Deposits on Exclusive Pre-Orders: Sideshow's New Policy?

[quadcent]

Man, you guys are typing enough over here to write your way to a doctorate degree or something. Knock it off, you're drying my eye?!!

Horay for NRD. Keep the ES low and flipper away.

K, you guys can get back to your typing now...so type your heart out!

pretty much the only ssc pieces i've stayed away from are the IM related ones, since they can't seem to get them right.

 

[Mr. Green]

Personally I'm over the whole NRD argument, its obvious that some people love it, some don't care and some hate it. Nothing here has changed my opinion of it and I doubt anything I post will change anyone else's thought.

Although I'd like to remind people that the true purpose of the NRD was to reduce cancelations and overstock. That won't be gauged until the first NRD piece ships and we see if it hits second chance again. It that still happens, love it or hate it, its not an effective policy. That is removing everything from the argument except for the policy itself.

Yea, nice bouncy boobs and pics on your sigs btw.

 

[fuzzylojiks]

Horay for NRD. Keep the ES low and flipper away.

 

[quadcent]

Personally I'm over the whole NRD argument, its obvious that some people love it, some don't care and some hate it. Nothing here has changed my opinion of it and I doubt anything I post will change anyone else's thought.

Although I'd like to remind people that the true purpose of the NRD was to reduce cancelations and overstock. That won't be gauged until the first NRD piece ships and we see if it hits second chance again. It that still happens, love it or hate it, its not an effective policy. That is removing everything from the argument except for the policy itself.

yeah i doubt we'll see many WL conversions from now on, though some will still cancel and lose the NRD and in some cases the cancellation fee with the lower ES's that this new policy in now creating i think that in most cases the items should appreciate in value much quicker. that way it makes it easier to hold onto certain pieces even though it may not fit into a collection for what ever reason.

like i did with the Vamperilla piece, it may not fit into my collection of ladies but if not i'm not to worried about it since i'm sure with an ES of only 350 i'll be able to sell it and get my $$$ back no problem

 

[fuzzylojiks]

I think it's safe to say there will be much less cancellations with NRD and there will be much less overstock unless they overestimated the initial ES. In the meantime, the ES drop is great too. It will be interesting to see what the number are for Cyclops PF.

 

[quadcent]

I think it's safe to say there will be much less cancellations with NRD and there will be much less overstock unless they overestimated the initial ES. In the meantime, the ES drop is great too. It will be interesting to see what the number are for Cyclops PF.

i'll predict 450 for Cyclops

 

[BatFanatic]

Looking at what Sideshow is now doing with the non-refundable deposits, and the very low production run on both Bowen and S.S. pieces has me wondering what lies ahead for these companies?
While I still enjoy collecting, it appears as though sales are waaaaay down.

 

[VS1976]

Looking at what Sideshow is now doing with the non-refundable deposits, and the very low production run on both Bowen and S.S. pieces has me wondering what lies ahead for these companies?
While I still enjoy collecting, it appears as though sales are waaaaay down.

Yes but the prices will only go up.

 

[Corrose]

Looking at what Sideshow is now doing with the non-refundable deposits, and the very low production run on both Bowen and S.S. pieces has me wondering what lies ahead for these companies?
While I still enjoy collecting, it appears as though sales are waaaaay down.

Im not an expert on how it all works but in my opinion I'm picturing that either they are making MORE or breaking above even than before. When I first got into this a couple years ago, I was snagging PO's on AH comiquettes in the low $100s, even Cap as bulky as he is in the PF line was around $240. Nowadays it feels like damn near everything is $275-$340. They are really pushing that $300 mark on average.

They may be selling less numbers of pieces, but the price to me has gone way up in order to make up for the decrease in sales. I imagine the company is fiscally doing just fine.

There is a catch 22 though, they more and more they continue to raise costs the more stock is just going to sit in the warehouse. Take Hulkbuster for example, at over $400 plus shipping, the exclusive is STILL available.

I dunno, just my take on it

 

[risingstar]

Well, they've been asking for a deposit on all the EX's,

but they have posted the ES from the beginning.

That's fair enough.

I feel the same way.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this policy until yesterday. I have decided that even though I kinda hate putting money up front for a piece thats 6 months away, I think the policy works. So far it keeps window shoppers out of the picture and allows things to not hit sold out status in 5 minutes.

I hated those PPO fridays around the time of Wolverine, Darth Talon etc where it was a crap-shoot if you got one or not. Not to mention when you're reading a thread about a particular piece, it gets cluttered with messages around processing "meh, I think Im going to cancel".

This allows you enough time to look at the pics, decide how your budget looks and pull the trigger with confidence.

Take Vampirella for example, with an ES of 350 and all her assets showing, under the old system it would have sold out in minutes. Then you would have to WL knowing half of those 350 were going to cancel because they never intended to buy anyway.

All I ask SS is that they put out the images of every piece BEFORE pre-order starts. That way you can take your time to look at the pics without the fear of it selling out why you were looking. I think thats part of the reason things sold out in minutes in the past. You had ZERO time to look at the images, you just placed in cart as fast as you could just to make sure you got one.

Just my 2 cents

Good points. I agree.

 

[risingstar]

Looking at what Sideshow is now doing with the non-refundable deposits, and the very low production run on both Bowen and S.S. pieces has me wondering what lies ahead for these companies?
While I still enjoy collecting, it appears as though sales are waaaaay down.

I think the reasons behind the decrease in Bowen numbers are generally different than the reasons behind the decrease in Sideshow numbers. A number of collectors, including myself, have all but jumped the Bowen ship for Sideshow. Whatever the reasons behind this exodus (there are many), it ultimately cost BD some bucks.

