The first Hot Wheels Club Red Line Club (RLC) sale commenced yesterday, and it was a complete failure. The sale for the Volkswagen Drag Bus “Candy Striper” launched at exactly 12:00 PM (EDT), and by 12:05 PM (EDT) all 20,000 buses were sold out.
The reason you purchase an RLC membership is to be able to purchase an exclusive vehicle. What happened yesterday proves an RLC membership doesn’t give you the ability to buy anything. It only gives you the chance to spin the wheel.
It’s better to be lucky than good
Whether you can buy a toy car or not all comes down to luck.
Most people who tried to buy a bus yesterday got derailed when they tried to complete the reCaptcha task to prove they were not robots. I didn’t even get that far.
How much are they now going for on eBay?
I took a look on eBay for the RLC exclusive Volkswagen Drag Bus. From what I could tell, it appears many of those who got lucky yesterday and were able to buy one, decided to list it on eBay.
I don’t think anyone listing one of these buses on eBay is doing anything wrong. Good for them. I would do it too if I lucked out and won the right to buy one.
If I had one of these RLC Volkswagen Drag Buses, knowing they were commanding $150 on the secondary market, I’d have to sell it. If I didn’t sell it, it would be like I was willing to part with $150 just for the privilege of having it collect dust on a shelf.
I was more than willing to spend $25 plus shipping for the pleasure of owning an RLC Volkswagen Drag Bus. That was a price point I was comfortable paying. Choosing between owning an RLC Volkswagen Drag Bus sitting on my shelf or having $150 in my bank account is not a hard choice.
Buy low and sell high
I did something similar a few days ago. Last year I backed a Kickstarter campaign for a Spawn action figure.
Last May, I paid $40 for the Spawn figure and $17 for shipping. I don’t even know why I did it. Although I collected Spawn action figures years ago, it’s not something I ever think about doing today. There was a reason I sold all my Spawn action figures years ago. Reading about the Kickstarter campaign took me back to when I derived fun from collecting Spawn action figures. I decided I didn’t want to miss out on the Kickstarter.
I received my Spawn action figure last week. Realizing I didn’t have a real desire to get back into collecting Spawn action figures, I decided to sell it on eBay for $180. It sold the same day.
Selling the Spawn figure on eBay was pure capitalism. Because I had $57 in capital last May, I was able to make money without working. I didn’t even have to take it to the Post Office to mail it. The buyer paid for shipping. I printed the label and scheduled to have it picked up at my door.
The buyer paid $180 plus shipping. When I subtract the initial money I paid Kickstarter and the fees extracted by eBay, it left $95.25 in pure profit. That is what capitalism is all about. You use money (capital) to make money.
I’d like to think Ronald Reagan would be proud of me.