The Energon Pub

[El Duque]

We just received word from site sponsor BigBadToyStore.com that Takara's highly anticipated MP-10 Convoy Version 2.0 is now in-stock and orders are processing. Orders can be placed by clicking here.

[Skycharger]

Come on bigbad you can do better than that! How about 299.99? or perhaps 349.99? Sounds like a bargain!

[duo_maxwell_1017]

Can't wait for this bad boy to arrive!!

[FellintoOblivion]

$250?

Sheesh, I feel like I could get it cheaper by calling around Tokyo and importing it if I spoke Japanese.

[Overcracker]

HLJ based out of Japan is pricing it at 17,600 yen which is roughly 230 bucks, so basically BBTS is tacking on a 20 dollar importing fee. Doesn't seem out of the question considering you still need to pay around 50 bucks for shipping to the US with HLJ.

But only around 10 or 15 if you use BBTS, and even less if you combine your shipping with other item.

All in all its not too bad of a price considering.

[Astronopolis]

waiting for a release without the trailer, 250 is too rich for my blood

[009*]

waiting for a release without the trailer, 250 is too rich for my blood

Yeah, as tempting as this is, it's a bit too much, especially for those of use getting the Hercules figures. Since this is Optimus, I'm sure Hasbro will release this through TRU.

[Cybershark]

HLJ based out of Japan is pricing it at 17,600 yen which is roughly 230 bucks, so basically BBTS is tacking on a 20 dollar importing fee. Doesn't seem out of the question considering you still need to pay around 50 bucks for shipping to the US with HLJ.

But only around 10 or 15 if you use BBTS, and even less if you combine your shipping with other item.

All in all its not too bad of a price considering.

Thats closer to $180, and BBTS marks most of there items up 100% (they basically double what they pay), not to mention they are getting there product DIRECTLY from Takara. So BBTS is not marking it up only $20, they are marking up probably $100-125. I have had many dealings with BBTS since 2000. They are only getting worse the larger they become.

[Cybershark]

Come on bigbad you can do better than that! How about 299.99? or perhaps 349.99? Sounds like a bargain!

You are right, but HAS/TAK are to blame they keep churning out smaller MP toys at far higher price points year after year, its a joke. Everyone paying that much should be ashamed. Its only going to go higher and higher til everyone learns not to pay that much for the SAME toy over and over and over, just to get a re-tweak here and there.
I mean its fine to pay that much if your rich or thats all you collect. If not its not only a joke but ridiculous. Just 6 years ago we were complaining about $100 for MP figures still.

Just ranting as usual,lol.

[Cybershark]

HLJ based out of Japan is pricing it at 17,600 yen which is roughly 230 bucks, so basically BBTS is tacking on a 20 dollar importing fee. Doesn't seem out of the question considering you still need to pay around 50 bucks for shipping to the US with HLJ.

But only around 10 or 15 if you use BBTS, and even less if you combine your shipping with other item.

All in all its not too bad of a price considering.

WHOOPS, did a more recent conversion on yen and damn you are right on that!!!! $229 is what I came up with, it used to be closer to 1 to 100 yen, but its now 76.6 for every dollar. DAMNZZZZ,LOL

[Gojira101]

I could never in good concious ever purchase any product from this company again after the whole TRU MP Rodimus Prime debacle when it was strongly suggested that they purchased a considerable unit of these figures only to turn around and sell them to the public at doubled the price tag. That is just questionable at best. Hence why I've since made the switch. Just as mentioned before the bigger they get the more inflated the prices will be. It's a shame that such business is conducted this way.

[onewaydown]

HLJ based out of Japan is pricing it at 17,600 yen which is roughly 230 bucks, so basically BBTS is tacking on a 20 dollar importing fee. Doesn't seem out of the question considering you still need to pay around 50 bucks for shipping to the US with HLJ.

But only around 10 or 15 if you use BBTS, and even less if you combine your shipping with other item.

All in all its not too bad of a price considering.

WHOOPS, did a more recent conversion on yen and damn you are right on that!!!! $229 is what I came up with, it used to be closer to 1 to 100 yen, but its now 76.6 for every dollar. DAMNZZZZ,LOL

The value of the dollar has fell through the floor since 2007. You can't really look at the prices the same way as we're used to. It was 115 yen per dollar back in Sept 2007 and it's only dropped since. So at 2007 prices, 17K yen was only about $150. Even 2 years ago, it would have been about $185-200. =( So blame the US and the global market and not the distributors.

