The Energon Pub

I'm going to vent a bit on this one.

Yesterday I got nice check for my birthday, and I wanted to finally buy the encore minibots set. Last night I was shopping around and saw that RobotKingdom had a bunch of sets for sale. Well, it was late, so I went to sleep and decided to grab one in the morning.

This morning I wake up, and the price nearly doubled from $40 to $70! Warehouse find they say! Baloney! The going price on ebay started to climb, so they hiked up prices.

http://www.robotkingdom.com/tfecr10.html

Not sure who I'm actually mad at. Myself for not buying this set already, or Robot Kingdom for thinking this is OK.

supply and demand

supply and da man.

"Price gouging" is when prices on a commodity are raised sharply in anticipation of or during a civil emergency. An example would be grocers charging $10 for a gallon of milk when a hurricane is forecast.

The term in no way applies to the price of an out-of-production imported toy going up in price as demand increases and supply decreases. Robotkingdom is well within their rights to charge $70 or $700 or $7000 for that product if they want, and you have the right to not buy it.

GuyIncognito wrote:"Price gouging" is when prices on a commodity are raised sharply in anticipation of or during a civil emergency. An example would be grocers charging $10 for a gallon of milk when a hurricane is forecast.

The term in no way applies to the price of an out-of-production imported toy going up in price as demand increases and supply decreases. Robotkingdom is well within their rights to charge $70 or $700 or $7000 for that product if they want, and you have the right to not buy it.

OK - call it whatever term you'd like. It's moot.

We've been down this road before as a fandom. Yeah, I have the right to not buy it, just as I have the right to take my business to other retailers - and I will. Didn't the entire fandom flip their collective **** after TFSource jacked up prices on exclusive Fansproject sets like the Snowman Superion set? Just because it's legal, and within their right to set prices to the market rate, doesn't make it palatable to the consumer.

Honestly, I'm just blowing off steam. It's not a big deal, anymore. I'm taking my money elsewhere.

craggy wrote:supply and da man.

dupe

AnnaChristine wrote:TBH - the Bumblebee is the only one worth owning in that set. The rest you could pick up loose from Ebay over any given time frame. Unless you like the box. Its the box, is't it?

It's actually the insert.

Or the bio cards?

fenrir72 wrote:Or the bio cards?

Dude. Yes. Love those things. I was just thinking last night I wish I had some sort of bio-card holding sleeve or something for a three-ring binder.

It Is Him wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:Or the bio cards?

Dude. Yes. Love those things. I was just thinking last night I wish I had some sort of bio-card holding sleeve or something for a three-ring binder.

Those are cheap, they're available at pretty much every office store over here.

RhA wrote:

It Is Him wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:Or the bio cards?

Dude. Yes. Love those things. I was just thinking last night I wish I had some sort of bio-card holding sleeve or something for a three-ring binder.

Those are cheap, they're available at pretty much every office store over here.

Huh. I guess I never thought to look for them.

If anyone cares, I bought encore #10 on eBay from somebody in China.

Blurrz wrote:All good man. Had something in my cart at BBTS and just decided to wait on it for a week or so. In that timespan the Canadian Dollar drops like a rock and thus I'll have to pay 10% more for the same thing. Zzzzz

Exchanging currency to importstuff feels like gambling a lot of the time. Been there done that, too, man.

It Is Him wrote:If anyone cares, I bought encore #10 on eBay from somebody in China.

Blurrz wrote:All good man. Had something in my cart at BBTS and just decided to wait on it for a week or so. In that timespan the Canadian Dollar drops like a rock and thus I'll have to pay 10% more for the same thing. Zzzzz

Exchanging currency to importstuff feels like gambling a lot of the time. Been there done that, too, man.

What??? you guys aren't Forex traders? You should of seen it coming! =X

It Is Him wrote:
OK - call it whatever term you'd like. It's moot.

We've been down this road before as a fandom. Yeah, I have the right to not buy it, just as I have the right to take my business to other retailers - and I will. Didn't the entire fandom flip their collective **** after TFSource jacked up prices on exclusive Fansproject sets like the Snowman Superion set? Just because it's legal, and within their right to set prices to the market rate, doesn't make it palatable to the consumer.

Honestly, I'm just blowing off steam. It's not a big deal, anymore. I'm taking my money elsewhere.

We have been over this before, you are right. But it seems that the fandom's response these days is more along the lines of "just buy it, because you're somehow being childish or entitled for not buying/not liking/disagreeing with something."

Personally, I think it's stupid. It's a tired argument that people just keep using because apparently we're just supposed to support a brand/a retailer/a buisness because it exists, and if we don't like something about the product/price/service we're supposed to suck it up because the brand/retailer/business doesn't owe us anything; yet I'm supposed to owe the brand/etc. my money and loyalty because it exists. I'm sorry that my hobby involves toy robots and not some form of Stockholm syndrome, but I support your right to vent.

Dagon wrote:

It Is Him wrote:
OK - call it whatever term you'd like. It's moot.

We've been down this road before as a fandom. Yeah, I have the right to not buy it, just as I have the right to take my business to other retailers - and I will. Didn't the entire fandom flip their collective **** after TFSource jacked up prices on exclusive Fansproject sets like the Snowman Superion set? Just because it's legal, and within their right to set prices to the market rate, doesn't make it palatable to the consumer.

Honestly, I'm just blowing off steam. It's not a big deal, anymore. I'm taking my money elsewhere.

