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Would you play with a known scalper?
Yes, I'd play games with them. Behavior outside the gaming room doesn't factor into it.
No, I would refuse. Scalpers should not feel welcome in the gaming community.
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Made in ca
Twisted Trueborn with Blaster



Ottawa

I ask because there's some guy in my local Warhammer community who proudly admits to being a scalper, and I swore to myself that I would never play a 40k game with him (unless a tournament pits me against him). But I wonder if this sentiment is actually prevalent, or if some players leave their feelings on such things at the door when it comes to actual gaming.

I'm firmly of the opinion that every local gaming community should come together to ostracize scalpers.

Cadians, Sisters of Battle (Argent Shroud), Drukhari (Obsidian Rose)

Read my Drukhari short stories: Chronicles of Commorragh 
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






Columbus, Oh

Just making sure.. you are talking about someone who buys a LOT of new kits/games and then resells them for higher funds?

(as opposed to someone recasting models or someone who takes the hair from their defeated enemies.. )

2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2.

Order of St Ursula (Sisters of Battle): W-2, L-1, T-1
Get of Freki (Space Wolves): W-3, L-1, T-1
Hive Fleet Portentosa (Nids/Stealers): W-6, L-4, T-0
Omega Marines (vanilla Space Marine): W-1, L-6, T-2
Waagh Magshak (Orks): W-4, L-0, T-1
A.V.P.D.W.: W-0, L-2, T-0

www.40korigins.com
bringing 40k Events to Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Oh. Ask me for more info! 
   
Made in ca
Twisted Trueborn with Blaster



Ottawa

 porkuslime wrote:
Just making sure.. you are talking about someone who buys a LOT of new kits/games and then resells them for higher funds?

(as opposed to someone recasting models or someone who takes the hair from their defeated enemies.. )

That's right.

Although, come to think of it, I would probably also avoid playing against someone known to scalp his opponents when he wins.

Cadians, Sisters of Battle (Argent Shroud), Drukhari (Obsidian Rose)

Read my Drukhari short stories: Chronicles of Commorragh 
   
Made in au
Calm Celestian




In your example, I wouldn't play with them.

   
Made in us
Ultramarine Terminator with Assault Cannon






I suppose there's a threshold.

If I buy two of something to effectively make my $$$ back by selling one... is that still worth being ostracized?
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 oni wrote:
I suppose there's a threshold.

If I buy two of something to effectively make my $$$ back by selling one... is that still worth being ostracized?


For the guy who had to pay double for the item because the store was suddenly out of stock, yes. For everyone who doesn’t want to end up in the same position as that guy, probably also yes.

   
Made in us
Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos






Toledo, OH

I try to focus my "I won't play this guy" threshold solely on how they act during our games. Scalping is also at worst a selfish act, not really morally reprehensible. The nature of limited production runs means that some people end up with an item and others don't, and pure price isn't any better or worse a way to determine who gets what than any other.

   
Made in us
Tzeentch Aspiring Sorcerer Riding a Disc






Battle Barge Impossible Fortress

I have missed out on boxes because of folks like the one you describe purchasing tons to resell at a higher price.

Still, I can say that it wouldn't affect my attitude towards them as a player. If I can have a good 40k game with them, I wouldn't care.
   
Made in fi
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!






I don't see anything wrong with scalping. It gives everyone a chance to aquire rare and out of stock items. You really think you missed out on an item because of a scalper huh? That's snowflake thinking at its finest

Don't hate the scalper, hate the superficial scarcity and FOMO marketing the manufacturers push on us.

This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2021/06/17 20:14:39


 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

I wouldn’t set up a game, or go out of my way to play them. If I was at the FLGS looking for a pickup game and they were the only option, I’d probably play.

Assuming I didn’t have any other reasons to avoid games with them and they were otherwise a reasonable person. If they started bragging about scalping, I’d let them know my feelings on the subject, but keep it polite.

   
Made in ca
Twisted Trueborn with Blaster



Ottawa

 tauist wrote:
You really think you missed out on an item because of a scalper huh? That's snowflake thinking at its finest

I struggle to understand your "snowflake thinking" reasoning. If you miss out on a hot new item, then yes, there's in fact a fairly decent chance that it's because of a scalper. Now, that one scalper did not purposefully set out to piss you off, specifically, but at the end of the day, it's still scalpers' collective fault that you couldn't get the model you wanted.

