Bandai Star Wars Kits - Price fluctuations - When to buy?

Hey everyone. I have just recently started lurking the modeling threads and I'm catching strong feelings on wanting to start into the scale modeling world. I've admired much of the work here and look forward to learning a lot. I wanted to start with some Bandai Kits and the Hasbro Falcon I just recently picked up before starting on the ultimate goal, the Diagostini Falcon!!

Question about the Bandai Kits... I've noticed quite a bit of price fluctuations on Amazon and it's hard to know when prices are reasonable given they're all third party sellers. (I never seen them sold and fulfilled by amazon).

I was wondering if I could get your input on a reasonable price you have seen for each of the Bandai kits (include shipping). I figured I'll keep a list on this first post and update it for anyone to reference (I've entered the current prices I'm seeing). Thanks everyone!!

Millennium Falcon - $42?
X-Wing Starfighter - $37?
Y-wing Starfighter - $32?
Snow Speeder - $22?
TIE Fighter Advanced - $26
TIE - Advanced X1 (Vader's TIE) - $21?
Resistance X-Wing fighter (TFA) - $23?
First Order TIE Fighter - $24?
Slave 1 - $32?
AT-ST - $23
BB-8 and R2-D2 - $43?
Scout Trooper and speeder bike - $48?
Storm Trooper - $22?
Sand Trooper - $22?
Boba Fett - $24?
Darth Vader - $$30
R2-D2 and R5-D4 - $39?
C-3PO - $43?
First Order Storm Trooper - $21?

Hello there!
I have recently started getting into the Bandai kits and so far they are amazing! Very intricate details and easy instructions.
I bought all of mine from Amazon so far, you just kind of have to keep checking on and off.
So far I have:

R2 with R5 for $24.00
3pO for $26.86
R2 and BB8 $33.99
and Cap Phasma $43.91

Anything under $30 is a great price, especially for the detail- $40 and up is pushing it a little. These are a little bigger than the Hasbro black series 6 inch figures out right now.
I used to make Gundam kits a while ago and they hold up well, these are even better.
They look especially awesome after they are painted. You will want to use some small flush cutters when taking the tiny pieces off of the sprues- they are REALLY small.
I have only built an R2 so far and it took about an hour, most of that time was just getting the pieces cut off. There was minimal trimming. I have not bought any of the ships yet but the figures are totally worth it.

Have fun!

I am in the same boat as you right now. I do quite a lot of painting, just haven't moved into the scale model world.

I just picked up the Bandai Falcon for $42 shipped on Amazon, and I feel like it was a fair price for the size, quality, and shipping from Japan. I've definitely not found it cheaper anywhere else.

That being said, I'd also love to know what the resident modeling experts think!

Those look like pretty fair prices. The older kits will generally be higher than the newest releases. I would also keep an eye on eBay. Look under "newly listed" for the best prices.

Do the stated prices include the shipping cost? That will vary depending on final destination and of course, specific country import duties. For example, AFAIK, the US customs limit is $200 duty free.

R/ Robert

rbeach84 said:

Do the stated prices include the shipping cost? That will vary depending on final destination and of course, specific country import duties. For example, AFAIK, the US customs limit is $200 duty free.

R/ Robert

Click to expand...

When I ordered the Falcon, the $42 did include shipping charges.

I noticed the price has jumped up to $49.99 for the falcon over the last few days. What exactly causes these fluctuations in price?

This seller is on ebay and has 8 kits left at $50.00 (US Dollar) shipping included - they have a 99.8 seller rating with 120 sales:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/F-S-Bandai-...526492?hash=item25b40cc81c:g:A-UAAOSwT~9Whg9V

Ships to: Worldwide





This seller is on ebay and has 2 kits left at $37.80 + $13.80 Shipping (US Dollar) - they have a 99.6 seller rating with over 62,000 sales:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bandai-Star...031001?hash=item2ca728d0d9:g:eIIAAOSwo6lWMaGJ

Ships to: United States, Europe, Canada, Australia from Japan


Hope this helps!

Lee

Jackson R said:

When I ordered the Falcon, the $42 did include shipping charges.

I noticed the price has jumped up to $49.99 for the falcon over the last few days. What exactly causes these fluctuations in price?

Click to expand...

I have been an ebay seller on and off since 2006, I deal in a lot of collectibles and typically on sites like Amazon or Ebay the "fluctuations" are caused by availability or the seller's desire to sell the item over his competitors.

In general retail the price variances are generally caused by buying power or branding. Disney doesn't sell the toy Falcon for the same price as Walmart simply because the people who buy from Disney expect the higher price MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) and accept it because financially they can afford it. Walmart buys in huge bulk in order to provide budget buyers (Average citizens) with a lower price for whatever it is they choose to purchase ignoring the MSRP. By the same token Toys R Us would like to reach all of that buying segment yet their price is lower than Disney's but more than Walmart simply because they can not afford to buy as many units as Walmart. Anyway, I hope this sheds some light on the topic.

Lee

It is funny to see the prices for the Talking Disney action figures R2-D2 and BB-8. At the Disneystore they are about 40 $ each whereas at amazon and ebay the prices are three or four times higher.

I been picking up Bandai stuff since the whole debacle with licensing off Amazon

Back at in November I got these

I believe they were all within a couple dollars of the MSRP (except maybe the Y-wing might have been a little more expensive)

1/72 X-wing $23.89 with free shipping.

1/72 Y-wing $33.31 with free shipping

1/72 Tie Fighter $21.80 with free shipping

1/48 AT-ST $24.21 with free shipping

Just this week I ordered a 1/72 Force Awakens X-Wing for $22.41 with free shipping

I believe the MSRP for the 1/444 falcon is $45

I've have seen some sellers trying to jump on the "hard to get" bandwagon and charging $60 dollars or even upwards of $100 for these kits.

Best advice I think is to not panic buy. If people know they can get $50 to $60 for the kit, your going to start to see prices more routinely hit that range. If your patient your will find fair deals on them. Don't feed the price trolls