This is crazy (1 Viewer)

[Rob]

Wonder if they had some amazing revelations when the pancake and cheese sandwich were being masticated?
Cheers
Henri-La-Tete

Holy heartburn Batman!!!

 

[OzDigger]

It always disrubs me when you see dealers put stuff on Ebay with very inflated prices. They buy their K&C at a dealer discount and then to sell their stuff on Ebay with a high price - makes me snitty.

I dont have a problem for people who buy products retail and then sell their collection for more - thats fine - but, when a dealer who gets the discount and then takes advantage of customers for even more - well thats just wrong in my book. There should be a level playing field on ebay - in my opinion. Andy should look at these actions by these people.

Like I have said before - Its Your Collection - You Do What You Want With It - but, thats a little diffferent when it comes to retailers.

That won't happen ACN is very quick to jump on retailers that sell BELOW the Recommended Retail Price, but totally ignores those that rip off collectors with excessive pricing.

 

[Peter Reuss]

It only proves that some people will pay any price for any thing. A woman recently sold a pancake with an image of Christ on it on EBay. I don't know what it sold for. I saw a story about it on Yahoo's web page news section about a week ago. If you remember somebody sold a grilled cheese sandwich with Christ' image on it some time ago.

Did you ever wonder WHY people think it's Christ's image on these things?? It's not like we have a snapshot of him around anywhere. How do they know it's Jesus and not some other guy in long hair?

I've always wondered that...

 

[Peter Reuss]

That won't happen ACN is very quick to jump on retailers that sell BELOW the Recommended Retail Price, but totally ignores those that rip off collectors with excessive pricing.

From my perspective, the market tends to discourage dealers from 'making an buck' by selling way over retail.

Customers have a sense for when they have been taken for a ride, and their future shopping patterns will reflect it.

There are times, however, when dealers sell items that are not directly from their inventory but rather come from private collections. In these cases the dealer is often paying above retail to purchase it in the first place. Does this not create a different scenario?

 

[maddadicus]

Recent toy train auction..A Lionel postwar boxcar that book lists for $75.00 went for $6000.00. Advertised as rare ,but not $6000.00 rare....Michael

 

[jazzeum]

The specific seller in question is not a King and Country dealer so King and Country has no control over what it does.

The recommended price is intended to make sure that dealers don't put each other out of business by discounting against one another. As far as dealers raising the price on current items, there may be a couple who do that but it doesn't really make any sense because if someone is charging above the recommended price, you can just go to another dealer.

Where there are price disparities is on retired items and since this is a function of scarcity, I'm not sure I see what's wrong with a dealer having such an item trying to make what the market will bear. If a dealer has a scarce item that sold for $89 but ebay is commanding $300 should he sell at $89?

In addition, there's nothing that requires collectors to pay high amounts of money for these items.

 

[sceic2]

In a free market, a willing buyer will pay an acceptable price to a willing seller. Some people are just more willing and acceptable than others.

 

[Pierre]

...If a dealer has a scarce item that sold for $89 but ebay is commanding $300 should he sell at $89?

Knowing that some people will not hesitate to sell it 300,00$ on eBay the day after.

Pierre.

 

[tdubel]

Pierre,
Great point. If I was a dealer and recently found some very old stock, or have a few of a very hot selling retired item, I would certainly charge a premium because there are many collectors out there who buy and immediately resell for a profit. Now, this is a free market, but as a collector, I for one only sell duplicates of my own collection (hence I recently got rid of a Britains Washington boat set b/c in my quest for one, I ended up with 2 and it sold at a loss I might add!).

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Combat]

I tend to agree that a dealer should be able to sell products for the price they can get. That's a free market. The flip side though, which is less discussed, is that dealers are prohibited from discounting KC products that are not selling well. There may be some very good reasons for that, but the bottom line is that collectors pay top dollar for scarce items and never get a break on anything else.

 

[tdubel]

Combat,
another excellent point, as I know there are some space fillers or some what I will say completist figures in ranges that don't sell and once they are retired, a closeout should be available to dealers to move the inventory. Again, that is the cpa in me speaking.

Now, question, if a figure is retired, is it open season on pricing up or down? I don't know that answer and that might shed some light on this topic.

Tom

 

[jazzeum]

Another interesting point. On retired items, K & C doesn't want you to sell these less than the original price. If you're a dealer, you're supposed to start it an ebay at original retail.

 

[OzDigger]

I tend to agree that a dealer should be able to sell products for the price they can get. That's a free market. The flip side though, which is less discussed, is that dealers are prohibited from discounting KC products that are not selling well. There may be some very good reasons for that, but the bottom line is that collectors pay top dollar for scarce items and never get a break on anything else.

This is precisely my arguement

Whenever the subject of overpriced K & C models comes up, the same old free enterprise excuses are trotted out.

The fact is that K & C dealers have very strict selling guide lines and one is that dealers are NOT allowed to sell at discounted prices. How the hell some collectors here feel this is in their favour whilst there is no UPPER selling limit is beyond me.

The only possible explanation is that K & C want to encourage a false market that's in favour of investors.

 

[jazzeum]

Again, we need to distinguish between current items and retired items. In retired items (the scarce items), the sky's the limit. If people want them they will pay the asking price.

With respect to the current items, there's really no need to set a ceiling because if one dealer charges thirty percent more for an item, you can just go to another dealer who has the same item. In this case, the market regulates itself.

In the short term, it may not be beneficial to have the prices set at a certain threshhold but if dealers run themselves out of business, by discounting and then making deeper discounts, I don't see how that's beneficial to the collectors. In fact, if fewer dealers were available, the remaining dealers would be free to raise prices on current items and the collector would have even less options than before.

 

[damian]

One of the reasons pre 2006 Britains did so badly was that thye were overproduced and you could buy the stuff at car boot sales for half price within a week of it comming out. Even now certain of their pre 2006 products ( mostly the WWII range) you are virtually giving away on ebay. Certaon of their ranges have kept value ( Delhi Durbar) etc. Kand C products don't really sell for less than their original price.
Regards
Damian

 

[OzDigger]

It's a falacy that discounting prices results in fewer dealers.

Britains had to discount prices because their earlier products were issued in excessively high numbers for this limited market, and their products weren't very good.

Corgi does exactly the same thing with diecast. And now King & Country are introducing ever more products and variations.

Over the last few years the world economies have been contracting and 2008 will be CRUNCH time for this industry as well.

 

[Combat]

I would think dealers might be better off if they had the option to sell stock at discounted prices rather than being forced to sit on it because no one wants to buy at retail. Regardless, the market forces would be allowed to establish the appropriate price.

 

[damian]

Hardly a day goes by in the coffee hosues of Edinburgh when the merchant classes don't conspire to keep prices up and wages down.
I believe a man called Adam Smith said something along those lines in a book called The Wealth of Nations.
Regards
Damian Clarke

 

[nmrocks]

"Over the last few years the world economies have been contracting and 2008 will be CRUNCH time for this industry as well."

Economies contracting? which world are we talking about?
Ray

 

[OzDigger]

"Over the last few years the world economies have been contracting and 2008 will be CRUNCH time for this industry as well."

Economies contracting? which world are we talking about?
Ray

The real world Ray.