Prop Retail Pricing & The MR Prop Market

[Boba Debt]

Originally posted by DARKSIDE72+Apr 9 2006, 01:54 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DARKSIDE72 @ Apr 9 2006, 01:54 PM)</div>

Actually the wholesale dealer price for the At-At was about $800,  with the case.
[/b]

That is another issue that showed me and many other retailers that it was time to get out of the MR Business, the dwindling difference between the wholesale cost and the retail price.

As the percentage shrinks the chances of making money all but disappears for any Brick and Mortor stores.

As I stated earlier a B&M store pretty much has to make a 100% mark up on each item to survive. Given that some of MRs items only had a 40-50% mark up and that the same items were selling on ebay for a little more then wholesale cost any B&M store would have to have been crazy to buy these for re-sale.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<!--QuoteBegin-JSAuctionService@Apr 9 2006, 01:20 AM
Question for Boba Debt:

Did Marz Dist. closing down suddenly, hose you on any items?

No, I got out a long time ago and was just recently able to get out of the hole I dug myself into.

 

[DARKSIDE72]

Originally posted by damon5973@Apr 9 2006, 09:02 AM
800.00 was the WHOLESALE....isnt it supposed to cost more for RETAIL??  Stores have taken a hit and are selling at or around 800 for the SE now.  Like BD said, they up the prices, what was RETAIL for the AT-AT if wholesale was 800.00?



have access and dont use it???? what are you talking about?  They have taken thousands of pictures to produce the items.  I mean there have been some discrepancies sure but with the new finds for the Han Blaster and the Obi saber that wasnt there fault.  As for the Vader ANH, well I guess they did what they could do.  When Steve D was with MR he told me that tehy took thousands of pictures to create the replicas.

Accuracy can only be as good as what they have in their hands.  The SS falcon will be dead on, it uses the same model pieces that were on the first one, and if they couldnt find the part they recreated it form pictures they had.

[snapback]1222982[/snapback]​

You can thank Frank Cerney and Moe for the Falcon. It's their research. If it were not for them there wouldn't be a SS Falcon. The training remote, Frank again. The Y-wing, a group of builders to thank for that. They rely on fans more than they do LFL. It's a fact, and again the reason why nothing is exact.
Another example: The trooper blaster. They used BobaDebts and my copyrighted photograph to pre-sell $300,000 worth of blasters... and it wasn't the first time they took from a fan to pre-sell a product. Steve D. was ultimatly responsible for this and is NO saint.

 

[racprops]

I get the feeling MR ties, it seems to be the China builders, cheap and always wrong, EVERYONE has problems with them, the 50th Disney Nautilus had problems with fit and finish, some 200 where returned for replacements, and the Monorail HAD to have larger than scale rivets added.

They do not respect us and will seemly do something to mess up a production run, I donÂ’t know of anyone getting back from China the same model/prototype they sent over. They always seem to tweak or cut a corner, or leave some detail off.

I shudder to think that had I gotten a license I would have run into such nightmares if we had gone to China to do production, and it looked like that was the ONLY way to cut production costs so that one could repay a investor.

So what are we to do?? Icons proved you can not do it with local workers, (at lease the prop building system of RTV Molds and so onÂ…) and MR more of less showed the pit falls of overseas production.

I think it leaves only a large scale production run with a local production company, the old fashion way, mass production within the US with US tooling and production. Problem is that also costs too much, such a production run would have a hard time with the China produced products, like with nearly everything we now buy, when is the last thing you bought that is all American MadeÂ…
Think again I bet many parts are not made hereÂ…

I remember how Zenith clamed to be made within the USA, and have parts from China, Japan and Mexico.

My 2 cents worth.

Rich

 

[damon5973]

i never said he was...now this isnt about him....it is about cost and what MR does to its prices and why people pay what they do for props.

I guess it all comes down to basic economics..guns and butter...

What will people pay for what....

 

[DARKSIDE72]

Originally posted by racprops@Apr 9 2006, 09:42 AM
I get the feeling MR ties, it seems to be the China builders, cheap and always wrong, EVERYONE has problems with them, the 50th Disney Nautilus had problems with fit and finish, some 200 where returned for replacements, and the Monorail HAD to have larger than scale rivets added.

They do not respect us and will seemly do something to mess up a production run, I don’t know of anyone getting back from China the same model/prototype they sent over. They always seem to tweak or cut a corner, or leave some detail off. 

I shudder to think that had I gotten a license I would have run into such nightmares if we had gone to China to do production, and it looked like that was the ONLY way to cut production costs so that one could repay a investor.

So what are we to do?? Icons proved you can not do it with local workers, (at lease the prop building system of RTV Molds and so onÂ…) and MR more of less showed the pit falls of overseas production.

I think it leaves only a large scale production run with a local production company, the old fashion way, mass production within the US with US tooling and production.  Problem is that also costs too much, such a production run would have a hard time with the China produced products, like with nearly everything we now buy, when is the last thing you bought that is all American Made…
Think again I bet many parts are not made hereÂ…

I remember how Zenith clamed to be made within the USA, and have parts from China, Japan and Mexico.

