Increasing prices and customers

[Antarion]

I started with this hobby in 2016. Coomodel had a few knight releases which got my attention, because I'm a big medieval fan. So I bought the SE001 Teutonic Knight and was super happy. It was about 180 Euro back than and had really cool accessories.

Flash forward to 2022 and I just got another Coomodel Teutonic Knight. This time for nearly double the price. Ok, it has a real chainmail hood included but apart from that I feel it could be a realease from 2016. Same kind of accessories, clothes, boots. A bit better diecast stuff. But even the nonexclusive knight was close or over 300.

I know inflation is a thing and prices will increase also because workers in China getting more money - and shipping costs went through the roof.


But it made me think. There are many collectors who can't spend 250-350 bucks on every figure. On the other hand, there is a whole generation of rather young people (20-40) who can and will afford nearly everything. The money is there. It costs 350? hmmm. Expensive. But I need to have it, so I buy it.

I feel we have an increasing gap between collectors who are priced out and collectors who don't care and buy everything they want for any (nearly) any price. Which is just free market, supply demand...but what would happen if more and more would simply stop buying for any asking price?

Hoe do you feel about the price tags these days?

 

[KitbashOfficer]

Too high, way too high and will get worse. I've been collecting for a while and between licensed, third party and my own creations, I nearly have what I want and am on track to be 99% out of collecting 1/6 in 2025.

 

[Nagoya]

If companies can, they will.

I think these third party companies are watching more and more people take an interest in their products, and even if they aren't selling officially licensed products or even characters which aren't part of any well-known franchise, consumers in this hobby are increasingly happy to spend "just a little more" to have what they want. (Looking into the mirror wondering why I decided to spend an extra $120 just for a rooted InArts Batman headsculpt that I probably won't even display very often ).

Speaking as a newbie collector in their early 20s, I don't personally think there would be much impact if the more casual crowd stopped paying the rising prices. I think people who make this one of their main hobbies are still going to shell out a lot of money for their favourite characters and things while maybe being a bit more selective about their purchases, but just like with mobile games, there is the more hardcore "whale" crowd out there who have the funds and can blindly spend their money to maximise their collection who are likely the primary source of steady income for these companies. There will always be an audience to sell to.

 

[choombaz]

Everything has gone up in price in the past six months. The bread I used to buy went up $1.50 last week. My salary, like most people I’m guessing, has not gone up in equivalent. If you can budget in your dollies in this climate great and if you can’t, you can’t. Simple maths.

 

[generalszabo]

Everything has gone up in price in the past six months. The bread I used to buy went up $1.50 last week. My salary, like most people I’m guessing, has not gone up in equivalent. If you can budget in your dollies in this climate great and if you can’t, you can’t. Simple maths.

I agree, everything is more expensive now. People talk about our toys like there is a bubble that is going to burst. I don't get that assumption - whilst there are people who are struggling, there are also so many others with disposable income. If a statue this year is 200 more than last year, they just don't eat out as much, they're still going to buy it. People need things to spend their cash on, if only to take their mind off problems in the world temporarily, and there are more geeks than ever nowadays. Some companies might go out of business if they don't remain profitable, but that just builds healthy competition and better products for us, the consumer

If it isn't affordable for you, there are other hobbies that are cheaper. However, for every collector that quits the hobby, there is another waiting to take their place.

 

[choombaz]

I agree, everything is more expensive now. People talk about our toys like there is a bubble that is going to burst. I don't get that assumption - whilst there are people who are struggling, there are also so many others with disposable income. If a statue this year is 200 more than last year, they just don't eat out as much, they're still going to buy it. People need things to spend their cash on, if only to take their mind off problems in the world temporarily, and there are more geeks than ever nowadays. Some companies might go out of business if they don't remain profitable, but that just builds healthy competition and better products for us, the consumer

If it isn't affordable for you, there are other hobbies that are cheaper. However, for every collector that quits the hobby, there is another waiting to take their place.

Yeah I just showed a YouTube video to my kids and they literally had every single HT Iron Man. Disposable incomes indeed.

