Crunching The Numbers

 

I recently received a happy box from Action Figure Barbecue, which contained a G.I. Joe Classified Alley Viper within.

Having this figure did something I didn't expect. It reinvigorated my excitement for the Classified line, which up until today, I was just going through the motions on, keeping up with the series, but not necessarily feeling all that interested. This in turn made me all the more excited for the second figure in this wave, the Cobra B.A.T.

I had both of these figures on pre-order through Entertainment Earth, but the status showed that they wouldn't ship until July of 2022, allegedly. So I decided I would, for curiosities sake, check ebay for a B.A.T.

What I found actually surprised me.

Yes, it's true, many sellers on ebay are scalpers, which means you're going to pay an up charge past retail. However, most of these sellers also offer free shipping with that increased price.

In looking at B.A.T. figures, the prices fluctuate between as little as $22.00 for figures in hand, to $60.00. Obviously, the higher end is excessive, and quite frankly, a rip off. However, when crunching the numbers, I was quite shocked to see that I could purchase a figure off of ebay, and still spend less than what Entertainment Earth was charging.

I purchased my B.A.T. from a seller for $28.95, and this included free shipping. Naturally, ebay calculates in sales tax for my order, and with this added, the total cost came to $30.73.

Whereas, if I purchased this figure from Entertainment Earth, They are charging $33.01. This includes the figure at $22.99 plus $1.38 sales tax, and $8.64 shipping. This revelation blew my mind. Not only was buying it from a retailer higher than a scalper, but if Entertainment Earth is indeed shipping this in July of 2022, I'm getting the figure a full six months in advance prior to them.

In running the numbers further, I discovered that at 6% sales tax, I could spend upwards of $31.00 on this figure (with free shipping) from ebay, and still spend less money than what it would cost from Entertainment Earth.

This is a game changer for me, and it completely makes me rethink if it's worth taking the stance of not buying from scalpers.While it would be ideal to find these on store shelves, that's not realistically something we've seen in the past. So if I'm going to be bound to ordering these online, then 1) I want to spend as little as possible, and 2) Available now will always trump pre-orders. Especially when those pre-orders are months out from people who already have the item in their hands.

This is definitely something I am going to have to keep an eye on for consideration in the future, placing pre-orders when they are available, but then watching secondary markets for potentially faster and cheaper delivery. Heck, even paying a few dollars more trumps excessive wait times for pre-orders.

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