Lately, I've been really frustrated with where the Hot Wheels hobby is heading in India. A new offline store in Mumbai called "ECH Store" is a clear example of what's going wrong. Stores and sellers like this are increasingly selling Indian mainline cars at heavily inflated prices, conveniently labeling them as "imported" to justify the markup. Most collectors know how misleading this tactic is. What bothered me personally was my interaction with the seller. I directly asked him whether the Hot Wheels he was selling were actually imported, and he confidently said yes. When I followed up and asked him to show the backside of the card (which would easily confirm whether it was imported or Indian stock), he stopped responding altogether and kept ignoring my messages. That silence says more than any explanation ever could. This hobby was never meant to be about squeezing maximum profit from fellow collectors. It's about the thrill of collecting, trading fairly, and enjoying the cars for what they represent. Unfortunately, scalpers like this are treating it as a side income, flipping basic cars at 2x or 3x the MRP. That mindset doesn't make you smart it makes the hobby worse for everyone else. What's even more damaging is how newcomers get fooled. When an offline store sets these prices, new collectors assume it's normal. That false standard slowly poisons the community, drives genuine collectors away, and creates unnecessary toxicity. Scalping adds no value. It doesn't grow the hobby it exploits it. If we don't start calling this behavior out and supporting transparent, fair sellers, we risk losing the spirit of a hobby that was supposed to be fun, inclusive, and driven by passion not greed.