Is sideshow pricing making you reconsider this hobby?

[Vitus]

Yes and no...

been trying to vote Yes and No for an hour now... how did you do it?
I gave up and voted Yes.. I'm going to have to stick to a handful of movies at todays prices. Some movies didn't make the cut.

 

[Taibhse]

Pricing does not make me question anything - quality and lack of quality does.

If a company is going to start increasing their retail prices than they better make sure they don't release crappy products loaded with QC issues, especially when they get delayed for a century.

 

[Taibhse]

Yes and no...
I love my hobby, so just a case of saving up for them I guess!
I found this new site, Zavvi.com, they do some of the statues and figures I like a little cheaper! Got my Clone Trooper Deluxe Veteran from them when they had 10% off the other week!
https://www.zavvi.com/merchandise/category/statues.list

I'm going to make one comment and hope I am wrong -
You have only just become a member.. your very first post was to start a thread publicising a Zaavi discounts scheme that appears to have some 'questionable' aspects.. your second post publicises Zaavi again.. is there something you are not telling us?

 

[Collectorcol]

I used Zavvi because they had some great prices and a 10% promotion on the first day of offering SS & HT.
Now that their prices have been adjusted and the discount has ended there offerings aren't that good.

I highly doubt 'clairelouise' is trawling the boards to find this thread where U.K collectors might see their 'adveritsment'.
More likely they happened to come across a thread about Sideshow pricing so decided to share their recent discounted purchase?...

But you never know

 

[Collectorcol]

Doubt i'll be using them again anyway with prices like this...
https://www.zavvi.com/merch-statues/alien-big-chap-1-2-scale-bust/10934421.html

 

[Collectorcol]

I'm going to make one comment and hope I am wrong -
You have only just become a member.. your very first post was to start a thread publicising a Zaavi discounts scheme that appears to have some 'questionable' aspects.. your second post publicises Zaavi again.. is there something you are not telling us?

Would seem you were spot on mate clairelouise has been hit with the hammer!

 

[plasticcrapmoneywaster]

Here is my take - Yes, prices on sideshow items have ramped up dramatically since the day I bought my first sideshow figure, Jedi Knight Luke for $49.99. I would also counter like I'm sure others have as well, that so too has the quality of the pieces that they produce. For me, it it is just a matter of abandoning the idea of owning everything. That is simply impossible. Instead I zero in on two to four pieces in a calander year that I simply must have and budgeting accordingly. On a side note, I've also recently started collecting loose vintage Star Wars figures off of ebay - a cheap and fun way to scratch my collector itch inbetween Sideshow aquisitions.

 

[JAWS]

Yes and No. Depends on the character. Had Catwoman been priced at 440.00 I would have passed. If a Kick *** John Rambo or John McClane came out at 450.00 I would still get them.

I guess I am less likely to gamble on a character that just does not mean as much to me.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

As long as its a character I really want, basically have any emotional attachment to, I'll always consider it. The better it's produced the more likely I'll get it unless the asking price is ridiculously high and I can't justify it. That being said, I did po the new Thor pf because he's one of a handful of characters I'll always brake for and I think it looks great.

 

[CollectorNC]

Also the larger sculpts now being hollow must make them a hell of a lot cheaper to produce.

Shipping for International customers seems to have doubled in the last year to make things worse.

This is one of the must bothersome things along with inexplicable hikes from one piece to the next despite there only being a month or two's difference and quality control. I finally got a cabinet to display my pieces and in moving them around I noticed all the newer ones were lighter than the older ones. Bases were hollow or cheaper on the new ones, where they were solid on the older ones. I had to destroy the Pursuit of the Ark horse and that thing was like paper mache. Couple light taps and you could see the hollowness. Even the landscape it is on top of is super light and super hollow.

The new Thor is a joke. $500 for a statue (I included shipping) that likely will be less quality than the original Thor PF. For those that say no, are you still buying the same volume of pieces? As I can't see that possible unless people are rich or live paycheck to paycheck with a hobby taking an unnecessary priority.

But as I have learned over 2-3 years on this forum, they could be charging a grand for every statue after last week charging 500 and there are enough defenders and apologists of SSC's that they will be in business for years to come gouging the consumer.