My 2 cents worth.

Rich

[snapback]1222993[/snapback]​

Well the root of the problem lies with the ecomomy and how there is no longer INDUSTRY within the US any more. We've sold it all off to China,Taiwan,Korea,Malaysia,Mexico etc etc. The days of "Made In The USA" are long gone. You can thank the large corporations and the Government for that.

"They do not respect us and will seemly do something to mess up a production run, I donÂ’t know of anyone getting back from China the same model/prototype they sent over. They always seem to tweak or cut a corner, or leave some detail off. "

This is poor quality control. Someone has to approve the product. I would think that a team would submit a prototype right? Well that team should follow up on production to be sure the product mirrors the final prototype. They need people in China making sure things are done correctly.



damon5973:

I was simply pointing out that aside from their prices, they in many ways deceive the collector.

 

[racprops]

This is poor quality control. Someone has to approve the product. I would think that a team would submit a prototype right? Well that team should follow up on production to be sure the product mirrors the final prototype. They need people in China making sure things are done correctly.


I don't think it is that easy, they seem to fight and fight and it is like quicksand, sooner or later you can no longer fight and have to get it to market so you take the best you have won and go with it, after all it happens again and again, and to other companies other than MR, so it seems to be a system wide policy over there.

And I have talked with others whom have done bussness over there and it is the same, only a few really get what they wanted.

My 2 cents worth.

Rich

 

[Apollo]

Originally posted by racprops@Apr 9 2006, 10:42 AM
when is the last thing you bought that is all American MadeÂ…

Actually my last two buys were both handmade in America.

 

[DARKSIDE72]

Originally posted by apollo+Apr 9 2006, 11:19 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(apollo @ Apr 9 2006, 11:19 AM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-racprops

@Apr 9 2006, 10:42 AM
when is the last thing you bought that is all American MadeÂ…

Actually my last two buys were both handmade in America.

[snapback]1223029[/snapback]​

[/b]

Yea but beautifully made unlicenced props are a different story...

 

[Apollo]

One was licensed.

 

[vaderfanforever]

There sure seems to be quite a few MR threads lately, eh? I just wonder if this Boba Fett rifle is a good thing for MR to announce now. If I recall, they STILL have not fully delt with the ROTS Vader helmet and the Clone helmets issues, correct? I think they should deal with the problems at hand BEFORE announcing something else altogether.

It just doesn't make sense. Is MR trying to distract their customers with something "cool" so they forget about the helmet fiasco? That is what is looks like to me.

And if the Fett balster is $600, I can't imagine with the Falcon is going to cost :confused :confused Get ready to take out a second and third mortgage on your house to pay for it

Elijah - VaderFanForEver

 

[PantheraGem]

Originally posted by vaderfanforever@Apr 9 2006, 10:25 AM
And if the Fett balster is $600, I can't imagine with the Falcon is going to cost  :confused  :confused  Get ready to take out a second and third mortgage on your house to pay for it 

Elijah - VaderFanForEver

[snapback]1223108[/snapback]​

With all of the problems they've had in the last year or so, I have my doubts we'll even see the Falcon. It's beginning to seem they can't even ship out the final# plaques for the ROTS sabers.

Judging from MR's pricing thus far, wouldn't the Falcon cost at least somewhere in the $3,000 to $3,500 area anyway? Is there even a market for something that expensive?

 

[rmschneider104]

Good question asking about a $3K+ Falcon. I'm sure that there are some big rollers in our midst who will have the funds. But I've gotta really think about THAT much. I've gotta really want/need something for that kind of dough. Heck, that's a nice down payment on an automobile.

 

[MikeyX]

Originally posted by vaderfanforever@Apr 9 2006, 06:25 PM
There sure seems to be quite a few MR threads lately, eh?  I just wonder if this Boba Fett rifle is a good thing for MR to announce now.  If I recall, they STILL have not fully delt with the ROTS Vader helmet and the Clone helmets issues, correct?  I think they should deal with the problems at hand BEFORE announcing something else altogether. 

It just doesn't make sense.  Is MR trying to distract their customers with something "cool" so they forget about the helmet fiasco?  That is what is looks like to me. 

And if the Fett balster is $600, I can't imagine with the Falcon is going to cost  :confused  :confused  Get ready to take out a second and third mortgage on your house to pay for it 

Elijah - VaderFanForEver

[snapback]1223108[/snapback]​

Yes they definitely have some open issues with quite a number of collectors over the helmets - however from a business perspective they probably still need to keep rolling out the products that have been in development to recoup some of those development costs. The longer they wait, the higher the price might have to have been to cover costs.

Is it a good time to release this from a customer satisfaction point of view? I'd say no it isn't, but they might not have a choice.


My prediction for the Falcon is that if they haven't resurrected the payment plan by the time this is released, then they will have arranged one for it specifically. This has the potential to cost scary money, and I'm just beginning to prepare myself for dissappointment over this one as I'm in the UK and I forsee a truly mammoth shipping/tax levy on this one.