The hobby has evolved quite a bit over the years and I feel a lot of the product coming out of BD looks awfully familiar and self-replicating. However, a few jems do filter through from time to time.

I'm happy with where I am as a collector. I pretty much only buy what I like. I couldn't care less about fan hype. My major concern with this hobby is the rising costs may risk turning too many people away.

 

[divo]

I think the reasons behind the decrease in Bowen numbers are generally different than the reasons behind the decrease in Sideshow numbers. A number of collectors, including myself, have all but jumped the Bowen ship for Sideshow. Whatever the reasons behind this exodus (there are many), it ultimately cost BD some bucks.

The hobby has evolved quite a bit over the years and I feel a lot of the product coming out of BD looks awfully familiar and self-replicating. However, a few jems do filter through from time to time.

I'm happy with where I am as a collector. I pretty much only buy what I like. I couldn't care less about fan hype. My major concern with this hobby is the rising costs may risk turning too many people away.

An excellent, insightful post.

 

[goldbuffalo]

Don't worry about SS. They're making a ton of money.

There's a reason all these companies go to China and India.

I'd be really surprise if total cost per statue is over $100. And even if it was $200, that's still $100+ per statue profit. Which comes out to $100,000 per 1000 statues sold.

The deposit and inventory control are all good.

Ultimately it comes down to why buy from SS if I can buy for less off ebay, in a couple months. This, I think, is what happened to Bowen. And SS is trying to make sure it doesn't happen to them.

They just need that balance of ES and price. They can't get greedy, they have to leave a little on the table for the collector. That includes flippers.

 

[Blackthornone]

Don't worry about SS. They're making a ton of money.

There's a reason all these companies go to China and India.

I'd be really surprise if total cost per statue is over $100. And even if it was $200, that's still $100+ per statue profit. Which comes out to $100,000 per 1000 statues sold.

The deposit and inventory control are all good.

Ultimately it comes down to why buy from SS if I can buy for less off ebay, in a couple months. This, I think, is what happened to Bowen. And SS is trying to make sure it doesn't happen to them.

They just need that balance of ES and price. They can't get greedy, they have to leave a little on the table for the collector. That includes flippers.

I would be surprised if the total cost per statue was more than $35.

 

[quadcent]

Don't worry about SS. They're making a ton of money.

There's a reason all these companies go to China and India.

I'd be really surprise if total cost per statue is over $100. And even if it was $200, that's still $100+ per statue profit. Which comes out to $100,000 per 1000 statues sold.

The deposit and inventory control are all good.

Ultimately it comes down to why buy from SS if I can buy for less off ebay, in a couple months. This, I think, is what happened to Bowen. And SS is trying to make sure it doesn't happen to them.

They just need that balance of ES and price. They can't get greedy, they have to leave a little on the table for the collector. That includes flippers.

I would be surprised if the total cost per statue was more than $35.

i suspect the cost would be between those two numbers, that's including shipping and all other related additional costs. i think the actual storage of these statues is the main cost for ssc at this time, since they'll either have to purchase or build more space in California and that's what will cost them more than all their statues put together.

i've had dealing in both areas of purchasing from overseas and constuction, i can say for certain the statues aren't costing very much while the space needed to store them costs a fortune

 

[Hulksmashed]

i suspect the cost would be between those two numbers, that's including shipping and all other related additional costs. i think the actual storage of these statues is the main cost for ssc at this time, since they'll either have to purchase or build more space in California and that's what will cost them more than all their statues put together.

i've had dealing in both areas of purchasing from overseas and constuction, i can say for certain the statues aren't costing very much while the space needed to store them costs a fortune

Everyone always forgets the pre-production costs! Thats 90% of Sideshow's total cost for sure!

Its like the pharma industry. People complain because the cost to "manufacture" drugs is low, but the cost is high. What they DON'T understand is the cost of research. >90% of researched drug targets fail out before ever getting into man. Meaning ZERO revenue. Drugs on the market aren't pure profit. Not only do they cover the cost of manufacturing (extremely minimal) it also covers the cost of the failed projects and new research as well.

I'm assuming to some degree its the same for Sideshow. Statues on the market cover the cost of manufacturing, pre-production costs of the statue, the cost of failed statue's, and future projects. So it's not as simple as the cost of a statue vs. manufacturing.

 

[Randy_S]

Not to mention the cost of labor, taxes, and property in SoCal is extremely high. If the warehouse was in Tennessee their overhead would be much lower.

 

[thenammagazine]

Not to mention the cost of labor, taxes, and property in SoCal is extremely high. If the warehouse was in Tennessee their overhead would be much lower.

Don't forget insurance.

 

[VS1976]

I would be surprised if the total cost per statue was more than $35.

Times that by 3 or 4, that's how much it cost to produce, package and ship to there warehouse.

 

[ambasah]

Everyone always forgets the pre-production costs! Thats 90% of Sideshow's total cost for sure!

Its like the pharma industry. People complain because the cost to "manufacture" drugs is low, but the cost is high. What they DON'T understand is the cost of research. >90% of researched drug targets fail out before ever getting into man. Meaning ZERO revenue. Drugs on the market aren't pure profit. Not only do they cover the cost of manufacturing (extremely minimal) it also covers the cost of the failed projects and new research as well.

I'm assuming to some degree its the same for Sideshow. Statues on the market cover the cost of manufacturing, pre-production costs of the statue, the cost of failed statue's, and future projects. So it's not as simple as the cost of a statue vs. manufacturing.

I don't think Merck or Pfizer's prices are due to the cost of research...maybe more due to the lawsuits they've had to pay and of course their massive profits.