I'm going to hate both the scalper and the company that generates artificial scarcity, thank you very much. This "don't hate the player, hate the game" argument is only ever used by people who have no interest whatsoever in changing the game. If the rules and systems in place are not enough to prevent assh0les from ruining everything, then a community has a right and perhaps even a duty to enforce additional ones (such as ostracizing people who show no consideration for others).

Cadians, Sisters of Battle (Argent Shroud), Drukhari (Obsidian Rose)

Read my Drukhari short stories: Chronicles of Commorragh 
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Leicester, UK

Sure i'd play him. No ones perfect.

My painting and modeling blog:

PaddyMick's Chopshop: Converted 40K Vehicles

 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Scalping comes in various forms. There's the guy who buys one or two boxes to upsell for a few £ more at one end to the guy who buys 20-40-100 boxes and then marks up the price and even inflates the secondhand price on ebay and such by volume.


Both are scalpers. One is so small time that it hardly impacts anything and a small price increase isn't really hurting the market much. IT hurts in volume if loads and loads of people did it on their own.

The other is having a real meaningful impact all on their own.




In the end I'd likely play the first kind, its not really that bad. Though if they are a bit of a boastful pain about it I might not play them. But then that's going into their attitude and behaviour which is likely going to be more htan just boasting about scalping a single box.

The other guy I'd possibly not play because their deliberate action is harming the hobby. Even if they are a really nice person to play against their behaviour outside of the game is harming the environment for others; plsu scalping that much chances are its impacting local supplies so chances are it could even be hindering local people getting stuff.




In the end how you behave and conduct yourself both in and outside of the game WILL influence who chooses to play you. You can be perfect in game, but if outside you have undesirable behaviour or actions then people will refuse games.


A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in us
Infiltrating Broodlord





United States

-Guardsman- wrote:
I ask because there's some guy in my local Warhammer community who proudly admits to being a scalper, and I swore to myself that I would never play a 40k game with him (unless a tournament pits me against him). But I wonder if this sentiment is actually prevalent, or if some players leave their feelings on such things at the door when it comes to actual gaming.

I'm firmly of the opinion that every local gaming community should come together to ostracize scalpers.


I'm a scalper. Everyone here is. Everyone here has bought something, then at some point, sold it for profit. Nothing immoral about that.

If you ostracize people who sell their property, there will be no one around.

Ayn Rand "We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality" 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

I don't think I've ever resold something with a mark-UP.

It's usually sold for what I paid for it, if not less.
If I bought something for $X back in 200x and it's the same kit still available for $2X+, but I no longer need it, I'll happily let it go for that <= $X amount.

3 original rhino models that someone wants for a retro 40k project? $30aud and they are yours (what I paid retail for them when they were released).

Hell, I resold a legit resin FW valkyrie for $50aud because I just wanted to be rid of it - that was less than half price. (This thing made a mockery of FW and their 'QC' protocols. EVERY part was warped on multiple axes. Not just 'bent' but some were twisted. This isn't on the resin, it's on the caster pulling the casts before they were cured sufficiently.). And that was after back and forth about defective or broken in transit parts (ZERO 'voidfill' in the box. Pieces were allowed to rattle around and bash into each other. Yes, it came with actual FW paperwork, too).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/17 22:31:53


I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut







On the one hand, "scalping" doesn't serve any useful purpose. Partly because no one calls "I bought something at an event and resold it outside of the event at minimal markup" scalping.

Scalpers deserve to waste their time and money acquiring a product that no one is willing to pay more than MSRP for.

People who buy up a limited resource and try to sell it off at a higher price, and the people who enable them by paying that higher price, are a degenerate system if the item in question is a luxury good. Bragging about being part of a degenerate system falls under "acting like a jerk", and usually people manage to display additional "acting like a jerk" behaviors coincidental to those behaviors.

   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Would you play with a known [supporter of a political party you disagree with]?

Would you play with a known [fan of a TV show you don't like]?

Would you play with [someone who likes avocado]?

Would you play with a known [fan of ska music]?

When does it end?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/17 23:50:27


Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

-Guardsman- wrote:

I'm going to hate both the scalper and the company that generates artificial scarcity, thank you very much..

