Uk Toy Soldier Prices (1 Viewer)

Thin Red Line said:
Just wondering if anyone knows why the prices for W Britains , First Legion e.t.c are so much more expensive in the U.K compared to the States?
With both W Britains and First Legion your paying the dollar amount in pounds i.e a Nassau foot soldier 38 dollars US , Uk equivalent 54 dollars!
Its a hell of a mark would be interesting to know the reasons why, importing from the states isn't the answer once postage and customs tax are added.

The standard must be overdue now.
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I still buy from the USA using eBay globe shipping program as you pay the custom charge up front and do get stopped for the £10.00 handing charge Royal Mail put on top :wink2:
 
I think that as a nation we tend to put up with a lot that other countries would not. An inbred reticence not to complain about anything and just take it. I can remember the ' booze cruise' when we went abroad to buy cheaper alcohol from France and you could save thousands buying a new car on the continent. Levi's and Apple products are much cheaper Stateside and who remembers the higher UK price of CD's in the pre- Amazon days.
 
Jedburgh said:
I think that as a nation we tend to put up with a lot that other countries would not. An inbred reticence not to complain about anything and just take it. I can remember the ' booze cruise' when we went abroad to buy cheaper alcohol from France and you could save thousands buying a new car on the continent. Levi's and Apple products are much cheaper Stateside and who remembers the higher UK price of CD's in the pre- Amazon days.
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As I said earlier, the prices are higher because they know they can get away with it?
 
Walsingham said:
As I said earlier, the prices are higher because they know they can get away with it?
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There eventually comes a point that you stop, WB are getting close, more to do with my interest in their ranges then the improving quality though.
FL I've stopped buying their newer releases. K&C have reduced prices on a couple of their newer ranges, hopefully a tread that will continue. which enables me to firstly get into a range and also allows me to buy more than just one or two figures, which was the stage I'd got to with FL alas.
JJD. TG are prices are ok at present as are TCS. But I won't be getting as heavily involved with any of them as I have Napoleonics where you tend to need mutiples for firing lines etc !

Steve
 
Jedburgh said:
I think that as a nation we tend to put up with a lot that other countries would not. An inbred reticence not to complain about anything and just take it. I can remember the ' booze cruise' when we went abroad to buy cheaper alcohol from France and you could save thousands buying a new car on the continent. Levi's and Apple products are much cheaper Stateside and who remembers the higher UK price of CD's in the pre- Amazon days.
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£15.99 a cd in HMV twenty years ago no wonder downloading then Spotify took over!
I've just had delivered the FL Panther (Great Model) and even with postage e.t.c still came in £40 under the FL Tiger price.
 
Horus said:
There eventually comes a point that you stop, WB are getting close, more to do with my interest in their ranges then the improving quality though.
FL I've stopped buying their newer releases. K&C have reduced prices on a couple of their newer ranges, hopefully a tread that will continue. which enables me to firstly get into a range and also allows me to buy more than just one or two figures, which was the stage I'd got to with FL alas.
JJD. TG are prices are ok at present as are TCS. But I won't be getting as heavily involved with any of them as I have Napoleonics where you tend to need mutiples for firing lines etc !

Steve
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I know what your saying like you I tend to go for Napoleonics and to build up lines i.e Britains 44 foot the expense soon builds up to make anything that looks any good.
Also Britains sculptures are varied from very good to not so good .Due to lack of anything new and Wb lack of variation in poses I've lost a bit of interest in WB and gone over to First Legion great figures unfortunatley the cost though means a lot less figures purchased.
 
Horus said:
There eventually comes a point that you stop, WB are getting close, more to do with my interest in their ranges then the improving quality though.
FL I've stopped buying their newer releases. K&C have reduced prices on a couple of their newer ranges, hopefully a tread that will continue. which enables me to firstly get into a range and also allows me to buy more than just one or two figures, which was the stage I'd got to with FL alas.
JJD. TG are prices are ok at present as are TCS. But I won't be getting as heavily involved with any of them as I have Napoleonics where you tend to need mutiples for firing lines etc !

Steve
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I agree, I really like the FL winter Naps Retreat From Moscow and have 18 of the first sets, but stopped when the sledges were over £400 for the sledges and some of the new figures are £99. Same with K & C, the new tanks and vehicles are too expensive, as are their figures, I collect when they become an affordable price, which they do at the shows etc. I too collect the K & C Napoleonic and have around 400, only British and French, picking up multiples cheap as and when they become available. Within this range there are also some strange prices, I can remember when the KCS mounted fetched hundreds of pounds and now I have picked some of the Dragoons up for under £65. On mounted, the British cavalry NAP 259 to 264, the first three are still quite expensive, but the last three seem to be cheaper, I have 2 of each. Not bought any of the newer sets in the last couple of years, too pricy and I can get, in my opinion, better value from T Gunn, back to FL at £99, I can get 3 TG Romans or Spartans for the same money.

