Is Amazon Scalping Itself? A Collector's Perspective On The Recent Price Hikes
Date: March 30, 2016 at 01:41 PM ET
Topic: Hasbro


JTA reader Lando Plenty writes in with his thoughts on the latest Amazon pricing for basic figures. When product fails to show up at brick and mortar stores, Amazon has been the consistent online go-to. This is what makes this new trend alarming. Click through to see his thoughts on this!



As faithful readers of JTA know, purchasing figures from Amazon can be a vexing venture. Rarely are they in stock at their suggested retail. When they are, and being directly sold by Amazon, their presence is a fleeting tease, and they go out of stock as quickly as they came in. When they're not, they are available from third party sellers at a significant markup, sometimes asking for as much as the equivalent of a decent toaster oven. Then of course there is the added risk of buying product sight unseen.

Personally, I've had good experiences with Amazon and have come to rely on them as a source, considering both the woeful state of distribution and my own current circumstances which make going on regular toy runs impossible. That's why I was alarmed when this week I noticed that there was something strange afoot with some of the 3.75” figures. At a time when many of the first and second wave figures are being offloaded at a significant discount, suddenly the price of a new Hassk Thug purchased directly from Amazon.com was $11.92, a 50% markup over retail.

        

Yes, Amazon is now scalping the Star Wars 3.75” line themselves. I hung around to see if the Thug’s wave mates would pop up at a similar markup—and when Han and Rey showed up, they were not 50% higher than MSRP… they were double, at $15.77. And even at these prices, they seemed to be selling, as they continued to go in and out of stock. Monitoring the situation, I held out hope that this was a temporary anomaly. After several days, and figures like Unkar Plutt and FN-2187 joining the ranks of the scalped, I came to the conclusion that it was not.

        

I laid out the details in an email to customer service, citing previous figures purchased, hoping to get a price adjustment on FN. It was also my chance to address my deeper concern: what this pricing was going to mean going forward. I soon received a response from the overseas Customer Service team I've dealt with before. The pertinent details of their response:

I'm sure it's disappointing to see an increase in the price of the items you were planning to purchase. Our prices regularly change (Due to demand and new data from our suppliers) and the price you saw was the lowest price we were able to offer at the time… we have received the same suggestion from many of our valued customers like you and our team has already considered it as a scope of improvement and working for better results.

They then invited me to price match the items (impossible when they're not available anywhere) and referred me to places on Amazon where I could find bargains (figuring that I’m a cheapskate?). Certainly not satisfied, I followed up with a thank you email, and requested to be contacted by someone who dealt directly with the pricing, emphasizing my concerns about it going forward. Soon I received another response from another Customer Service drone, which boiled down to this:

I've checked the details and like to confirm that the price changes made by the manufacturer and supplier of the items, Supplier provide us discount in the items and our appropriate department fix the prices of the item in the website.

So if I read this correctly, the first email states that demand and supplier data can cause Amazon to raise prices, but which one applies to this case is unknown. But the second email states that on these figures the supplier, in this case the manufacturer (Hasbro) has changed the wholesale price of the items. This seems unlikely. Perhaps if the respondent meant “manufacturer OR supplier”, then Amazon is getting stock of these waves from someone other than Hasbro, one who is increasing the wholesale. But what I'm being told to believe is that the price increase is coming into play before Amazon has a say.

I remain unsatisfied with the answers I was given. As these answers came from low level Customer Service drones and not a member of their “price team” who would have firsthand knowledge of the reasons behind this, I am sure there is a better answer that won't be coming anytime soon. Currently, the Thug and “Unbar” Plutt are available from Amazon.com at scalper prices. As I make the rounds of the pages for Ithano/Quiggold, Kylo unmasked, and Ahsoka, I'm left to wonder what price Amazon will list these figures for when they finally are in stock, and if it's even worth it to keep checking.

Happy Hunting!

Thanks again for this thorough write-up about what's going on with a major source for our collecting needs. And, as always, JTA will alert our readers when we see prices for new figures at "normal" price ranges.







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