300 replies to this topic

[Gothneo]

I have made numerous 100 offers on them, even went up to 120 and i keep getting return offers of 190...i mean that is over 3 times retail...

 

 

Just keep on it. 

 

Looks like FHC got one for $100, Someone will give you a good price!

[FHC]

I found a guy that had sat on 3 for some time and had not sold one for that $200 mark. Guess he figured that a fast nickle was better then a slow dime.

[Jay K]

It's not like it's the Defiant.

My beating heart - be still.

[FHC]

Looking at the prices on that ship today and they are coming down.

[Gothneo]

Yep, which implies that DST really did get the demand overall for these right.

 

Your going to get people that just buy everything they can at a convention and look to flip it. Just like everyone that really wants one can't afford or doesn't want to go to the convention.

 

The price will drop to to the true demand for collectors out there, and DST think thats about 200 (which isn't allot!!)

 

I have to say, personally, for something that was a $60 SRP, if you can get one off ebay for under $100 your doing alright. Heck, I always pay friends that pick something up at conventions an extra $20 or $30 just for the hassle of doing me a favor like that.

 

Someone was telling me that this year just to get a ticket to be able to stand in line at the Hasbro booth, you had to get up at 3am in the morning and camp out each day.

 

Which is why I don't go to SDCC anymore! Too many people, too much madness!

[VulcanFanatic]

We didn't let people buy as many as they wanted. We limited them to two on Wednesday, because for weeks I've been telling people to ask a friend to pick one up for them. We sold out of everything we had on hand. We brought in the remaining inventory on Thursday, and we limited sales to one per person. That's when we actually sold out.

 

EXCEPT a couple were returned over the course of weekend, because people who had bought them for friends found out their friends had gotten them elsewhere. That's right, instead of scalping them, people brought them back. We put them out for sale as we got them, at SRP.

 

I hope that everyone here that wants one is able to eventually get one, at a price you're comfortable with. I'm sorry that the inability to get it instantaneously, for the SRP, is causing people to abandon the line. I have never heard of that, not in my eight years as a toy journalist or ever since.

 

I would again like to remind people that it's an unpainted version of a ship we've released twice, without the stuff that makes it work. It's not like it's the Defiant.

I became a serious Star Trek collector in 1987, had been a fan since the first time i saw star trek when it started syndication around 1971 or so and had all of the mego stuff when i was a kid. After a 4 year tour in the military, i started collecting in 1987 back in the pre internet, SASE days. If you dont know what SASE means, your still a kid. Anyway, I have read, seen, talked to and drove a million miles collecting, comparing notes , trading and sifting through thousands of dealers at flea markets as big as some towns are. I am not an expert even now, but i feel like i picked up a thing or two along the way and my two cents that i contribute to a discussion is usually worth at least a nickel. All that being said, it doesnt matter so much what the item you were selling at SDCC was, it was the fact that you artificially inflate demand by limiting quantity to a very low number and only gave one source to procure it. You could have been selling a one eyed Spock wearing a pink tutu with a chihuahua in a diamond purse and some completist will want it. Completist might need therapy, but they are part of your customer base and you shouldnt forget that their money is green too. Ive seen and read of lots of people who quit collecting over exclusives that ruined the hobby for them. Apparently your toy journalism hasnt brought you to some of the places ive been.

[Gothneo]

This isn't directed at anyone... just more thoughts to think about. 

 

The "Middle Man" has been a part of commerce since practically the Dawn of man. Its what built the Silk Road, city states like venice and more. 

 

Trying to get around the high cost of the middle man came about on day two, and its what drove small countries, like Portugal, who happened to be at the end of the silk road, and thus had to pay the highest "Shipping" costs... to go out and build an empire of their own. 

 

Its not always about bringing the lowest price to the consumer. In fact, its probably the always been the opposite. Its about getting the maxim coin out of your customer. Rockafeller, and most industrialist paid poorly and and exploited their workers and the poor as much as they could. They built monopolies so that they wouldn't have to compete. 

 

My point here is that goods have always had variable costs associated  with them. Heck get on an airplane today and try and find two people that paid the same price for a seat. Its near impossible to do. 

 

There have always been middle men in commerce, and thats not going to go away. If you don't like paying the middle man, then become a Portugal and create your own trade routes. 

[robster]

Of COURSE I'm over it! Been over it for days now,but also over collecting Trek,lol! Thankfully I've never been addicted or a completist,which of course I see as ridiculous,as there's no WAY you can have EVERYthing,and I seriously doubt ANYONE here has everything! Does the whole SDCC fiasco still piss me off? Nah,not anymore. It's just a toy. Do I still think it was handled badly? Yes,of course. That will never change. Does not mean I won't move on though. Thank you short attention span!

 

I didn't get the Boba Fett exclusive I wanted either. Did it turn me off SW? Of course it did. lol! But it doesn't last. Like I keep saying,I'll get back into collecting Trek again,or even SW,but now was just a good jumping off point for ME. Take a break and so forth. Some of you know perfectly well how that works,lol! And because of the country I live in,collecting stuff is just that little bit harder. One of MANY reasons I pay huge amounts of money to go to SDCC every year,and have done for 14 years. Luckily I also get to do quick day trips to London about once a month,which also helps in staying up to date on my various collections,lol.

