Is Yamato too greedy?

[ff95gj]

I really have no idea how large is the Yamato Macross toys market. If it sells VERY well, I should have seen them in almost every toy shop, but I don't.

When compared to Bandai, Yamato does not enjoy the economic of scale - that Bandai can allocate the big fixed costs over large quantity of products - and so we can expect Yamato goods to be more expensive than Bandai's.

The scale is now so different between Bandai and Yamato, and you can imagine how much easier Bandai can manage costs.

- It has more power to negotiate with suppliers (cheaper costs on raw materials and services). Losing Bandai means losing a lot of business.

- It has more power to negotiate with distributors (higher prices to sell to distributors). Losing Bandai means your shops won't have items like, Gundam. What would a toy shop without Gundam like?

Now look at how Bandai and Yamato charges... I think Bandai is greedy, and Yamato is careless (in QC).

[Ghost Train]

I voted Yes and No ... I love choices.

I would say that for being "collectors items" vs "toys" the price is somewhat reasonable. For being really beautiful collectors items with the tendency to self destruct its arm(s) or other <insert valkyrie part> they're overpriced.

[ff95gj]

Let me do some calculation too!

The current exchange rate of HK dolalr vs Yen is 0.083

A VF-1S SSP costs 13440 yen, convert to HK$1115.52

However, the local shop only charges for HK$788, that means 788/1115 = 70% of the suggested price. Convert back to yen, yen 9408.

As this is not an "overstock" price, this means even when selling at this price, the shop can make a profit (although I know their margin is not high, but there is a margin).

This is the price from the shop; on top of it, we have the HK distributor. Suppose they make a margin of 10% (including the transportation costs), they bought it from Yamato for around 8550yen.

This is just a quick guess. In fact, the price in HK is cheap maybe because the shipping cost is cheaper from China to HK.

When discussing whether Yamato is too greedy, one really needs to discuss this using Yen prices, not US prices, which are currently artificially high due to the crappy exchange rate. And of course you should not factor in shipping cost to you overseas as that is nothing to do with Yamato.

Anyway IIRC, a standard 1/48 VF-1 without FAST Packs cost Yamato somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 Yen each to produce. This is what Yamato has to pay the factory in China.

The MSRP in Japan for a 1/48 VF-1 is 14,800 Yen, but this is of course not what Yamato sells the toys for.

Again if I remember correctly what I was told, Yamato will normally sell the toys to a wholesaler at about 50-60% off the MSRP. The wholesaller will then sell the toy to a retail store at about 25-30% less than MSRP.

The retail store then marks up to MSRP, or there abouts.

Yamato is only actually making about 1,000 to 2,000 yen per 1/48.

Graham

[Graham]

I really have no idea how large is the Yamato Macross toys market. If it sells VERY well, I should have seen them in almost every toy shop, but I don't.

When compared to Bandai, Yamato does not enjoy the economic of scale - that Bandai can allocate the big fixed costs over large quantity of products - and so we can expect Yamato goods to be more expensive than Bandai's.

That is correct. Yamato's production run sizes are often quite small.

Graham

[jenius]

Yes, and it's a no-brainer for me.

1) Gnu fast packs = $20. (a little more with the crappy exchange rate). Seriously, that's not a joke. I don't see how any company can justify that. They should be $10 mail away items for those of us unfortunate enough to have bought the toy before Yamato got their act together.

2) $170 VF-0 toys with exploding shoulders. This should have REQUIRED a public apology and free replacement parts for anyone who bought one. Yes, I know this wouldn't have helped all of us outside of Japan but it should have happened. Selling toys that break through no foul of their owner is insulting, to not even try to make amends is far worse than greedy.

I'm a big pro market guy. I think generally Yamato is right to allow the market to dictate what they charge. The two instances above though really make me scratch my head. If the new 1/60 VF-1 continues to have problems I'll add a third to that list.

[miriya]

They're a little greedy. But, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have cool toys. They seem to be the only ones doing it right.

