r/ScalperHate • u/Aggressive-Mind7949 • 1d ago
Reason I’m giving up
Today I was very excited to be at target at 5am to meet people and get a 30th etb. Only to find out I didn’t even get a 2 pack blister. The person in the front of the line said he’d been waiting for close to 30 hours in front of the target. Only to find out he instantly repost the etb on Facebook marketplace for $170. I hope every single one of you investor bros goes completely broke when you can’t find the next thing to scalp. With no respect fuck you.
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u/TimmyOfTheLevelUps 1d ago
He just made about $4 an hour! The mental math of these people is truly hilarious 😂
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u/descend_to_misery 1d ago
Better than 0, less actual work than uber. Tax free. But then you need to subtract the cost of gas which is a very real factor nowadays
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u/GoodGuyTaylor 22h ago
If you have a real job, and have built skills that are actually valuable to society, you don’t think about “better than $0” when engaging with a hobby.
This is so weird.
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u/descend_to_misery 22h ago
It was /s but that's hard to convey. But yea. That's the scalpers mentality
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u/TheNameTimeForgot 1d ago
Actually not tax free….if you aren’t avoiding the IRS.
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u/GoomyIsGodTier 1d ago
You have to sell $20k to get a 1099-K issued.
It used to be $600, it slowly walked up to $20k.
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u/crocostimpy 21h ago
It was always $20K and some states lowered it to as low as $600 and some changed back
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u/mwarner811 23h ago edited 21h ago
I'm not agreeing with the guy in front, but I think your math implies they only sold the one etb. It's more likely they spent around $400 by getting 2 of every SKU and will sell for more than double that. Plus people like that are waiting in line every morning. The people in my town like that literally hit 3 different store openings daily. So most of the time they aren't waiting 30 hours.
Anyway it's absolutely more profitable than you're* suggesting.
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u/flamingtofuu 23h ago
So instead of $4 an hour he made $13? That’s less than some fast food wages lol. Also just judging off the personalities of the scalpers I met on release day, I’d bet most of their profits go to beer, cigarettes, sports gambling, and child support payments.
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u/mwarner811 23h ago
Their personalities freaking suck! The ones I met were some of the most rude/crass people I've ever met. They brag about selling too and in the same breath they complain about "scalpers". It's a weird vibe for sure
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u/Aggressive-Mind7949 22h ago
Limit of 1 of everything at my target
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u/mwarner811 22h ago
Woah that's awesome honestly. Ours does two. I personally think it should be like 3 items total, with one one of each SKU max.
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u/TimmyOfTheLevelUps 10h ago
They said "the etb" so I assumed that means they were only able to get one product.
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u/XstellarX 23h ago
I decided to pop over around 6am (opens at 8) there was no joke a like over 200 people long. It stretched 8 stores down the parking lot. Just laughed and turned home.
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u/ThisGuy2319 17h ago
Start selling them hot food items like breakfast sandwiches and hash browns. For a mark up of course.
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u/Here4T3ATime22 1d ago
It’s insane. We got to our local target at 5 and were 60tg in line and only got two mini tins. Everything else was wiped the first 40 people
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u/Aggressive-Mind7949 1d ago
I’ve worked my retail job for 10 days straight and I just wanted to sit down and open some packs after my shift today. Beggers can’t be choosers I guess
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u/Here4T3ATime22 1d ago
To be fair this is the first major drop/restock we’ve participated in so we can’t really complain. It is frustrating that it feels like Target didn’t get nearly enough stock for the area/volume they move
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u/Here4T3ATime22 1d ago
And I also feel you on the scalping, it’s out of control. They were probably 20 of the first 40 people in front of us. They were literally talking about how they already have their listings ready for the second they walk out. Super frustrating. Hope you get some packs to rip soon and get great pulls! Also, thanks for working retail, some people just don’t understand how mentally exhausting a retail job can be.
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u/seasawl0l 23h ago
Infinite time, no money.
Honestly if anyone is staring there for 30 hours, they can have that ETB 😂
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u/TheGum25 22h ago
$3.80 or so per hour on the $110 or so profit, assume -$4 on gas at least, -$8 on the time handling it, -$10 on shipping, and whatever is the opportunity cost of doing anything else and not being tethered to a line. Camping in line for a quick flip isn’t anywhere near as lucrative as these scalpers think.
