Author Topic: Got 30 extra bucks?  (Read 8119 times)

Offline CHEWIE

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Got 30 extra bucks?
« on: October 28, 2005, 03:59 PM »
Check out this...

http://www.toyrocket.com/jsp/catalog/productsfind.jsp?keywords=saga2006

The only good thing about this, is I think they will be hitting retail here in the states by early December...

 :P
« Last Edit: October 31, 2005, 08:22 PM by CHEWIE »

Offline ruiner

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2005, 04:01 PM »
Yeah, I saw that this morning.  How ridiculous is that?

I wonder if they are domestic or located overseas?


Offline Jeff

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2005, 04:06 PM »
I wonder if they are domestic or located overseas?

If my memory serves me, they are based in SoCal someplace (LA maybe  :-\)?

I think they've had a store for a while, but only recently joined the e-tailer world...
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Offline Brian

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2005, 04:14 PM »
$30 is indeed a waste...ridiculous.  Don't get me wrong, I get as anxious as the next person for new figures, but no way would I pay $30 for figures we should hopefully all be able to find for $5 in a couple of months or so.

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2005, 04:31 PM »
I might pay about $10.00 or so for these figures early (Han, Leia and Bib)... guess some people have money to burn.  I also noticed that their other figures are really high priced too.  How do places like that stay in business?

 :P

Offline Jeff

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2005, 04:37 PM »
How do places like that stay in business?

The same way the eBay scalpers do - by finding suckers customers willing to pay outrageous amounts of money for early figures.   :-\ 

It must be a viable business model because so many places seem to be able to sell stuff at crazy prices (like when Action-HQ was selling Gree and Bly early for $35 each plus shipping from Asia).
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Offline ruiner

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2005, 04:38 PM »
Right.

Speaking of ebay - he'd have better luck with selling them there, especially if they are in hand.

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2005, 06:24 PM »
$30.00 for a repacked Barada figure on a new card sounds like a deal to me. You're all just a bunch of cheapskates.  ;)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2005, 07:19 PM »
Eh, when you get into "early release" stuff I think there's leeway with pricing.  Whatever...  I couldn't possibly justify it myself but to each their own.  Patience is my friend and since getting stuff early was never an option it doesn't bother me to wait...  I just wanna have it at some point at the price I think it's "worth". 

But if you got $30 and want stuff early, more power to ya!  To me, $30's better spent on 6 army builders at WM or a couple military figures and a halftrack I've been eyeballing at the store. :)
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Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2005, 07:38 PM »
Sheesh.  Someone will pay it for sure. 

Offline Ben

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2005, 01:59 AM »
$30?

I honestly can't believe that someone out there would pay that much just to have them a mere month before everyone else.
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Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2005, 12:26 PM »
Sheesh.  Someone will pay it for sure. 

Some on did over on 'scum - a whole set. And they're happy they did it. ???

Unless money is of no concern, it's a real waste.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2005, 12:27 PM by Darth_Anton »
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Offline MetalJedi

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2005, 01:14 AM »
Sheesh.  Someone will pay it for sure. 

Some on did over on 'scum - a whole set. And they're happy they did it. ???

Unless money is of no concern, it's a real waste.

That shows the mentality of 90% of the people over there. I know I would never pay 30 bucks for one figure that I knew was going to be at retail in a couple of months. Especially a repacked figure.
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Offline Darth Delicious

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Supply and demand
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2005, 02:45 PM »
Ooooh...is this the part where we all sit around and drink the Hater-ade?

I'll tell you how places like that stay in business. It'll sound a lot like simple economics.

If the demand exceeds the supply, prices go up on hard to find items.

If you're the only place that has something, you can pretty much charge what you want.

Third, not everyone has the same economic situation as you. To some people, thirty bucks is to them like five is to you.

Fourth, a lot of these items are sold to overseas buyers who are getting quite a deal, since our wonderful President has weakened our dollar beyond belief.

Four simple rules that prove true time and time again. Sorry to say it, but I'm a capitalist... and if you can make a decent dollar on something, do it. I can't buy in to this socialistic belief that everything should be price fixed forever. I should not be able to pick up a Tie Interceptor for thirty bucks nowadays.

There's some stuff that's priced high on this site. But then again, this site has a lot of things in stock that no one else does. That tells me they pay high to have a wide selection, and selection is the only way that the smaller businesses can compete with corporate juggernauts like Wal-Mart.

The fact of the matter is, carrying toys that have been out of production for the last twenty years is probably time consuming and costly. If I walked into your houses and offered you retail for your collections, you'd throw me out. But if I offered a decent enough premium, I'd be loading B-Wings in my car by the armful.

And it's not like this site walked in and cleaned out Wal-Mart for $4.77 and then turned around and sells them for thirty. I'm sure a premium was paid to import these early from Hong Kong or whatever third-world hole workers are being exploited in for a nickel a week to make sure Hasbro can produce toys at a price point that doesn't offend the masses tender pricing sensibilities.

Some collectors are on the higher end of the economic ladder, and gladly pay for the newest items first, or older items that they don't have the time or inclination to search for. These are all "market will bear" items...if your market doesn't bear quite as much, that's fine...but don't hate a site that caters to people beyond your economic status, or hate the collector that has more disposable income to burn on his hobby. I've got to go with Jesse James on this one...if someone has the money to burn and wants the figures three months before everyone else...more power to them.

It may also bahoove us to rememeber that places like Toyrocket help to support the fan community by advertising with a lot of the boards that we enjoy so much. I know a few of the guys at Toyrocket, and have done freelance computer work for them in the past. I actually have been trying to have them spend some of their limited ad budget here...but now I wonder if I should bother.

It never ceases to amaze me how quick the collector community is to divide up and start ragging on others in the same community. What are we, a bunch of Goths?

Personally I find Wal-Mart's world domination plans and devastation of small business and liveable American wages to be far more offensive.

Oh, and since this site already sold out of Chewie's and Barada's, I guess their business model works, and works well. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

That's my two cents. Let's let go of the hate and all remember we're all in this because we're obsessed with Star Wars. Now check out this link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4888526365200963792

If you can still hate after seeing this clip, well...maybe you can't be helped.

-DD

« Last Edit: October 30, 2005, 05:31 PM by Darth Delicious »
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Offline JesseVader08

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Re: Wanna waste 30 bucks?
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2005, 05:46 PM »
Despite DD's somewhat harsh words, he does make a good point.  Obviously ToyRocket didn't pay retail for those figures to get them so early, so he has to cover his costs.  And if someone wants them bad enough, I guess that's their right to spend $30 a piece.

On the other hand, most of us can't afford such a luxury and must be patient.  Is it crazy to spend that much per figure?  Maybe.  But if it makes that buyer happy, all the power to him.  Would I do it?  No, even as impatient as I can be, I'm just not willing to spend the extra money.

I think this is a different situation than when people buy hot figures from WM or TRU for the sole purpose to sell them at a higher price on eBay.  That's what makes a scalper.  Is this scalping?  No.