I could never in good concious ever purchase any product from this company again after the whole TRU MP Rodimus Prime debacle when it was strongly suggested that they purchased a considerable unit of these figures only to turn around and sell them to the public at doubled the price tag.

Can you tell me what the difference between buying from BBTS or some scalper on eBay? Effectively, nothing. BBTS isn't TRU. I doubt they can get them from the distributor. So they just have to have folks go to the stores or hit up SDCC and try to buy them for them to resell. I don't see how you can complain that they mark-up a toy exclusively sold by some other store. They need to make some money for all their work, since there is no profit to be made at the $60 retail price. Heck, they were selling deluxe Warpath for $25 and they get him direct from their supplier. It's all about supply & demand & markup, my friend.

With that being said, my pre-order was filled today. =) Just waiting for the Fansproject insecticons before I ship my POL.

[Cybershark]

Not much in difference, BUT BBTS does get alot of product directly from the Supplier.(they ar large enough at this point, plus I get alot of cases from them) The only reason they charge alot more for characters like Warpath is commmon sense. They get tons of leftover **** per case that will not sell. Thus they have to jack up the price on the HOT items.

I understand buying them and marking them up, I have been collecting since the 80's. And have an enormous collection that includes EVERY single US released Transformer among most Japanese and Euro releases as well. I tried to keep up until about 2 years ago, when Hasbro decided to totally flood and level the market with product.

US in a crappy market or not, Takara has jacked up the prices of MP products to an outrageous degree. And for the people that can wait on any item, can get them on Ebay FOR MUCH LESS!! IF they are willing to wait. I just got a MP Sleep Convoy MIB for $125 shipped. I guess thats the difference for me now, Im not gonna pay any jacked up cost whether its HAS/TAK or Ebay seller. Until the price comes down on severely high cost MP toys.

[Gojira101]

The difference IMO being that those are individuals doing it of their volition to make a profit. The exclusive is through TRU and is subject to individual orders limited in quantity. It can be assume that most people purchasing these pieces are doing so to collect or make a quick buck. BBTS is an online collectors store providing distribution of such collectibles to consumers for a fee. They also buy collections and sell them to consumers as well. They have exclusives themselves that they offer. Now they are not exclusive distributors of or affiliated with TRU they acquired a number of exclusive figures from TRU and sold them at an inflated price almost double the original asking price. The only known way of obtaining these figures were to either order them online, purchase at SDCC or find them at a TRU retail store which wouldn't fit the time frame for their order fills. So it may or may not be safe to assume that they acquired said figures through the before mentioned practices. When speaking to one of their customer service people they indicated that they had a good amount of preorders to fill but a limit. So what comes to mind is since they purchased this product from TRU, they were in a way preventing other collectors from picking these exclusives. Now while I am not blind to the fact that some of those pieces may just have ended up on eBay they still infringed on some collectors being able to purchase some SDCC Rodimus from finding their way into some collectors hands. It is because of this reason I myself cannot support this online retailer any more, specially when a figure originally retailed at $59.99 gets marked up to $110.99 (not exact price).

[LOST Cybertronian]

The difference IMO being that those are individuals doing it of their volition to make a profit. The exclusive is through TRU and is subject to individual orders limited in quantity. It can be assume that most people purchasing these pieces are doing so to collect or make a quick buck. BBTS is an online collectors store providing distribution of such collectibles to consumers for a fee. They also buy collections and sell them to consumers as well. They have exclusives themselves that they offer. Now they are not exclusive distributors of or affiliated with TRU they acquired a number of exclusive figures from TRU and sold them at an inflated price almost double the original asking price. The only known way of obtaining these figures were to either order them online, purchase at SDCC or find them at a TRU retail store which wouldn't fit the time frame for their order fills. So it may or may not be safe to assume that they acquired said figures through the before mentioned practices. When speaking to one of their customer service people they indicated that they had a good amount of preorders to fill but a limit. So what comes to mind is since they purchased this product from TRU, they were in a way preventing other collectors from picking these exclusives. Now while I am not blind to the fact that some of those pieces may just have ended up on eBay they still infringed on some collectors being able to purchase some SDCC Rodimus from finding their way into some collectors hands. It is because of this reason I myself cannot support this online retailer any more, specially when a figure originally retailed at $59.99 gets marked up to $110.99 (not exact price).

