Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Abnormal Activity 2
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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*Plus it helps that I really only collect male figures. My choices are somewhat limited in that respect. 
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4461 |
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It's true, the scariest part about buying a figure is the chance that when you open the box it isn't as good as you thought. The best chance to have the price come down from my experience has been with retailers and not the random dude selling something on eBay. The retailers want to move merchandise, so they'll perhaps have a sale or just drop the price a bit from time to time, whereas the individuals seem more willing to just sit on it and wait for the person desperate enough to go for it. But then again, it can just as easily come back to bite you because they sell out or have so few left that they up the price. I usually try to go by my personal "acceptable range" of prices based on multiple factors like what show/game the figure is from, who the character is, who the manufacturer is, whether it's part of a line that I've purchased from before, pictures that are available, and size. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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Indeed, and such an unfair game it is. It's pretty sad when the pre-order list now dictates the production run. Not enough pre-orders? Tough. Go buy a figma. Sorry, Fate. I tried. Maybe next time. In reading some replies here, I'll offer up some free information. First up: Most US retailers actually get their products through AAA Anime. Why bother with customs and the Japanese when this company does it all for you! If you do see a retailer offering an imported item from Japan and AAA Anime isn't carrying it, check the price for a direct purchase. You could end up saving yourself a good amount of cash. Secondly: If you're buying mass-produced figures, such as Revoltech or figma, try buying from retailers who sell you DVDs at a great price, such as RACS and TRSI. Why? Because the DVDs are taking a beating on margin so it helps figures retain some of their margin to pay employees. It's MSRP, something you can easily afford since many of you will give FUNimation $5 more for a paper box. Third: Definitely shop around as some shops intentionally sell above MRSP just because they believe they'll cash in on the surge in demand should they stock items. Most reputable retailers will have plenty of stock on hand and will re-order quickly when stock diminishes. However, do realize there's only so many figures on the first run purchased by AAA Anime, so pay attention! This brings me to... Fourth: Subscribe to Japanese retailers newsletters, such as Hobby Search. They'll be the first to announce new item arrivals and you can estimate an arrival to US retailers. If you're not sure an item will be picked up by your favorite retailer, write and ask them. Be sure to provide the item number (or SKU, if you can get it) and manufacturer. As for figure collecting being expensive, I'll have to disagree when comparing it to purchasing DVDs. Not only are figures less expensive, they look so much better on a shelf than a box. 
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Greed1914
Posts: 4461 |
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You know, I hadn't thought much about it, but I think you're right about TRSI. I don't think any of the figures I've looked at on their site have ever gone beyond the MSRP. Granted, I usually buy somewhere else because there are usually better prices to be had elsewhere on figures than the MSRP, but it is good that there are a few places that aren't necessarily going to go up by a huge amount. |
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Sailor S
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I'm not sure which figures you're buying, but the ones I buy are certainly more expensive than any DVD box set. Most all of them are over $30, and the ones I buy tend to be in the $80-$170 range. As for your tips, I'm assuming you're only referring to buying domestically, and not talking about importing from sites like Hobby Search or AmiAmi. Because when all costs with importing are factored in, I still find it to be cheaper than buying from any retailer here in the US. And forget the dealer's room at conventions. The markup there is horrendous. Emerje did hint at one thing that's making figure collecting even worse. With the dollar tanking against the yen, even though the price in yen hasn't really gone up that bad, in the past year even the price of similar figures has gone up by leaps and bounds. Back when I was getting around 100 yen per dollar, it was no problem to buy up all the 1/6 scale or 1/4 scale figures I wanted. They'd run me maybe $120 for the 1/4 scale ones. Just a few days back I had to pay for a 1/4 scale Lucky Star figure that I had preordered awhile back, and the 16,000 yen price wound up costing me $200. A $40 increase in price over a couple year's time is a significant jump to me. Unlike DVD collecting, in which the price is actually getting cheaper, the price of figure collecting just keeps going up. Sure, if the yen stabilizes against the dollar and starts improving in our favor, then the trend may reverse some, but there's no indication that that's going to happen any time soon. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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Price-for-price, you're correct, but most don't take into consideration the number of titles purchased per figure purchased. It's easy to buy a few $50 DVD box sets here and there, but to pay for a $100+ figure is much more difficult. In the long term, most people spend more for their DVD collection than figures because it's easier to spread out $100 over a longer time span.
More specifically, the US only. I've been collecting figures for about 9 years and my finances show buying locally is less expensive simply because shipping and conversion fees are excessive for individual purchases from Japan. That's why when I order from Japan, I do so in bulk. Minimum of 5 figures per transaction. Anything less, I might as well just burn my cash.
