conte? (1 Viewer)

[marco55]

I don't understand why someone trying to run a business is so differcult to work with.Where I work they will do anything to keep our customers.I hear that he is wealthy anyway,maybe that explains it.He has a good product but must not be a good businessman.
Mark

 

[gk5717]

Here I am talking about Conte again.
But if you ever talked with him face to face as I have on numerous occasions at OTSN you would think you are dealing with the "Dealer from Heavan"
I mean the guy is so enthusiastic about the hobby, he tells you of all these wonderful plans and ideas for the future. He shows you these fabulous prototypes, blah, blah, blah.
I don,t know what happens when he leaves the spotlight. Maybe he leaves this planet and pitches his BS somewhere else in the universe, because in reality most that leaves RC,s mouth is BS.
I keep telling myself not to post negative comments about Conte and his operations, but when I see a glowing post by someone about a future product I just want to scream!
If you have been in this hobby for a few years nothing should ever be counted on coming from this guy unless you have it in your hand.
He has done nothing to me, except makeing me feel like a fool for falling for his BS early on as I too believed in all his promises.
Maybe this should some it up, if you believe in Santa Clause then you should believe in Conte!
Gary

 

[thebritfarmer]

If you think about why does he have to care.

I don't collect Conte, but it seems a lot of people on here do and sing his praises very loudly. There is no doubt in my mind that comments from here are passed along to RC. And from what I have read on here looks like most RC collectors would sell a kidney or wait forever to receive some of his stuff. If RC knows this why does he have to care? You guys will buy it if it comes out this year or in 3 years, you know it and I think RC does too.

 

[Warrior]

I'm with Brett on this one.

I recieved an email saying Conte would not attending OTSN this past year and if I wanted any of his plastic Spartans, to let them know and I'd get some for the show.

I emailed back and said I would like a case of each, emailed again to confirm and heard nothing.

I assumed they'd either get to me in time to take to the show or would be drop shipped to the hotel.

Neither was the case, they never showed up on either end.

I have also preordered the Zulu sets, who knows if or when they show up.

Have also had customers contact me asking if I can match their prices on metal sets.

When I picked myself off the floor from laughing myself out of the chair, I replied "Sure, if I want to lose money on the sale."

I also heard from a customer who was over by their tables at the Hackensack New Jersey show last Fall that one of the reps there said they plan to eliminate the dealers and sell direct at some point.

All of that said, he made THE best plastic WWII figures, Zulu and 24th foot, Normans, Saxons, FFL and Arabs Iv'e ever seen when Ken Osen was the sculptor.

And his terrain is second to none, period, end of story.

 

[marco55]

The legend of Conte grows.
Mark

 

[Union Cove]

I have also heard from more than one of my customers that he intends to sell directly to the consumer and cut out the dealers. I want to wait to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak, before I pass judgement. It sure wouldn't be the first rumor about him that wasn't true. There will also forever be the concern that he'll sell me the set for $30 and turn around and sell it on Ebay for $20 (or $15). That has been going on for some time and has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth and has left me somewhat red faced when dealing with people who bought from me at regular price. I love his stuff too and whether or not I continue to sell it, I probably will have to buy some of it for my own collection. But I won't jump on it when it first comes out knowing that down the road there will be a "Buy One - Get Three Free" deal possible.

Jan

 

[kogu]

Maybe he's attempting a new strategy for the future.
Getting ridd of the past and once he comes out with new stuff, Conte will sell it directly, something like First Legion or so?
When looking at the ebay dealer "beaugestecollectibles" who apparently is Richard himself then he's sure throwing out a lot of stuff as bargains, including a lot of items that seem to be from his personal collection, like Elastolin or Timpo figures.
Once you throw your stuff out that you cherished for many years, I am not quite sure if there is motivation left to come out with new stuff?
Just some thoughts.

 

[Warrior]

Kogu,
I agree that from a pure profit standpoint, selling direct is the way to go, instead of selling at a discount to nitwits like me, you sell at full retail, capturing all the profits.

The one area missing in that plan is storefront exposure/dealers carrying the product who attend toy soldier shows. Speaking only for myself, I attend about 30 shows per year that attract close to 20,000 collectors altogether.

People want to see the product in person in a lot of cases and shows/stores are the only real source for this.