 

[asgardianboy]

There might indeed be a huge, decade-long bubble.

People have been & are buying lots of expensive merch from recent and/or forgettable flics.
Expensive 1/6 figs of barely & vaguely defined, completely derivative & unimaginative,
disposable characters from SW, MCU, DC, Harry Potter, etc. Also figures of characters from
videogames & TV shows like Kenobi, Mando, GoT and the like, or even figures not linked to
any IP.

Most of these shows & flics are going to be disposed of & substituted by
newer pseudo-IP in a few years time. New forgettable characters will be marketed,
raved on by pseudo-influencers, then blindly purchased by upcoming pseudo-fans.
Meanwhile, prices will keep skyrocketing. This seems to be the current business
model, w/ endless amounts of plastic being used whose final fate, btw, is more than
worrysome.

I can envision a turnpoint, brought about by too-high-to-swallow prices,
when fans might come to think that it should take way more than being current
or looking good for one to purchase such expensive items. Realising the high prices,
their waning interest on their figs in the years following the purchase (mainly
because of the neverending hype for the latest stuff), fans might eventually start
buying merch only from media their are really intimate with, after many years
of actual endearment, which would mean that stuff from new franchise installments
just wouldn't sell until enough years have passed, if ever. Plain & simple, today's
quick consumption frenzy would be out of the culture.

Fans would become even more focused & selective if, on this relevant-only trend,
they actually started seriously comparing current media w/ media from previous
eras & as a result they finally perceived the ongoing creativity crisis wee are going
through since (I'd daresay) the end of the 1990s. Fans might hence become
more interested on the more creative franchises (SW OT, Star Trek, LOTR, etc) and
less so on derivative stuff (SW ST, Picard, Discovery, etc).

Should all of this happen, 1/6 sales would plummet, prices would take a nosedive,
business models would collapse, 1/6 companies would be decimated & a new era
would dawn, where only merch from a few, high-q, well-established & cherished
franchises would be wanted & manufactured. Figs of lesser-known IPSs might
still be done, but in lower quantities & at even higher prices. The 1/6 market would
then look similar to that of 1/4 and statues.

A potential deal breaker for all above would be technology being introduced in
manufacturing to lower prices, but I can't see that happening even mid-term.

Thx

 

[potato]

always remember even if you can no longer afford the hobby there are still many prospect out there. many folks collect luxury watches, handbags, exotic cars, fashion apparels, if they can get these folks into this hobby they can pretty much ditch all existing customers.

 

[Bilbo Skywalker]

always remember even if you can no longer afford the hobby there are still many prospect out there. many folks collect luxury watches, handbags, exotic cars, fashion apparels, if they can get these folks into this hobby they can pretty much ditch all existing customers.

I’d respectfully disagree. I think there will always be a minority who buy figures/statues etc. Luxury car and watch collectors are a very different bunch compared to figure collectors. (I work in finance and that’s exactly the type of people who collect watches and designer).

I still have never met a person IRL, who thinks these are actually cool lol and Im fairly young, let’s say 30. I do though, my gf doesn’t mind so I’m happy with it.

Mileage obviously varies but this has been my experience with collecting and friends/family/coworkers.

 

[potato]

I’d respectfully disagree. I think there will always be a minority who buy figures/statues etc. Luxury car and watch collectors are a very different bunch compared to figure collectors. (I work in finance and that’s exactly the type of people who collect watches and designer).

I still have never met a person IRL, who thinks these are actually cool lol and Im fairly young, let’s say 30. I do though, my gf doesn’t mind so I’m happy with it.

Mileage obviously varies but this has been my experience with collecting and friends/family/coworkers

Marketing plays an important role in shifting ideas and values. If doll makers put in enough money and effort they can pretty much shift the high expenditure group into this hobby.

Just look back few years, many things you won't believe would become the norm today.

To them, this hobby is still way too cheap for them. So one day when average middle class want but can't afford these toys, the upper class would start to look into this.

