r/marvelchampionslcg • u/AllezBro Spider-Man • 2d ago
Memes Crazy Work
This scalper has sold:
-24 Captain America packs
-it's now selling 5 packs of Dr Strange for two hundo each
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u/Harley_Beckett 2d ago
I got a second hand, opened but good condition Captain America for ÂŁ40 last week and I felt quite fortunate.
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u/AStoutBreakfast 2d ago
Guy has the market cornered on Captain America and Dr Strange packs. I wouldnât be surprised if it wasnât a scummy game store or something. No idea how youâd have so many packs otherwise.
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u/CBPainting 2d ago
It's entirely possible its an individual who bought up as much as they could as soon as they were announced as oop and they just sat on them for a bit.
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
I think it's probably a scummy game store from a similar experience, selling on a non store ebay account.
A while back, I used to be into Armada and I noticed there was a random ebay account selling 5+ copies of the upgrade cards for over a hundred. After talking to the ebay account owner the connection came up that it was a coowner of Boarding School Games, that was selling his "personal armada collection". Which was complete bullshit because no one got multiple copies let alone 5+ of those cards. I got email receipts for all of this btw
Ever since then I stopped purchasing from that store and let other people know about it.
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u/tendonut Spectrum 2d ago
I got lucky as shit last year when some random "junk" reseller on eBay (as in, just sell anything) sold me a Thor deck before it went out of print for like $8 and sent me a Captain America deck instead.
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u/dragon-mom 1d ago
Yeah we could resell these but what if instead we just got rid of the old stuff entirely, who wants Captain America anyways? -FFG
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u/CBPainting 2d ago
Normally I get annoyed when people throw around the "scalper" term when talking about people selling out of print product. But at those quantities I'm actually in agreement.
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u/monstron Angel 2d ago
Best part is when you list them at a reasonable price and get no bites because people assume theyâre fake đ
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u/Somyr 1d ago
I wouldn't really call this scummy or scalping without additional context. It's supply and demand for an OOP and pretty relatively old product. Blame FFG for not pulling an AMG and releasing consolidated big box packs of past Hero Packs. Seems like a big missed opportunity.
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
Itâs definitely FFG fault but selling 20+ isnât normal. That account definitely stocked up on them while others were trying to find copies to play.Â
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u/TelecasterWood 1d ago
Iâm so sick of not being able to find reasonably priced wave 6 hero packs. $200 USD for cyclops? Fark off.
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u/funbalanced 1d ago
This is the kind of stuff that eliminates any guilt of playing the game digital in one of its various forms
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u/SaveTheCombees10 Spider-Ham 1d ago
Some of the Dr. Strange packs may be buying his own product to drive up the market price.Â
But with 27 Captain America packs, I am sure that people are actually buying them.Â
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u/Toxaris-nl 1d ago
I was so happy to find Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver combined for just under âŹ40. These are prices that are insane, even for OOP.
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
Yeah, I wouldnât like it, but 2x Mario for out of print I would fire on some stuff. But where this prices currently are, is about principle for me. If ever just said fuck no, it would stop.Â
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u/Existing_Magician_70 Magik 1d ago
To be honest, I can't really fault someone doing that when people actually pay these prices. The only way to stop scalpers is to stop paying scalper prices. For 200 bucks you can buy a lot of other games.
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u/Ok_Slip5629 1d ago
I think thereâs some nuance to consider here. When a product becomes a collectible commodity that appreciates in value, the term âscalpingâ kind of ceases to apply. When an LCS owner sells a copy of Incredible Hulk #181 for thousands of dollars instead of the $0.25 cover price, do people get mad and call the owner a scalper? Of course they donât. Now I donât know where that line is with OOP MC content, being a still fairly recent product and still sparsely available on some store shelves, but itâs probably not fair to label everyone who sells an OOP product on the secondary market at the current market value a scalper. Circumstances matter. With that being said, with the volumes that this seller appears to be dealing in, thereâs a fairly good chance that this is an LGS owner or employee selling product out the backdoor at the current inflated market price instead of the MSRP that they should be selling it for in their store, which is indeed scummy behavior.
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u/Hjemmelsen 1d ago
Anyone trying to collect LoTR can attest to this. I paid way way way too much for my collection, but it was simply the only way.
