NEW PRODUCT: VERYCOOL: 1/6 Miss Spetsnaz: Russian Special Combat Russian special combat female action figure (#VCF-2052)

FreakinLobster wrote:Welp, dang. The seller I placed the pre-order from that HS just closed their account on ebay. It was too good to be true, right? Even if it was a KO. Now, I gotta wait 10 days to contact ebay for them to step in and open a dispute... don't even know how will it go out, since the seller got out of the platform. They had near 4k reviews and few of them were negatives with different complaints, so I thought it was legit. This is the first time I got scammed... there's always a first time, huh? Bummer.

Wish me luck. If you guys have any advice to deal with ebay in these situations, I'd appreciate it a lot.

Many of these accounts are the same people. They cultivate multiple accounts, get them high rated, with genuine selling, then when a good scam opportunity comes along, they make a huge influx of money and inevitably lose said account. They keep their main, solid 10k positive accounts, and just start another new account to build up. I'll bet this head sculpt wasnt the only non existent item they were selling on that doomed account towards its end. They probably made a quick heap of money in the tens of thousands, for zero outlay, and all it cost them was an easily replaceable account.

Another scam they pull, is to suddenly change banking details, make a bunch of fraudulent sales, go quiet for a couple of weeks, and then when ebay takes action, they claim their account was hacked and a fraudster made those sales using their reputable account as a hook. They get banned while ebay investigates, then eventually the account gets reinstated, reputation intact.
Ebay aren't great at catching fraudsters, but then they make a mint, either way, so they dont really care. It's easier to just refund people.

I used to be an external security specialist investigating corporate fraud. You'd be amazed at how many big "reputable" companies do similar things every day.

Good luck with your refund. It's likely their account got banned by ebay due to scam complaints. So you should have no issues getting a refund. It's just a waiting game.

Sorry to hear that you got scammed. I got scammed a few times as well - they really know how to game the system. No more eBay for me. The seller was sc-store9999. Stay far far away!

Ghost certainly speaks the truth in regard to sellers with multiple accounts.

Theflyingman wrote:Sorry to hear that you got scammed. I got scammed a few times as well - they really know how to game the system. No more eBay for me. The seller was sc-store9999. Stay far far away!

Now there's a familiar nemesis   , except I encountered them a couple of 9s earlier, if you get my meaning.

I posted the eBay's response of my case on the thread "eBay Scammers":
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3994p45-ebay-scammers#58441

Long story short: eBay gave me a full refund.

FreakinLobster wrote:I posted the eBay's response of my case on the thread "eBay Scammers":
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3994p45-ebay-scammers#58441

Long story short: eBay gave me a full refund.

Glad it got resolved quickly and you got your money back!

He who shall remain nameless thought I should share his haul with us all.

LOL... oh no. That could only be one person... I'm happy for him, not so happy for other collectors who were hell bent on this one and now might not have a stab at it.

Haha, I saw this on Fb. Glad I got one for myself!

It does my heart good to see that pic. He who shall remain nameless and I go back a long way.

I see bunches of these figs on eBay, at prices ranging from $240 USD shipped to over $400 USD. Are they supposed to be in high demand?

I know this topic has expanded in to several pages. Seems like most people wanted the head (there are a few on eBay, and the prices have come down) and some of the gear but not the entire figure. Perhaps that explains the number of parted-out parts on eBay. Lots of shoes and rifles.

Perhaps I'm becoming inured to the high prices of complete figures. It seems like most of the complete figures start in the $200+ range now, so seeing a "sold out" figure still readily available for the mid-$200s doesn't seem extreme to me.

I wonder if the multiple buyer whose score is pictured above (and with whom some of you seem to be familiar - I don't know him or her) purchased the multiples during the pre-order window, or shortly after release? Do they plan to equip an army of clones, or were the purchases motivated by potential resale profit?

Factoring in shipping costs and eBay fees, the resale value doesn't seem particularly impressive to me; or at least, not yet. Looks like many of the original buyers had the same idea in mind.

davidd wrote:I see bunches of these figs on eBay, at prices ranging from $240 USD shipped to over $400 USD. Are they supposed to be in high demand?

I know this topic has expanded in to several pages. Seems like most people wanted the head (there are a few on eBay, and the prices have come down) and some of the gear but not the entire figure. Perhaps that explains the number of parted-out parts on eBay. Lots of shoes and rifles.

Perhaps I'm becoming inured to the high prices of complete figures. It seems like most of the complete figures start in the $200+ range now, so seeing a "sold out" figure still readily available for the mid-$200s doesn't seem extreme to me.

I wonder if the multiple buyer whose score is pictures above (and with whom some of you seem to be familiar - I don't know him or her) purchased the multiples during the pre-order window, or shortly after release? Do they plan to equip an army of clones, or were the purchases motivated by potential resale profit?

Factoring in shipping costs and eBay fees, the resale value doesn't seem particularly impressive to me; or at least, not yet. Looks like many of the original buyers had the same idea in mind.

There was a discussion in the previous pages, but be careful of the headsculpts that are offered around 25-30 in mass quantities. We suspect they are using the official headsculpt in the pictures, but the actual one is a KO. I don't know if anyone's gotten one yet and how it looks in hand. The original usually goes for 70-90 when they were available.

As far as I know, the one that bought the case usually keeps his figures.

HE (the nameless one) keeps his figures. He said he might assemble one, but the rest he usually just stores them. He usually always buys in bulk (during PO windows), as he did here when he purchased a full case.

csyeung wrote:

There was a discussion in the previous pages, but be careful of the headsculpts that are offered around 25-30 in mass quantities. We suspect they are using the official headsculpt in the pictures, but the actual one is a KO. I don't know if anyone's gotten one yet and how it looks in hand.

