I don't feel that it is right for the dealers to go to ebay to sell items from their stores.It just doesn't seem ethical IMO.
Mark
I don't know Mark, that doesn't bother me too much,
unless it is at a "much inflated" price over the manufacturer's msrp.
To speculate on figures can be risky or it can be profitable, but they are risking their own money.
I don't ask anyone's opinion on how I speculate on stocks or any of my investments. It's a gamble.
However, according to one of the retailers I spoke to, and who will remain anonymous because he is a good friend of mine and has always treated me well,
he said, and again this is his interpretation of his contract with John,
That John Jenkins, who kind of frowns on it too, allows the retailers to sell only "retired" items on EBay. Once John retires a figure from his factory, the retailers can do as they please. That is their agreement in his opinion and he can choose any market he wants to sell it after it's retired.
No problem for me there either. Sell it here, sell it there, what does it matter.
The retailers are not allowed to sell sets on EBay that are not "retired" according to this distributor.
Once it goes retired, it's open market.
Now I see this "pre-retired" selling happening anyway, and this may be some loose interpretation of the "rules", but it is what it is.
Again, the only thing that bothers is when the retailer offers the "retired" EBay set at a huge price over the suggested msrp.
He can control the after market prices once an item is retired with his unsold inventory.
He has first crack at ordering from John and he can stockpile sets and wait for their retirement, but we can stockpile too.
The only real quandary I have now, is where does my loyalty stand now as a consumer to my retailer that is "gouging" me.
Example: One retailer orders a lot of a certain set and sits on them, locked in a vault for a year, until they become retired.
Once they become "retired", their value increases, theoretically.
Now he opens the vault and theoretically can make a good profit on his speculation by overcharging the msrp.
However, maybe nobody wants them and he's stuck with them.
So, if they bought 50 sets of BM01 (@ $69) and just put them in a safe for 2 years, when John retired them, he theoretically could sell them for a whole lot more.
Now that could be a problem for me and I would blackball that retailer from any further business. I would find it hard to do business with him in the future if he stuck it to me on EBay.
I don't mind someone getting a little piece of the cheese, but don't be a pig. The pig gets fat and the hog gets slaughtered.
Distributors do sometimes buy retired pieces from individuals at inflated prices, so why shouldn't they have a chance to make a little extra on the side?
I don't know, you can look at it so many ways.
Just like anybody else, I don't like to be taken advantage of. You screw me once and the next time I need something, I will look elsewhere before I contact you.
However, I'm not going to pass up a good deal either on something I want.
I think I have just learned to live without some things that I feel bad about paying so much more.
It's not a question of the money, but I almost feel stupid and ashamed that I would allow myself to be taken for a ride.
I missed a lot of sets on the BM series that I wanted, but I have lost no sleep, missed no meals and suffered no ill effects over it, lol.
I really don't no problem with an individual (not a distributor), risking his money and speculating. That's America.
The bottom line is that, "It is what it is".
I don't make the rules, but I love the game.
I just don't know how to figure this.
Michael
