The Imperial Shipyards
Kenner / Hasbro Collecting => General Hasbro collecting => Topic started by: Reconsgt on May 02, 2009, 10:16:38 AM
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Ok,
All we hear in the news is the gloom and doom of the ecomomy right so what do I see when I stopped at a local Shopko to take a peak, $21.99 comic packs, $12.99 basic figs, What the heck is going on, now some is local retailer pricing but alot of it is with Hasbro, in 2 years figures have risen something like 70% from a $4.88 figs to a $7.47 at Walmart, Target is similar, even Hasbro.com is a joke, we actually pay more from the "source" than through a middle man.
Why do we as collectors pay it? Do we really need to considering many times, you can get these items on the secondary market a year later for almost half the price?
I'm done, No more Hasbro for me at retail period,
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I'm with you. I have been going with the secondary market for about a year now. I'm getting the feeling that Hasbro has lost touch with collectors, is overcharging for their product which is often inferior to what they turned out in years past, and is driving the Legacy line into the ground. If they absolutely have to charge so much, they should work a lot harder to make it worth the collector's dollar.
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With these price increases, Hasbro is going to kill the line. That is one of the main reasons why I stopped buying 2 of each and then to stop collecting all together. I would have needed to take on a second job just to support my hobby!
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Yepper I am out of one of everything cause of that more than anything. I just can't afford to get one of each. Look at how many collectors we have known are now out of this because they just can't afford to keep up. I have to stick to my favorite movie and then it is rough. Sooner or later Hasbro will learn, but it will probably be too late by then.
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i've been saying that for years but our dollar exchange rate controls that here for us. Wehen i started collecting, figures were under $10 AUD ..now they have hit $17.99 AUS. i won't go into how much vehicles, deluxe and playsets cost here. I'm back to just one fig, maybe an exclusive now and then. Unless things get much better economy wise, i can foresee Collectors will be the biggest losers here......
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That and it wouldn't be much more cost effective to send stuff your way, Greg. The shipping fee would kill it for us.
I picked up the Scramble at Yavin BP at Target, yesterday, and paid over $23US for it. No, I haven't been picking up one of every carded figure since the FU wave. Just too pricey.
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It used to be cost effective years ago but yes with freight escalating heaps, it certainly kills trading OS. Ask Shawn what costs he has incurred (and he's a great trader/ friend and i appreciate it heaps) to do our trades over the last years.
I've just resigned myself to picking up the newer figs whenever i see them, nothing else these days
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I hear you, buddy. I am only picking up the figures that really interest me, now, or the ones that I want to customize.
As far as vehicles go, it's gotta be something pretty special anymore, for me to pick it up. Kind of hard to do effective reviews of Star Wars toys when I'm too cheap to pick all of em up. :'(
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I hear you, buddy. I am only picking up the figures that really interest me, now, or the ones that I want to customize.
As far as vehicles go, it's gotta be something pretty special anymore, for me to pick it up. Kind of hard to do effective reviews of Star Wars toys when I'm too cheap to pick all of em up. :'(
Ditto......
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I am only picking up the figures that really interest me, now, or the ones that I want to customize.
As far as vehicles go, it's gotta be something pretty special anymore
Yah, I agree on this, for sure! Now, I'll say this - I *am* willing to cough up the bucks for GOOD figures!! Once Hasbro started putting articulation into more than hips, shoulders, and necks, I could justify a price increase, because the manufacturing complexity went up, too.
I mean - FX7, FX6, and Tredwell droids with TWO DOZEN articulated arms?!?! I'll take all of that sweetness I can find, thanks! Even at a price twice that of what the first "new" POTF2 figs cost.
Or is that rationalizing my addiction? >:D
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I am only picking up the figures that really interest me, now, or the ones that I want to customize.
As far as vehicles go, it's gotta be something pretty special anymore
Yah, I agree on this, for sure! Now, I'll say this - I *am* willing to cough up the bucks for GOOD figures!! Once Hasbro started putting articulation into more than hips, shoulders, and necks, I could justify a price increase, because the manufacturing complexity went up, too.
I mean - FX7, FX6, and Tredwell droids with TWO DOZEN articulated arms?!?! I'll take all of that sweetness I can find, thanks! Even at a price twice that of what the first "new" POTF2 figs cost.
