Serves You Right, Scalper!

 

I don't make it a habit to take pleasure in someone else's misery. However, when I come across a scalper trying to make a quick buck on collectors, I'll take those victories when I see them.

One such incident occurred today, when I came across the listing of ebay user, steelcountry1. Ol' Steely here had a set of the wave two G.I. Joe Classified figures, Cobra Commander, Gung Ho and Red Ninja, and was looking to do a little flipping on ebay. Unfortunately, what he didn't take into consideration was the luck of the draw when it comes to listing items as an auction, and not a buy it now.

This particular ebay seller's listing ended at the total sale price of $61.99. Yup. Just a whopping dollar ninety-nine above retail, give or take a few pennies. Mind you, that's before taxes, ebay fees, PayPal fees, and a big ol' F U for being a scalper.

Let's look at this from a bigger picture. Scalpy here paid $19.99 per figure, a total of $59.97 for all three. He then paid out an additional 9% for Huntsville, Alabama sales tax in the amount of $5.40. Right there, that's a grand total of $65.37. While ebay will charge the buyer sales tax, none of that will go back in the pocket of the seller. So right off the bat, he's down $3.38 for his sale.

Now take into consideration that ebay is going to charge him around 10% for the privilege to sell on their site. So go ahead and deduct an additional $6.20 from that final bid price. He's now down to $55.79!

Don't smile yet. It gets better. Now tack on the 2.9% plus thirty cents per transaction fee PayPal is going to hit him with. Mind you, that fee is based on the $61.99 selling price. Not the selling price less ebay fees. That's another $1.80 plus the thirty cents, for a total of $2.10 in fees!

Let's add all that up. Starting with the sale price we have $61.99, less ebay fees of $6.20, less PayPal fees of $2.10, equals $53.69.

M'k, now let's take retail price of $59.97 and add our $5.40 in sales tax for a total of $65.73. Now the real basics of it come together. $65.73 total out of pocket expense versus recouped money of $53.69 after fees. Total loss to the seller is a net of negative $12.04.

Love it! Take that, scalper! That's what you get for inserting yourself into a hobby you have no vested interest in beyond trying to make a few bucks - Which you failed spectacularly at!

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