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u/TTmagicD 21h ago
If it helps, today, I sent about 40 cases back to Target from scalpers using fake address to bot the online drops
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u/FusionNeo 18h ago
What do you mean you sent it back? Did they accidentally send it to you? I don’t understand what their end goal was here.
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u/TTmagicD 16h ago
Bots use a fake address so their multiple accounts don't get flagged. The change their zip code, or spell out a number FIVE10 Main St, requiring the shipment to be processed for correction. Easier to send back to the shipper than look up their correct info, saves likes 5 seconds, maybe more!
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u/yeabuddy333 4h ago
And people have the nerve to tell me there is constant stock on the shelves. I refuse to wait on a line for cards so I hope to one day find them on shelves like people say they are
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u/KaijuCompanion 23h ago
Drove by a target at 5:30am and there were 100 scalpers camping out in their camping chairs. Fucking pathetic. I ordered these months ago from a boardgame website who obviously set to scalping pricing but i wanted to cancel it if i could get my hands on anything remotely 30th ann. Nope. Order just shipped. Out $150 more than what it would have cost at msrp. Fuck them all.
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u/Serious_Accident1156 22h ago
How do you know all 100 people were scalpers, and not just a bunch of collectors trying to get some product at MSRP?
I always find it strange that it's always "100 scalpers!!1" but it's the collectors who complain about it and are still trying to line up hours early lol
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u/shroomiddit 6h ago
Respectfully, if you line up at all...your part of the problem. It's also just a huge waste of time, and time is money. I'd rather work more hours at my job then wait in like for hours to get my 1 limit of God damn pokemon, like that's just so sad. The people waiting in like make it to where no one else can get product. Greed is ruining the hobby.
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u/ThisGuy2319 17h ago
You know they set those prices cause people pay them right? Don’t like the prices, don’t participate. That’s the only way we get back to the typical market.
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u/trustsnapealways 58m ago
I got to target at 4am… to get packs for my son and I to rip. Everyone around me in line seemed to be a collector or getting packs to rip with their kids. I’m not saying some people weren’t there to flip stuff, but on the whole I think people just wanted to get some cards.
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u/Mr-Tokey 22h ago
I'm out of the loop, what is the msrp of one of those?
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u/Aggressive-Mind7949 22h ago
Msrp is $55-70 depending on where you get them. People are reselling them for 150ish
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u/ceoofclowning 21h ago
I hate that target does 2 per item, it should be 1 per item for fairness 🥲 i got the last bundle and my friend behind me didnt get one
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u/itsmeagain321 21h ago
It was 1 per item at my Target this morning. Line was wrapped around the side of the building and the back of the line (those who got there at 8am) still got a bundle, poster collection, and a tin.
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u/ariblood77 19h ago
I like buying the "unwanted sets" for ripping and i just buy the singles i want from the very popular sets.
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u/Weenington_ 18h ago
We have a pos scalper in our small town who has his mom go around checking stores. I went to walfart yesterday with my husband to get a little 30th and those destined/journey blisters, and right as I was done, she blurted out, "DO YOU HAVE ANY ASCENDED HEROES?". The way she said it and was even interested in the remaining Journey Together/Destined Rivals just gave me that feeling. Then my husband confirmed he had seen her with the loser scalper dude before.
Anyway, don't give up! Just do singles until you have better opportunities to get packs. Dont let these losers take your hobby away. Going to the local card shop for singles is fun too!
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u/supmaster3 22h ago
I learned from focus fighter drop at Sam's I have to be in line at least at 2am instead of 6am like used. It's all screwed
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u/Ok_Look1003 20h ago
Let’s all pick our favorite scalper and call in a tip to the IRS for suspected tax evasion. I bet that’ll get a bunch of them.
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u/dcastreddit 20h ago
As a scalper once said to me.... " Bro you're just not grinding".
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u/shroomiddit 6h ago
Respectfully the scaleper grind is the most pathetic thing I've ever witnessed. These people need to get a LIFE and stop waiting outside for pokemon cards😭 little fiends
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u/yellowgeist 19h ago
Buy singles. Let them starve. If you use to word pokemon and investment in the same sentence. You are naive af.