Or is that rationalizing my addiction? >:D
I won't be mad at you if you want to rationalize your SW addiction. It just makes me feel better about mine. I do like that new POTF FX 7 and went out of my way to pick one up loose from our own Darth C "thanks again, Chad" and still feel that he could star in a non clone themed future diorama. "no, Shawn, that's not the one that you are made to be fretting about"
From what I gather with my aussie connection, "hi Greg" the collectors over in Austrailia have even a larger mark-up to contend with even after the currency conversion. That hasn't slowed their passion for it, from what I can tell.
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Hi back Clint..lol... Yes i 'll agree with you there too. The love of the hobby certainly won't slow most collectors with the prices the way the are here......i was one .....but also As our New recruit Doc says, Good figures are certainly easier to pay for...... :D. The quality in some figures u see coming out are excellent...
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It was tough for me to quite cold turkey, but Hasbro made it alot easier to do. Remember the old saying, "Don't bit the hand that feeds you"!
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I hardly even look anymore. It's tough to pay $8 for a figure, and since they haven't put one out in months that I was DYING to put into my collection, it's been even easier. I don't think I'll be doing army building anymore, and quite frankly, I'm debating on selling a bunch of stuff simply because I don't care any more. Gentle Giant and Sideshow make fantastic pieces, and I'm much more willing to pay for something like that, which appreciates over time as opposed to depreciates like the SW figs seem to anymore. Hasbro must think they're Oil Barons or something, believing that no matter how high they raise prices, people will still buy them. Personally, I'd rather pay that same cost to buy some of those Marvel Universe figures, simply because they're new and different. However, like G.I. Joe, I'll eventually tire of that same thing, too.
Hasbro may have the license until 2018, but will there be any want for them by then?
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I think the bottom line is the price per figs means everyone will only be after the ones they like. We will say no to repaints and any figs that lack articulation. We have been padding hasbro's pockets with our one of each approach and lets face it, we have niether the money nor the space for that much hoard. It is gonna take a lot, if anything for that matter, than can knock me out of my TESB focus now. Heck, I may even just switch to Battle of Hoth alone eventually.
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I do like that new POTF FX 7 and went out of my way to pick one up loose from our own Darth C "thanks again, Chad" and still feel that he could star in a non clone themed future diorama.
eh-heh.
heh heh.
Just you wait, amigo...first the stories, then the illustrations for them!
oh...oh crud... I already DID a rough-up of the Galaxy Shop scene!
*off to dig thru pics*
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I hear ya Wayne I recently noticed the Comic Packs around here are $17.79, and the Battle Packs are $29.79, I can hardly justify getting extras to customize now let alone army build! I'm really considering hanging up my hat on collecting, it's just gotten so frustrating that you can't find squat then when you do you can't afford it anymore because it just went up another 20%! :(
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I hear ya Wayne I recently noticed the Comic Packs around here are $17.79, and the Battle Packs are $29.79, I can hardly justify getting extras to customize now let alone army build! I'm really considering hanging up my hat on collecting, it's just gotten so frustrating that you can't find squat then when you do you can't afford it anymore because it just went up another 20%! :(
Yeah, I've actually looked at going into other hobbies, because honestly, if I'm paying this much, I'd rather be golfing, or something like that, :)
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm golfing/Star Wars customs, golfing/Star Wars customs...............Shawn, which way do you think that I will go?
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm golfing/Star Wars customs, golfing/Star Wars customs...............Shawn, which way do you think that I will go?
I don't know about golfing never been the biggest fan I go with friends occasionally, but I could go to more Seahawk games!
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Well, my alternate hobby is shooting. I think even *with* reloading, one magazine-load would cost about the same as one SW fig. And you can easily dump a mag downrange in under a minute.
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One good SW custom figure project could take me up to two weeks and make money for me.
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One good SW custom figure project could take me up to two weeks and make money for me.
Guess I don't need to comment about golfing then.
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No, buddy. I am sure that you would have been all over that one, earlier.
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Now, I will say this...
...I *might* be enticed into golf, IF they let me use the nifty golf-ball launcher that screws onto the barrel of an AR-15!! Launches a golf ball using standard blanks. If I lived in the plains of OK again or could use it on a golf-course...I'd buy one and a crap-tonne of blanks in a HURRY!!!
::
:o
;D
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One good SW custom figure project could take me up to two weeks and make money for me.