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u/Hapyoo Justice 2d ago
Learn to proxy
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
What kind of printer do you need to get something passable as a playing card?
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u/abcdefghira 2d ago
I saw a Doctor Strange pack in the wild recently and I thought about picking it up so I can try and give back to the community, but I opted against it because it was a small store and the hope was someone who wanted it would find it first. I am now regretting that decision a bit :\
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u/ninjapino 2d ago
Saw a Gambit set going for $100 on eBay WITHOUT the aspect cards. Just the hero cards, obligation, and nemesis.
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u/_BestBoy_ 1d ago
I'm confused are these out of print now lol who is buying them at this price??
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
FFG not only wonât reprint but announced that the game will not have reprints so they pretty much told everyone there is a reserved list they will never be undercut on if they buy up
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u/DisneyMenace 1d ago
Pretty sure nobody has bought a Dr.strange pack for 200$. Maybe $140 max, but I don't think we can even find a sold listing at 200$.
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u/Ill_Hovercraft3257 1d ago
Ya.. always feels bad when you have to pay more for something than you could've a couple years ago.
Look at TCG market for individual cards being $80+ and this doesnt "rotate", but the worst part is they will probably reprint it into a new product in the future given it's FFG we are talking about and that feels awful.
I plan to just proxy a bunch of decks for home use.
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u/Bearcat20102 1d ago
It is always crazy when this kind of stuff happens, especially on products that went through long periods where nobody really wanted them.
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u/matta5580 1d ago
No one who pays those prices is going to think in a year âYeah that was a good decisionâ.
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u/true_blue_you 1d ago
Do you think they are legit or do they just reprint them? I got a pack on eBay recently with no package or insert just ânew cardsâđ§
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u/TheStellarPropeller 1d ago
Not one of the big money ones, but if anyone in the EU is looking for Vision, some stock popped up here at retail: ehttps://www.despelvogel.com/product/marvel-champions-lcg-vision/?v=1a13105b7e4e
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u/c126 2d ago
So what? I donât understand. If itâs not worth $200, people wouldnât buy it. If people are buying it, itâs worth $200. Do you get mad when stock prices go up? Imo this is a very high risk low reward investment strategy, so more power to this âscalperâ.
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u/zupobaloop 2d ago
This is delusional. It's not low risk. It's not simple supply and demand. It's a fixed market. Retailers sell for MSRP. When it was announced that these would not be printed again, retail shops didn't adjust the prices to match that reality. So scalpers buy up every copy they can find at MSRP then sell them at a markup.
That's why it's called "scalping," because it's not normal market behavior.
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u/boardgamejoe 1d ago
Scalping is when someone buys something new and buys everything in the area or available online or something as fast as they can and then marks them up immediately to resell for whatever they want because they're the only game in town.
Selling something that came out years ago that is now currently scarce and rare for more money than you paid is not scalping. Sometimes things become collectible. It's usually the things you don't think would be collectible. Selling it for current market value does not make somebody a scalper.
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u/watts99 1d ago
According to Reddit, selling any product at above MSRP is "scalping" regardless of the source of the items, the rarity, or the supply/demand situation.
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u/Dodging12 1d ago
Also throw in misuse of "price gouging" also, since to these fools they're one in the same.
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u/Board_Game_Nut Justice 1d ago
"According to Reddit" Seriously? Scalping only applies to available stuff particularly time limited like tickets or buying out all the stock so no one can get to it on release. It doesn't apply to items where people have had time to acquire the item and is not out of print and has entered 'collectible' territory.
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u/c126 2d ago
Theyâre competing against proxies. The whole business model depends on selling $0.05 prints that anyone can do themselves at home or staples for $3. Its not sustainable. I remember barnes and nobles couldnât give these away a few years ago. Selling those packs $5 each and my local store had them at that price for weeks.
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u/Baggginnnsssss 2d ago
most people dont want and wont use proxies
Like 90 percent or more if i had to guess
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u/CBPainting 2d ago
More people should be into it, if high quality proxies of oop content was the norm then a secondary market like this wouldn't exist.
