Quote:
Originally Posted by saberhagen
Explain how this is a bad move.
People flooded the comments saying they wished these pieces were 1/4. If the cost of that is some resale values come closer to reality, I’m all for it.
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Prices were at “reality.” Prices being out of whack with whatever arbitrary number you have in your head doesn’t mean the prices were wrong; your “ideal” price is wrong. Supply and demand determined price. Demand was high, and supply was low. It commanded a premium as a result.
Short term, it’s not a bad move for Prime 1, or for customers who wanted the statue but couldn’t afford it due to price or scale. They’ll sell a bunch, and people will be happy with their shiny toy.
Long term, Prime1’s practices in general are bad for everybody.
1) P1 conditions their customers not to buy products immediately (I learned my lesson with the Jin Sakai statue, where… before I got mine in hand… they’d already advertised variants I would have preferred);
2) They destroy the aftermarket for their items. Buyers will learn not to pay a premium if they know their items will immediately be devalued upon a new variant or re-release. Sellers won’t be able to make as much.
3) And P1 will just go back to the same well over and over to milk popular items. If this works, expect to see other P1 pieces re-released.
I paid ~$2k aftermarket for mine (so not retail, but not exorbitant), and I guarantee that I’ll never buy another P1 piece for any significant amount over retail. I’ll just wait for them to rehash it, or buy it when another customer has to dump it for a loss.
And before the sour grapes turds chime in: I’m not a speculator/reseller/flipper. I probably haven’t sold a statue in a year or two, and everything I sell is to make more space for new statues. But if you think I’m not mindful of the value of what I’m paying for (and that value is determined in part by scarcity), you’re crazy. Prime1 just tanked their value in that department.