Guess I don't need to comment about golfing then.
yup fair call....
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Good evening, Greg! How are the local SW prices shaping up over in Australia?
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Evening Clint....terrible. i have a day off today . Dropped the daughter off of to school then a quick toyrun....absolutley nuttin....prices are about $15 to 16 Aud ..about average...
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Oh boy.
Just to give you an idea about pricing for SW figures here in Germany: you get a recent CW figure at the We Be Toys for next to 12 EUR. That's something around USD 14 per single figure.
The shop in town charged 35 EUR for the Battlefron II Clone pack, about USD 40.
This is crazy.
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Kurgan;
Believe it or not, that's what we had to pay for the Battlefront 2 fig set, i believe.
To buy a figure here and ship it to you would be about $2 us cheaper if it is MOC.
Loose would be cheaper.
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Loose would float my boat just fine.
Believe it or not, a lot of Ebay sellers charge up to 26 USD for shipping to Germany.
It stops being funny at that point.
I know quite well that the actual shipping is a LOT less. Dang, I've shipped whole boxes of reenacting kit over for less than that.
Please feel free to check out my wanted thread on Codys...http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=829.0
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I know one thing, our daggone posties are charging some ridiculous rates. Still, Clint would be the best judge of shipping costs. He ships everywhere.
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The nice thing is that the USPS website gives you great tools to calculate actual shipping costs.
You can easily tell how some people on Ebay are making ten extra Bucks through their international shipping charges.
Ebay is cool as long as you watch what you're doing. A cheap figure may work out expensive if you're not keeping an eye on the shipping charges.
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I know one thing, our daggone posties are charging some ridiculous rates. Still, Clint would be the best judge of shipping costs. He ships everywhere.
Yup i can vouch the posties are pirates......eh Shawn?.....lol...the devils are way too dear for what the service they provide and how they handle it....
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I know one thing, our daggone posties are charging some ridiculous rates. Still, Clint would be the best judge of shipping costs. He ships everywhere.
Yup i can vouch the posties are pirates......eh Shawn?.....lol...the devils are way too dear for what the service they provide and how they handle it....
We are lucky any of our deals survived with the posties that service my area.
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Yep, $26 is quite steep to ship a Cody to Germany.
a lot of ebayers will charge high shipping rates because eBay doesn't get a percentage of what they charge to ship something unless of course you consider that they also get a percentage of any paypal money sent to a seller.
You got to check that shipping price before you buy.
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I'm really about sick of Feebay and Paypal, together they get between 10-20% of my average auciton, :(
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I'm really about sick of Feebay and Paypal, together they get between 10-20% of my average auciton, :(
Now we all know how retailers feel when they sell Hasbro products!
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thats about right!
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Yep, those two entities sure do take their cut. Now you see why the scalpers scalp. Powersellers get a bit of a break on the fees that they pay but it takes slot of successful selling to get to that point.
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yeah, but I'm thinking if one was on enough boards, one could almost market their own stuff with just the occasional auction.
Any comment, Clint? is Ebay the only answer?
I was a powerseller back in 2005 or so, when I sold off all my 40k and my neighbor's xbox360, I saw the listing fees go down, but can't remember if the final value fees did.
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bid4figures.com is a new site that is trying to get up and going and caters to the action-figure community. They are free, so the only fees you'd have would be on the money-transfer side. I haven't dealt with them - yet - but apparently the founder is known in some of the customizing circles as being a reputable gent.
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No, eBay isn't the only option, just the most popular one, and the safest, for the buyers anyway.
One could easily start there and add links to one owns website where items can be sold. I believe that ebay rule isnthat it would have to be at least two clicks away from a page where you could buy something away from eBay.
eBay is where the traffic is, from all over the world and it is constant.
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bid4figures.com is a new site that is trying to get up and going and caters to the action-figure community. They are free, so the only fees you'd have would be on the money-transfer side. I haven't dealt with them - yet - but apparently the founder is known in some of the customizing circles as being a reputable gent.
Interesting idea, it would be cool if someone would cast these (http://bid4figures.com/item.php?id=222) ball joints so you could get several, it would then make it easier to give any figure knee joints!
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I'm getting there, I'm getting there!
;D
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its alrght in uk we got single card figs for 7.99 pounds and comic pack for 9.99 and bp for 17.99