If you're not buying in bulk, I'll challenge this. For specialty items (not picked up through mass distribution), I can agree, such as the recent Kirino doll. The $154 via Japan would be cheaper rather than domestically. Then again, AAA Anime wouldn't have it in stock either.
I've never been to a con, so I don't know, but it wouldn't be surprising.
I don't believe this is due to the economy. I've been noticing this increase as well. Throw in the currency exchange, and I feel your pain for the Lucky Star purchase (which I'm going to steal from you). About 6 years ago, it was a great time to be a figure collector because the Yen was the weaker of the two. Imagine two figures for $100 + shipping + fees and enough to buy a few boxes of Pocky. I also believe there's an artificial production scarcity being gamed in Japan to get a frenzy going for very specific types of figures. The last scale figure I bought was Louise in goth maid outfit, which was $80 (pre-order). I'm actually selling my older scaled figures for the figma line. Quality isn't as great, but I love the flexibility of posing and the size. A fair trade off. Though, Nendoroids are also introducing a new posing line as well. The Japanese know my weakness. 
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Sailor S
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Oh, lately I've been buying more Nendies than actual scale figures. For one, they're cheaper, for another, they are quite adorable. But, once I get going on a certain line, I just have to complete the whole set. A few years back it was the Aria figures. I bought my first one at a convention for an actual decent price, then I went to Japan and bought 3 of them for an obviously better price since I didn't have to pay for shipping or other markups. But, the last two I had to take a beating on because by this time they were long since out of print and the only place to find them was eBay. What were originally $70 figures wound up costing me about $800 between the two. The lesson learned was, buy them as they come out, because they ain't gonna get any cheaper!
So, I already have all 5 of the FREEing 1/4 scale Lucky Star gym suit figures, and I have the next 3 preordered. I'm really hoping they hurry up and bring out Misao Kusakabe, since she's by far my favorite of the classmate characters that they've started bringing out 
Oh, and I meant to say in my previous post about my comment of DVDs being cheaper than figures but I apparently got distracted and forgot. You are absolutely correct in that the figures definitely do look better than the DVD cases
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edzieba
Posts: 704 |
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Now admittedly there are maybe one or two figures (and a more than few resin kits*) that cost that much, but not all that many. And that isn't an uncommon or unreasonable price for a Japanese BD box. *The infamous Volks 1:100 Jagd Mirage Twin Tower, for example, can easily fetch upwards of $2500. |
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Reaper gI
Posts: 299 Location: UK |
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And buying the figure in the UK still has the VAT, and lacks the markdown for being from a huge online shop. UK shop price (inc VAT) is about 150% Japanese RRP. Personal import works out cheaper on anything under the £18 limit, like some action figures or trading figure sets, if you use cheap shipping. And anything 1/8th scale (6000+yen) or over will be cheaper to import as well. Remeber you'll be buying it at 70%-80% RRP (before the 17.5% VAT) compared to 150% (including it), unless the shipping+ £8 fine come to more than half the cost of the figure(s) it's still cheaper. Until you start paying duty on it (£135), never hit the limit so no idea how much it is. It's anything 3-6000yen, that may work out cheaper to buy domesticaly (£25-50 stuff), or rather from Belgium as they have a large importer (Archonia.com) and the VAT will also already be payed. That's regular Nendos, and most cheap* action figures (figma, revoltech etc.). * it's a relative thing, expensive ones are around 10k yen, assuming they're not resin kits. |
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InnocentSorrow59
Posts: 156 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yeah. I'm not sure how popular Tales of Vesperia is in Japan (Though the main character was ranked #1 in almost every pole for every Tales of game...) but I'm pre-ordering ASAP. I'd be disappointed as hell if it ends up not being as detailed. If it were to sell out before I got my hands on it, I'd be one sad fan. |
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iathomps
Posts: 68 |
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As other people have mentioned briefly, the current exchange rate for the yen vs the dollar is very bad for the dollar. Remember back when a dollar could get you 120 yen? now you can barely scrape 85. Right now the exchange is favoring importation of American goods into other countries. Sucks, but oh well.
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Emerje
 Posts: 7358 Location: Maine |
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Well there's yer problem, Mr. Poitras! Comic shops are great for comics, but even for domestic figures they just can't survive on the MSRP often designed for big box stores. Even Diamond has to make a buck off of Mattel and Hasbro. Of course it's not the comic shops fault, they're doing what they can to get by, but there's a reason why so many shops are closing these days.