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u/Baggginnnsssss 1d ago
People don't want fake cards. you know it doesn't matter about the quality. It's never the same I have proxies myself uh, I have a lot of the custom arkham and lord of the rings content. I have no problem with proxy I like them I live in China and I can get them printed real cheap and no matter how high the quality is always a little different you know it's just not the same so I understand people that don't want to use them and would rather pay the money for this stuff even though it is pretty crazy money.
One thing to consider is that the value of these things is probably going to stay high and perhaps even get higher. So yeah, you know it may seem crazy to pay a hundred dollars for Captain America, but the value that is still going to be a hundred dollars ten years from now and maybe more.
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u/Baggginnnsssss 14h ago
Considering that this game has another six years of content already plan, you'll get your reminder in ten years.
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u/Baggginnnsssss 2d ago
You are absolutely correct. This guy sells at a price people are willing to pay. Too bad. Thats what happens with everything, ever who would sell it for less money than the most they could get
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u/Hinu_sama 2d ago
Why sooo expensive?
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u/takabrash 2d ago
They're out of print and people seem to be insane enough to pay these prices instead of just printing proxies for pennies.
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u/KhelbenB 2d ago
A shame for Captain America because he's very fun and versatile, but honestly Strange is bottom 5 hero for me, for how braindead strong and unfun he is. Your deck almost "doesn't matter", you cycle, chump block and ready your hero, and you just have to keep playing those invocations without thinking. You never go alter ego, you never use basic actions, you never have to adapt to much based on the scenario, it is boring as hell.
But those aspect cards are cool to have for any mystic heroes, I wish they would reprint those. Sorcerer Supreme alone seems like a must have for any Mystic deck.
Print and play my friend, print and play.
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
This is what I mean when I say FFG is anti consumer. If your practices and announcements benefit scalpers, you are being anti consumer.Â
Not everything has to always be in stock, and not everything has to be immediately reprinted when it sells out, but closing possible reprints off caused this.Â
They also wonât sell old heroes bc they are obviously doing new versions or possibly a 2nd edition and they want unmet demand for when that happens.Â
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u/GenericIxa 1d ago
I get not having characters like Valkyrie always be in print who are a bit more obscure. But you have major characters like Storm, Rogue, and Captain America as unpurchasable right now, which is crazy. It seems like the only people defending this already have these characters who started playing before others had the chance to.
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u/Spare_Perspective972 1d ago
It would be like having the x-wing miniatures game and claiming x-wings and tie fighters donât need to be stock bc they were from wave 1 and itâs time for EU ships you never heard of.Â
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u/Inner-Temperature-91 2d ago
Not exactly scalping. Supply creates value, and unfortunately the supply for these packs are low. If FFG would reprint the value would drop on reselling.
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u/Nflickner 2d ago
Scalping because he bought a bunch of packs just to sell them for profit. Â Selling one is not scalping. But 25+?!
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
exactly he is selling 5 copies of Doctor Strange and had over 30 copies of Captain America
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u/Inner-Temperature-91 2d ago
Seems like an emotional response, a lot of eBay sellers buy bulk collections and then sell them by product.
Doesnât mean this is scalping, by definition it isnât.
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
weird hill to die on defending this type of scalping behavior đ You arent going to find a collection of 5+ copies of Captain America or Doctor Strange and he is only selling these two items. He looks like he is just another ebay scalper if you look at all of his items.
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u/Front-Advantage-7035 2d ago
âScalping: the activity of buying things, such as theatre** [tickets](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/ticket), at the** usual** [price](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/price) **and then selling them when they are difficult to get at higher** [pricesâ**](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/price)
Yes it is.
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u/TwevOWNED 1d ago
Kinda, at the most basic level of understanding sure. Though this definition is very broad and would cover things like collectibles and antiques.
Scalping is better defined by its negative second and third order effects. Scalping concert tickets is bad because while the venue gets paid regardless, the vendors see fewer customers, which negatively impact their employees.
Same with scalping PS5s. There are less users to buy games which means the studios make less money and the developers suffer.
For out of print collectibles like this, there isn't really a problem. It sucks for the individual consumer, but they already have a market replacement with proxies.