 

[DeadFett]

I wouldnt say its making me reconsider the hobby, do I like higher prices? Of course not but if I were to look at the positive it will help me only buy pieces I REALLY want to add to my collection. I'm mostly a Star Wars/Marvel guy so if there's a nice SW piece for 450 of a character I enjoy I will most likely get it, however I would almost certainly never pay 450 for anything DC related.

 

[TotalDominAsian]

Only just now seen the new Thor and thought it looked like ***. Then I noticed the price and laughed out loud in amazement. I'm not going to leave 1/4 statues entirely, but I'm DEFINITELY going to be way more picky and cut down my number of orders from 10+ a year to just 2-3. I see the writing on the wall... won't have a massive collection with the prices jumping so high. I don't hold anything against Sideshow for wanting more money, but I feel this may end up costing them more in the long run.

 

[Xaerius]

I agree.

It appears that they are testing their customer base to see just how much they can charge us without adversely affecting their bottom line. Last year, they put "Conan - Rage of the Undying" up for pre-order at $460 and that failed miserably with a run of only 200 + 750 and it isn't anywhere near being sold out. That was back when regular PFs were going for $350 to $360. So, what did Sideshow do? They slowly raised the retail price of their new releases month by month so we'd complain a little bit and then get used to it.

The Frog Thor seems like an inside joke because it feels as though we, as collectors, are like the frog in boiling water. They gradually turn up the temperature so that we don't jump out. Conan was too much of a hike 1 year ago as it was around $100 more than most other PFs. They've now worked the price of PFs to $400 and many people are justifying the new price thinking that they should buy now because future pieces are going to be when higher. That jump to $440 for Thor is only $40 more than regular PFs now and people will be more likely to make that jump than they were a year ago (also realizing that Thor may be a more popular character than Conan).

What I find particularly distressing is that some collectors are saying that they used their reward points to drop the price to $360, for example, so they are paying a regular price and the higher cost didn't affect them. Reward points are irrelevant since we could use them on lower priced items as well.

I know that costs to produce items may have gone up over the past year but I do not believe they could have gone up so dramatically, especially if what some of you veteran collectors are saying about quality is true.

I know there will always be those individuals who will say "if you can't afford it, don't buy it" but I think it is important for companies to remember who their customer base is and who helped to get them where they are today. Personally, I'd prefer that they stop throwing all that money away on the hundreds of Facebook and Twitter contests that they do every month if that is adversely affecting their bottom line. Simply adding an additional % cost to each statue sold over and over again is really not a long term answer, in my opinion.

I went overboard this year and have far too many pre-orders. I'm one of those people who makes other sacrifices so that I can buy these but there is only so far someone can go before they simply cannot afford to continue. I'll still buy but have already had to cut three new releases that I was actually looking forward to.

With that said, if the increased cost is going into dramatically improving QC and making the pieces more solid, like they were earlier on, then I completely understand and will be happy with far fewer, albeit much higher quality, pieces in the future.

 

[Collectorcol]

 

[Vitus]

I'm one of those people who makes other sacrifices so that I can buy these but there is only so far someone can go before they simply cannot afford to continue.

So what kind of Other sacrifices do you make if you don't mind me asking?
I make some... for example I don't pay for haircuts
Or Designer clothes... time to hit the army/navy store again for a spring jacket

 

[Damien]

YES
for Sideshow,HoT toys and Gentle Giant
their price increase make me only buy ''must have'' stuff

 

[Xaerius]

So what kind of Other sacrifices do you make if you don't mind me asking?
I make some... for example I don't pay for haircuts
Or Designer clothes... time to hit the army/navy store again for a spring jacket

Vitus, I cut out EVERYTHING. That means no going out to dinner, no nights at the theater (live or movie), no more buying the latest electronic gadgets or upgrading the computer, no new car, etc. The worst part is that I don't have the space to enjoy them right now so they are in a rented storage unit. LOL.

Still, I have to admit that being part of this group and awaiting the next release as well as people's in-hand pictures makes it feel worthwhile to me. I know that I'm definitely going to have to rethink my strategy now and it seems that as soon as we starting drawing lines in the sand and saying no, it gets easier and easier to skip the ones that are not exceptional.

 

[SAB]

I agree.