Regarding your FL example, Matt does sell direct via his website, I sell at the shows and many customers have said after seeing the figures in person, they decided to buy as up until that point they were unsure.

Just my .02 for what it's worth, which due to the recession is worth about .00000000000000000000000005 cents.

 

[kogu]

That is right, Warrior,
there is no better experience then a local shop (storefront) or the items visible at a show that one can attend. But either one is only available to a limited amount of collectors. There are not many Toy Soldier Fans out there who have the luxury of a local store supplying the ranges/series/manufacturers they like. Also there are not very many collectors who are able to attend the shows that show of the new and of course the established products of all the manufacturers combined.
You are doing a heck of a job by travelling so many shows a year and presenting interested collectors with available products. I absolutely do not want to cut that down in any way.
As a matter of fact I am scared about that the www will take over sooner or later as the primary source for purchasing. You do travel a lot and you do attend very many shows throughout the year. Still there are 1000's of collectors out there worldwide who via the internet have instant access to ordering.
I am curious about what the percentage of sales would be for the participating manufacturers on this forum right here compared to their regular market which they serve via internet/fax/phone/shows/dealers/own store?
Several times it was mentioned that R. Conte is quite wealthy and along with that an enthusiastic collector of toy soldiers. Maybe he is able to do just what he likes at his convenience?
I don't know. Just thinking about this long going on "What is going on with Conte?" thread.
Konrad

 

[marco55]

Conte has over 200 items on ebay.Most are his own products but yet if you contact them they say they have no stock.Is this ethical?
Mark

 

[Warrior]

I agree Konrad that there is nothing quite like walking into a store to view toy soldiers up close and in person. I can remember way back in the day going to a store we used to have up here in MA called Excalibur Hobbies; nothing beat the rush of walking up to that storefront and seeing all the toy soldiers in the window and then walking in and seeing them all in the glass cases.

Shows are and will be a vital link in the chain; the internet is great, but shows draw a ton of interest. I think back to when I first got back into the hobby in the mid 1990's and there were about a dozen good quality shows out there; now there are three times that many and more are added every year.

About 1/3rd of my income is generated at the shows, plus I get the chance to meet many customers face to face and have a nice chat, putting a face with a name so to speak. And shows create a lot of impulse buying the internet can never hope to create; a collector goes to a show, sees a set in person and just has to have it, the internet cannot generate that type of sale, never will be able to.

Back to Conte, if he goes soley the direct route, best of luck to him, he's done great by me, I've carried his products for nine years and have met a lot of great collectors both metal and plastic as a result.

Gary (gk5717) is my longest standing customer, we both go back to the birth of Conte, so there you go...........

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

He must be selling a ton of stuff on eBay, because I bought two pieces from him and it took almost a month for me to receive them. When Conte first started, his figures were outstanding. I have almost everyone of his early Civil War pieces, and they are some of my favorites. In my opinion the painting started to go down hill with the Irish Brigade series and the SOS line is totally incompatible with his earlier sets.

 

[Ragnar]

He must be selling a ton of stuff on eBay, because I bought two pieces from him and it took almost a month for me to receive them. When Conte first started, his figures were outstanding. I have almost everyone of his early Civil War pieces, and they are some of my favorites. In my opinion the painting started to go down hill with the Irish Brigade series and the SOS line is totally incompatible with his earlier sets.

I have to agree on the Painting i just loved the painting on the early stuff.
1066 and Civil War sets but i was not that impressed with the painting on.
the Valhalla Awaits sets they look great on the Conte website but in the flesh.
some look like thay were painted by a guy who was jogging at the same time they were painted.
Im not Conte Bashing i still like the Brand and i hope he can get back on track.
I just think he had a great Product in the past...anynew sets i would have to se in the flesh.
Before i buy,

 

[Spitfrnd]

He must be selling a ton of stuff on eBay, because I bought two pieces from him and it took almost a month for me to receive them. When Conte first started, his figures were outstanding. I have almost everyone of his early Civil War pieces, and they are some of my favorites. In my opinion the painting started to go down hill with the Irish Brigade series and the SOS line is totally incompatible with his earlier sets.

