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Watashi Wa

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It's called "arbitrage"

 

Usually though it's buy on BL and sell on eBay.  Proto Kanohi Nuva anyone?

 

 

 

  • In economics and finance, arbitrage (US /ˈɑrbɨtrɑːʒ/, UK /ˈɑrbɨtrɪdʒ/, UK /ˌɑrbɨtrˈɑːʒ/) is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices.

That's totally fine; i.e. buying a WMKK for $200 and selling for $300. But trying to sell one for $750, or a PLGK for $500, in the hopes of taking advantage of someone who doesn't know better, is something I object to.

 

Like I say, people are free to price their items however they want. But there's a difference between making a reasonable profit and ripping someone off.

 

-Letagi

Forgive me if my intentions on listing those items on my store are not clear. First let me say that I was almost scammed- whether it was intentionally or not- several times trying to buy a pearl gold kraahkan. The reference picture is there because Bricklink is the most common way to reference parts and sets, the end goal being to alleviate any confusions people have in the differences.

 

The WMKK is there for the same reason. I've heard stories of people attempting to paint regular krana xa and pass them off as a WMKK, whether it's true or not I don't care, again I'm just trying to prevent confusion. I'm not home so I can't take new pictures of it, so it will stay unlisted for the time being.

 

In no way am I trying to rip people off and if someone attempted to buy either I'd just cancel the order. Most if not all of the prices on my store are either extremely competitive, or the lowest altogether. I grew up in a household where money was tight, so if I wanted new Bionicles I had to buy them on my own, which in turn meant I needed a way to make money. Buying and selling became that way, and you're correct that if I can make a $20 profit from buying a sealed Vezon & Fenrakk for $60 and selling for $80, then I'm going to do it. I can easily get a used one for under $60, and now I have the extra $20 to buy something else.

 

Sorry if that offends you, I don't want negativity attached to my name, but in the end I'm just trying to expand my collection. Buying for $50, keeping the sets I want, and then selling for $75 is just how I do things.

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Forgive me if my intentions on listing those items on my store are not clear. First let me say that I was almost scammed- whether it was intentionally or not- several times trying to buy a pearl gold kraahkan. The reference picture is there because Bricklink is the most common way to reference parts and sets, the end goal being to alleviate any confusions people have in the differences.

 

The WMKK is there for the same reason. I've heard stories of people attempting to paint regular krana xa and pass them off as a WMKK, whether it's true or not I don't care, again I'm just trying to prevent confusion. I'm not home so I can't take new pictures of it, so it will stay unlisted for the time being.

 

In no way am I trying to rip people off and if someone attempted to buy either I'd just cancel the order. Most if not all of the prices on my store are either extremely competitive, or the lowest altogether. I grew up in a household where money was tight, so if I wanted new Bionicles I had to buy them on my own, which in turn meant I needed a way to make money. Buying and selling became that way, and you're correct that if I can make a $20 profit from buying a sealed Vezon & Fenrakk for $60 and selling for $80, then I'm going to do it. I can easily get a used one for under $60, and now I have the extra $20 to buy something else.

 

Sorry if that offends you, I don't want negativity attached to my name, but in the end I'm just trying to expand my collection. Buying for $50, keeping the sets I want, and then selling for $75 is just how I do things.

 

Okay, good to know your intentions behind those listings. You're right, there are lots of scammers out there who do things like paint fake WMKKs and try to pass them off as the real thing. There are also scammers out there who do what I described earlier - sell things for outrageous prices to people who don't know better, or who just have tons of money and don't care what the price is. I've seen that happen a lot, which is why I get frustrated when I see really high prices. It's also the main reason why I put together this topic.

 

But I'm glad you're not one of those people, and I apologize for my prior assumption. I was definitely overly harsh. I had actually noticed that the rest of your prices are totally normal, which is why the PLGK and WMKK listings didn't make sense to me.

 

Buying and selling to make a profit is absolutely okay, as long as that profit is reasonable, which it seems to be with you.