Remember a reason for the riches to get into a hobby is simply because they can while most can't afford to. This is why so many folks are into Rolex or ugly looking fashion shoes/bags, simply because they are expensive and reflects high society status. I doubt half of them actually like the watches and bags, they like the feel of owning something from a brand they feels reflect their social status.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

But it made me think. There are many collectors who can't spend 250-350 bucks on every figure. On the other hand, there is a whole generation of rather young people (20-40) who can and will afford nearly everything. The money is there. It costs 350? hmmm. Expensive. But I need to have it, so I buy it.

I feel we have an increasing gap between collectors who are priced out and collectors who don't care and buy everything they want for any (nearly) any price. Which is just free market, supply demand...but what would happen if more and more would simply stop buying for any asking price?

Hoe do you feel about the price tags these days?

There is an entire generation of young people who don't believe they will ever retire, be able to afford a home, have kids, get married or have a safe and prosperous future. Lots of them. ( And I don't blame them one bit) They are spending more today in terms of "experiences" Like traveling. Or an activity hobby like outdoors stuff.

The cost to ship and deliver things is going to sky rocket, which will create price spikes all along the chain. Something Monkey Depot has done for a while now is offer to ship by stripping the box on boxed sets. That's pretty smart actually.

What will shrink is the size of the edition run. Instead of making 10 thousand units, maybe the company will only make 4 thousand units. The price per unit will go up though. And if there is enough demand to support that, maybe they can float that for a while.

Something to consider is "sticker shock" is relative. If you bought vintage GI Joe and it was 5 bucks as a kid, and then you saw 35 dollar boxed sets in 2000, that can look pretty obscene. So for use who were exposed to Hot Toys averaging about 150 a boxed set, the new 280-300 range is kind of ugly. For people entering the hobby and it was always 280, they don't have a contrast point.

The price tags only matter on stuff I'd really want. I don't collect Marvel Avengers so what they cost doesn't phase me at all. However if HT released an Ultimate Version John Wick or a Blade I or a Lost Predator from Predator 2, I'd really investigate it.

Notice how people go to movies as they get older. When you are a teenager, maybe you got a lot more. You have more free time and you have less tugging at you obligation wise. As you get older, you odds on focus on "event" type movies that seem like spectacles worth seeing on the big screen ( Interstellar, LOTR, Matrix, etc, etc) I think collecting takes the same spin as people age.

Collecting has a life cycle. Collectors have a life cycle. What you might not be considering is you are moving towards the end of your personal collecting life cycle. That's part of it, likely a big part of it, not just the price points.

In terms of "price tags", it depends on what's in the box. I've seen 300 dollar sets that look like bargains and 40 dollar sets on clearance that look grossly overpriced. I will say this much though, Hot Toys could help themselves a ton by filling the boxed sets with more accessories. This would change the value structure and help support the loose parts market. When people are priced out of the loose parts market, that's when they start to drift out of the hobby for good.

 

[Bilbo Skywalker]

Marketing plays an important role in shifting ideas and values. If doll makers put in enough money and effort they can pretty much shift the high expenditure group into this hobby.

Just look back few years, many things you won't believe would become the norm today.

To them, this hobby is still way too cheap for them. So one day when average middle class want but can't afford these toys, the upper class would start to look into this.

Remember a reason for the riches to get into a hobby is simply because they can while most can't afford to. This is why so many folks are into Rolex or ugly looking fashion shoes/bags, simply because they are expensive and reflects high society status. I doubt half of them actually like the watches and bags, they like the feel of owning something from a brand they feels reflect their social status.

Great points! It’s an interesting topic.

 

[potato]

Great points! It’s an interesting topic.

and i guess most people already forgotten how gaming turned from actual gaming to experience simulators. how the game companies have shifted from old school gamers to casuals who don't really play games and how well these new group of customers adapt to paid DLCs and how satisfied they are when they receive 20GB worth of updates that most people can't tell the differences. or a $10 digital key that unlocks content that is already available on disc. How Oculus Rift succeeded in what Virtual Boy failed.