I believe the artificial scarcity (which became very noticeable early last year when certain lines started selling out immediately when previous entries still hadn't) and the price increase IS related to the economy. Just think about it, you used to be able to buy some figures a couple years after their release, especially the more expensive ones. Today the most expensive ones sell fast and figma now produces small batches. Why? Because in this economy there's nothing more reassuring than guaranteed sales. Smaller production runs mean a higher price, but it also means you and your retail partners aren't as likely to be left with a glut of unsold figures. Some companies are better than others at doing second runs and reissuing popular figures, but others seem to just sell and call it a day. I don't expect this to last, once the economy picks up again and demand increases so should supply.
When I first started using HLJ back in 2001 (I've been a serious collector since '97) the exchange rate was just above 120 (actually ended the year above 127). Today it's a little fraction over 80... The Japanese government did consider devaluing the yen back to a 1 to 100 exchange with the US dollar because they're having trouble with loosing money on exports, particularly electronics. Unfortunately for us they decided against it. I'm not sure how long they can sit at the top, I'm sure they love buying our stuff cheap, but eventually the hit they're taking in selling back to us is going to catch up with them. Emerje |
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PMDR
Posts: 141 |
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AAA is fine if you don't mind waiting an extra six months or so after release for a figure to arrive, and IF you can take the risk that the item might be sold out by the time your order is processed, and IF you don't mind a higher price. If you want it fast, get it direct from Japan. You mentioned Hobby Search. Some items I've ordered from them show up at my house in the US before street date in Japan. If you WANT it and won't settle for "out of stock, sorry" notices, order from Japan from a retailer with whom you have a good relationship. They often watch out for their customers. You, end buyer, aren't even AAA's customer. They only sell to retailers and the like. They don't care what you, the end customer, want. And if you want it cheaper, get it from Japan. Most of the stores offer discounts below the yen list price, and even with shipping, it ends up either about the same as AAA's US price or sometimes even less. That's before the local stores add their mark-up. Here's an example of how all this can work: I preordered a Haruhi nendroid figure last year. My cost was less than the list price. Shipping added some cost of course but it arrived at my home four or five months before AAA's availability date and my price with shipping was still less than AAA's price. Now, I'd love to support my local retailers. They work very hard for what they earn and it's a tough job. But unfortunately for them, all they can do is order from AAA or similar distributors. What this does is add cost, add literally months to the delivery time, add significant uncertainty, and leaves me hoping the order actually gets fulfilled. For example, if AAA decides to cancel the item or their supply runs out or they can't get an item, I am up a creek. At that point it would most likely be too late to go back to a source in Japan too. Of course preorders in Japan sometimes fail, although I've never had that happen. But I have seen many friends order stuff from the Diamond catalog (AAA uses essentially the same middleman model and end up burned when the items are sold out or dropped. Anyway, some of the major recent factors in the cost of figures are the increasing price of oil which is a major component of the plastics and PVC used in figures) and the exchange rates. The bigger the figure, the more oil it takes to make it. Figures generally use higher quality plastics which usually means higher quality oil is needed, which also drives up the costs. Exotic materials like "polystone" also add tremendous costs. The bigger the figure, the more it costs to detail it and produce the special packaging that won't damage the figures, and finally bigger figures mean fewer fit in a master carton, which means it costs more to ship them both from the factory to the store and from the store to you. There are also licensing fees for most figures and those costs vary. Anything priced in yen costs more in dollars then it used to and this situation has gotten worse and worse over the last few years. I can recall the days when heavily marked up imports were "a penny per yen" when I was broke and couldn't even afford that. The actual exchange rate in those days was 250 yen to the dollar. Now, I have more disposable income. But prices are higher too. Oh well. The PVC is addictive! Last edited by PMDR on Sat Oct 30, 2010 1:19 am; edited 2 times in total |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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Because sci-fi, cyberpunk, and rock 'n roll isn't western? Maybe...quality plus things non-Japanese can relate to? |
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Emerje
Posts: 7358 Location: Maine |
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The '80s right? I was a kid then so I don't have first hand experience with it, but I've heard that was a common complaint back then among Transformers, Zoids, and Godaikin collectors of the time looking for their next fix after buying out whatever the US market was offering at the time. We have a lot of advantages these days like better shipping options and awareness of fair exchange rates. Still, I kinda miss Action Ace, their prices were pretty decent for the time (mid to late '90s) compared to other importers (Puzzle Zoo *shudder*). Kinda sad to see them go, but BBTS started getting really big and offering flat rate $5 shipping on all orders too boot, boy do I miss that! Emerje |
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