Shanester Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Get over yourself man. What he has done is a shitty thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yep. The quantities he purchased are inexcusable and undefendable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pk13 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I'd be willing to bet that this menagerie asshat visits this site. If we act like we hate every exclusive maybe it will deter him. I can attest to the fact that he does visit this site. He made me a trade offer a while back that was so incredibly unfair that I was insulted. I considered it for a minute then did a little bit of research into who he was. After finding out, I instantly ended the trade. I think it's kind of weak that someone would come on here and try to take advantage of the great community in order to turn a profit on eBay. Edited March 18, 2015 by pk13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I wouldn't even begrudge the guy buying 5 or 10 of these to flip, but 62+? Pretty hard to excuse that behavior. He knows he isn't going to sell that many, but by buying them all up, he is purposefully taking the opportunity away from others to buy, and trying to corner the market the best he can. That's a kind of resource this community can do without. Edited March 18, 2015 by karamazov80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigvis497 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Ebay is a sellers market too, no longer a buyers. People can set BIN's at whatever they feel, then others follow. If enough jackasses want to sell Quicksilver/Vision for 20 bucks, then guess what? It's worth 20 bucks! Its a defacto online price guide that others will take as gospel. Nobody does auctions anymore. So yeah, F him for contributing to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyCrypts Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Now days I stick to Luke I'm not a compleisst anymore but its FUCKING!! anoying because TRU is shite I Wouldnt trust them to wash thir hands after craping. I think most UK just save time and effort now by going to lukes. It's easy, relatively hassle free and my only complaint is I don't have enough money for everything I want. I read continually about US members forlornly traipsing around aisles in TRU B&Ms ............ I'm tired of it all TBH , I just want to discuss Minimates with people who actually buy Minimates rather than discussing 'trying to buy Minimates' . Again as a UK collector this is my biggest peeve with the 'verse' right now. It's everybody discussing buying their mates, when they're going, where they're doing it, where in the store they are kept( which seems to be different every store so why bother). I spend too much time on here thinking "how awful it must be to have to drive half an hour to a TRU to buy your mates" on average I have to wait about three weeks for every mate I buy, and that's only after they've been shipped. I try to save as much money as possible when buying so when ordering from look I try to group into as big an order as possible to save on shipping rather than having 4 or 5 separate orders. Now if they are delayed you can end up getting 4/5 waves plus box sets And extras 6 or 7 months after release. Like his TMNT Kraang. $59.99? What? Do people pay that? This is the same problem I have in the Tokusatsu collecting game. There is someone out there willing to pay that price. They jack up the price and just wait. I'm all for eBay and Amazon having a service that allows you to report goods that are being overpriced. Keep it competitive but not at the expense of the buyer. Even when items are exclusives or in short supply there has to be some sort of level of a pricing scale that people should try and stick to. Hey, Menagerie has been an invaluable resource on a number of occasions for me and I'm sure many others. If it's wasn't him, it would just be someone else. I'm grateful he provides an option even if it can be expensive at times. I say, don't hate the player, hate the game. And certainly be a little more pleasant when talking about someone else even if you don't agree with their methods. I've used him on occasion as well but only for mates that are reasonably priced and similar to what other sellers are asking for. But it's quite clear his actions are pretty shady and unfair to people just trying to enjoy a hobby. This isn't a game if he's the only one playing TBH despite never having issues when buying from him, this thread makes me question whether I want to buy from him again. At this point in my collecting I'm 122 Marvel, 18 TWD, 3 Star Trek, 2 Kevin smith and 1 TMNT (guess which one) mates short of being upto date, the only thing I'll be doing after that is staying up date and getting the occasional double of some for multiple looks. But when you look on eBay and it isn't just the menagerie, and even when you look on here cause there are some members who jack up their prices in their sell lists. The fun of collecting really takes a kicking when people make it all about the money. Which I know thats all this boils down to, but this was meant to be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMiracle Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 By the way, from his POV, this is actually a pretty low risk effort. He won't have to sit on unsold stock, as he can return what he doesn't sell in the next month or whatever to TRU.com, or even his local store for a full refund. Probably didn't even have to pay shipping, as I'm guessing he would qualify for free shipping with all that he ordered. This is no longer the case. You now have to show a Driver's License when returning anything at Toys R Us (even if you have a valid receipt). They keep track of how much you're returning now and have placed limits on the amount. I don't remember the exact numbers but I think they told me like $200 every 3-6 months. Something like that. The way to stop this practice of online hoarding is to simply not buy from this guy. I've been helping people out at cost + shipping instead of jacking it up to $19,99 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I'm not exactly innocent myself when it comes to buying multiples of any Minimate set from TRU.com but somebody somewhere needs to wake up & smell the bloody roses . It's not about him it's more about the buffoons & morons that allow the system to be abused without any apparent concern over the consequences. I could say more but it's been years & no-one listens . It's so sad that so many of us mere customers know the problem , know the simple answers & know that no-f*cker is listening . This whole situation is very, very crummy, but if there's something you want people in charge to hear, saying it on the message board isn't