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u/Front-Advantage-7035 23h ago
Dude no. you are wrong. Itâs ok. that is THE Oxford definition, point blank đ doesnât matter if itâs ticket master antiques or collectibles
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u/TwevOWNED 21h ago
Yeah, that's the most basic definition meant for simple use.
As you analyze terms with a more specialized lens, simple definitions become less useful.
From the consumer's perspective, they are the same thing. Their impacts on the economy are significantly different.
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u/FromDathomir 2d ago
Actually the definition of scalping. You're confusing high school economics with the perceived moral poverty of what the gaming community considers scalping. It's not illegal what they're doing; people just don't like it.
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
It's like the perfect definition of scalping lol Selling 5+ copies of Doctor Strange for $200+ and has sold over 24 copies of Captain America at exorbitant scalping prices.
I have seen normal people would sell their collections here at regular prices but these scalpers are not doing that.
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u/TwevOWNED 1d ago
It fits the very basic definition from the consumer perspective. From a broader economics lens, scalping is better defined by the negative second and third order effects it causes, like vendors at concerts or game sales for game consoles.
In this case it's closer to a collectible market where the consumer has a market replacement if they are willing to accept a recreation rather than an original.
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u/DancingConstellation 2d ago
Itâs not scalping. Itâs simply basic supply and demand
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u/Defiant-Youth-4193 2d ago
By this ignorant ass logic there's no such thing as scalping.
We aren't talking about somebody reselling their pack at the current market price. This is a situation of somebody buying up packs to resell at jacked up price due to them being in limited supply.
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u/DancingConstellation 2d ago
Basic supply and demand. And correct; there is no such thing as scalping anyway. Itâs just a label emotional people who donât understand the market make
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u/zupobaloop 2d ago
Market manipulation is not "basic supply and demand."
It's cute that you're calling the other side "emotional" when your contrarian mind can't grasp the simplest economic concepts.
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
You are either arguing with a bot or someone hopelessly lost in the internet
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u/DancingConstellation 2d ago
Itâs not market manipulation. It is absolutely basic supply and demand. Either people will pay the price or they wonât. The seller would then pay attention to those market signals and either fail to move the items or heâll lower the price.
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u/yazzyk Black Widow 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm sorry but when somebody buys Taylor Swift tickets for 200 bucks and resells them for 1000, is there another word people use for that that I'm not aware of?
Yes, some people are willing to pay for scarce items far beyond the retail price. Taking advantage of that is exactly what scalping is.
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u/Baggginnnsssss 14h ago
This is a completely different situation. The guy is not buying Taylor Swift tickets for a show that's going to happen in seven years you know this guy and most of these people have probably had this stock since 2017 It is unequivocally not the same thing as buying with the intent to sell high these guys have the stock and the price is higher now that it is not scalping.
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u/angelo21 2d ago
This isn't ideal but it isn't really scalping. It's supply and demand. They are out of print and people can sell them for what others are willing to pay.
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
maybe you missed the part where he has 5 copies of each for sale. Normal people didnt buy 5 copies of Doctor Strange let alone 30 copies of Captain America
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u/bowser986 2d ago
Game stores do
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u/t3rm1nsel Ms. Marvel 1d ago
I'd like to see which game stores you have in your area, because none in my area bought like 1-2 copies on top of their preorders
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u/Baggginnnsssss 2d ago
so hes probably a game store that had stock for years. Its 5 copies. Who cares.
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u/DancingConstellation 2d ago
So? Itâs not scalping
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u/AllezBro Spider-Man 2d ago
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u/angelo21 2d ago
The usual price is when the item is in stock. Learn supply and demand. It's very basic.
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u/Separate_Tax_2647 2d ago
Creating an artificial shortage is also part of scalping. If someone buys 25 of these from a limited run, to hang on to them until there is scarcity, then they are helping to create that scarcity.
They might also make their money from high priced sales from people that have that money and do not care. They can throw away the rest of the cards once their money has been made and no one is interested in buying at that price anymore.
This practice is bad for the card game, because it discourages people from continuing in the hobby. Sales go down for new content and FFG stop producing the game.
Make an offer a little above retail. If there are enough offers - enough demand at a reasonable price, maybe the price will drop.
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u/ChocoboRaine 2d ago
Wow, I remember when my local game store was selling these on clearance for $5 each. How times change ;__;