I wish they were all 1/2 the price though. =)

I agree with fifbeat.

I definitely take issue with your use of the phrase "completely flawed products".. While the occasional Yamato product may have QC issues, some, minor, some major, it is hardly fair to label all their products this way.

Graham

I agree with Graham too.

I have had great experiences with my yamato Macross figures and I am extremely thankful that they exist and are so awesome.

In the end I wish the figures cost less money because I want more of them. So I am greedy too.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

I wouldn't say i'd want more of what i got, just that the economy sucks, and my job doesn't pay enough for the up-n-coming stuff!

[RD Blade]

2) $170 VF-0 toys with exploding shoulders. This should have REQUIRED a public apology and free replacement parts for anyone who bought one. Yes, I know this wouldn't have helped all of us outside of Japan but it should have happened. Selling toys that break through no foul of their owner is insulting, to not even try to make amends is far worse than greedy.

I think they do what they can...considering. Yamato USA mailed out Garland shoulders to me without hesitating. Yamato Japan worked out that deal with Overdrive for replacement Valkyrie parts.

Of course, if I never get my replacement part, I'll probably be singing a different tune...but time will tell.

[Save]

When discussing whether Yamato is too greedy, one really needs to discuss this using Yen prices, not US prices, which are currently artificially high due to the crappy exchange rate. And of course you should not factor in shipping cost to you overseas as that is nothing to do with Yamato.

Anyway IIRC, a standard 1/48 VF-1 without FAST Packs cost Yamato somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 Yen each to produce. This is what Yamato has to pay the factory in China.

The MSRP in Japan for a 1/48 VF-1 is 14,800 Yen, but this is of course not what Yamato sells the toys for.

Again if I remember correctly what I was told, Yamato will normally sell the toys to a wholesaler at about 50-60% off the MSRP. The wholesaller will then sell the toy to a retail store at about 25-30% less than MSRP.

The retail store then marks up to MSRP, or there abouts.

Yamato is only actually making about 1,000 to 2,000 yen per 1/48.

Graham

Not to mention they also offer FREE parts replacement with in Japan, to make up for any QC issues. If you reside out side of Japan that isn't their fault nor does it make them any more greedy.

VOTE NO ON THIS THREAD

[Vostok 7]

I think they do what they can...considering. Yamato USA mailed out Garland shoulders to me without hesitating. Yamato Japan worked out that deal with Overdrive for replacement Valkyrie parts.

Of course, if I never get my replacement part, I'll probably be singing a different tune...but time will tell.

Yeah, I was real happy with the customer service with YamatoUSA and the Garland. Mine broke and I just never got around to doing anything about it. A long time after the fact I just emailed them, they said they'd send them right out, and they showed up a few days later. Not bad.

Vostok 7

[TheLoneWolf]

Why quit complaining? When you point out flaws, you might convince others not to buy as well.

I meant complaining in the sense of complaining about Yamato's prices, not their products flaws.

[transfan52]

Well all companies are greedy to a degree... The whole point is to charge more for an item than what it costs to make at the highest percentile possible... They're not charity organizations...

Yamato although having lots of experience is still a relatively small company that manufactures niche products... Sure the yamato valks may be a little overpriced but overall they are worth the money as they are usually very good quality figures... I could understand why some ppl are upset though especially when you get a lemon that you can't replace.

I think the price for the new 1/60 v2 is fair although it wouldn't hurt if they charged less for them... You get a lot for your money including the fast packs. Bandai seems to be giving us the better deal now with the macross F valks as it has plenty of diecast and seems to be a more sturdy toy than any yamato ever would be.

But until I actually have one of bandai's DX chogokins in my hands im keeping my fingers crossed... Hopefully it isn't all that chunky like some ppl say it is.

[jenius]

Not to mention they also offer FREE parts replacement with in Japan, to make up for any QC issues. If you reside out side of Japan that isn't their fault nor does it make them any more greedy.