 

-L

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Would suck for you if somebody actually tried to purchase them though.  :P

 

Good to know your actual intentions though to alert other less experienced folks.

 

I wouldn't let them complete the purchase, for multiple different reasons, the most obvious being that it would be an extreme overpay, and I'm not the kind of person to essentially cheat someone like that. Also, as a collector who actually wants to keep these items, going through potential years of hunting and trying to outbid others is not worth the money you would get out of it.

 

Lastly and most importantly, if a WMKK sells for $750, any owners who are looking to sell it are probably not going to accept $200 or $300 when one just sold for more than double that price. Same goes for the kraahkan. We don't need unnecessary inflation.

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Some of those SDCC exclusives are popping up. Here is the cheapest available currently. Still way too much though. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SDCC-2015-LEGO-TRANSPARENT-NEON-GREEN-BIONICLE-SKULL-SCORPIO-MASK-MINI-FIGURE-/311400766363?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4880ee9b9b#shpCntId

 

EDIT: Seems to be gradually going down in price. Lets see how low we can get it to go before somebody nabs it. 

Edited by Craig B
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Some of those SDCC exclusives are popping up. Here is the cheapest available currently. Still way too much though. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SDCC-2015-LEGO-TRANSPARENT-NEON-GREEN-BIONICLE-SKULL-SCORPIO-MASK-MINI-FIGURE-/311400766363?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4880ee9b9b#shpCntId

Cheapest one is around $80 now.

hTeXGIU.png


Also, if you're a resident of the UK and like Bionicle, go ahead and join


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Ugh, is it worth 50$, though? I made a lower offer, but I dunno.

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Right now that mask is just a big gamble. There's already six of them for $50 USD.

 

You have to factor in all the non-Bionicle fans that are going to this event and will want to sell it. Do we even have a number on how many there are produced? This thing could go down to $10 for all we know

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Nope, not even a number on the package. I'm willing to bet it's slightly more rare than the NYCC one, due to the fact that it's being completely raffled so far.

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I don't think it's rarer. The trans-blue Gali mask was rare and they told us how many. I think this is a "hot wheels treasure hunt effect".

 

"Treasure hunts" are the chase pieces of the hot wheels mainline of cars, usually 1 per 72 cars. Back in the 90's, there was always a label that said "limited to X copies".

 

As the brand became more popular, they produced more cars, and in turn, more treasure hunts. Eventually they removed that label and in its current state there's probably 100k+ treasure hunts of every month's treasure hunt.

 

This seems like the same thing to me. Not saying there's going to be 100k of them but if it was as rare as existing exclusives, I'm sure we would have been told by now.

 

EDIT: Heads up: my offer of $30 USD was accepted by one of the sellers. Do what you will with that information.

Edited by Crezdonn
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Relisted the chrome gold Protector mask: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023340715?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

And the chrome gold Jungle mask:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023341382?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Due to popular demand I also listed a lot of 8 chrome gold masks for a slightly discounted price:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023348665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Do you make these yourself? 

Steam Name: Toa Hahli Mahri. Xbox Live Gamertag: Makuta. Minecraft Username: ThePoohster.

Wants: 2003 Jaller (from Jaller and Gukko), Exo-Toa, Turaga Nuju, Turaga Vakama, Shadow Kraata, Axonn, Brutaka, Vezon & Fenrakk, Nocturn, ORANGE FIKOU.

I got rid of my picture, are you happy?

 

 

 

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Relisted the chrome gold Protector mask: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023340715?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

And the chrome gold Jungle mask:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023341382?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Due to popular demand I also listed a lot of 8 chrome gold masks for a slightly discounted price:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023348665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Do you make these yourself? 

 

Um... the pieces are originally made by LEGO.  I specially coat them so that they come in a durable chrome gold color.

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Grabbed a transparent neon green Skull Scorpio Mask for $35 on buy-it-now. Lowest I saw all day. It might still go lower, but that's kind of the highest I reeeally wanted to go.

