Canadian TF Sellers

[Pgianos]

Unfortunately or fortunately, you just go to eBay type in what you want , organize by lowest price and you can get mp-17 for 63 dollars now.

Originally Posted by Johnstewling

Please tell me where you are buying from overseas sellers and getting Masterpiece figures, I need to know, the Canadian and US Prices are crazy.

[justprime]

some one explain to me please how this collector can buy retail for 63.00 taxes, shipping, ect. delivered to his door all in and whole salers who buy at a different cost ( bulk orders costing 1000.00) cannot compete?,.. either there getting nailed by there supplier or this collector is getting a whole sale price from the same supplier which would tell me you selleres are not getting any discount on bulk buying ( and are being screwed by your supplier) or is there another explanation?

[Slayback]

Shipping. Somehow some of the guys in China can ship for free. They are shipping singly though - if i were to ask for a couple of thousand dollars worth of stock it wont happen.

My suppliers do not ship for free. They dont have that option. I also dont have the option of buying massive quantities like my suppliers -who are middlemen. So they mark up on the deals they get -which of course is fair. Once i get it - i have to include shipping in the cost of the item and add my margins while trying to keep it inline with the middlemen regular pricing.

Because i'm not a brick and motar store - the direct from wholesale companies i can deal with - i still have to pay for their markup on top of the cost of the figures. Because i'm not the size of TFSource or RKingdom or A3U - i cant afford to house or order the quantity that would allow me to command certain pricing. eg. One third party is asking in order to wholesale - you have to purchase 40 units of a figure in a series of 5. For an organization my size which is all of me, it's a running knee to the balls.

Taxes - I'm pretty sure Customs keeps an eye out for oversized boxes that contain 'ornaments or samples' going to a residential.

Depending on the stores - they have overhead. They are a retailer; they have employees, rent etc. Pricing has to reflect that. The guys in china - more than likely not so much. I wouldnt be surprised if half the stuff fell of a truck or is literally being sold right out of the warehouse. Takara/Hasbro asks for 10000 units - as a company i would make 15000 units. Takara/Hasbro gets their 10k - i make my payday. I take the other 5k and sell them to local dealers and i suddenly get more $$. The extra material used is considered a waste and was already paid for by Takara anyway.

[joshimus]

I'd rather pay more and support the Canadian market than pay less to support other countries. Like the MOTU line, my local comic shop gets them in. I pay more for them than I would on Mattycollector, but I am also not waiting 4-6 weeks delivery either, plus it supports my local comic shop.
If you prefer the cheaper Asian market route, nothing wrong with that. Just a difference on opinion.
As far as pricing goes, again using Mattycollector for example. To ship Greyskull within the US is 50.00. To ship to canada, 140.00 + exchange rate + whatever customs hits us with. So, HOW can a Canadian retailer be competitive with the US on this? They can't. They can't touch that kind of cheaper pricing. My local comic shop has a PO Box across the boarder because he can't maintain his current MOTU pricing without doing that. There's always more to the story than a simple "Well I will just buy elsewhere because Canada isn't competitive".
Lastly, if you are having enough trouble paying bills, buying toys, cheaper in Asia or US or not, probably shouldn't be on your "to buy" list.

[mastereh]

I buy some locally from a guy I met on kijiji; he's aiming to open his own store one day but for now just buys and bulk and sells through that website.

His prices are pretty good and sometimes he even has saved me a few bucks than ordering online. I don't mind paying someone locally as I'm building a relationship with him.

[chovner]

Why is Canada post so damn expensive?

The End...

[Wheeljack Off]

Originally Posted by MULTIPLEX

Well I know some sellers like B&K offer free pick up at local events. Maybe buy directly at shows will be cheaper?

But honestly, how can anyone expect Canadian sellers to be competitive will Asian sellers? This stuff is made over in Asia and they are importing it here. They pay taxes, shipping, import charges and have to make some profit for there trouble too. Otherwise how can they stay in business?

So what is the point of this thread? Stating the obvious? In the end, it's your own personal choice and no one will fault you for going either route.

Personally I choose the Asian route. Does that make me a bad person? Nope.

If you can import 1 for 60 bucks or so, someplace that is buying 100 should be able to do much, much better.
They be need to lower their margins on some of this stuff or lose the business entirely.

[OLDMR]

That guy was selling MP red alert for $140 at TFCON. When everyone else was selling at $100.

If Canadian resellers are going to treat Canadian collectors like that, building relationships doesn't make any sense because the loyalty only seems to go one way.

There is no shame in the Asian route. Just the Canadian scalpers.

Originally Posted by MULTIPLEX

Well I know some sellers like B&K offer free pick up at local events. Maybe buy directly at shows will be cheaper?

But honestly, how can anyone expect Canadian sellers to be competitive will Asian sellers? This stuff is made over in Asia and they are importing it here. They pay taxes, shipping, import charges and have to make some profit for there trouble too. Otherwise how can they stay in business?

So what is the point of this thread? Stating the obvious? In the end, it's your own personal choice and no one will fault you for going either route.

Personally I choose the Asian route. Does that make me a bad person? Nope.

[Magnus]

I often deal with Automaton Toys since when their stuff gets shipped, i have it in hand the next day. but it's impossible to complete my collection by relying simply in one store who won't get all the figures I want.

I choose to mix and match my Canadian store with eBay and sprinkle in a foreign store every now an then...

Whatever works well and gets me my figures.

[Pgianos]

Totally spot on dude. I reverberate what you said I really don't know how Canadian sellers make enough money. I know a few of them have TF selling as a side job.

I REALLY want to be clear I am not disrespecting these companies at all! The current logistics of importing, selling and shipping make it impossible to be competitive with Asian Sellers. I wish there was a way. It really annoys me how terrible the landscape is for small businesses in Canada.

Originally Posted by MULTIPLEX

Fair enough. Keep the money in Canada I agree. But even the big dogs in the US (BBTS and TFSource) who have huge market share and purchasing power, can't compete with Asian pricing, yet they thrive. So even if Canadian sellers gained more market share, I doubt there prices would drop that drastically. Just my opinion.