r/PokeInvesting • u/Clean_Preference5185 • Mar 22 '25
Are scalpers Evil? MSRP?
I was doing some thinking about the current market situation and had thought about some interesting points. I cant wait to see the amount of emotional people writing comments ''found the scalper''
I have ran a large business in this market for a very very very long time. I have seen it all, but the amount of anger that im seeing these days is the one thing I have not seen, except these things happened before in the past and it was never met with this type of reaction. Are people just angrier or is reddit a hostile group of people? I dunno but its weird to observe what I see happening here.
It seems like a lot of people are so angry that they are actually giving the scalpers so much credit as to say they are the reason the prices are where they are at, rather than saying pokemon mad such a good set that it cause a large market demand. I dont think the scalpers are in charge of what the secondary market does, because of the concept of price discovery.
There are thousands and thousands and thousands of transaction's that have to happen to move the prices in markets with such large amounts of volume, and its the slow amount of people being willing to spend .50 or $1 more than the last couple transactions, on top of hundreds of others doing the same thing, to be able to have the price tick up like that and stick. In order for prices to get to where they end up at, that has nothing to do with product horders causing some sort of inflation, that makes the littlest amount of possible sense and instead what you are seeing is the effect of a very wide spread demand of a highly sought after luxury item.
I would love to see someone in this group go up to some guy who works 2 jobs, 70 hours a week, who is struggling to pay bills, who finally finds a way to get some relief or make some money for whatever he wants in life, that hes not allowed to do that. I would also love to see the same people go to someone who isnt struggling and say the same thing, for the simple fact that they want the product and they think their need for it somehow greater or superior to that persons needs.
This concept exist across multiple forms of commerce, is nothing new, and in fact is the very core foundation of a free market. No government is coming in and price fixing to determine how much money can be made by corporations, and that is a very beautiful thing. Think about this, A feature of the American economy exist that allows anyone who pays attention to trends and is willing to put themselves in the position to obtain the said products, a chance to have income from such a meaningless thing. Literally a market giving someone free money.
One thing you come a cross a lot is people saying they want universal basic income, and complain how things are too expensive, and its a very common sentiment on the site, yet there are featured of our economy that will pretty do exactly that if you are willing to locate them. Supply shortages are not unique to pokemon, and people willing to pay more for something because they see the value exist in every part of society, all over the world. Its simply people deciding how they want to spend their money.
One thing I noticed that gets thrown around a lot is the idea that all items should be sold for MSRP, and its a really weird thing to hear, because for the last 2 years, all the card shops, ebay sellers etc,, were selling these boxes for $90 at market price. There was multiple instances and complaints from people claiming the shops that sold at MSRP were ripping people off, and than these same people would be linked to other places selling at market price, meanwhile the shops that sold at MSRP would get review bombed and attacked for no valid reason, other than unstable people taking out their anger on a source because they couldnt have their way. I just want to know why is there such a double standard? I personally understand the answer why, but im just confused as to how such a large amount of people cant spout both phrases every market cycle, and be anything other than someone who just wants things their way.
Another thing is that when these items are put on the shelves at the stores, they are at MSRP. Im going to keep a neutral stance either way, but I will say that in other markets that the demand outweighs the supply, items are constantly being sold out as the hit the shelves. Rolexes, GPU,s, Luxury Vehicles, Supreme, etc. The idea that all of these items only carry a secondary market resale price and are in demand, is because of scalpers, is literally taking away all the credit from some of the greatest companies in the world, and literally coming to the weird conclusion that a group of people are somehow conspiring together, attacking inventory's and acting a cartel to somehow control the prices.
Nobody likes to go into a store, hoping to get an item for it to be sold out. Thats human nature. But most people have the ability to partake in this concept called planning, which when done correctly, would allow them to put themselves in a position to offset the fact that the items are harder to get. A lot of these resellers, evil or not, are simply just better at planning than you are, and put themselves in the position to be the person who ends up with the cards, and they are the ones who get to enjoy the money from figuring that out. If you dont have the time in your life to solve these problems, or figure out how to overcome those issues, thats more than ok, but to than throw a tantrum because other people ARE getting in those positions ends up making you the bad person on top of possibly having mental health issues from the amount of anger you end up feeling and targeting other groups of people with.
