Do you think it's wrong for people to buy must have toys and sell them at huge profit on EBay etc?

[lottieandmia22]

I do. I think it’s pretty mercenary.

"I think you can turn a profit without asking for 3 or 4 times what the item is worth"

An item's "worth" is determined by the amount that a purchaser is prepared to pay for it, OP! That, of course, changes with the wind. Fashions and fads come and go. This year's must-have is next year's discard.

What is H&M designer collaborations.

Yes I know that 80smum. I don’t think that makes it ethical.

If the money comes from daft parents then so be it

You know what they say about a fool and his money!

And I can say what I like within talk guidelines love, you don’t get to tell me what to do/say cos I,er,won’t!

You're selling your argument so well. Such compassion for fellow parents.

Lottie getting 1 is how it all starts, lol. I'd make a terrible entrepreneur too.

This actually started YEARS ago, before I had kids, when my nieces wanted zhu zhu hamsters. They are now teenagers.

My good deeds last year went unrewarded when Santa brought my ds2 (then 5) a green hatchimal as a surprise. He was so delighted. Then the fecking egg fell off the kitchen table and broke open (casearian birth, like ds). Ds devastated but still loved it. Boxing day we took it to my sisters house. Went home the next day without it. Nobody has seen it since. We think it was thrown out with wrapping paper rubbish or something.

Actually Running I think you’re just a GF so I’m not engaging any more.

Well I do think it’s sweet to actually make a mission to help people get must have toys. Until this year I’ve been lucky - mine didn’t want Hatchimals or any other sell out toy. The ordinary LOL dolls sell out too so I guess as a PP said that actually was predictable.

I'm sure most of the replies on this thread are from the people buying up the stock

Would you lot be happy if you went to the supermarket to buy your turkey and found out a bloke had been buying every single one from the shop in the run up to Christmas and selling them out of a van outside for 5x the price? Would you shrug and laugh "you snooze you lose"?

woolytights I wouldn’t be fussed, I don’t even like turkey that much, but have it because it’s the done thing. To find they were all sold out would be a blessing in disguise imo.
Supermarkets overcharge for turkey anyway. I saw one in tescos, almost £50!!! £50 on a piece of meat most people don’t even like, horrific

Has anyone mentioned people selling their Argos collection slot numbers (or whatever they're called) for the Christmas must have items on ebay! I couldn't believe it when I spotted that last year.

That’s unbelievable - I get Argos numbers to give to people.

So what if the seller bought from Argos at buy 2 get 3rd free and the 3 items were much sought after toys? Then in effect they are making 100% profit on free toy even if they sell it at RRP without adding hugely inflated price on top.
I must agree that I do feel miffed if I go to the supermarket and there’s a special offer on and there’s 3 members of same family all filling up trolleys to tipping point because they want to sell in their shops and it’s cheaper than buying wholesale...it’s greedy on all counts for firstly clearing the shelf so others can’t buy 1or2 and then selling it back to joe public.

I’ve never done it. But not sure I never would, iykwim.

Some things like ticket sales is not on. When there are robots buying festival or concert tickets to do this exact thing. I don’t think that is right. People don’t stand a chance.

But buying an extra item in the shop to sell online for a small profit? That bothers me less. Would I do that? Maybe.

I don't have a problem with people selling on toys (even though I don't do it - as I said, can't be arsed, and don't want to take the financial risk), but cornering the market in food is different as it's a necessity. Even when I'm at the reduced counter in the supermarket and nobody else is there, if there's 10 packs of something delicious that would go nicely in the freezer for tuppence, I might take five, but I'll leave the others for someone else.

I do once remember getting my hands on the last turkey in the supermarket on xmas eve, many years ago. It was sitting there lonely on the shelf, I lived in a big house full of friends where none of us had very much money, and I hadn't been planning on buying turkey anyway. But there it was. I picked it up, stood for a moment deciding whether to buy it as a treat for everyone - and when I looked up I'd acquired a big circle of people all staring at me, waiting for me to put it back on the shelf. It was a bit disconcerting! (I bought it, sorry, people.)

A small profit is ok but 3 times what the toy cost in the shop?

Yeah, you'd have to be a total fool to pay 3 times the cost.

No wait! We're criticising the seller not the buyer....

The way I look at it, if there's such a mismatch between demand and supply that the toy's fetching way over the odds on ebay, then there were always going to be some disappointed kids who wanted it and didn't get it. If the price is controlled, the kids who'll miss out are those whose parents can't or don't get down the shop on the day it's released. If it's resold on ebay, it'll be the kids whose parents have the least money (or the most sense!) I guess it is a bit unfairer when the poorer kids lose out, but it's not even in the top 50 of things that I think poor kids suffer from missing out on.

If you want to go really morally dubious, I would suggest buying up discontinued Mothercare bedtime soft toys - someone like this little guy. He's probably been selling for the last 2-3 years, and now that the babies who received him as a present in 2015 are toddlers who a) have a massive attachment to their bedtime binky, so he's essential to their sleep and b) take him down the park and drop him behind the bins, it's only a matter of time before someone comes on ebay and offers you 50 quid for him. I'm sort of 50/50 on this. On the one hand you're profiting from the distress of a sleepless 2 year old. On the other hand, if either of my kids had lost their binkies I'd have gratefully paid £50 or more for a replacement and been glad that someone had the foresight to buy them up and advertise them.

I bought a few 'must have' toys four Novembers ago, one for DD1. I half thought I'd give them to friends/rellies as gifts, and maybe sell one or two on eBay but ended up donating them all to the local Christmas appeal that aims to give every child in vulnerable circumstances at least one brand new, decent present.

I feel alright with that decision.

I must admit I was a bit 😒 about people buying up multiple beauty advent calendars so they can sell them at a premium. It doesn’t seem in the spirit of Christmas, somehow. How about you just buy what you need for yourself and leave the other calendars for other people?

I think its ok to sell products on eBay at higher price than we buy. That is exactly the brick and mortar shops do as well. They buy on wholesale from suppliers and sell to consumers at higher price. With eBay, there is always a competitor for you. That way, customers have an advantage. They have the choice whether to buy from you or not when you price it high.

Anyone silly enough to want a 'beauty calendar' (what fresh hell is that?) at any cost, deserves to over pay for it.

The higher price that the retailers sell them for is an RRP though, not just something they pluck out their arses.

Not always Gherkin. Retailers can charge what they want typically. If they think people will be stupid enough to pay the higher price.....

Ilovelampandchair
Calendars like the l’Occitane one or the M and S. Rather enjoyed by my teenagers. But expensive.