VOTE NO ON THIS THREAD

I didn't know they did that. I figured you could return them where you bought them like most stores do in most countries. Makes me wonder how Yamato could claim they didn't know they had a problem with their shoulders on the VF-0 toys though... you'd figure they'd be mailing them out on a regular basis.

[SilentCrossHairs]

I think Yamato prices are expensive. But than again its really an export collectable so I do not expect it to be cheap. But hey.... I am content with every Yamato toy in my collection. Once I get a YF-19 1/48 and a Koniig Monster I'll take a break from Yamato Macs until they make something other than standard Valks.

My little hole in the net

[EXO]

At least with Yamato, when they give you the price, they don't increase it right before they release it...

OOOH BURN! IN YO FACE HG/TOYNAMI!!!

[RD Blade]

LOL! That's rough.

[Duymon]

Nobody is forcing people to buy these items and being a collector is 100% voluntary.

Since they've been getting this far, I'd assume their prices MUST be fair because people still buy and collect them.

However, I've yet to buy a single thing from them after I stopped with my 1/48's since I'm really not a fan of ANY design after the vf-1, and the 1/60's just don't stand out too much to me to actually go buy them all over again

Edited December 10, 2008 by Duymon

[Mowe]

I don't have a problem with their prices but their QC and those limited Japan releases pi$$ me off. I don't buy them as often now.

[anime52k8]

When discussing whether Yamato is too greedy, one really needs to discuss this using Yen prices, not US prices, which are currently artificially high due to the crappy exchange rate. And of course you should not factor in shipping cost to you overseas as that is nothing to do with Yamato.

Anyway IIRC, a standard 1/48 VF-1 without FAST Packs cost Yamato somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 Yen each to produce. This is what Yamato has to pay the factory in China.

The MSRP in Japan for a 1/48 VF-1 is 14,800 Yen, but this is of course not what Yamato sells the toys for.

Again if I remember correctly what I was told, Yamato will normally sell the toys to a wholesaler at about 50-60% off the MSRP. The wholesaller will then sell the toy to a retail store at about 25-30% less than MSRP.

The retail store then marks up to MSRP, or there abouts.

Yamato is only actually making about 1,000 to 2,000 yen per 1/48.

Graham

a big part of the problem is also how screwed up the Japanese retail industry is. maybe it's not this way for yamato products, but for most things sold in japan the item ends up going through multiple wholesalers and resellers. rather than just 1 party or less between the manufacturer and retailer, there may be 3-5 parties involved, all of whom take a percentage of the final retail price. this reduces the percentage that each party takes in, and as a result the prices of everything gets driven up.

[sqidd]

Not another one of these stupid threads again. Yamato is not gettig rich selling these, I assure you. Everyone who voted yes clearly has no idea what is involved in designing and producing a product.

[VFTF1]

When discussing whether Yamato is too greedy, one really needs to discuss this using Yen prices, not US prices, which are currently artificially high due to the crappy exchange rate. And of course you should not factor in shipping cost to you overseas as that is nothing to do with Yamato.

Anyway IIRC, a standard 1/48 VF-1 without FAST Packs cost Yamato somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 Yen each to produce. This is what Yamato has to pay the factory in China.

The MSRP in Japan for a 1/48 VF-1 is 14,800 Yen, but this is of course not what Yamato sells the toys for.

Again if I remember correctly what I was told, Yamato will normally sell the toys to a wholesaler at about 50-60% off the MSRP. The wholesaller will then sell the toy to a retail store at about 25-30% less than MSRP.

The retail store then marks up to MSRP, or there abouts.

Yamato is only actually making about 1,000 to 2,000 yen per 1/48.

Graham

This doesn't surprise me and sounds about right.

I would add something else to please consider:

The majority of large toy manufacturers offerr a broad, diverse range of items, from high-end upper market merchandise to cheaper goods and everything in between.