 

Edit: Ooh, a listing for $39. And they have two available. Not that bad.

 

~|ET|~

Edited by Ektris

E-T... Phone home.

 

"He walks among us, but he is not one of us."

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Relisted the chrome gold Protector mask: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023340715?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

And the chrome gold Jungle mask:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023341382?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Due to popular demand I also listed a lot of 8 chrome gold masks for a slightly discounted price:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023348665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Do you make these yourself? 

 

Um... the pieces are originally made by LEGO.  I specially coat them so that they come in a durable chrome gold color.

 

 

I want them, but the dollar is so hight right now that it hurts my pocket to think about clicking the buy button :C

Came for the sets, stayed for the story.

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EDIT - Wrong post :D

 

The chrome masks are really cool anyway, will you do any from gen 1? :)

 

Thanks!  And I probably won't be doing any from gen 1 unfortunately.  It's really difficult to try to chrome older style parts due to availability and quality control.

 

 

 

 

Relisted the chrome gold Protector mask: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023340715?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

And the chrome gold Jungle mask:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023341382?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Due to popular demand I also listed a lot of 8 chrome gold masks for a slightly discounted price:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/252023348665?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Do you make these yourself? 

 

Um... the pieces are originally made by LEGO.  I specially coat them so that they come in a durable chrome gold color.

 

 

I want them, but the dollar is so hight right now that it hurts my pocket to think about clicking the buy button :C

 

 

I'd actually really like to be able to charge less for them in the future, but currently the fees on Ebay and Paypal prevent me from doing so.  I've looked into a few other sites to list them, but none of them seem to have the exposure or ease of use that Ebay has.

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Bricklink has a custom section for you to sell custom creations. On there I'm sure you can sell the custom masks for free. :)

Does that include MOCs, too? (lol)

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Bricklink has a custom section for you to sell custom creations. On there I'm sure you can sell the custom masks for free. :)

Does that include MOCs, too? (lol)

 

 

Yes! :) Currently it's mainly system MOCs, but I'm sure Bionicle MOCs would be acceptable! :)

 

Are you referring to the MOC shop, or the custom section under the "buy" tab?

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The Custom section might be more appropriate, but it's not exactly a popular section. I'm sure the MOC section would approve of these, however. :)

Thanks!  As much as I like to purchase from Bricklink, its custom section is rather lacking in some ways.  I've looked into putting custom items on BL before, but it's just not for me.  The layout and design of BL is completely unintuitive unless you've used it before and it might make new users a bit hesitant to purchase the items through the site.

Edited by masonkh
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New entry for chrome gold mask of Fire:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252025401861?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

New entry for chrome gold mask of Jungle:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252025402880?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

Would it be a good idea to make a separate thread for these?  I'd hate to clog up this one with all of my own posts.

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Would it be a good idea to make a separate thread for these?  I'd hate to clog up this one with all of my own posts.

I'd say that as long as they're only on eBay you're probably better off keeping them in this topic, but if you're willing to make deals with BZP members outside of eBay, it would be worth making a new topic.

 

-Letagi

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Would it be a good idea to make a separate thread for these?  I'd hate to clog up this one with all of my own posts.

I'd say that as long as they're only on eBay you're probably better off keeping them in this topic, but if you're willing to make deals with BZP members outside of eBay, it would be worth making a new topic.

 

-Letagi

 

I think it might be a good idea to do that.  Maybe even put up some discount masks for those interested.

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I just want to say to whoever bought that Glatorian lot at 1AM...

 

"If you let my [Glatorian] go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

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Steam Name: Toa Hahli Mahri. Xbox Live Gamertag: Makuta. Minecraft Username: ThePoohster.

Wants: 2003 Jaller (from Jaller and Gukko), Exo-Toa, Turaga Nuju, Turaga Vakama, Shadow Kraata, Axonn, Brutaka, Vezon & Fenrakk, Nocturn, ORANGE FIKOU.

I got rid of my picture, are you happy?

 

 

 

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