While you're there, you might as well also hate the person who is willing to buy from a scalper, since ultimately they are the reason the scalper does what they do. As much as the problem was born from artificial scarcity, if people refused to pay twice the original retail price for something they don't actually need, the scalper wouldn't have a business.

Although I strongly suspect that people overestimate how much impact the scalpers actually have on stock availability. If there is enough demand for a product to crash the company's website on release day, a couple of dozen copies winding up on eBay were far less likely to affect your chances of buying it than the several thousand other people trying to buy it at the same time as you. The lion's share of the blame should surely be on the company that keeps deliberately under-producing to fuel release-day demand.

 
   
Made in jp
Crushing Black Templar Crusader Pilot






 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Would you play with a known [fan of ska music]?



nervously tries to two step in a non-noticeable way
Please, guys, could you move my ultramarine for me? I can't...
PICK IT UP PICK IT UP

Why are we acting like scalping is some kind of wicked, cardinal sin?
"would you play with a... s-s-scalper???" A KNOWN scalper? Are there lists of scalpers out there? A scalper register? Are we gonna start outing people as scalpers?
yo, check this guy's ebay, I think he's charging slightly more than the usual overinflated price for a limited edition pewter space marine sgt. Do you think he should be on the list???
If they're an alright person to hang out with, what do I care how they make rent? It's hardly slinging or pimping or robbery. Like, it's a bit anti-community, but I think certain members of the community are confusing the feelings of being able to get things they want with being able to get actual necessities. Being priced out is annoying - check out the prices in Japan, or my frequent rants about that, very VERY much understand the feeling there - but it's hardly the end of the world.

The only reason scalping is such a lucrative market is because
Spoiler:
(I got a whole post Rule 1'd for this word I guess earlier this week so I'm gonna try going with)
cetaceans
Spoiler:
(is this a safe one?)
will buy it up.
Scalping is only kind of a lame thing to do, but it's the buyers willing to fork out MAD money that makes them able to mark stuff up so much, and it pushes out the more casual/less ludicrously rich fan (and gives GW the idea that they can keep jacking up prices and most people will keep biting) which sucks, and isn't great, but the stuff being scalped is rarely the meat and potatoes of actually getting into in the game at an entry level - like a box of customizable
Spoiler:
multipart
troops.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/18 06:05:49


 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 BuFFo wrote:
-Guardsman- wrote:
I ask because there's some guy in my local Warhammer community who proudly admits to being a scalper, and I swore to myself that I would never play a 40k game with him (unless a tournament pits me against him). But I wonder if this sentiment is actually prevalent, or if some players leave their feelings on such things at the door when it comes to actual gaming.

I'm firmly of the opinion that every local gaming community should come together to ostracize scalpers.


I'm a scalper. Everyone here is. Everyone here has bought something, then at some point, sold it for profit. Nothing immoral about that.

If you ostracize people who sell their property, there will be no one around.


Nope. I’ve even sold my rare, OOP metal GW minis for the cost it took to replace them with finecast versions.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Would you play with a known [supporter of a political party you disagree with]?

Would you play with a known [fan of a TV show you don't like]?

Would you play with [someone who likes avocado]?

Would you play with a known [fan of ska music]?

When does it end?



Just play with people you’d actually want to spend time with.

Turn no one away? Makes gaming sound like dirty truck-bar sex.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/18 03:56:56


   
Made in au
Calm Celestian




 BuFFo wrote:
-Guardsman- wrote:
I ask because there's some guy in my local Warhammer community who proudly admits to being a scalper, and I swore to myself that I would never play a 40k game with him (unless a tournament pits me against him). But I wonder if this sentiment is actually prevalent, or if some players leave their feelings on such things at the door when it comes to actual gaming.

I'm firmly of the opinion that every local gaming community should come together to ostracize scalpers.


I'm a scalper. Everyone here is. Everyone here has bought something, then at some point, sold it for profit. Nothing immoral about that.

If you ostracize people who sell their property, there will be no one around.
A scalper is a very specfic thing, not just buying and selling.

But enjoy your strawman, I guess.
 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Would you play with a known [supporter of a political party you disagree with]?

Would you play with a known [fan of a TV show you don't like]?

Would you play with [someone who likes avocado]?

Would you play with a known [fan of ska music]?

When does it end?

Oh no! Not the dreaded slippery slop!

