A Note on Scalping and Haslab Projects.

I have nothing against "scalping", a derogatory term assigned to those that resell merchandise they found at retail who then look to make a profit by selling them elsewhere.  I personally have enjoyed the benefits of purchasing a few things from online sellers at markup beyond retail.  I don't apologize for doing so.  I've also sold a couple things for significantly more than for what I've bought them.   I won't apologize for that either.  There's nothing to apologize about.  "Scalpers" have saved me immense trouble finding things I may have never found before.  They have saved me countless hours (and the cost of gas) rushing to every Target, Walmart and Walgreens I could find on the map, only to find nothing or to find things I already had.  I've done that.  It is only worth it if you enjoy retail adventure and I don't anymore.

That said, I can kind of see where these peevish criticisms are borne from.  A collector that goes out and hogs all the product is in theory, denying other collectors a fair chance at getting a "fair share" or "fair shot" at the more desirable goods at normal prices.   I don't agree that this makes reselling at a markup wrong in any way, but I can see the puerile logic behind it.  

There is however, zero logic behind the recent calls on social media against those who are selling from their surplus of Haslab Skystrikers for a premium.  It's simply stupid and it can in no way be called "scalping".  Haslab is an open ended project.  If someone buys one, two, five or ten units and looks to unload them for whatever the market will bear, they aren't selling anything you ever had a shot at anyway.  All those SkyStrikers exist because that person prepaid for them.  They were earmarked for the buyer from the beginning and those units wouldn't exist if they weren't ordered.  No one should be criticizing others over this.  If everyone bought only exactly what they knew they would keep, there would be very little left over for those whom allowed the opportunity to pass and then either changed their minds, saw their situations change, and that's assuming the project even cleared its initial trigger goal to begin with. 

That might make the covetous scalp-marms and collection-karens happy, but it wouldn't do anyone including themselves a damned bit of good.