the way to get anybody to listen. If you think TRU.com needs to change the way they sell things, write to them. If you think DST needs to change the way WE do things, write to Ask DST -- Chuck reads every letter and he still handles most of the line planning. (It sounds better coming from a customer than from me.) But I can't imagine TRU is going to want to drastically change a formula that's worked for them since 2008. I've been posting here since not too long after I came on board in 2011, and I've never heard of this once happening before now. I've never heard of one guy, menagerie or otherwise, buying 50+ sets of any Minimates set from toysrus.com to sell on eBay. So clearly it's not some kind of persistent problem. If there's concern over this one $500 purchase affecting Minimates sales in the long term, then I would not worry about it. Sure, people also buy the exclusive sets from individual stores and sell them, but they do that with any line, and not just the lines that have exclusives, either. The extent to which it happens seems to be measured entirely by how successful people are at selling the item, which has everything to do with the buyers. And I also wonder how many are scalpers and how many are just collectors like you who got the non-exclusives elsewhere and just came in for the exclusives. As far as the line plan goes, Chuck ultimately decides which characters to weight heavier or lighter, and he doesn't do that in a vacuum. He's looking at what other products are out there, and who's getting a push at that moment. Spidey is weighted heavier because he's the star of one of the top-selling comics and a major cartoon. The Sentinel is lighter because that same Sentinel was just an army-builder in a specialty wave. Also, army-building is not as widespread as people think. I've seen plenty of TRU-exclusive sets linger after other sets were gone -- Mr. Negative and Fantomex, Rictor and Boom-Boom... Nobody was making big money on those, apparently. The difference here seems to be that these are sets a lot of people want. Ironically, they are the characters many here did not want/need new versions of. Edited March 18, 2015 by DSTZach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'm not saying you're wrong at all Zach, you have access to the numbers, but at the two TRU's I visit, I have NEVER seen the exclusive sets hanging around. When you see them, you buy them or you're fresh out of luck. The only exception was Yondu but that was because they bought multiple cases which is a rarity for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Oh, I'm not even quoting numbers. I just meant I would see Mr. Negatives and Boomers on the pegs at a couple different TRUs. Whenever I see a TRU-exclusive set on the pegs, I want to buy it, and usually have to fight the urge, because I already have it. I should probably start checking with UK MMMV members first. And while TRU may have gone a little heavier on GOTG, note that THAT assortment, the first one with only three sets, weighted the exclusive set evenly. And it lingered. It probably could have gone lighter, but do you do 5-4-3, with more Star-Lords than Groots? Or 5-5-2, thereby making Yondu impossible to find? I can see both of those strategies being unpopular, but the popular choice, even-packing, led to lingering. Yes, every assortment is different, every character is different, but that's why we make some characters light and some heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zexion_Armando Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yeah, I always buy extras of every set if I can, but usually its just to help people on here out cause TRU's distribution is the real criminal here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 This is no longer the case. You now have to show a Driver's License when returning anything at Toys R Us (even if you have a valid receipt). They keep track of how much you're returning now and have placed limits on the amount. I don't remember the exact numbers but I think they told me like $200 every 3-6 months. Something like that.I'm assuming he could still return through the mail, though they may have also implemented restrictions there (since they'll obviously know who the person is sending items back). I've been posting here since not too long after I came on board in 2011, and I've never heard of this once happening before now. I've never heard of one guy, menagerie or otherwise, buying 50+ sets of any Minimates set from toysrus.com to sell on eBay. So clearly it's not some kind of persistent problem. If there's concern over this one $500 purchase affecting Minimates sales in the long term, then I would not worry about it.Maybe this was before you came on, but I'm pretty sure he did something similar with the exclusive sets from the first Marvel vs. Capcom wave. I think it was the Ryu/Sentinel set, and he had something like 50+. I'm guessing that he did this with others, but I haven't really followed too closely. Most of those discussions would probably be in the EBay thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyCrypts Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) And I also wonder how many are scalpers and how many are just collectors like you who got the non-exclusives elsewhere and just came in for the exclusives. As far as the line plan goes, Chuck ultimately decides which characters to weight heavier or lighter, and he doesn't do that in a vacuum. He's looking at what other products are out there, and who's getting a push at that moment. Spidey is weighted heavier because he's the star of one of the top-selling comics and a major cartoon. The Sentinel is lighter because that same Sentinel was just an army-builder in a specialty wave. Also, army-building is not as widespread as people think. Except the entire wave bar one mate was exclusive! In the past 7 waves 3 have been entirely exclusive, and in the other 4, only 5 minimates weren't exclusive. They may not have the sticker on but they are still exclusive. Chucks line planning at TRU has always felt like a bit of a shaft. It's not just updated looks it's entirely new characters sometimes essential for completing teams ala X-Factor Angel. TRU when it started I remember words like "complentary to the main line" and "chance to fill the gaps in teams and collections". Then have spend almost every wave putting in the heavy hitters in non exclusive looks and packing them in clogging up Most of a case while the exclusives featuring the new characters, classic looks, team fillers etc are short packed and exclusive so we have to camp out to get them and then never see them again and this is across both marvel and TWD. I mean 4 Glenn figures, 1 b&w in a box set, 1 in a look he had for six issues that is quite specific to those issues, then