MR TOS E Mean End of MR Collector's Society?

[QuiGonFishing]

Does the release of the TOS Enterprise represent the end of the MR CS club?

Those of you who are keeping tabs on the MR forum know why this issue is heating up. A recent eBay listing would allow you to pick up an LE E for about $890 INCLUDING shipping for a factory sealed new product.

So why pay a $50 membership to an "exclusive" society to be treated to paying $200 to $250 MORE for your ship and receive it within the same four-week period as the non-member who also got the better price?

I, for one, believe that if MR does not rectify this problem by threatening to pull the licenses of these underpricing dealers ASAP, then the Collectors Society is over. It's clear that they CAN do this, the question is will they.

More here:
http://masterreplicas.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502

My last post at MR on this topic was a little wordy (I know you're surprised), but I think important.

Thoughts..?

 

[Raffles]

If MR sells these to a retailer and takes their profit from that sale and then the retailer sells and takes their profit how can MR justify their prices?
I'm assuming that if $890 is even close to the wholesale price then any 2nd party retailer will make the difference of the full price as pure profit.
$200-300 profit for the retailer and the same if not more for MRwith no breaks for CS members.
Really makes the CS seem as though all your money is just being used to fund production costs with no return for you.
All the CS gives you is the chance to spend more money on props than the general public.

 

[KnightAsylum]

I don't think the answer can lie in "threatening to pull the license from those dealers." Lets be honest, dealers typically (in most things) buy at a 40-50 percent discount, then they choose the markup (with always the suggested retail price being just a suggestion. They have the right to sell it at any price they want, they already bought the product from the maker, so that is their right, the same as they can (and many do) end up selling thing for over the retail amount. It is, in may cases, more expensive to buy directly from any company then to get it from a distributor. Most company websites only sell their portucts at the "sticker price" while most products (thank goodness) can be found for less somewhere else.
The question is more about if your subscription to the CS club is worth it to you, maybe it is not, but I am sure there are plenty who will stay with it. I have spoken to many CS members at the conventions who would keep the membership just for the con get togethers, so I don't think the club is going anywhere.
The basic rule always applies, if you don't think you are getting your money out of it, don't sign up next time. Show your support, or dissatisfaction with your wallet, that is really the only way to really let a buisness know. But I tend to think the club will go on regardless of any current issues. But then again, what do I know, I just thought I would ramble off my opinion on the matter.

 

[nwjedidave]

great thread QuiGon thanks for the link ..

I think MR is stuffing it to their most loyal cash cows (customers)


the whole "Low # edition" through MR is a bunch of crap as I can attest to when my Falcon showed up.

Sure they might with hold the first 50 or so numbered PLAQUES but as far as assigning them as they are ordered has never happened.

 

[QuiGonFishing]

MR actively enforced a rule that I have seen no evidence for the repeal of that forbad dealers from selling under 5% on retail within the first six months. This was done to avoid exactly what's going on here - the most loyal MR customers receiving a professionally wrapped, plexi-glass protected, numbered edition SHAFT. (with commemorative plaque).

Why are they refusing to hold dealers to their agreement? And if the agreement that was in place is now null, why??

 

[CessnaDriver]

Do other products have the same issue?

 

[MRCUSTOMERCARE]

Hi QuiGon,

Thank you for your well thought out feelings. I am not quite sure why you keep referring to the Collectors Society about this issue. The Collectors Society has many benefits, but none of those benefits state that you will always get a cheaper price then some retailers offer it for.

It is up to the individual to see if they think the CS is worth purchasing. Some people like the 10% off, some people like the mini you get with it, some people like being able to buy the CS exclusives, some people like attending the events like the party we are having at Henson Studios, etc. If you do not think the CS is worth it that is ok. You can choose not to join. Other people may want to join because they like the benefits I just listed. Each collector has their own reasons.

I totally understand where you are coming from about what some retailers are selling our product for but that doesn't relate in any way to what we promised you for joining the Collectors Society as we never stated that we can promise you a lower price then some retailers offer it for nor did we ever state anything about our relationships or deals with retailers. The retailer pricing and the CS are really two different issues.

 

[DarkKnight]

as for myself I joined the collectors society, my rationale was this... as a member I could get the items discounted from retail , and although I might do better buying from an auction or something, in case anything was imperfect, returns would be so much easier handled direct through MR themselves, so I saw it as an insurance policy of sorts, my Falcon seems perfect, i'm waiting for the base of my replacement E, and I feel being a club member and buying direct has made that situation so muchneasier and hassle free

 

[QuiGonFishing]

DarkKnight: Perhaps, but you could have accomplished the same without the additional CS expense. And, when you buy from an authorized dealer, you still work directly through MR on returns/replacements as they honor their warrantee in full as long as your seller is an authorized one.

To Amy:
Just thought I would cc the reply I left on the MR board here:

Amy, that is a fair observation. And you're right, the issue at hand doesn't need to be tied to the CS directly. But the CS does offer a discount which non-members would not be entitled to, and I think we can all agree that even with the other perks, this is the one which most compells us to join.

The larger issue is that we all want to be smart with our money. The CS discount is rendered absolutely meaningless by what some of your dealers are doing. As stated above, we expect variances in pricing to take off after the product is no longer available from the manufacturer or after demand for the item has faded.

