 was an amazing price. If this guy had relisted it for $150 I might even considered it, even knowing what he paid for it. But $330?? My pride can''t handle that :(
I see the same happen every week too, really frustrating, sorry that you wenrt able to bid!
Yeah. It wasn''t nearly this bad when I was still actively collecting. I think it''s a disturbing trend and pretty frustrating that these scalpers make enough money from it to keep doing it. But it was my own fault really; you know I was watching this cel right? We talked about it. I was just too slow with my deposit. Me snooze...me loose m=_=''m
Wendy you rookie ;)
The same thing happened to me with this seller. The "make an offer" button will get you a tiny discount from them but if it''s just an average cel don''t buy. I see it is stuck to paper.
@ U9 Lol, so true *giggles* @ Ginta; Sorry this happened to you too. Did he bid against you? And yeah, it''s a nice cel, but definitely not $330 nice ;)
I just forgot to bid. Actually now that I look it was another similar seller, tradewindzipangu that does the same thing (unless it''s the same person). http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g159807365 http://www.ebay.com/itm/262118644193
Oh, I see ^^ But at least that seller seems reasonable with their pricing?
I''m always tempted to super lowball offer those expensive GW cels, just to make the seller mad. :P
@Shemp; I like the way you think ;) I too want to contact the seller and tell them because as I saw them win it for $60 only a few days ago, I would like to make them an offer of $100. Just to see how they will respond. Maybe we should just do it :P After all, they have no problem with giving us the finger too, right?
Part of me does want to lowball bid, but then I also think it would be wrong to offer money to someone who is obviously very greedy and ripping off collectors. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unless he has made a new account, this seller isn''t the Beta member we''re probably all thinking of (his eBay account is still up and full of ridiculous prices for mediocre cels). Sadly, I don''t think low-balling an offer will do much. Jerk probably has their eBay auctions set up to automatically reject offers below a certain value, so it won''t even notify them of the offer.
Hey Rei :) Good to see you here. Yeah, I guess you''re both right. It won''t do much good. I think the only thing we can do is just not buy any of their items. I wasn''t thinking of Silvrdrago though. Were they the one you meant Rei?
Indeed this deadbeat scalper urbantreasurehunter is really a gouging the cel community as a whole. He is hated in the 80s cel collectors and is the source of many collectors pain. You can try to reach out to this POS via ebay but he will just block your userid if you call him out on his practices or pricing. So keep that in mind if you want to actually bid and buy the items. As others have mentioned it is one thing to resell ones collection for a profit but, gouging cel collectors as a whole for pretty much any popular series is going to make some enemies. Yes there is nothing to stop this POS scalper from buying and trying to flip on ebay. But, even with his 25% discount the prices are disgustingly overpriced even moreso than any cel dealers! To add insult to injury he keeps on buying from popular series and when the series does not resell on ebay he just keeps it up. Just look at the glut of Macross cels he lists that have not sold. His busincess practice can''t be sustained especially if he is marking up prices often times 50% higher! One can only hope he will get stuck with all of these overpriced cels and eventually be forced to lower his prices after they sit for a year or so.
Hey Momo, good to see you here :) I think I know this scalper from 10 years ago when he used to run a small, but at least decently priced shop. I really don''t understand the reasoning behind it all. He''s outbidding the very same people he later wants to sell his items to. I can''t believe he really thinks nobody knows this and that he can get away with it. I think the only way to stop his practice is to just not buy from him period. Not even when he lowers his prices. Complete boycott. And not just him, but the the other scalpers that are flooding eBay now as well. I know this may not always be possible, but we, as long time cel collectors, should try to make a stand and at least send them this message.
It is entirely possible Wendy this scalper urbantreasurehunter is indeed the same individual you knew from 10 years ago. And I completely agree with your assessment that, ''He''s outbidding the very same people he later wants to sell his items to''!! There is no way active cel collectors would support this deadbeat scalper. If I had to guess he is selling to the non-active collector who just wants the specific character or shot from a series/movie. He''s bought many cels and settei from YJP and flipped them for a huge markup in less than a week. This is fortuntely not the norm, the majority of cels just sit and will continue to sit burning a hole in his wallet. Definitely boycotted his auctions for awhile now and other collectors have started too as well. The thing is there really isn''t anything we can do to report him to ebay. Really wish there was something we could do. :( Alas, like you suggested, completely boycotting this cel scalper is the best practice! Hopefully he will also start to get some negative feedback too! He has a stellar record which really is misleading to cel collectors who don''t know what he is doing with this constant gouging practices. Honestly what urbantreasurehunter is doing is disgusting on so many levels. If anyone else has ideas how to educate other cel collectors about this and other scalpers please share. Perhaps we can create a thread and have it pinned on RS and Beta? Not looking to witchhunt but it has been proven urbantreasurehunter is without any doubt a scumbag price gouger.
I''d just tell people buyee.com (or your favorite site) http://mise.x25.se/pub/keeptrack/ http://www.fukushuu.org/cels/faqsection.php?g=c&ft=3
I agree Momo. And I also think Ginta is right with offering links to Yahoo Japan and recourse sites to new cel collectors. eBay is the first source for a new cel collector, but if we, as veteran cel collectors, can offer help and "guidance" to the people new to this, that will certainly help. |
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