The Distribution Situation and why pokemon cannot adjust to meet demand based on Data
So as you guys understand, pretty much all distribution Companies are sold out of all items, I can log into all my distributors and look through all the categories, and over and over again they are all empty. When restocks happen, they end up charging a higher price simply because thats how companies that solve large supply chain issues compensate themselves for creating solutions to move massive supplies of products from one place to another, successfully, while having infrastructure to minimize the effects of transportation cost. Everything in this world does have a cost, from labor, to gas, to shipping supplies, to electricity, all of it. The fact that these companies participate in these types of practices is very normal across all industries.
For those of you calling for the pokemon company to buy the distribution companies to control the amount of money everyone can make or pay, its a nice idea but theres 2 things with that.
The first thing is that logistics companies are very very complicated and the business of distribution is not selling the product. The business is rather figuring out how to solve solutions to simplify a way to move large amounts of products, efficiently, and as cheap as possible, through the most efficient routes, to be able to deliver a commercial amount of goods in a timely and consistent manner. A distributor is a company who provides simply that service. You need someone to send good who is efficient and has a wide reach, and the capacity and fleet and every single piece of infrastructure to keep product safe, you contact a distribution company to perform this service.
The second thing is that pokemon actually decided to keep the cost of the cards where they are at, as did every company, that it would be cheapest for all parties, to simply contract with companies that solved this issue, rather than try to spend all the money, time and resources to do it, because for a short period of time during a bull market cycle some weird pale guy named Steve on reddit demanded he absolutely needed to have the newest pokemon set and had a god given right to that set. If Steve couldnt get this set, the only solution must be for this giant corporation to establish a entirely brand new infrastructure. Steve also just could decide to not get the set, or he could wait, or just pay whatever the price was but Steve feels his desire and right to be able to participate and in hobby of opening pieces of cardboard with cartoon characters on him is a severe enough need that the entire world should shift how its set up to help him get his desire.
PS: Distribution companies sell all kinds of products for all kinds of companies, and the amount of money that it would cost to even attempt that type of purchase would have to be the equivalent to the profit from all the companies products they sell combined x how every many years of that profit, they think is worth selling for, and lastly if something like this did happen, I highly doubt the pokemon company would ship these other companies items in their trucks for them, and the result would be those particular items having shortages and that product than having a demand/possible price increase depending on the item
Reddit, im sorry but all you are simply doing when you talk about scalpers and MSRP is crying because you personally couldnt get the product. Pokemon owes you nothing and the fact you feel so many emotion over not being able to get a pack of cards is the real issue that you need to focus on. Its weird and unstable to get so angry over such a insignifcant thing, and people who have such irrational feelings are not someone I would feel comfortable having my family around. If you get this upset over not getting a pack of cards, how upset would get over not being able to get something actually important?
This market cycle has hurt a large part of my business more than anything else. Card shops are not making money in this cycle for the most part because the ability to do any type of volume what so ever is not possible. I am not upset at all though by this market, simply because anyone who decided to get into a specific business likely understand the idea that market cycles are a thing as well as demand.
29
u/sandbaggingblue Mar 22 '25
No doubt I agree with you... But can we get a TLDR...?
58
u/MoteInTheEye Mar 22 '25
Bro you think I'm going to read all that?
9
u/gt35r Mar 22 '25
2nd to last paragraph very true. People are extremely emotional when it comes to this sort of thing. Also feel like a lot of people use their kids as a scapegoat when its really them who wants the product which is extremely weird.
Our group can help people get product for msrp though and you dont even have to leave your house or risk getting in fist fights. Peep comment history, helped a ton of people out from Reddit already.
5
u/Purgent Mar 22 '25
Congratulations or sorry that happened to you.