A guy I know from another forum had that happen recently with a different head sculpt, a male military figure. The head he received looks... well, like a cheap knock-off of the head pictured in the listing.

This hobby is becoming a minefield.

Stryker2011 wrote:HE (the nameless one) keeps his figures. He said he might assemble one, but the rest he usually just stores them. He usually always buys in bulk (during PO windows), as he did here when he purchased a full case.

But.....why???

Ghost808 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:HE (the nameless one) keeps his figures. He said he might assemble one, but the rest he usually just stores them. He usually always buys in bulk (during PO windows), as he did here when he purchased a full case.

But.....why???

Speculation.

It also allows him to maintain direct accounts with distributors and get discount pricing.

Xavion2004 wrote:It also allows him to maintain direct accounts with distributors and get discount pricing.

And valuable “inside information”.

Yeah, I've never understood this practice. I know he sometimes jokes that one day he would start selling them at ridiculous prices when they are nowhere to be found, but as far as I know he has never done that. It is not exactly an ethical practice, but it would be a rational thing to do. I would understand it if he were army-building, but many of these (not so much Miss Spetsnaz) don't lend themselves to this either. I would also understand it if he got two of each set, one to "play" with, one to keep boxed and mint. But a case full? Oh well, it is his money. I was never gung ho for this set, although I liked it at first, then a bit less when they started popping up, but when I came across the parted out head I picked up one and it's quite nice.

I don't have an issue with the "ethics" of buying multiples, particularly if this person (whom I do not know) has gone to the trouble to set up a vendor account with the manufacturers or wholesalers. It's no different than any vendor buying case quantities at wholesale to sell at retail... or at higher than retail, if eBay sellers are an accurate representation of the market. The only difference is, this guy isn't selling them, at least not right away. Which means he's operating at a short-term loss, and likely a long-term loss if you factor in inflation, storage costs, future shipping costs, and possible changes in the assessment and collection of taxes on online sellers.

He sounds more like a "hoarder" than anything else. Being, unfortunately, a bit of a hoarder myself, I can easily imagine what trouble I could get in to if I had the resources to invest in case quantities of every figure I found intriguing.

Also, every time we... myself included... purchase even one piece of a "parted out" figure, we are supporting the driving up of figure prices, as resellers and regular retail buyers learn that figures are worth more parted out, and certain parts command premiums (you could pay for half your Spetznaz purchase by selling just the head). Anyone who keeps up with the comments on the New Release topics on forums can get a pretty good idea of which parts will be in demand on the secondary market, and which figures might be worth purchasing to part out for a profit.

What I don't understand is the reticence of the manufacturers to produce greater quantities of popular figures. They must be aware of "pre-sale buzz" online. It seems like they would revise production targets accordingly. Unfortunately, the figure (and doll) market seems to be making an extreme shift to the "everything is a Limited Edition" marketing model, which is serving to drive up the prices of new releases. Apparently charging higher prices for fewer figures in a smaller marketplace is proving more profitable than catering to a larger market base with more reasonable prices. Or so it seems to me at the present time.

Fortunately for me, I suppose, I was never in the market for this particular figure; however, I have certainly found this discussion fascinating to follow, from pre-release until now, while watching the secondary market prices fluctuate. There are surely some economic lessons, and possibly some sociological and psychological lessons, to be learned here.

I think you make plenty of good points, David. And I'm with you on companies making more (and at lower prices) -- it's bound to attract more buyers, although I'm sure there is a cost-benefit equation that will kick in at some point. Perhaps, especially in the current troubled economy, they are hedging their bets, willing to avoid some potential profits as long as they don't incur some possible losses.

David, from what he’s told me: He has indeed been called a hoarder, and he’s also been called an a-hole. He doesn’t buy for long or short term, he just buys/collects. He sells every now and then quietly, but not immediately. Selling is not what it’s cracked up to be, as we all know, as there are problematic sellers, and problematic buyers — and his stuff does indeed attract problematic buyers. He rarely buys much after the pre-order window since it costs more, as he has the means to do so, and often gets irked when he hears people complaining about the jacked up prices after the fact; or, when people complain about not saving up the money to buy the stuff after it’s released, and the cost has gone up.

Monkey Depot parted out the set again.

Parting out is such sweet sorrow…

I love the disclaimer on the AK 105 assault rifle.  “Top cover may not stay connected.”  Yes, I have a good deal of experience with things not staying connected on Very Cool assault rifles.   I’ve come to appreciate how well done just about everything else is on these figures, though.

I got the 25$ Knock-off head today. My first impression is positive. Don't have much time today, will post pictures on sunday.

Chinese knock-offs of Made in China products? They're counterfeiting themselves now!

Which leaves the buyers – us – largely in the dark about what we're likely to receive when we purchase a product online, especially with what is becoming a preponderance of misleading product images on sales websites.

Doesn't look that bad to me for the price.

She looks great to me. I honestly wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told me, and I’d probably have to see them side by side to know the difference. Usually knockoffs look kind of “dead” compared to the original. The sculpt loses a lot of personality. That doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

whoa, it looks pretty good. I sat trying to compare to the original I have and it's hard to tell. There are some subtle reds on the original, but i don't know if it's just not coming through in the pictures. The eyebrow lines seem to be more prominent on yours.

Thanks a bunch for the pics, suo76. I was really curious to see how this HS would turn out, hoping for a good quality level. I'm glad my expectations were achieved. Even surpassed, I dare say. Is she more to suntan or pale TBL?

Welp, time to get me a couple of those.