Quote:
Originally Posted by Lionore
Exactly man, i am very disappointed by this outcome, because i really want to get this piece or future P1 releases. i remember awhile ago things weren't so difficult for us living abroad, for instance i had purchased the HCG TDK Batman bust from a European store, it was pretty expensive even back then.
The retail price was 800 USD, and i remember paying around 700-800 Euros which totals 800-900 USD to get hold of it, it was pretty decent and the price fluctuated in reasonable amounts. The bust's size and price is very close to the P1 Batman unit. I rack my brain to figure out why now the cost has gone sky-high, 1400 usd for a European customer to get hold of this one, it's a rip-off.
Despite the economic crisis affecting the statue market, i believe this is an unfair treatment to the worldwide fan base, i am out if this isn't solved somehow
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Not to derail the thread, but I see a pattern in what's happening.
First, you have the exchange rate going to hell. In a few months, US dollar passed from being 0.70-0.75 euros, to 0.89-0.90. There's no way to skirt off exchange rate, you have to swallow the increase, and 20% on these expensive items is no joke on itself.
Then, I think that companies are trying to push direct sales as much as they can by lowering the % of wholesale discount.
If it was just an exchange rate thing, you wouldn't see 480$ PFs being sold at 550€. Some companies (like Chronicle and PCS) clearly stated multiple times that they really cared mostly for direct sales, Macaluso even hinted that in the future he might be selling only on his website directly, and I know that some time ago Sideshow already cut the % discount.
I don't think either the companies or the retailers are really to blame here, it's a mix of factors.
I have a friend retailer who pretty much explained to me and his logic sounds pretty solid - they get around 20% discount on what they buy. So, say, they buy a 500€ statue at 400€ and pay a deposit. Most customers can't afford to pay in full immediatly so every retailer takes deposits of 50-100€.
This means that the real profit comes only when the remaining balance is paid, nearly two years later - around 100€ profit, from which you have to take off taxes (fiscal pressure is just too high here) and split it with the rest of the staff and to cover the usual expenses (mantaining the shop, website, and so on).
If you look it that way, nobody's really winning here.
what the heck jump on the WL now. Hope the new batman coming out the same time by prime 1 will make some drop thier PO to go for the newer batman.