Hate to tell you this, but nearly all online retailers do this.

Also, if you don't like the price at one store, you have the freedom to shop around for the best price. Don't want to pay double for Rodimus Prime? You can buy it of TRU.com for retail price.

[Counterpunch]

Are we mad and/or surprised people are interested in making money again? I can't keep up anymore.

[geterman]

So they get prime in and I still haven't got my Stormbomb preorder yet...*fist shake*

[Cyberseven]

Each of us is entitled to our opinions. Livin in America!

In my opinion, I think BBTS has some of the most reasonable prices for an online collectors toy store. I shop around many places online, and I have found several occasions where they had the best price for the item I was looking for. Yes in some cases, such as store exclusives they have higher prices, but you have to consider the fact that some one has to get these exclusives for them, and since they are exclusives they are not going to get a huge price break, even if they purchase large quantities.
They are in business to make money too, otherwise they wouldn't be in business at all.

What drives the high prices for these products is a combination that the producer(Hasbro/ Takara) knowing that there is a large demand and following, and they are in business to make money. Then there is the fact that they have many supply distributors and stores to satisfy, and they are in business to make money too. Then of course there is the falling value of currencies across the globe.

So when we complain about the high prices of the things we demand, we should be placing the blame on our selves...not the companies or distributors, or stores that supply us.

If we didn't demand so much product, the prices would be lower.

Now as for this Optimus MP-10, I think this is an awesome piece. Yes $250.00 is a lot, but It is the going rate for this piece all over the net, and if we want it, we have to pay for it.

Sure we can wait around until someone on Ebay gets tired of theirs or wants to trade, but that's the aftermarket, not the retail market.

[onewaydown]

US in a crappy market or not, Takara has jacked up the prices of MP products to an outrageous degree. And for the people that can wait on any item, can get them on Ebay FOR MUCH LESS!! IF they are willing to wait. I just got a MP Sleep Convoy MIB for $125 shipped. I guess thats the difference for me now, Im not gonna pay any jacked up cost whether its HAS/TAK or Ebay seller. Until the price comes down on severely high cost MP toys.

I don't really think they've gone up intentionally... MP Starscream & Megatron were about 9800 yen when they came out in '06 & '08. Grimlock was 13K yen, which I admit was a little high but it might have had to do with the mfg costs at the time. MP04 Final was 18K yen last year, Rodimus was 16,8K. So about 10-12K for the toy, 5-7K extra for the trailer. At least to me, it doesn't seem too outrageous.

Each of us is entitled to our opinions. Livin in America!

In my opinion, I think BBTS has some of the most reasonable prices for an online collectors toy store. I shop around many places online, and I have found several occasions where they had the best price for the item I was looking for. Yes in some cases, such as store exclusives they have higher prices, but you have to consider the fact that some one has to get these exclusives for them, and since they are exclusives they are not going to get a huge price break, even if they purchase large quantities.
They are in business to make money too, otherwise they wouldn't be in business at all.

What drives the high prices for these products is a combination that the producer(Hasbro/ Takara) knowing that there is a large demand and following, and they are in business to make money. Then there is the fact that they have many supply distributors and stores to satisfy, and they are in business to make money too. Then of course there is the falling value of currencies across the globe.

So when we complain about the high prices of the things we demand, we should be placing the blame on our selves...not the companies or distributors, or stores that supply us.

If we didn't demand so much product, the prices would be lower.

Now as for this Optimus MP-10, I think this is an awesome piece. Yes $250.00 is a lot, but It is the going rate for this piece all over the net, and if we want it, we have to pay for it.

Sure we can wait around until someone on Ebay gets tired of theirs or wants to trade, but that's the aftermarket, not the retail market.

True, true. You can probably assume the BBTS pricing is set that way because it's set as an out-of-print/aftermarket type of pricing. Same as some folks on eBay who have them for $125 today. Know what I mean? Anyone in the US can easily still buy him for normal pricing from TRU. BBTS has it marked up (like any business) for profit and I don't think they raise their prices to follow the market. They're usually up at that point to begin with, ready for when you can't get them elsewhere.

Hell, I will admit, I'm not a fan of their prices on most of their domestic stuff. They're normally too high. The only things I buy there are import items, which are the same price anywhere (TFsource, etc). It's just easier than dealing with the crazy shipping prices from JP, or sending it on a boat for 3 weeks just to save $5. But pricing on stuff you can get in the stores is just too high