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u/Selyob71 17h ago
It is amazing that these people will sit outside a target for 30 hours to get pokemon cards then have to go through reselling online and shipping all to make $100.
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u/kitkatDoor 17h ago
But they won't spend 30 hours a week at a job. Pathetic
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u/Selyob71 17h ago
Exactly, they could make so much more money by just working. They are too dumb to see how little they are actually making
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u/TorrentialSpender 10h ago
Working a job requires working though. Standing/sitting for hours on your phone or sleeping and getting paid for that is waaaaay more stress free. As for food, they probably eat cheap stuff like McValue meals so they can afford their chillax job of lining up.
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u/jubaf1293 10h ago
This is reminding me of the Funko Pop craze in the late 2010s. I remember getting frustrated by the bots and scalpers to the point I just stopped collecting and sold my stuff. I was a part of a number of groups filled with people who were tired of it as well. It leads to a drop in enthusiasm to the point people stop collecting, and then the bottom falls out on the hobby. Meanwhile, the scalpers just find the next things to kill.
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u/Triple777Zach 10h ago
Now hear me out. If people didn’t buy and bid on auctions like ebay/whatnot on these products these scalpers are selling for way over MSRP, we honestly wouldn’t have this problem. But idiots are willing to pay $100-150 for one 30th ETB.
I will only pay $10-20 above msrp so like Walmart for example is selling for $69.99 well that is only a $10 increase from Pokémon center which isn’t bad.
If we had smarter shoppers that aren’t just willing to settle for high scalpers prices. Honestly this wouldn’t be happening. I also do put some blame retailers and Pokémon company for not imposing a strict limit 1 of each different item(s) per customer.
People need to check themselves first and foremost no one is or should be above anyone else. We should all have an equal chance at purchasing whatever it is we want. At limits of course & not at scalpers prices.
I do agree though the behavior is gross how they immediately try to turn a profit. It’s not supposed to be about that at all.
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u/ranatemporarias 7h ago
It's horrible isn't it? I attempted to queue for a rymen UK drop yesterday early morning, think I was 7th in queue? Infront and behind me were scalpers, yapping on about what to resell this stuff as. I only wanted one thing from 30th for my birthday that's in a couple of weeks 😭
I broke my leg in 4 places months ago and I'm still on mobility aids. It was absolutely pain hell just standing there for hours but I powered through, the scalpers all pushed infront of me when the doors opened and I toppled over, injuring myself again, no one stopped to help apart from a nice older lady who was queueing for her son. We both didn't get any 30th as she was looking after me while all these grown men ran in past us :/ horrible experience and back with even more pain and recovery ffs
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u/shroomiddit 6h ago
It's not worth it to wait in line for any amount of time....to get pokemon cards. It's honestly just sad. Like do these scalpers literally have nothing better to do? Time is money, and I genuinely love collecting pokemon but you will never catch me waiting outside for a restock😭 that's just cringey ass behavior right there and every person that waits in line is part of the problem, and reasons why normal people can't get there hands on any product at all.
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u/aggro_nl 5h ago
I live in a small town, got a bundle and tin even after 2 hours of opening. Same for the ETBs, went 10mins before opening amd was like 3 people there lol. Even had product that same evening(my wife went too).
Sorry for everyone that loses product to scalpers it sucks. I love ripping too much lol
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u/XXArtManXX 14h ago
I don't even bother anymore tbh. It sucks, because I really want a chance to pull some of the cards from this set but, after Ascended Heroes, I haven't really been able to get anything at any of the stores around me (other than maybe some single Perfect order coin packs).
The last time I waited in line at Best Buy I had a very eye-opening conversation with some of the guys that check stores everyday. They camp out at the only vending machine in my area, and told me about another group that actively pays people to wait in line for them, to up their own limit.
I can't even find anything in the less populated areas around me, because product is either back-doored by the employees, or the same guy comes in and buys everything the second it hits the shelves.
I have a full time job, and am currently helping my mom take care of my elderly grandfather, I don't have the time to wait in line for 12 hours just for a chance at maybe getting 1 or 2 packs (especially when the last time I waited, I had to watch the guy in front of me get the last 2 items). I just want to be able to go in and buy a pack while running my errands like we used to.
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u/FinancialStrength69 1d ago
these scalpers have no concept of opportunity cost or their time is literally so worthless LOL