1/6 Hot Toys - Iron Man 3: MMS197D02 Mark XLII Diecast Series Official Spec/Pics

[lerath666]

It's possible.
But the only way to cut their costs is to only tackle less complicated subjects.

or be willing to take less in profits

 

[Username]

or be willing to take less in profits

Other than truly feeble characters(Where the character itself is feeble, not HT version), like the Green Goblin, Angelica from POTC or certain predators, HT tend to sell out.
So it would appear their business model is working.
You may be finding it hard to afford to buy as many as you'd like to(I am in the same boat), but it just means you have to be more selective about what you buy.
Hot Toys will still sell out.

 

[lerath666]

so far, yes, though we've now edged intto the territory of 300$ plus.
I would VERY much like to see how well action figures that cost fully a third of a thousand dollars actualy sell.
Several people are complaining aboug now being priced out, and I can get most ANY hot toys release at, or below retail on for sale sections of this board and others like it for months after it sells out at conventional places.

My point is, their current buisness model is unsustainable, with the american economy ( the chief consumers in the world of luxury items) starting it's thrid month of the deflation cycle, I'm interested to see where this leads.

 

[Username]

My point is, their current buisness model is unsustainable, with the american economy ( the chief consumers in the world of luxury items) starting it's thrid month of the deflation cycle, I'm interested to see where this leads.

Lol. Where did you get your figures for that claim?
China is the chief consumer of luxury goods.
https://www.mckinseychina.com/wp-co...ey-chinese-luxury-consumer-survey-2012-12.pdf

 

[lerath666]

That should have read " ONE OF the " Herp derp. Though my point still stands.
And even moreso, considering that should the US economy outright fail ( which, believe me, we are far closer to than anyone will sieriously admit), China's ( which is currently heavily invested in the american Economy) Would likley be severly damaged as well.

 

[Sevreed]

Well, I actually work in product design and deal with getting goods made in China so I can assure you that the mark up on these items is huge. That's the whole point in getting goods made there. Also, we would never take a prototype to a show that is so half- assed that it falls apart when you pick it up. If it's not close to final then it should not have been taken out of the case. Don't be dumb enough to believe that Hot Toys will not charge as high a price as they can get.

 

[lerath666]

Well, I actually work in product design and deal with getting goods made in China so I can assure you that the mark up on these items is huge. That's the whole point in getting goods made there. Also, we would never take a prototype to a show that is so half- assed that it falls apart when you pick it up. If it's not close to final then it should not have been taken out of the case. Don't be dumb enough to believe that Hot Toys will not charge as high a price as they can get.

My sister does something similar. So if you had to guestimate, what's an approxamate markup on these you think ?

is my 500-600 % from earlier too high, or too low?

 

[Lee in MI]

Aren't most products we buy at least marked up 300%

 

[lerath666]

Depends. I know my sisters industry ( not saying WHAT it is) marks things up a few THOUSAND percent to create an illusionary Value of the products they sell. Not her Company, mind you, her industry as a whole.

Suffice to say they import a product from China for 80-100$, then resell it for 1k-10k.

 

[CrAZyVEgAsBoY]

My sister does something similar. So if you had to guestimate, what's an approxamate markup on these you think ?

is my 500-600 % from earlier too high, or too low?

Yes your right there probably is a huge profit they make off of each figure, but the prices aren't going to ever really level, its only going to go up and why wouldn't it? Look at how much people are willing to pay for the IM BD? You have to remember in the whole scheme of things they aren't making that many. On average what 3-5 thousand for the 1/6 scales, and usually for the statues between 1-3 thousand. That may seem like a lot but when you look at figure world wide it isn't so big anymore. HT knows exactly what there doing, its all about supply and demand and there keeping it low to ensure the demand stays high. That and most of the world hasn't even heard of HT In the end that's just the way it is and there isn't really anything we can really do about it, other than not buy it. But I can assure you for every one that wont spend the money for it there is always another who will so yeah, HT wins

 

[CrAZyVEgAsBoY]

Aren't most products we buy at least marked up 300%

look at diamonds, they make a at 300-500% mark up.