To have MR's price so drastically undercut by authorized dealers who deliver in roughly the same time period with comparable edition numbers (which may have real value to some) does not seem to be good business practice. It makes the most loyal MR fans feel like they were duped. That's the point I'm trying to make.

And it is immenently controllable. If a buyer pays 25% less than I do, but has to wait an additional six months to get his item, I can easily live with that. And dealers have reported to me that this six month interval was in fact MR's policy. If so, a re-introduction or new enforcement of that policy would immediately resolve this issue.

I realize you are reluctant to discuss dealer policy in the open air over a public forum with someone call QuiGonFishing, but I urge you to look at the merits of doing so. We are your most energetic cheerleaders. We want success for you and the entire organization because you literally make our dreams into reality.

Whether we join the CS or not, we are your direct customers. We just want to avoid feeling like fools after we take your hand in partnership. No more, no less.

 

[RKW]

One of the major reasons for dealers is for non US customers where the CS discount is rendered absolutely useless due to high shipping and import fees. This is why a certain percentage of CS exclusives are allocated to dealers.

 

[Jedi Dade]

The collectors society at MR is not an incentive plan - for lack of a better description its a club. as for getting low numbers being a member - I'm not sure if its a hard and fast rule or not but I'm sure as heck NOT complaing about getting number 12 on my signature edition falcon :thumbsup :thumbsup

getting it cheaper on the open market happens to MOST collectibles regardless of manufacturer, and after a fairly LONG time start to regain its value. That's why I never buy stuff as an investment no matter how tempting - it usually does not pay. MR stuff usually holds its value pretty well, and I've only purchased a couple of things that are now less expensive then when I got them - most have actually increased in value... at least of the ones I've purchased.

For the record I'm NOT an employee of MR - just a satisfied collectors society member. I paid my bucks got a couple of coupons worth more then I paid, some cool newsletters, a nice little mace windu saber - I'm not into the mini's but it is nice... all in all I'd say it was a fair value if not a discount clearing house for their merchandise - its just a nice littler perk...expecting to be more then that is not really reasonable...

Jedi Dade

 

[yt]

I have refused to join the MR collectors society since they made the membership fee based. And since they started charging for the membership I buy all of my MR from dealers (with the exception of the E). There is no incentive to buy direct from MR anymore...

 

[Howard]

I started a thread some time ago addressing certain issues - here's one of them which I feel still needs clarification from MR's POV.

From that thread:

_________________________________________________________________________________________

MR's site states on the CS membership ad page:

"For your enrollment fee of $59.95 (Domestic shipping and handling included; an additional $20 for international orders), you will receive:
'The chance to purchase Collectors Society Exclusives - including the Elite Edition replicas, which are ONLY available to members of the Collectors Society."

MR said in reply:
'We always state with our CS exclusives that we dedicate 250 of them be sold to some of our international distributors so people in the UK and Asia can get a hold of them.'
What people?
Non CS members?
People who haven't paid for the privilege of being able to order this item in advance.?

'ONLY (that's your use of caps BTW) available to members of the Collectors Society'?
That's obviously completely untrue, and I'm unhappy to have been misled concerning not only the 'inner circle' exclusivity of my CS membership, but also having paid out $79 for the privilege.

_________________________________________________________________________________________


I was promised an update from Amy concerning their U.K. / European distribution plans for the future - following their Corgi merger. Nothing as yet.
Saying that - I've seen MR mini blasters at a local store here in the U.K. so I guess items are filtering through to collector's outlets, and it's just a matter of time before ordering directly from MR will be a thing of the past.

To address the subject of this thread - I do think the CS membership is perhaps worth the money if you're a U.S. member, but only for the reasons Amy stated above. But, considering the savings available on eBay and from dealers - it doesn't seem to me be worth the money, unless you collect CS membership pack items.
I would like to see MR take a little time to work out a business plan where paying the $79 actually does save money for the members and entitle them to actual exclusivity and savings, because at the moment CS membership seems to have no financial benefit at all to either U.S. or overseas members. At the end of the day we all have to put food on the table and clothes on our backs, so savings will always be the main concern when we click the 'Add to basket' tab.

 

[rad1701]

This thread should be retitled. These pricing issues have been happening for awhile and are not exclusive to the MR SS Enterprise. Look at what some places were selling some of the AT-AT's for. In some cases about $800. Which is lower than anywhere else I have seen and well below MR even with a CS discount. The question is though - are the dealers still making money at that price point? I'm not sure and have to believe they wouldn't be making a lot of money.

Even with all that, I still like buying right from MR. If you have issues with your product, they will take care of you. Some MR dealers may not be able to take returns as easily. I do wish MR would do more for it's CS members, maybe this price issue will push them a bit on that.

 

[QuiGonFishing]

If it's an authorized dealer, you work directly through MR on returns/exchanges. There is really very little distinction. This is one of the reasons why becoming an authorized dealer is a great deal for these retailers. It's also a reason why MR should not have to apologize for holding them to certain business parameters that respect direct buyers and CS members...

 

[rad1701]

I have heard of many variations on dealers and how they work return/exchanges. That's why I am wary of doing big purchases other than direct from MR.

 

[DarkKnight]

to me it just made life easier re: returns, they were able to look me up on the computer and everything went pretty smooth. given the cost of the Falcon and the Enterprise I felt it was cheap insurance esp given the number of issues early buyers had,perhaps it would have been just as easy had I bought from one of their dealers, but I didnt want to take the risk