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.

Completely agree mathanxiety,parental inability to manage disappointments is key
Children need to learn resilience, and parents must teach it.its a life skill
Resilience includes disappointment and/or waiting til desired item is available

But this isn’t about ‘managing disappointment’ it’s about whether you personally would choose to take advantage of a parent trying to get a must have toy. Personally I wouldn’t.

No one is taking advantage of.parents who cant accept toy unavailable at rrp
No one is compelled to pay £50 for a £15 toy.ebay price is what folk will pay
It’s completely about parental inability to manage disappointment and say sorry Santa’s elves are still making x toy
And as a result there is a huge pressure to get must have toy,trips round malls etc and demand inflates price

Demand doesnt inflate price. People are just greedy.

You clearly have no grasp on rudimentary supply,demand,price
I’ll keep it simple for you,seeing you’re struggling.demand inflates price when item in short supply
Anya hindmarch limited edition not a plastic bag rrp£20, was selling for £100+ eBay as high demand and limited supply
That’s price hike,generated by demand. Pure and simple demand drove up price

As a seller you can choose to inflate the price to a ridiculous amount of money.

Luvabella clearly isn’t worth £900.

and yes I’m not stupid so patronising explanation or not I still think it’s unethical to buy children’s toys you don’t want or need to exploit other people. If people didn’t do that there wouldn’t be such a demand in the first place.

What I am saying is that there is no such thing as a 'must have toy', Lottieandmia.

There are toys, most are nice, some will appear under the tree on Christmas morning. Not a single one of them is indispensable.

As a parent I think it's better not to encourage children to be suckers for advertising. That is a gift they can draw on throughout their lives.

Demand does inflate price. Demand arises from greed, or envy, or the fear of being left out, or the fear of not being a cool parent.

Prices are set at the highest the market is willing to pay. No piece of plastic tat has an intrinsic value.

I don’t disagree that it’s silly to buy thing at ridiculous mark ups and i would not do that myself but the toy buyers buy into it as well.

The thing is, it's every year now. Elsa doll, then hatchimals. This year it's about 4 or 5 different toys. Lol, luvebella, fingerings, and there's a few more.
Are kids really expected to have there Christmas list ready in August? Just so we can keep up with demand.
It's you tube video's that puts these toys in our kids heads alot of the time.
Why should we be teaching our kids to have low expectations in life? I've always led mine to believe that Christmas is magical and good things happen to good people. Now we're expected to teach that the world is full of greedy bastards who snatch toys from under parents noses then sell them back to them at prices they can't afford?

I know a little girl who Just wants fingerlings. Just one. Nothing eles.
It's not the children's expectations that a to high it's adults thirst for profit that's too high!

I agree FunnyFarmer.

Nothing to do with adult so called thirst for profit,buyers propagate that thirst by buying
As I said items wouldn’t sell at inflated price if folk didn’t buy.not forced to buy
My kids wanted monster high dolls,were sold out.on eBay ££+i didn’t pay. Explained to them they were unavailable, I bought at rrp when in stock

Agree that buyers contribute to the problem but I'm not going to applaud anybody who buys up all the stock of the 'Must Have Toy' with the intention of selling for maximum profit. Ticket touts of the toy world.

I really can’t get worked up bout this,I think it’s fine to sell on items for profit
It’s not gun running or selling crack to kids.its low level entrepreneurism of course profit is a motive,that’s understandable.and it’s demand driven

Why should we be teaching our kids to have low expectations in life?
A lot depends on your definition of 'low' here. You seem to be arguing that teaching them to have high expectations means teaching them to want the latest fad.

I've always led mine to believe that Christmas is magical and good things happen to good people.
Again, what are 'good things'?
I cringe at 'Christmas is magical'. I don't want to be the Grinch, but that is a problematic concept and one that easily strays into dependence on stuff to make some event special.

Now we're expected to teach that the world is full of greedy bastards who snatch toys from under parents noses then sell them back to them at prices they can't afford?
Maybe just teach that appreciation of what you have is a really good thing, and that there is more to life than getting and having? Eliminate the materialism in your own life before you criticise it in others, and you will avoid all the anger.

Nobody is forcing you to buy the toys.

Nobody is forcing you to get swept up in the Great Christmas Swish.

Nope, it's not wrong in the slightest. Nobody is taking advantage of anyone because nobody is forced to buy these toys.

Those who buy them to resell are taking a risk on that toy becoming popular and them being able to sell it on. If it works, brilliant! They get a well deserved reward for their risk. But they won't get it right every time.

You seem to lack a basic understanding of economics, OP, and since many posters have tried to explain it to you and failed, I shan't be doing the same.

Someone asked earlier on if you also thought the housing market was unethical. It's exactly the same principle, especially when you get developers buying up entire buildings, refurbishing them into unaffordable flats and driving up prices in the whole area. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that you're fine with the economics of the housing market but not with people reselling popular toys. Also ticket touting is slightly different (also unethical though) in that large numbers of tickets are often purposely set aside to be sold at inflated prices by subsidiaries of the primary ticketing company. Capitalism at work. Profiting from a popular toy honestly seems one of the milder capitalist activities, and I agree with others who say giving kids a healthy understanding of why materialism doesn't lead to happiness is a better view to take

Yes I think it is wrong. But ppm are right it is commercialism. & tbh if the parents want to pay over inflated prices then let them.
A few years ago I got into debt over Christmas trying to get my kids all the must have toys. It took months into the new year to sort out.
Now if only can't afford it they don't get & you know what? On Christmas day when they see what they have received my dc are so happy not once have they ever said "oh this isn't what I asked for"
I genuinely wouldn't buy extra to sell on because I know the feeling of being under pressure to make Christmas 'perfect '
But I've learnt that you can have a good Christmas without spending £££ on a doll

FWIW I’m not happy with the way the housing market works. I think new build 2 bedroom terraces are vastly overpriced because they’re Help To Buy scheme fodder, and create an artificially inflated market. And don’t get me started on the houses at the lower end of the market that get snapped up within a day and have To Let signs outside them within 6 months. As a rule I think people are far too self involved and greedy.

It is pure greed, those buying armfuls of the 'must have' toys to resell. Like I said, I'm not setting myself up as perfect, but I had the opportunity to buy more than one of those toys but I'd rather leave it in the hope that somebody genuine gets to buy it at the RRP.

Same here Les.

Well you would say that wouldn’t you...seeing it’s the premise of your op

Lipstick why are you so defensive? You must be a toy seller.

I think it’s selfish to buy toys that you don’t need out of greed. I don’t care if it’s fucking capitalism - it’s not a moral way to behave and certainly not in the Christmas spirit. I don’t need to be told how supply and demand works - it’s beside the point I’m making.

A company having a dog eat dog attitude is bad enough but individuals fleecing each other at Christmas is sad.

It’s a statement of the obvious,you’ll wholeheartedly support own thread
I must obvs be a toy seller?No.but you do to conclusions.erronously I must say
I have no retail, or toy stakes. I simply think it’s ok if people sell an in demand item for profit
No one is compelled to buy at over rrp, and if they do that’s up to them
Simple supply & demand economics. Scarcity and desirability drive up price

They do. But scarcity is also caused by people buying a toy when they don’t need it.

Ah but not buying item they don’t need,they’re buying an item to resell at profit
So the transaction is profitable and fulfils someone else need.almost altruistic