Anton, I saw you mention that subject "elsewhere" too...
The supposed "retail experts" at that dump though, I have found anyway, to be talking completely out their ******** about what they THINK they know about retail costs/prices.
For instance, I worked for JC Penney's around 98/99 and saw some costs on things via their catalogue department... Figures cost a fraction to JC Penney's of what they charged, and their retail prices were comparable to Target/TRU at the time + shipping... So I'd imagine that Target and TRU were probably getting even better prices out of Hasbro and still charging about what Penney's catalogue charged. Especially because JCP wasn't a major buyer of these products and didn't carry them all year, or even carry point-of-sale items you could just pick up off the shelf. I was friends with a guy at TRU corporate at the time and we'd compare crap routinely and basically TRU blew JCP's margins on the same items out of the water but that was to be expected due to the relationships the two companies had with Hasbro...
JCP had enough leeway with figure costs to cut the price by like 50% and still profit off the figure. It was generally set that you could use coupons and incentives from the store or the catalogue, and JCP still made a lot of money. It was rare anything at all in the store was even clearanced to the point that something wasn't made financially off the item.
Now, I can't imagine that, between 1999 and 2006, that all of a sudden figures have just jumped in their margins for the manufacturer and the retailer to the point that the item's price can barely be fudged to where anyone's profiting. Total BS...
What I think Newforce does is give the best they can to be competitive while making the best they can while being competitive. I think EE's like Jeff said, that to an extent it's maybe some overhead issues but also that they probably consider themselves "premiere" on some level, which they are recognized for certain, so they can get away with that... They also maybe know that NewForce just doesn't do the same volume they do, and that they'll pick up those thousands of other sales that the limited NFC doesn't pick up (for whatever reason).
I have no doubt that Star Wars figures make retailers and Hasbro quite happy when they do well... like right now. I'm also quite sure these figures profit even when they're on sale, so I'm just glad to see New Force doing something for the fans by pricing stuff well... I'm sure that with their relatively small size that competing with Wal-Mart was a stretch for them, but still profitable or they wouldn't have done it (like you said).
Thusly, I have my order in there... I'm pondering a 2nd case from Rick even. I just hope I get my stuff is all. I haven't ordered for a while from there.