Steelbook ordering and profit making

[Blu Lemmy]

Basically I am fed up with going into steelbook threads and seeing the discussion end up being about how many copies you order, why and is it ok to make a profit, thus I thought I would create its own thread!

I'm all for ordering copies for other people, I personally would sell at cost price + postage and packaging, for me it's not about profit, but helping a fellow enthusiast.


Take Iron man for example, big release and a popular film limited to around 4000 copies, so if 500 people order 5 copies each it doesn't leave many copies for other people, clearly this quantity could change, but you get my point.

Is it wrong of retailers to allow more than one copy per customer? Or is it a dog eat dog world!

Please keep it clean and civil as I am sure there will be differing opinions!

[tollickd]

I buy one for myself and if the Art work is very nice I would buy a second. I think play.com should have noticed it was very popular and then cut the max down to say 2 per person.

I hope they increase the Iron Man number a bit to let people who did not know about it get a copy.

[Kryptonic]

Who cares? People are perfectly free to buy multiple copies and sell to others online for a profit. That's how the world works and that's how you make money - you buy low and sell high. I do it all the time. Recently I lucked out and found a very hard to find brand new Blu-Ray for $10 at a store and turned around and sold it for $80. I'm sorry, but if I can make nearly $70 that easily, I'm going to do it and I don't blame anyone else for doing it as well. If people want to spend that much for an item, they certainly can and I'll certainly be happy to profit from it.

[Toscaclarinet]

I always buy one, taking the risk that it might be damaged. No-one else I know watches blu-rays so I have no-one I could give them to, and I wouldn't hold onto them in the hope that they would go up in value and I could make a profit. I just like the packaging for myself.

[Blu Lemmy]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Who cares? People are perfectly free to buy multiple copies and sell to others online for a profit. That's how the world works and that's how you make money - you buy low and sell high. I do it all the time. Recently I lucked out and found a very hard to find brand new Blu-Ray for $10 at a store and turned around and sold it for $80. I'm sorry, but if I can make nearly $70 that easily, I'm going to do it and I don't blame anyone else for doing it as well. If people want to spend that much for an item, they certainly can and I'll certainly be happy to profit from it.

Well you care, as you posted in this thread

I have no problem with why people buy, was just curious as to the general attitude towards it to be fair

I can understand making a profit, but not sure I would want to do it to the detriment of others, but on the flip side, if people want something they have to order it quick or they know what will happen

[Tony208]

Usually just the one for me unless it's a huge favorite of mine, then I order 2 to make sure I have at least one in mint condition. I might pick up a 2nd or 3rd if they're trade bait but never like 5 or 10 or so just to sell later on.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

Well you care, as you posted in this thread

I have no problem with why people buy, was just curious as to the general attitude towards it to be fair

I can understand making a profit, but not sure I would want to do it to the detriment of others, but on the flip side, if people want something they have to order it quick or they know what will happen

To be fair, whenever I do it, I don't hike up the price to some ridiculous level. The $80 I was asking was actually the low price for it. Other were asking $120+ which is ridiculous. It's price gouging and it'll never sell at that price either, so it's a waste to ask that much.

[evilzedar]

I've only ever ordered 1 of an item. I even hate to double dip on the same format (done it loads on DVD -> Blu-ray). The only time I've bought a steel when I already had the amaray was with Iron Man, and I ordered just one.

I would only buy extra if I was passing them on for cost price (+ postage if needed) to help someone out.

If people are stupid enough to pay high prices for items then I understand why others would want to take advantage of this, but it's not for me.

[Bombers]

I can understand some people making a profit of the some of hard to find steelbooks but as it not being fair for people not being able to order because of limited quantities I can't agree with I think it's unfair the studios only release such limited copies hence trying to inflate the price of their product because of its low availability. I think the thing that bugs me more is when people try to sell steels for more than at the store while they are still available In store

[mikesncc1701]

I buy one for myself and that's it. To be honest, I think there should be a set amount of any limited edition steelbook that any one person can buy in store or online to prevent hoarders from ripping people off and also preventing others with limited funds to snag one while they can.

[Buddy Ackerman]

Good thread, and good points. I know there's always been an element in this forum of people who see steelbook buying as a business but over the past couple of weeks there seems be have been a huge rise in comments and threads asking or discussing a steelbook's "value". Everytime I see a thread from a posters asking "I'm new to collecting, which of these four steelbooks should I buy? Which is worth more?" I roll my eyes.