 

Now looking forward to NYCC and see what that brings. No,not picking up any exclusives there,no matter what they are. Only the Hallmark stuff that some friends want. Other than that I'm just gonna enjoy the con,look for some fun Doctor Who stuff and talk with that Toy Hunter guy,like I did last year,lol! And of course have FUN in New York! Which I always do.

 

And that's how it works for me. Plain and simple.

 

J-R!

[VulcanFanatic]

Everyone is different, and to each his own, and all that. I dont find fault with people that dont mind spending any amount of money to go to whatever event they want to. Collecting for me has always involved several aspects that contribute to and satiate my collecting addiction-The thrill of finding an item i want, getting an item thats in the best possible condition and in original packaging, getting the best possible price available. Lots of variables come into play, but paying $100 dollars for that ship is too much IMO. IMO, $60 is too much for a non electronic ship, but if that was the lowest price i could get it for, if i were a completist, i would pay it. In the past, i have bought plenty of collectibles, but i always did my homework on them before i bought. I wont just spend any amount of money for anything just because someone says its rare, limited or whatever.                                            

 

I guess im trying to say that part of my thrill out of collecting is getting a good price. Even if i lived in San Diego, across the street from the SDCC con, i may not go if it seems too expensive. I went to one Star Trek convention in 1988 in Raleigh,NC and the ticket price was reasonable and the drive wasnt bad so i went. I really enjoyed it, but have not been to any others because i just dont want to spend hundreds of dollars or even thousands on plane tickets, hotel rooms, expensive restaurants, parking, convention passes, or whatever else. I would rather sit at my computer and order $500 worth of stuff from Big bad toys or Newforce than on a two day trip to Atlanta. After that two days is over, the $500 is gone, plus whatever i spent on overpriced dealer tables. Not going, i have $500 worth of collectibles to look forward to getting soon! Okay, my babble is officially over for the night!

[BadBunnyMike]

They are slowly coming down, but at the same time....there are fewer and fewer on ebay now...

[FHC]

then comes the remorse sellers in the next wave.

[Gothneo]

There you go remorse sellers just want their money back!!

[TheHSBR]

Well I still don't get why companies line the pockets of the "middle men."  So you turn a quick profit at SDCC but end up angering your main fan base.  For what? Advertising? The honor of saying you had an SDCC item sell out?  I don't get it because if there are a lot more people out their willing to shell out money for inflated SDCC prices, the companies are losing too on lost sales.

You know who does get it?  Mattel.  They produce SDCC exclusives that cant fit into their SKUs either online or in stores, usually stuff like this cloaked BoP that some may want and some may pass on.  They usually sellout at the show but have some to put on sale after.  The majority of people who want it, will get it. Everyone is happy.  Even middle men get theirs eventually when new fans come in and want one.  Seems pretty simple to me.

[Gothneo]

Well... Mattel announced an end to their 6" Retail line, so I guess anything goes for exclusives, because none of it appears to sell at retail! Also their online sub seems to be in danger of not going through this year.

[DSTZach]

This was the number we were comfortable making. We didn't want to send too many, and we didn't want to bring any back. Freight charges are bad enough, and these things are big. As it was, we had no place at the booth to put most of the ships we brought. We had a stack of boxes on the floor for most of Wednesday night.

 

Sorry again we didn't make extra to put online. We have never done that, that I know of, unless we simply didn't sell out of something. We didn't make these to help the middleman make money, we did it to put out another ship that we perceived to have limited appeal but would still be of interest to some collectors. Getting coverage for the line on StarTrek.com and on other sites certainly helps sales of the rest of the line, but we didn't make this ship just to make money. If we had, we would have charged MORE than $70, not less.

[TheHSBR]

I can understand the risk factor and of not knowing what the market will bear out.  I do know that DST did offer the exclusive Deanna Troi in red jumpsuit which was a convention exclusive as a special offer (the method at this time eludes me).  The previous con exclusives have all been done through individual companies so they take the risk, sold at the con, and then sell off the rest online.  I think this was the first real con exclusive for Trek done and sold by DST. 

[BadBunnyMike]

I can understand the risk factor and of not knowing what the market will bear out.  I do know that DST did offer the exclusive Deanna Troi in red jumpsuit which was a convention exclusive as a special offer (the method at this time eludes me).  The previous con exclusives have all been done through individual companies so they take the risk, sold at the con, and then sell off the rest online.  I think this was the first real con exclusive for Trek done and sold by DST. 

 

Actually DST did a few Con Exclusives....including most of the bridge crew from TWOK. Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and McCoy were SDCC Exclusives with the "Genesis" Khan as the incentive figure. Now because those were individual retailer exclusives as well, like NFC, EE the sets were sold later online as well.

[TheHSBR]

Im saying this was the first done exclusively by DST themselves and sold at a con like SDCC.

[FHC]

Remorse sellers seldom do. I have an extra case of the first E's here.