Different Times works for Different Things & Ideas.

Basketball Sneakers used to be made for people who play basketball, 20 years later their main customers are hypebeasts & sneaker heads who wore maybe 1% of their purchased shoes, many not even the right sizes. Prices have also gone up thanks to the demand for premium shoes.

Sports cars used to be made for car enthusiasts, nowadays they are mainly made for celebrities and folks that have drivers that they are hesitant to sell manual supras coz there isn't a big market for it despite all the calls for it.

 

[potato]

There is an entire generation of young people who don't believe they will ever retire, be able to afford a home, have kids, get married or have a safe and prosperous future. Lots of them. ( And I don't blame them one bit) They are spending more today in terms of "experiences" Like traveling. Or an activity hobby like outdoors stuff.

The cost to ship and deliver things is going to sky rocket, which will create price spikes all along the chain. Something Monkey Depot has done for a while now is offer to ship by stripping the box on boxed sets. That's pretty smart actually.

What will shrink is the size of the edition run. Instead of making 10 thousand units, maybe the company will only make 4 thousand units. The price per unit will go up though. And if there is enough demand to support that, maybe they can float that for a while.

Something to consider is "sticker shock" is relative. If you bought vintage GI Joe and it was 5 bucks as a kid, and then you saw 35 dollar boxed sets in 2000, that can look pretty obscene. So for use who were exposed to Hot Toys averaging about 150 a boxed set, the new 280-300 range is kind of ugly. For people entering the hobby and it was always 280, they don't have a contrast point.

The price tags only matter on stuff I'd really want. I don't collect Marvel Avengers so what they cost doesn't phase me at all. However if HT released an Ultimate Version John Wick or a Blade I or a Lost Predator from Predator 2, I'd really investigate it.

Notice how people go to movies as they get older. When you are a teenager, maybe you got a lot more. You have more free time and you have less tugging at you obligation wise. As you get older, you odds on focus on "event" type movies that seem like spectacles worth seeing on the big screen ( Interstellar, LOTR, Matrix, etc, etc) I think collecting takes the same spin as people age.

Collecting has a life cycle. Collectors have a life cycle. What you might not be considering is you are moving towards the end of your personal collecting life cycle. That's part of it, likely a big part of it, not just the price points.

In terms of "price tags", it depends on what's in the box. I've seen 300 dollar sets that look like bargains and 40 dollar sets on clearance that look grossly overpriced. I will say this much though, Hot Toys could help themselves a ton by filling the boxed sets with more accessories. This would change the value structure and help support the loose parts market. When people are priced out of the loose parts market, that's when they start to drift out of the hobby for good.

This has been going on for decades on collectibles. Once the hobby catches attention of the mass majority, demand goes up, price goes up, cost goes up, inflation and hits a choking point where the more sensible but not super rich group would slow down and stop while new players join in, the price manage to sustain for a while and demands start to drop as price went up too far while many bandwagoners (and "investors") shift interest to other hobbies.

The companies can't just quit, so they came up with smart ideas to retain customers, by selling their products at same price, while downsizing, the norm was 1/6 for $200, now they are selling affordable versions of 1/12 for merely $170! If they don't sell well, they will start making limited numbers in hope they can milk the last remnants of the hobby.

Look at diecast scene. How Autoart went from $100 per 1/18 diecast to $250 "Composite Materials" and how their production numbers has dropped and how the hobby shifted from 1/18 & 1/43 to mainly 1/64, and how a high end 1/64 resin car is being sold for $100 while a high end 1/18 resin with non removable parts is asking for $300 because resin offers superior molding and painting thus represents a more accurate representation of the car without opening doors and rolling/turning wheels (which reminds me of the shift from 1/6 action figures to statues).

 

[Sassafras]

I started with this hobby in 2016. Coomodel had a few knight releases which got my attention, because I'm a big medieval fan. So I bought the SE001 Teutonic Knight and was super happy. It was about 180 Euro back than and had really cool accessories.