the two normal looking civilian looks and they're both TRU and they're both ridiculously hard to find. Abraham for $60, Xfactor angel for $60, hulk buster iron man $50, Glenn $35. I love the lines and I love the mates but it feels like getting kicked in the teeth sometimes Oh, I'm not even quoting numbers. I just meant I would see Mr. Negatives and Boomers on the pegs at a couple different TRUs. Whenever I see a TRU-exclusive set on the pegs, I want to buy it, and usually have to fight the urge, because I already have it. I should probably start checking with UK MMMV members first If you're a cost and shipping type of guy, you should totally start checking with me when you see them Edited March 18, 2015 by JoeyCrypts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I was talking about TRU assortments in general, but yes, all of these were only at TRU. I value our UK collectors, but we have to give TRU something. I mean, if they want an assortment, we give them an assortment. If production coincides with a comic assortment, and we can share figures, great. That's two sets to track down. If it does not, then we might as well make different characters, which gives fans more options to collect and helps with sales at TRU. That's three or four sets. Does it give a UK completist SLIGHTLY more to track down? Sure. But I don't know if we can allow our feelings for that elite, relatively small cadre of highly dedicated collectors to affect the health and longevity of the line for the whole of North America. I don't know why X-Factor Angel was exclusive to TRU, exactly, but the X-Factor box set was exclusive to AFX, so the overall numbers were probably comparable, even if the shipping options were not. And while Angel certainly fits the description of "complementary to the main line" and "chance to fill the gaps in teams and collections," I can't imagine Chuck ever intended for complementary gap-fillers to anchor the assortments, or be the biggest sellers. The first TRU assortment had two movie packs and three comic Spider-Men in it. I agree that the Glenn situation stinks, and I wish we'd gotten a regular Glenn at specialty. Abraham was a recent surprise to me, and it's too bad he didn't live longer in the comics, or I'm sure we would have made another one. Hulkbuster we recently found another home for, although that probably didn't help you in the UK, but more are out there now. It sounds like the only option is to make each TRU assortment as undesirable as possible, and I really, REALLY don't see that happening. OR we get UK TRU stores to order the assortments in a big enough quantity to justify the additional costs involved in expanding distribution. Not sure how realistic that is, but you do what you can on your end, and I'll work on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyCrypts Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I understand the logistics of it, but more even amounts in assortments would help at least a little, one lone voice demanding that TRU UK stock minimates. yeah i'll give it a go. until then if you see any future TRU wave exclusives just sitting on pegs hit me up Edited March 18, 2015 by JoeyCrypts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I get the impression you don't think the "publicly shame dastardly scalpers" strategy is going to do the trick, Zach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valo487 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I vote we bring back tar and feathering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trekker 42 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Public hangings man. Only way to deal with these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Get over yourself man. What he has done is a shitty thing to do. 62?!! Yeah man, that's some real shit right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja Mate Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 holy moly. I wished I bought more of the Ezekiel pack when I saw it yesterday morning. I only bought one. doh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Ezekiel ? Who would make a good profit from a TRU prophet ? edit.grammar. Edited March 18, 2015 by buttheadsmate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'd be willing to bet that this menagerie asshat visits this site. If we act like we hate every exclusive maybe it will deter him. I can attest to the fact that he does visit this site. He made me a trade offer a while back that was so incredibly unfair that I was insulted. I considered it for a minute then did a little bit of research into who he was. After finding out, I instantly ended the trade. I think it's kind of weak that someone would come on here and try to take advantage of the great community in order to turn a profit on eBay. Thanks for letting me know. I have something to think about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I understand the logistics of it, but more even amounts in assortments would help at least a little, one lone voice demanding that TRU UK stock minimates. yeah i'll give it a go. until then if you see any future TRU wave exclusives just sitting on pegs hit me up Like I said, even packs can be risky, like with Yondu. Wolvie is a big name, but QS and Vision might have lingered... well, at least until May 2. And it sounds like there is more than one voice! You, BHM, Minifiend, UK Collector... I'm sure there are a bunch more of you guys. You're tricky like that. You speak American, but you AREN'T American. Tricksy. I get the impression you don't think the "publicly shame dastardly scalpers" strategy is going to do the trick, Zach? If a large group of Multiversers don't like how he does business, and it affects his business, I'm sure he'll have to look at how he does business going forward. I don't know him, and I can see that he provides a certain service, but it relies on a certain amount of collector trust, which he seems to be risking here. Servicing the international community is one thing, but monopolizing the U.S. market is another. That's assuming anyone else would even think twice about paying him what he asks. I have no idea what the #Mobb will do. Edited March 18, 2015 by DSTZach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) He took advantage of groundhog's generosity a few years ago too, and then turned around and listed the stuff he got from GH on eBay. Edited March 18, 2015 by youbastards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanester Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 He took advantage of groundhog's generosity a few years ago too, and then turned around and listed the stuff he got from GH on eBay. You're not the only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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