Geobra's lawyers act against selling klicky-parts on ebay (?)

[grangel]

Well, it sounds like the parts were purchased from Playmobil for resale.

What do you mean resale?
I can not be in Germany and the guy bought me the goods in my behalf!!!
No commition,no fee!!!

[playmofire]

I think Emma J may have hit the nail on the head - Playmobl are concerned about their perceived reputation on pricing.  Hopefully, the PCC may mean members are exempt from limits, although I guess they may have to sign a disclaimer that they won't resell them.

[Alison01326]

You are all looking at this from the point of view of collectors, rightly so as that is what we are, and this matter concerns us because we are collectors. However, moving away from Playmobil for a moment .... you are about to buy a car and one of your considerations is the running costs; how much is it to service, are spare parts expensive, etc.

Now, think of yourself as a parent - "Do I buy some Playmobil for my child? No, because if he loses a policeman's revolver he will be heartbroken, the policeman will be consigned to the bottom of the toybox because it is going to cost me almost as much to replace that revolver as it did to buy the policeman. I'll buy something else instead"

We know we can buy cheaply from DS (where geographically available) but the average Playmobil customer has not read their catalogue properly (if they have one) and is not aware that a spares service is available.  They see these overinflated prices on EBay and think that is the only option. Playmobil may even have market research to suggest that customers are scared off by the perceived cost of replacement parts.

Instead of pursuing EBay sellers, and penalising collectors by limiting the amount of items a person is allowed to buy from DS, why don't they print in big capital letters on all their prodcts YOU CAN BUY SPARES FOR THIS PRODUCT DIRECT FROM US

[playmofire]

Excellent post, Bad Mum.   

[Wolf Knight]

Spot on!!! 

[Rasputin]

I think Emma J may have hit the nail on the head - Playmobl are concerned about their perceived reputation on pricing.  Hopefully, the PCC may mean members are exempt from limits, although I guess they may have to sign a disclaimer that they won't resell them.

Ok so when you limit the amount of a certain part we can buy what happens to prices? Well its supply and demand. The demand stays the same but the supply is decreased so the price only goes up up up .

Now if this is true than they will also have to go after the sellers who repeatedly sell items they just purchased from a store and doubled the price. Look at the blisters for example. In a store they were $3.99 5825 now look at the ones on Ebay 5825 all the way up to $50  better sue them for trying I guess

[Rasputin]

You are all looking at this from the point of view of collectors, rightly so as that is what we are, and this matter concerns us because we are collectors. However, moving away from Playmobil for a moment .... you are about to buy a car and one of your considerations is the running costs; how much is it to service, are spare parts expensive, etc.

Now, think of yourself as a parent - "Do I buy some Playmobil for my child? No, because if he loses a policeman's revolver he will be heartbroken, the policeman will be consigned to the bottom of the toybox because it is going to cost me almost as much to replace that revolver as it did to buy the policeman. I'll buy something else instead"

We know we can buy cheaply from DS (where geographically available) but the average Playmobil customer has not read their catalogue properly (if they have one) and is not aware that a spares service is available.  They see these overinflated prices on EBay and think that is the only option. Playmobil may even have market research to suggest that customers are scared off by the perceived cost of replacement parts.

Instead of pursuing EBay sellers, and penalising collectors by limiting the amount of items a person is allowed to buy from DS, why don't they print in big capital letters on all their prodcts YOU CAN BUY SPARES FOR THIS PRODUCT DIRECT FROM US

Do people really look at toy purchases this way. Lego is a company that the parts are forever getting lost so do they take this same stance on part sales?

I have never heard of any company banning people from re-selling. If I buy a toyota muffler and put it on an auction for double the price I will not get a letter from toyota demanding I stop  . They actually would think I am a bit stupid for not opening a commercial account and buy them at wholesale to increase my profit margins and turn around time.

So now we are going to be penalized for some parent stupidity on buying a 10¢ gun for $1 on a auction.

I thought my freedoms were being eroded in real life but now this from a toy company

Geobra just needs to flood the market with parts if they really are worried about naive parents and their high price image. These tactics are only going to tarnish their image in ways they do not seem to understand.

I think Geobra simply does not like someone else making money on their stuff, period. Must maintain total control even when it is in someone else's hands. We are not allowed to do what we want with our purchases and now we can not sell them for a profit. 

[Bill Blackhurst]

What do you mean resale?
I can not be in Germany and the guy bought me the goods in my behalf!!!
No commition,no fee!!!

If a seller puts a large order into their responsible DS parts department for a business reason, then turns around, & puts an escalated price on them to resale on ebay or other market.
Buy 10 pistols for $5.00 then puts a Buy it Now price of $12.00 plus shipping, that's considered resale.

[Wesley Myers]

That is a true thought that a majority of us are thinking about too. But on the other side of the sword, what if Playmobil starts limiting quantities of parts that we are able to order from DS? Perhaps if they only allow up to 3 or 5 max of an item, that is one way they can crush this business opportunity. That's why I think that a valid PCC member number would prove beneficial to hard core customizers & collectors. It would be able to lift the restrictions, & allow us to buy what we want.

Instead of harming the person who is a collector, affectionado, child, etc, why doesn't Playmobil just make it easier for people to buy these parts from them? 

Clarify things, put parts on ebay themselves.  They're still selling stuff and making money. 

Mind you - all our discussion here seems to be speculation - but hopefully they are reading and realising that limits would upset people and if you are going to do something then you have to be fair about it (harass those who are selling items on ebay for inflated prices, not just those selling spare parts).

[Bill Blackhurst]

It would be too difficult to sell items on eBay for Playmobil unless they let an outside source do it for them. I don't think it would be possible to harass sellers selling items for a high price. If a person buys a store close out inventory for $100.00 but it's worth $500.00 & resells it for $600.00 that's called good business sense, it is the same philosophy. If you don't want to pay, don't buy. Playmobil just needs to get up to speed to make their already available parts system easier & accommodating to collectors, an easy fix.