Flash forward to 2022 and I just got another Coomodel Teutonic Knight. This time for nearly double the price. Ok, it has a real chainmail hood included but apart from that I feel it could be a realease from 2016. Same kind of accessories, clothes, boots. A bit better diecast stuff. But even the nonexclusive knight was close or over 300.

I know inflation is a thing and prices will increase also because workers in China getting more money - and shipping costs went through the roof.


But it made me think. There are many collectors who can't spend 250-350 bucks on every figure. On the other hand, there is a whole generation of rather young people (20-40) who can and will afford nearly everything. The money is there. It costs 350? hmmm. Expensive. But I need to have it, so I buy it.

I feel we have an increasing gap between collectors who are priced out and collectors who don't care and buy everything they want for any (nearly) any price. Which is just free market, supply demand...but what would happen if more and more would simply stop buying for any asking price?

Hoe do you feel about the price tags these days?

For me it kinda sucks the fun out of the hobby, because every purchase has to be carefully, carefully considered - but. Ultimately tho - maybe having less can make for a better collection e.g. less crammed shelves - and, I'm priced out, that's that.

If I really, really, really want a piece, a lot of the time I'd make it work. Even then tho, it can get to the point where I just hafta accept this is out of the income range. E.g. I'm not in that economic class and/or I'm not going into multi month debt paying over a statue etc.

As for what happens - I think we are already seeing that with HT - corner cutting to try to keep the price within range of its customer base - and on the other hand, the cost of statues is way up.

 

[Mose Harper]

People in their twenties and early thirties may have less responsibility (children, families, mortgages, health care needs, etc) and thus more disposable income.

But each new generation has it's own interests. The forty or fifty year old collector may have a hard time trying to sell collectibles that, once seemed super hot, but are all about the stuff he (and his generation) were into twenty or thirty years earlier, when the twenty and thirty year olds that are buying now have little interest in that old school stuff.

Twenty years from now, many of these current twenty and thirty year olds will all be trying to unload the same stuff, at the same time, and left to wonder why all their stuff, that seemed like gold in 2022 (when everything else was dung), suddenly isn't worth anything anymore. The hobby must be on it's last legs, they'll surmise.

Just like location is to retail, timing with (mass produced) collectibles is everything.

 

[chrisstbh]

How are my fellow UK collectors handling the current exchange rate of 92p to $1?

$100 is now £92. $285 would now be £262, there’s basically no difference now. Plus shipping and customs fees there’s just no way I can justify buying Hot Toys right now.

 

[ebor]

How are my fellow UK collectors handling the current exchange rate of 92p to $1?

$100 is now £92. $285 would now be £262, there’s basically no difference now. Plus shipping and customs fees there’s just no way I can justify buying Hot Toys right now.

I realize this question was not directed to me…but living in Canada…it’s worse. 1 Canadian $ =.73 USD add shipping and GST/tax is a killer. I have dropped way off spending $ on collectibles.

 

[JMT1979]

I realize this question was not directed to me…but living in Canada…it’s worse. 1 Canadian $ =.73 USD add shipping and GST/tax is a killer. I have dropped way off spending $ on collectibles.

Australia.is pretty bad too, where $1 AUD gets you $0.656 USD - it was $0.71 USD not so long ago, and closer.to $0.77 USD not long before that.
Add in the 10% GST and shipping from SS that MUST be DHL and you can add another $100 AUD to the order.

 

[chrisstbh]

Australia.is pretty bad too, where $1 AUD gets you $0.656 USD - it was $0.71 USD not so long ago, and closer.to $0.77 USD not long before that.
Add in the 10% GST and shipping from SS that MUST be DHL and you can add another $100 AUD to the order.

To buy a $285 figure from Sideshow it's now going to cost me:
Figure: £273.49
Shipping: £42.61
Import Fee: £63.22
Handling Fee: £11
A whopping grand total of: £390.31

I'm out for now. As someone that is on what was once considered a pretty good salary here; I really can't justify this, almost £400 for a single figure is beyond a joke.