Also I have a shelf full of official amiibo. What was reduced on sale £5-£10 each, so probably about £200 worth at that price. I'd say 11.99 for a non articulated doll is too much but they still sucker me in because I really want sonic and I'll definitely be getting Snake!
@gimmi_c I bought all my Amiibos and they are complete minus another set are around ~200 Amiibos pieces. But that is someone whom collects them not for resale and right now I have them spread on my computer desk. Your glad that is a joke there is no one here giving you support of any kinda but you can cherry pick all you want buying pirated codes on Paper is just that Pirated Codes. It just show how one character is. If you want cheap Amiibo physical you can buy them on eBay but if you want pirated codes HomeBrew then support Pirates.
@SwitchForce Let me set up a hypothetical scenario. A limited time movie collection has an MSRP of $50. Unfortunately, scalpers bout them all and are charging $500 for them. But you are in luck! One kind soul has decided to reprint the DVDs, even though the methods of doing so are in a legal gray area, and decides to sell them for $30. Now tell me, does it make more sense to buy the same movies for $30 or $500?
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@GyroZeppeli
Well lets break this down rationally. We have four options here, purchasing from an official channel, buying from the used market, buying a bootleg or downloading it. I assume in this scenario the first option is either incredibly difficult or just flat out no longer available. Even so I'm including it just for comparison.
Who gets the money:
The only scenario where the actual people who need to get the money for this get the money is if you buy it through an official channel. Both the grey market and the bootleg option result in some third party getting your money. The main difference being that the bootleg guy potentially never paid for the content they're selling. In this respect the bootleg copy is kinda worse than just pirating the thing yourself.
Legality:
Legally of course buying it through the official channels is kinda untouchable. Also there's not much you can do against scalping legally because to do so would also punish people who legitimately have a reason to sell their collection. Of course bootlegs and pirating the content are both pretty dodgy for slightly different reasons. Between the two the guy selling bootlegs is profiting off it so overall it is far worse. The issue is that as a consumer when you download from a torrent you also become a distributor. That's what can in theory get you in trouble with downloading content vs buying bootlegs.
What's worse for the community in general:
Again, buying from official channels is the winner again obviously. If you hand your money to Nintendo that money will go directly to making more of that content. Second best to this? I'd say straight up piracy wins here. The reason being that if you're not paying anything, despite what the industry would argue, it's not really a lost sale. You're not denying Nintendo any money here especially if the content is no longer available.
Next I'd argue would be paying the scalpers. Now technically it's not a lost sale for that particular piece of content but they are taking money out of paying fans hands. Especially if the markup is large. Also if the product is popular enough that scalping is viable generally it would've sold out anyways. I mean lets be clear, scalpers are charging you for their "service" of grabbing a product from the shelves before you can. Nobody benefits from this except the scalper. I'd additionally argue the used market in general is only marginally better but that's an argument for another thread.
Even so, bootlegs are worse because they're always and very directly a lost sale.
Safety
Something worth considering for software/tech is that you have to have an extra level of trust. Maybe not so much for Amiibos but certainly for other kinds of products. For example if you compare an official SNES Mini vs a "New in Box" scalped SNES Mini vs Downloading SNES ROMs vs buying a Rasberri Pi with ROMs pre-loaded? The first two are very safe, the second two are potentially trojans for all sorts of sketchy software
.......... if I had to pick I'd go with the scalper or pirating the content directly over paying for a bootleg. But honestly I am more than happy to go without if something is no longer available officially.
@skywake This is a scenario where pirating yourself isn’t a choice, but I agree completely. I am no way trying to argue about the legality of piracy, more so of how piracy is not always ethically wrong. It is just stupid that someone would be so judgemental of a fellow person only because they didn’t want to pay a high price and went towards a gray market instead, especially since it’s a common practice.
Reading: Too much Watching: Not enough Playing: SMTV
@GyroZeppeli
Not suggesting it as an option but you can get an NFC writer with a bunch of tags for <$50. And of course we all know the ways to get copies of movies and old game ROMS if we really wanted to. Again, not suggesting it as an option. But compared to paying someone who is profiting off doing the same and putting it in a box for you? It's fair to say it's probably the preferred option in some respects.
IMO I'd go with:
Officially channels in all but very, very specific scenarios
Digital piracy as a "taster" but otherwise only when it's something out of print
Grey market again only when it's out of print but also generally avoiding high markups
If it's available legitimately but it's tricky and the grey market markups are stupid? I can go without
Bootlegs.... pretty much never except for maybe recordings of a concert or something
Where do custom amiibos fit into all this? I bought a blue painted donkey Kong off eBay and added some gold key rings and I have the amiibo of which I am proudest of, dankey Kang! Even tho this was already painted, so technically a lost cause, I would rather custom amiibo were made with the "pirate chips" so the original amiibo can stay in circulation from private sellers (not scalpers)
Well, I think we have a solution Nintendo can provide! Cheaper cards that do the same as the models! I'd totally get that! Otherwise legally, although it's over priced, I don't think I could justify not buying an official product. But I totally get @gimmi_c and others views. It's not as black and white as some make out.
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Topic: Cheapest way to get the content
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