It appears that they are testing their customer base to see just how much they can charge us without adversely affecting their bottom line. Last year, they put "Conan - Rage of the Undying" up for pre-order at $460 and that failed miserably with a run of only 200 + 750 and it isn't anywhere near being sold out. That was back when regular PFs were going for $350 to $360. So, what did Sideshow do? They slowly raised the retail price of their new releases month by month so we'd complain a little bit and then get used to it.

The Frog Thor seems like an inside joke because it feels as though we, as collectors, are like the frog in boiling water. They gradually turn up the temperature so that we don't jump out. Conan was too much of a hike 1 year ago as it was around $100 more than most other PFs. They've now worked the price of PFs to $400 and many people are justifying the new price thinking that they should buy now because future pieces are going to be when higher. That jump to $440 for Thor is only $40 more than regular PFs now and people will be more likely to make that jump than they were a year ago (also realizing that Thor may be a more popular character than Conan).

What I find particularly distressing is that some collectors are saying that they used their reward points to drop the price to $360, for example, so they are paying a regular price and the higher cost didn't affect them. Reward points are irrelevant since we could use them on lower priced items as well.

I know that costs to produce items may have gone up over the past year but I do not believe they could have gone up so dramatically, especially if what some of you veteran collectors are saying about quality is true.

I know there will always be those individuals who will say "if you can't afford it, don't buy it" but I think it is important for companies to remember who their customer base is and who helped to get them where they are today. Personally, I'd prefer that they stop throwing all that money away on the hundreds of Facebook and Twitter contests that they do every month if that is adversely affecting their bottom line. Simply adding an additional % cost to each statue sold over and over again is really not a long term answer, in my opinion.

I went overboard this year and have far too many pre-orders. I'm one of those people who makes other sacrifices so that I can buy these but there is only so far someone can go before they simply cannot afford to continue. I'll still buy but have already had to cut three new releases that I was actually looking forward to.

With that said, if the increased cost is going into dramatically improving QC and making the pieces more solid, like they were earlier on, then I completely understand and will be happy with far fewer, albeit much higher quality, pieces in the future.

But Conan didn't fail miserably.
It has never been a super fast seller and it has never been a high quantity seller.

And that was a case of people having multiple choices.
Sideshow were doing 2 Conan pre-orders at once (with Fury of the Beast) as well as ARH entering the picture with their dios.

And the EX still sold out. The regular will sell out post release soon enough.

 

[Xaerius]

In my opinion, they would have sold a lot more than only 200 of the EX if the piece would have been more affordable. If what you have started is true, then listing Conan at such a high price was definitely the right thing to do to ensure that the small number of interested parties could still pick him up. I ordered that Conan while the ES was still only 150 because the SDCC pictures were so impressive. They raised the ES after it had already sold out the first time - that was just after the somewhat disappointing first pictures of the ARH reveal.

I still believe that they would have sold even more if it were offered at a different price point initially but I agree that the 750 REGs will definitely sell out especially, as I had mentioned previously, since the price isn't such a big jump anymore and this does have the potential to be absolutely amazing in-hand.

Still, from the great quality of some of the latest shipments, it appears that SSC is releasing some very nice quality pieces with few issues. The Mary Jane commiquette, Superman PF, Natasha Romanova, and Harley Quinn all apart to have come out great so, as I said previously, if higher cost is equal to higher quality, I'm more than okay with that.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Sennalupo]

Guys, is there one thing that has not been discussed here. If you are to value the replacement cost of a collection to your insurance company what are you going to use as reference SS sale invoice or the secondary market value. At the end of the day you are investing in art work and as long there is a demand for your pieces you will never loose out. Collectors whether it be tea spoons or figures are speculators, personal collections become refined as the sale of non important items fund more desirable pieces. Price rises are a known influence on the level of your commitment but who is to say what your return may be in the future if you are to subsidies the unexpected. Rather than pay income protection my wife and I decided to invest in collectibles, think about what would you rather do, enjoy a piece that appreciated on your shelves or pay a monthly premium to a company that may not payout your policy. Collectibles are not just a purchase but an investment and yes personal circumstance will dictate how you can spend your money but remember you obtain items that other people want, pop culture will always be a part of life. Believe in the force.