We have been over this before, you are right. But it seems that the fandom's response these days is more along the lines of "just buy it, because you're somehow being childish or entitled for not buying/not liking/disagreeing with something."

Personally, I think it's stupid. It's a tired argument that people just keep using because apparently we're just supposed to support a brand/a retailer/a buisness because it exists, and if we don't like something about the product/price/service we're supposed to suck it up because the brand/retailer/business doesn't owe us anything; yet I'm supposed to owe the brand/etc. my money and loyalty because it exists. I'm sorry that my hobby involves toy robots and not some form of Stockholm syndrome, but I support your right to vent.

I think you lost me somewhere. It sounds like we're in agreement that we don't have to accept everything given to us by retailers (or Hasbro) at face value. And yeah, frankly, I don't think anybody owes me anything, except that I expect to be treated with a little respect, which Hasbro and most retailers are very good about.

You really want to be upset at RK pricing? Add it to your cart and check out the shipping charges there. They're making a killing on shipping. I order stuff from Asia all the damn time and shipping, while pricey, is not half as much as they charge.

This is only sorta related. Do you guys ever think about the mark ups or downs, of the rsp, you pay at regular retail. I have a number of friends and family who are current or former retail workers, just listening to those who are Involved with pricing is a hoot.

Yeah, it's crazy. It's like they're trying to make money or something.

njb902 wrote:This is only sorta related. Do you guys ever think about the mark ups or downs, of the rsp, you pay at regular retail. I have a number of friends and family who are current or former retail workers, just listening to those who are Involved with pricing is a hoot.

I worked retail for almost 8 years. Many of those I did a lot of pricing and merchandising, and during Christmas a few years had to stock the toys and merchandise them at our store (we only sold them during that season). This was when Universe 2.0/TFA were out. Charged around $12.99 for a deluxe when they weren't on sale, store's cost per unit was something around $3. That said, they were almost always 20-25% off to look like a deal.

Toys are good money for retailers, but when they have to clearance them to where they make next to nothing (most of the TFs at the store got clearanced out at 75% off or so), they won't bother later on down the road with them.

GuyIncognito wrote:Yeah, it's crazy. It's like they're trying to make money or something.

I'm not following you.

ScottyP wrote:

njb902 wrote:This is only sorta related. Do you guys ever think about the mark ups or downs, of the rsp, you pay at regular retail. I have a number of friends and family who are current or former retail workers, just listening to those who are Involved with pricing is a hoot.

I worked retail for almost 8 years. Many of those I did a lot of pricing and merchandising, and during Christmas a few years had to stock the toys and merchandise them at our store (we only sold them during that season). This was when Universe 2.0/TFA were out. Charged around $12.99 for a deluxe when they weren't on sale, store's cost per unit was something around $3. That said, they were almost always 20-25% off to look like a deal.

Toys are good money for retailers, but when they have to clearance them to where they make next to nothing (most of the TFs at the store got clearanced out at 75% off or so), they won't bother later on down the road with them.

Another example is fast food places. Especially when it comes to their dollar menus. They take a loss/break even on the sandwiches in the hope that you will buy soda and fries, which have a huge mark up.

It Is Him wrote:

Dagon wrote:

It Is Him wrote:
OK - call it whatever term you'd like. It's moot.

We've been down this road before as a fandom. Yeah, I have the right to not buy it, just as I have the right to take my business to other retailers - and I will. Didn't the entire fandom flip their collective **** after TFSource jacked up prices on exclusive Fansproject sets like the Snowman Superion set? Just because it's legal, and within their right to set prices to the market rate, doesn't make it palatable to the consumer.

Honestly, I'm just blowing off steam. It's not a big deal, anymore. I'm taking my money elsewhere.

We have been over this before, you are right. But it seems that the fandom's response these days is more along the lines of "just buy it, because you're somehow being childish or entitled for not buying/not liking/disagreeing with something."

Personally, I think it's stupid. It's a tired argument that people just keep using because apparently we're just supposed to support a brand/a retailer/a buisness because it exists, and if we don't like something about the product/price/service we're supposed to suck it up because the brand/retailer/business doesn't owe us anything; yet I'm supposed to owe the brand/etc. my money and loyalty because it exists. I'm sorry that my hobby involves toy robots and not some form of Stockholm syndrome, but I support your right to vent.

I think you lost me somewhere. It sounds like we're in agreement that we don't have to accept everything given to us by retailers (or Hasbro) at face value. And yeah, frankly, I don't think anybody owes me anything, except that I expect to be treated with a little respect, which Hasbro and most retailers are very good about.

Sorry, I meant to say I was agreeing with you. I think the "just accept everything" argument is dumb, not what you were saying, and that even though it doesn't change anything in the long run, I fully support the venting process.

GuyIncognito wrote:Yeah, it's crazy. It's like they're trying to make money or something.

As is the goal of any business. However, in order to make that money, they need to win over the customer who then gives the business the customers' money, and is not obligated to do so. If someone doesn't like a business' business or pricing they don't have to give that business money, and, provided that the same service or merchandise is available through some other channel via more personally acceptable means, the customer doesn't lose out on anything, whereas the business the customer does not select loses out on the money.
Ultimately, although the goal of a business is to make a profit, no customer is obligated to give their money to any particular business. It's much more of a symbiotic relationship that it is often presented as, which is the thing that I personally have an issue with in the fandom. If I don't like a toy or movie or hell, an article of clothing or a car or whatever, to use adult examples of things, I don't HAVE to buy them.