Looking past the resale aspect - i.e. if you count yourself as a 'collector', not as someone looking to sell for proft - then if you're collecting steelbooks and pride them on how much financial value they have then you're collecting for the wrong reasons. Where's the passion in that? Buy the ones you love. Be proud if you manage to find rare ones. But loving, building, displaying or boasting about your collection because it's worth hypothetical money is empty and shallow. You're valuing the wrong 'worth'.

As for buying them merely to make a profit - yes, it happens. Yes, it's the way of the world. But it doesn't make people who do it any better just because other people do it as well. The fact is that people are being deprived of buying these at fair prices because people are buying them solely to make a profit. Again, some people have argued that this is just how it is and people shoudl be used to it. Well f*** that. It still doesn't make it fair or right and the people who do it are selfish, opportunistic and morally shallow. Not everyone who buys these comes to forums like these and sees upcoming releases as soon as they're announced.

And I'm not saying this because I've never had the chance to do it or because I'm jealous. I accidentally ordered an extra copy of each Iron Man steelbook and thought about keeping them for a minute but then realised how s***ty a thing to do that would be. That there'd be one less person able to buy it for a fair price and who am I to deprive them? Nor am I saying these because I've been stung by eBayers. I've never bought a steelbook for anything more than its RRP-worth and I've never been disappointed that I couldn't 'afford' one I wanted.

I realise that posting anything like this isn't going to change anyone's minds. People have their opinions set on these things. People who buy and sell for profit are still going to be happy with it because they're making money so they won't care if I think of them as horrible people on a moral basis. Some collectors think that the resale market is part of the 'fun' of colecting - again, I think that's stupid and valuing steelbooks for the wrong reasons but they like what they like and they'll stay that way. I'm just learning to ignore those sort of posts, not get angry at people boasting "Yes, I got 50 of them to sell!" and hope that threads don't all just turn into posts about how much something might be worth in the future.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I'm personally tired of talking about it, so I'm not participating in the discussion any further than this post to exclaim my departure. It's not doing any good anyways. If anything, it's drawing more attention to the option for MORE people to start considering to horde and try to sell for profit.

[Blu Lemmy]

Better to keep it here than every other steelbook thread

[bigrob]

to be honest, it's the buyer that determins how much profit the seller makes at the end of the day. if they want it badly, they'll pay through the nose.

but yeah, i agree that with LE's, they should limit each order to say 3 max. I've always ordered 1 copy for myself (perhaps 2 or 3 to help overseas friends out) but i don't have the funds or time to make a small business out of it nor would i want the hassle of OCD collectors saying it has a small dent, i want my money back or it hasn't arrived etc.
any of my LE's that i've sold on ebay have always had low starting bids (hate using buy it now)

[jw]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Who cares? People are perfectly free to buy multiple copies and sell to others online for a profit. That's how the world works and that's how you make money - you buy low and sell high. I do it all the time. Recently I lucked out and found a very hard to find brand new Blu-Ray for $10 at a store and turned around and sold it for $80. I'm sorry, but if I can make nearly $70 that easily, I'm going to do it and I don't blame anyone else for doing it as well. If people want to spend that much for an item, they certainly can and I'll certainly be happy to profit from it.

dont feed the trolls!, some are upset because they either cannot afford to buy them or miss the boat. Its Human Nature.

[loki993]

What about people buying extras to fund the collection? We gotta find some way to pay for these things. I don't see a problem with buying a few extras of a popular title to either trade or sell down the road to supplement or off set the cost of the collection. I mean if you got the money why not.

[jw]

Originally Posted by loki993

What about people buying extras to fund the collection? We gotta find some way to pay for these things. I don't see a problem with buying a few extras of a popular title to either trade or sell down the road to supplement or off set the cost of the collection. I mean if you got the money why not.

right, This is no different than going into a car collector forum and griping because it costs 10k now and it was 400.00 new back then.

You snooze you loose buddy!! Kudos to those who helped the titles sell out, just shows demand and that means they will release more!

[Rz_Samurai]

When i went to bestbuy yesterday to pick up Wrath steel, There were plenty of copies but he toook about 4-5 copies of the steel to the register, which makes me to belive that he is going to sell and make profit.

[burngwngs]

Other: I buy two copies. 1 for me , 1 to trade for another Steelie I may need.

[Thugjustice]

As I've stated before I enjoy my collection and having a collection of titles that I personally enjoy.

That said I also look at the potential investment, long term, for my son. Let's face it, we live in a time now where money is scarce and not all jobs offer the whole retirement deal so I'm always on the lookout for possible money makers for my sons future.

I'm getting some steels signed by Stan Lee and for as long as I am alive I will enjoy them for myself and what try mean to me. But when I'm no longer around its a piece of mind that my son will have things of value, financially and emotionally.