Britains - just stopped collecting them, price too high for quality and I would buy some Zulu figures and 6 months later they are for sale at two thirds of what I paid. But then again my last statement is not relevant as they are not releasing stuff anyway.
 
UK prices are more expensive, and it’s only getting worse. I shop at Maisons Militaire, and there prices are always the new release dollar price changed to Sterling. Tiger Tanks were thus very expensive ( in comparison to the US release price); French sleds were similarly higher priced. God knows what they’ll do with upcoming Elephant (well it’s actually obvious what they’ll do), French artillery limber and or a future King Tiger. A King Tiger with riders will easily cost >$1000 once the Sterling conversion has been completed! I’ve mentioned this to Matt before but to no avail.....

Strange that most previous posters have commented on VAT and import charges for the price increases but Maison Militaires are also in for the profit..... I luckily buy from the States where prices remain reasonable i.e. not put up by distributors. With a hobby that’s always concerned about its future, it would appear UK companies are in the high profit / short term business model. This is a real shame.
 
tenth of june said:
UK prices are more expensive, and it’s only getting worse. I shop at Maisons Militaire, and there prices are always the new release dollar price changed to Sterling. Tiger Tanks were thus very expensive ( in comparison to the US release price); French sleds were similarly higher priced. God knows what they’ll do with upcoming Elephant (well it’s actually obvious what they’ll do), French artillery limber and or a future King Tiger. A King Tiger with riders will easily cost >$1000 once the Sterling conversion has been completed! I’ve mentioned this to Matt before but to no avail.....

Strange that most previous posters have commented on VAT and import charges for the price increases but Maison Militaires are also in for the profit..... I luckily buy from the States where prices remain reasonable i.e. not put up by distributors. With a hobby that’s always concerned about its future, it would appear UK companies are in the high profit / short term business model. This is a real shame.
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The UK average salary is £27,600 as stipulated by the UK govt.

Let’s assume a husband and wife team are selling K&C, FL, JJD in equal amounts.

After business costs such as storage, postage, tax, NI, medical, website, advertising, travel to shows, not to mention many other costs involved in the day to day running of a ‘retail’ business we will make the very generous assumption that they take 25% profit from each figure.

I’ve picked recent releases rather than similar price points. I could have also chosen the more expensive K&C Roman archers but this will serve a point.

K&C USMC figure = $39 USD or £27.50 at today’s forex rate

FL Samuarai figure = $110 USD or £78.55 at today’s forex rate

JJD Ancient Gaul = $54 USD or £38.56 at today’s forex rate

On top of all of these of course go VAT and other UK charges.

So at a generous 25% profit from each figure we are looking at an average of £12 Sterling from each figure on average and again that’s being very generous because it includes the FL Samuarai. The K&C USMC would yield only £6.87

So, a husband and wife team could reasonably expect to earn £55,200 before taxes.

That equates to 4,600 mixed figures per annum (equal FL, K&C, JJD)

Or it equates to 8,034 K&C figures per annum

This doesn’t involve tanks or planes, but then again how many of them are people selling?
 
Thin Red Line said:
£15.99 a cd in HMV twenty years ago no wonder downloading then Spotify took over!
I've just had delivered the FL Panther (Great Model) and even with postage e.t.c still came in £40 under the FL Tiger price.
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Where did you buy FL Panther from that the question?^&grin
 
Whole host of reasons why prices are higher in the UK than elsewhere. Import duties, VAT, exchange rates impacted by BREXIT. Not helped by a "greying" collector base either.
 
A British manufacturer, :salute:: with sculpts/animation approaching JJD/K&C/Britains, Reasonable Matte painted finish, everything produced in Britain...................

Job done............... ^&grin

Roy
 
Old Bill said:
A British manufacturer, :salute:: with sculpts/animation approaching JJD/K&C/Britains, Reasonable Matte painted finish, everything produced in Britain...................

Job done............... ^&grin

Roy
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Great suggestion Roy...Where is he..?
Best wishes,
Andy.
 
King & Country said:
Great suggestion Roy...Where is he..?
Best wishes,
Andy.
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Where is he Andy................. In my dreams of course ^&grin (what makes you think it has to be a him?) :wink2:

Just saying I think it would address a lot of the price factor for British collectors - and like it or not that is now a very big factor for ordinary mortals............

Cheers,

Roy
 
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