 

[Mix Master]

look at jordans they are made in china for like 10 bucks but sold for 2-300 bucks

 

[CrAZyVEgAsBoY]

look at jordans they are made in china for like 10 bucks but sold for 2-300 bucks

and there still on the rise, even after 10+ years.

 

[lerath666]

well yeah. thetre allways will be stupid people with disposeable incomes.

The question is not will people buy it, the question is will ENOUGH people buy it for it to cointue to be lucrative? And if so, for how long?

 

[Username]

well yeah. thetre allways will be stupid people with disposeable incomes.

The question is not will people buy it, the question is will ENOUGH people buy it for it to cointue to be lucrative? And if so, for how long?

What makes them stupid?

 

[robbiethepainter]

What makes them stupid?

Exactly. The diamond example is a good representation. Its a clear hard rock. But most societies recognize it as valuable. So its valuable. Its still a rock.

 

[CriterionCollector]

Exactly. The diamond example is a good representation. Its a clear hard rock. But most societies recognize it as valuable. So its valuable. Its still a rock.

It's also the hardest rock on the earth and has many uses besides being used for jewelry. It's like gold.

 

[lerath666]

Little known fact.

Gold and diamond have artificial scarcity. The people/coproations who own the majority of the land these things are found on controll how much is allowed into the market in a given year. They also control the price by agreeing not to undercut oneanother.

Before I get "tinfoil hat" accusations, allow me to back t hat up a little bit, Excluding my history as a jewler, and having been told this NUMEROUS times ( which i unfortunately CAN'T back up)

I can offer you a bit of logic to consider.

Diamonds are terribly rare.. yet we use them in tools near constantly.
Gold is highly prized...but again, why?

Amusingly, the percieved value of gold and diamonds is a holdover from human history.

Diamond is expensive today, BECUASE it was terribly difficult to work with before the advent of lasers. You need to remember that at one point in time, all lapidary was done by hand, and imagine how diffult it would be to work with diamond.
The cost is directly related to the work put into it to shape and cut the stone.

Gold, on the other hand was higly prized by metlworkers for the opposite reason. Gold is highly malable, and never oxidizes. It's loved by metalworkers for these two facts, as it is much easier to work with, allowing for a greater degree of detail to be put into it. All that leads to nicer things being able to be made from it.

Nicer piece of art = Higher percieved value.

the important thing there is the word percieved.

" an object is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and not a penny more" is a rather simple concept, but also a very true one.

To the other question, Why are they stupid? There is an aold saying that " a fool and his money are soon parted".

Let's take Sean long, a fairly well known youtube toy reviewer as an example. Long is a collector of most anything.. he was even fetaured on collection intervention at one point. What's interesting about sean long, is that at one point in time, he was known for spending OBSCENE amounts of money on ebay to get acess to stolen Hasbro prototype transformers, in order to get reviews out several months ahead of anyone else.
And when I say obscene, I'm talking in excess of 1000$-$2000 .
For a hasbro toy, that would see Mass release a few months down the line, for 9-15$.

I know that some people would say " well, if he can afford it, so what?" But here is the thing, he couldn't. After making said purchases, he would then make tear-filled youtube videos, complainign that due to "unforseen circumstances" he had no money to pay rent, or buy food for the month, and asked for his viewers to donate money to him so he wouldn't starve, or get evicted.

And people would give it. He did this SEVERAL times in fact. So much so that other youtbe reviewers posted videos about careful spending, and that he needed to prioritize better, not wasting 100% of his income on such things as the prototypes.

I suppose that also begs the question of who is more the fool.

 

[Boba Ben]

[ame]https://youtu.be/x0ow4X8tiMI[/ame]


I really don't know how much further they can push the envelope on the pricing of these things before interest drops off a lot. I thought for sure that these Hot Toys figures priced at $300 would be kind of a wake up cal for a lot of collectors, but it seems that I was wrong. People paying $700 or more for that Battle Damaged Mark VII kind of bums me out, honestly.