Does this political party support my right to exist and thrive in the world? No? Then excuse me for not playing with their member/supporter.

Why don't I like this TV show? What kind of fan are they?

How much do they like Avocado?

What is Ska music? How much of a fan are they?

People make these judgements all the time, the sky hasn't fallen in and some of us have learnt that we don't need to spend our free time with people we don't like.

   
Made in fr
Veteran Inquisitorial Tyranid Xenokiller





Watch Fortress Excalibris

I guess I have to pick 'Other'.

I don't have a problem with scalpers and find the hypocritical moral outrage expressed towards them pretty hilarious. I generally don't blame individuals for taking advantage of the rules of the system they find themselves in when they've had no role in creating that system. Scalping exists because we live in a capitalist system and because of GW's policy of creating artificial scarcity of certain high-demand products. The scalpers didn't create that situation, they're just taking advantage of it to make a buck, which is exactly what our socio-economic system has trained them to do.

But I can't go with the first response in your poll, because there are certainly some outside-the-gaming-room behaviours that would cause me to refuse to play with a person, or indeed to associate with them at all.

EDIT: I don't think you're a bad person or anything for refusing to play with scalpers. But if you'd happily play a game with Kevin Rountree, then I sure as heck think you're a ridiculous hypocrite. ('You' is meant in the general sense here, not directed at a specific person.)

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/06/18 06:08:48


A little bit of righteous anger now and then is good, actually. Don't trust a person who never gets angry. 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Lammia wrote:
Oh no! Not the dreaded slippery slop!
I didn't make a slippery slope argument. It's more reductio ad absurdum. Because the entire concept of this thread is absurd.

Lammia wrote:
... the sky hasn't fallen in...
No one said it had. Now who's the one making strawman arguments.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in au
Calm Celestian




 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Lammia wrote:
Oh no! Not the dreaded slippery slop!
I didn't make a slippery slope argument. It's more reductio ad absurdum. Because the entire concept of this thread is absurd.
except, it's not.


Lammia wrote:
... the sky hasn't fallen in...
No one said it had. Now who's the one making strawman arguments.
Given the weight being carried by those elipses, I'm going to go with you.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/18 06:44:40


   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

Play nice, or move on. People are welcome to different opinions. Keep it civil, folks.

 
   
Made in gb
Malicious Mandrake




Wonders how a scalper gets "known". How DOES Charlie get hold of 50 copies of something on or before day 1 anyway, without the complicity of the store manager?

If they're a reasonable human, sure. why not? Don't approve of scalping (jealousy? they got there first?) but it's not a crime.
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Lammia wrote:
Given the weight being carried by those elipses, I'm going to go with you.
You're really taking this topic seriously, aren't you? Hot damn...

Grow a little perspective: They're not sex offenders. They're not something anyone needs to know about beforehand. It's not like there's a register for "scalpers". They are not a group that's worth worrying about. They're not even a group!

The reason I picked a few truly silly examples (liking avocado, listening to ska music) is because they are nonsense reasons not to play someone. They're the kind of things that you would never even consider. Unless they're actually taking people's scalps, I fail to see how this would ever come up.

Finally, and without delving into the depths of relative privation, within this context there are far worse things than scalpers: Scammers!

Now they should be on a list, a various online buy'n'sell groups do make a habit of that. They're far more serious than a dude selling a mini for more than he paid. I certainly wouldn't want to play with a known scammer.



This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2021/06/18 07:48:31


Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in au
Calm Celestian




stroller wrote:
Wonders how a scalper gets "known". How DOES Charlie get hold of 50 copies of something on or before day 1 anyway, without the complicity of the store manager?

If they're a reasonable human, sure. why not? Don't approve of scalping (jealousy? they got there first?) but it's not a crime.
Well, in this example, they openly claim it...

   
Made in no
Boom! Leman Russ Commander






Oslo Norway

While scalping does not bother me too much, your our own argument can be taken the other way too.

Would you play with a known [vocal white suprematist]?

It is not a reductio ad absurdum argument in the way you seem to imply it is.




   
Made in pl
Longtime Dakkanaut




Scalpers deserve all the worst in life, so I'd play them


Seriously though, no, they can play with their stock.
Also i stand by my statement that scalpers deserve nothing good to ever happen to them.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/18 08:09:06


 
   
 
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