That may be true with the ACW but the Spartans and Immortals are simply amazing. The sculpting and painting is about as good as you can find any where. I am so glad I found about about them in time to collect a critical mass before they became extinct. I am also so glad Conte did this range since it would not have been done nearly as well otherwise. I would buy new ones from this range if they ever show up. If not, I will just enjoy the ones I have. And then there are the simply incredible posable plastic Spartans. So however inconsistent and unreliable, when you produce product like that, it will have a following.

 

[aujj65]

Conte has over 200 items on ebay.Most are his own products but yet if you contact them they say they have no stock.Is this ethical?
Mark

I think where money is involved ethics go out the window.

Jeff

 

[APACHEJOL]

I think where money is involved ethics go out the window.

Jeff

I have lost intrest in Conte because of this. I like K@C and John Jenkins business models better. I have sold all of my Conte collection expect for Rogers Rangers and the Woodland Indians. There is to much good stuff out their and to many good companys to waste my money. Of course this is only my opinion. K@C retires items and never throws 50 percent off partys two months after I paid full price?! And John Jenkins still runs very limited numbers of his items when they are gone they are gone. For my personal taste I like the way these two businesses work and thats where I spend my money. Of course much of my business also goes to AEROART but thats for a different thread.

 

[lancer]

Agreed about the business model. No one wants to pay retail just to discover a 50% off sale on same items a few months later. Also, as said, why wait for ages for a release that may or may not show up when there are so many others that are available and reliable? I had several disappointments trying to buy Conte figures (never in stock) before this forum educated me. Now my money goes to the reliable manufacturers. -- lancer

 

[The Military Workshop]

Hi guys,
It was interesting to see the comments from some other dealers.
As you can imagine I thought a lot about posting my experience with Conte on the forum.
What got me is that Richard Conte came across as very enthusiastic to sell to me. He indicated he had the stock I wanted and then it turned out he did not. Then he claimed to one of my customers he did have it ! I went from very excited to let down very quickly.

I note some customers comments about buying something only to see it seriously discounted later (ie. buy 1 get one free offers and items on Ebay at low prices). This seriously affects dealers confidence in handling the product.
This hurts the "brand" as customers and dealers lack confidence.

I agree with the comments about the importance of shop displays (I am of course biased). Most of my customers would not have heard of Conte without me mentioning it or showing them some examples of the range (I traded with a customer to get some Spartans to display in the shop). I was looking forward to buying the Rorkes Drift buildings and having a great display and have no doubt would attract people who had not previously bought Toy Soldiers.

Whilst Richard Conte can do with his business as he likes if it was me I would concentrate on certain core items.
Forget the big ticket items like the ships (especially if you are going to have to discount them soon after release).
Forget Ebay as that should be minor income in the overall scheme of things and it is time consuming.Hopefully the discounting and Ebay sales have reduced his inventory. I would not re-do many of the old ranges.
I would concentrate on the items that can sell well and ensure the manufacturing can keep up. I would guess there are many outlets that would be more than happy to stock the Spartans and Zulus range if they could get it and knew pricing level would be maintained.
I would reduce the number of outlets I supply to (Conte has about 180 dealers listed in the USA - about 4 x as many as K&C !).

I think one of the major problems is his obvious creative enthusiasm. Whilst he was unable to supply what I was ordering he was keen to tell me there was a new series coming after the Zulu range (not mentioned but now appears to be Foreign Legion and the Adventure / Jungle series).

I suspect he does not have a good team around him and this should be a priority. I understand there may have been supply problems.

He should be doing extremely well because of the quality of his product and it is sad to see that there is a great demand for his product that he can not meet.

Having said all that I do wish his company all the best. However one has to wonder if it is enjoyable anymore.
Regards
Brett

 

[The Lt.]

I'm bored with the Conte bashing and the love and hate comments and thought my Lord General that you'd be interested in coming to aid of this young lass as soon or as shortly after she becomes available knowing how much of an officer and gentleman you are.........Your Aide De Camp and member of your General Staff...The Lt.

 

[kilted vampire]

I'm bored with the Conte bashing and the love and hate comments and thought my Lord General that you'd be interested in coming to aid of this young lass as soon or as shortly after she becomes available knowing how much of an officer and gentleman you are.........Your Aide De Camp and member of your General Staff...The Lt.

Quite right Snuffy. Someone should pot that cat before She gets hurt!
Now, where is my Brandy? Cigars anyone? Well, chin chin!