I personally could afford to buy the figures I'd like to have if I wanted to, but I just don't get the same personal satisfaction I did from buying these figures that I did a few years ago when the prices were still within reason. With my most recent purchases from Hot Toys, I open them and just don't feel I'm really getting $200+ of value out of my purchase. At $300, I know I'm not getting $300 of value out of it. I know I can't be the only one who feels this way.

I don't do ebay, but I've also noticed that the secondary market for these here on the Sideshow Freaks commerce section has kind of tanked for almost everything Hot Toys. A couple years back, people could make a profit on some of their older toys that they had or at least get their money back. Not so anymore. If that's happening on a larger scale, it could end up being a bad thing for Hot Toys and Sideshow. Even though I hate scalping, the secondary market and profit speculation seem to account for a pretty decent amount of purchases of Hot Toys/Sideshow products. If they can't turn a profit, and there isn't a secondary market for these collectibles, sales will drop.

Additionally, I've noticed some new business tactics that kind of alarm me as well. Sideshow has recently started limiting the amount of product their official retailers can buy and have also reduced the discount they can provide to customers off of retail price. These limits have caused retailers to charge the same price as Sideshow, which is cutting into their profits and making it harder for them to compete with Sideshow directly. It may seem like a good idea to take all the direct sales for yourself at first, but you also cut out some guaranteed sales that you don't have to worry about moving or storing anymore when you do this. It also pisses off customers who are loyal to those individual retailers. I've also noticed the coupons as well. There always seems to be a $20 off Sideshow coupon floating around these days to drum up some sales on these things. We hardly ever got coupons before, which makes me think that sales aren't as good as they used to be.

I wonder who'll be left when these things are priced at $500 a piece.

 

[lerath666]

https://youtu.be/x0ow4X8tiMI


I really don't know how much further they can push the envelope on the pricing of these things before interest drops off a lot. I thought for sure that these Hot Toys figures priced at $300 would be kind of a wake up cal for a lot of collectors, but it seems that I was wrong. People paying $700 or more for that Battle Damaged Mark VII kind of bums me out, honestly.

I personally could afford to buy the figures I'd like to have if I wanted to, but I just don't get the same personal satisfaction I did from buying these figures that I did a few years ago when the prices were still within reason. With my most recent purchases from Hot Toys, I open them and just don't feel I'm really getting $200+ of value out of my purchase. At $300, I know I'm not getting $300 of value out of it. I know I can't be the only one who feels this way.

I don't do ebay, but I've also noticed that the secondary market for these here on the Sideshow Freaks commerce section has kind of tanked for almost everything Hot Toys. A couple years back, people could make a profit on some of their older toys that they had or at least get their money back. Not so anymore. If that's happening on a larger scale, it could end up being a bad thing for Hot Toys and Sideshow. Even though I hate scalping, the secondary market and profit speculation seem to account for a pretty decent amount of purchases of Hot Toys/Sideshow products. If they can't turn a profit, and there isn't a secondary market for these collectibles, sales will drop.

Additionally, I've noticed some new business tactics that kind of alarm me as well. Sideshow has recently started limiting the amount of product their official retailers can buy and have also reduced the discount they can provide to customers off of retail price. These limits have caused retailers to charge the same price as Sideshow, which is cutting into their profits and making it harder for them to compete with Sideshow directly. It may seem like a good idea to take all the direct sales for yourself at first, but you also cut out some guaranteed sales that you don't have to worry about moving or storing anymore when you do this. It also pisses off customers who are loyal to those individual retailers. I've also noticed the coupons as well. There always seems to be a $20 off Sideshow coupon floating around these days to drum up some sales on these things. We hardly ever got coupons before, which makes me think that sales aren't as good as they used to be.

I wonder who'll be left when these things are priced at $500 a piece.

Glad to see I'm not the only one.