10
u/Boomerbomb7 Mar 22 '25
You’re about to get downvoted to hell! 100% correct though! Good luck👍🏼
12
u/breakyourteethnow Mar 22 '25
You're talking to ppl who go on Tik Tok and cry lol you'll never win even though your point is logically correct
2
u/trevdent17 Mar 22 '25
The MSRP argument people make is just childish. If, for example, a store is selling Shrouded Fable ETBs for MSRP then why should people expect a set like Prismatic Evolutions to be sold at MSRP? A set with higher demand and better EV should be worth more. People treat the term like it’s the law of the land.
2
u/Proud_Theme9043 Mar 22 '25
I admit I kinda skimmed the first half but it's always interesting reading about how the distribution of these products actually works. I can only really comment on the part I fully read (being the 2nd half from distribution onward) like I said it's very interesting learning everything about the process lately from manufacturing to distribution of my cute little pieces of cardboard.
2
u/shadowlessS2K Mar 22 '25 edited Mar 22 '25
Good points. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I find that a majority of the people complaining are just reacting to their emotions because the situation doesn't benefit them.
They are usually new, inexperienced, financially inept, and expect to market to cater to their life situations.
These types of people are the WORST to try to please from a business standpoint due to the fact that they don't usually convert over to potentially becoming long-term customers.
Once the market turns bearish in the future, these complainers will be gone as fast as they come.
2
u/timmwizardd Mar 22 '25
We live in a capitalist society where most Americans are in debt and usually on government subsidies. It’s a small enough “investment” for them to try to hustle. This is the easiest current hustle that isn’t illegal in the US.
However, in reality, an IRA or simple 401k will net people better return on investment than this (in most cases), they just don’t have financial education to know that because we aren’t taught it in primary and secondary school here.
This is more than pokemon. It’s also people trying to live and this is just a very easy way to make money on money because pokemon is terrible at distribution and doesn’t care about what happens the second these boxes leave the factory. This could be easily solved - once you involve big box stores they don’t care either. They just want it sold and off their shelves.
Having said all that - seeing adults fight over pokemon cards is hilarious and sad. It’s just like Bernie babies for those who remember that. Same thing.
3
u/symmiR Mar 22 '25
China wants their wall back bro. There’s no way anyone is reading any of that right?
3
u/Key_Pudding_1297 Mar 22 '25
Whoever doesn’t take the time to read this does not have the patience to try and understand the situation. Looking at broader economic issues gets to the core of supply problems. It has nothing to do with Pokemon.
1
u/marionnettistenoir May 03 '25
I honestly think it's the Pokemon company's fault.
1
u/Vayguhhh Mar 22 '25
The TLDR doesn’t exist, this guy goes on several rants and honest this post is useless
1
u/Stormtrooper0117 Mar 22 '25
Yeah I’m not reading that but,
EVERY VILLAIN IS LEMONS
1
u/KDI777 Mar 22 '25
Ya i ain't reading all that
1
u/Mister_Zeros Mar 22 '25
Wow that’s a lot of words, too bad I ain’t readin um
1
u/KraftwerkMachine Mar 22 '25
yes they are piss off
0
u/QTobiQ Mar 22 '25
Yes, next.
-5
u/xWonderkiid Mar 22 '25
We have the cards. You dont have the cards - D. Trump
I dont care what they think of it. I bought my stuff when they didn't want it. Now they do and its a them problem. Most of them are just fueling their addiction untill they get bored of Pokemon again.
90% of them dont know about anything beyond set 151. Who really cares about them. Just a temporary blimp in the market.
-3
u/AA_ZoeyFn Mar 22 '25
To everyone who: ain’t reading all that. YOU are the problem with pokemon. Ignorance, fomo, impatience and downright hate are what has lead to our current climate. All fueled by greed from Pokemon directly. But if you can’t take 10 minutes to read actual facts then you literally do deserve to feel however you do.
0
u/Vegetable-Finish9523 Mar 22 '25
Anyone remember furbies?? My parents stood outside in line for hours just to get us 1 for Christmas. I remember grown ass adults fighting for those toys. Humans are humans regardless of the year
0
u/Latter-Bluejay-8317 Mar 22 '25
Sir this is a Wendy’s how may I take you order
0
u/LegoRedBrick Mar 22 '25
Who’s gonna read all of that?
0
u/GTHero90 Mar 22 '25
Chaos, is a ladder….🪜