Are all the scalpers dead?

Mattel have released so much recently, nothing is worth scalping!

I think people finally smartened up and just stopped feeding into it.

I’ll still see a few randoms pay double retail plus shipping for a brand new figure but overall it’s seemed to really die down.

I’m also convinced that scalpers work as a group. I think they’ve got their little minions who try to scare off regular sellers so they can try their best to control the secondary market. Reason I say this is I posted a figure in a Facebook group a year or so back and I was trying to sell it for less than the going rate for it. I got mostly laughing reactions and several comments from people saying I’d never get that much. I pointed out my price was lower than what others have posted the figure for in the same group but I guess that was above their comprehension level because I got some of the dumbest reasons for why theirs was a “better deal”

I feel like they changed the way they scalp. Now it's more like getting it quick and flip it before the masses get it, unlike before where it was like hoard everything and then you are the only seller.
At least that's what I've seen with the RAW IS WAR ring and the RAW 30th Anniversary set.

The toy and collectibles bubble popped last year, most of them cashed out after selling E90 Chief Jay Strongbow and are on a vacation resort right now.

I mean just wait for the next SDCC exclusive and the meltdowns that follow. It really depends on the exclusivity of the figure at this point. Everyone is mostly aware that most everything that isn’t an exclusive with go up on Amazon and Ringside will even sell the chase figures.

I personally think distribution has gotten so bad that many of the scalpers gave up;

You won't find most Elite sets at Walmart or even Target; Newer Superstars & the Ruthless Aggression series have been shipped to Part Unknown. Target's Legends are mostly easy to obtain via their website, so why would anyone pay a scalper?

Maybe they can't obtain the figures to scalp; Because they aren't available.

I think there's much less flipping opportunity in wrestling figures particularly, since we all get our stuff from a few major sites and Mattel makes so many that we can even preorder chases. It's mostly just exclusives or other limited/specialty figures that get scalped.

It's largely the same for other types of figures now. If I wanted to make money off figures, I'd buy heavily on a boutique product with a time window preorder and be aware I might have to hold onto stock for awhile. Anything mass market, it's like, what could the margins possibly be for buying a $20-25 figure at a major retailer and eBaying it? It's taxed income and eBay takes a cut.

I agree. I preordered like two Mezco figures from like last year and might have to sell them off, even though I don't want to. I think higher end figures are a little easier to let go of than wrestling figures because people are willing to spend more and might just have a bigger budget. Just selling off a large portion of my wrestling collection was a headache within itself with lowball offers, selling figures for discount cheap, buying supplies, paying for shipping and then taking losses from Ebay cuts. You also get the occasional Ebayer with zero feedback who then claims their package never arrived either. BTW, did that tax law go into full effect?