Quote:
Originally Posted by Wintermute
Yup, I feel exactly the same way. I'm not going to pay close to $40.00 (when tax is factored in) for one action figure, especially when you know what it is selling for south of the border.
I'm no businessman or economist, but does NECA even want their products selling for such an inflated price?
I mean, these figures are marketed to collectors, and we are a fairly savvy niche market when it comes to factors like availability and pricing, I would say. (The very existence of this website is proof of that!)
At prices this high, are many collectors are going to buy these figures from Toys R Us? I'm not. Unless there's a sale. And I've yet to see any sale for NECA figs offered from TRU.
Now, I don't know if Toys R Us Canada is being sold these figures at a much higher price, so in turn they have to jack it up so much, but the bottom line is that with prices this high, regardless of the reasons why, are these figures gonna sell?
And if they don't, how does that help NECA, who makes them?
I'll step off my soapbox now lol.
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TRU pays $20 for 7" figures from NECA, just a little more than they pay for Hasbro's 6" figures (I think they make about $7-9 on Hasbro's 6" figures, and are trying to make $15 per 7" figure). It's also though a supplier known as Everest Wholesale, who sell various products including lots of collector oriented products such as NECA and the Doctor Who products. Anyways, the point is they're trying to make a huge profit on these figures. A buddy I know that currently works there also told me that when a higher up visited the store he made sure that the collector's products were in a corner of R-Zone facing the wall instead of the customers at cash. They just don't seem to care a whole lot about this market even though there's a decent chance to make some money from them. I'm guessing they'll eventually use how little they're selling to pull them off the shelves all together. They already only project sales of 300 for most NECA figures, but the prices won't help them meet those expectations. It's a sad thing, really.
If you guys remember when NECA figures first came to TRU Canada they were priced at $25 per figure, the 2-packs were either $43.99 or $49.99, not unreasonable at all. But now at $35 per, and a 2 pack being somehow 35+35=80 they're definitely pushing their luck. It isn't just them though, for example 401 Games ordered the HotS figures and had them for $29.99. All the Novas and I think an Illidan sold and when they ordered another set they raised the price of each to $37.99. And to no one's surprise every single figure from the second order and the remaining of the first are still there. What a mess the collector's market in Canada is.