Yamato does not do this - Yamato seems to be obsessively focused on simply developing perfect incarnations of Anime mecha and maybe statues of anime girls as a side thing - in any event - they certainly are not gearing their business to providing a diverse offering.

Add to this another fact: there are really not that many Valkyrie - notice how a standard Valkyrie seems to be on sale for...FIVE YEARS from its' initial production run.

This makes sense since, once they put the effort into making it so perfect, then they have nothing else to sell EXCEPT THAT VALKYRIE.

Discussions in this thread seem to be going on under the impression that Yamato creates something and then, after - say - one year of selling it - gets their money back + profits.

I would venture to speculate that given how few Valkyrie there are - what - 10? 15? - and given what Graham said - then Yamato is prbably looking at a profit horizon of...three years.

That is - from the moment they concieved of and spent the money on making a mold of - say - the 1/60 YF-19 - it will probably take three years of selling that YF-19 for them to make a profit.

Also - "make a profit" does not necessarily mean "make a killing" - it just means making a bit of a profit; paying your employees and costs and having some money left over to invest or whatever.

So - yeah - I'm sad that this poll has the "yes they're greedy" option winning.

I think we should be more thankful that they do what they do and limit our complaints to meritorious ones: QC issues, durability, accuracy to the line art - all of these are legit subjects. Price is also a legit subject.

However - I just don't think it's fair to say that they are being "greedy" in what they are doing. It's a tough line of business that they're in, with some pretty heavy competition, limited by the licensing debacle (so they can't even hope to sell larger amounts of Valkyrie overseas and have no way to legally market the stuff outside of Japan).

It's a feakin' miracle that they even exist and that we have the pleasure and pride of saying that our hobby -Macross - has the BEST transformable figures produced on the market today.

Pete

EDIT: Unless I am very mistaken, there should also be one other point added to Graham's "calculations" - namely the VAT tax in Japan. Also, do Chinese imports (and if the Valkyrie are made in China and then shipped to Japan) also carry a VAT and import tarrif charge when they are brought into Japan? (I would think they do). The VAT is no small matter from the point of view of the consumer and adds a significant amount to the price.

Edited December 10, 2008 by VFTF1

[emerson]

NO

"Profit" has taken on a dirty cannotation in our modern lexicon. Profit is nothing more than "Economic Sustainability."

For a small outfit to expend enormous resources to target a niche market and stay afloat, I'm certain that Yamato is squeezing out razor thin margins from each unit sold. These profits are then reinvested back into the company to develop, manufacture and commercialize the next item in its pipeline.

Profits keep companies moving forward.

Edited December 10, 2008 by emerson

[mr.chogokin]

I don't know about Yamato being greedy; I know I'm definitely greedy. I usually read reviews from many people and wait for prices to drop before buying any Yamato product. I don't really practice this habit a lot with other companies, but experience has taught me to do it especially with Yamato products, and it has worked out well to my advantage. If Yamato prices don't drop, c'est la vie... life goes on.

Edit:- But prices did drop on most of Yamato's items... it happens when a company concedes that they were probably a little too greedy? and that they are no longer in control of people's purse strings due to less than favorable reviews. Bless the internet for that!

Edited December 10, 2008 by mr.chogokin

[Cent]

Just wait till you pay for a 1/60 Konig Monster. You're gonna need to take out a mortgage for that.

[sketchley]

a big part of the problem is also how screwed up the Japanese retail industry is. maybe it's not this way for yamato products, but for most things sold in japan the item ends up going through multiple wholesalers and resellers. rather than just 1 party or less between the manufacturer and retailer, there may be 3-5 parties involved, all of whom take a percentage of the final retail price. this reduces the percentage that each party takes in, and as a result the prices of everything gets driven up.

And how exactly is that different from other markets? I worked in a manufacturing company in North America, and the product went out like this:

manufacturer -> shipping -> wholesaler -> shipping -> distributor -> shipping -> retailer.

There are not many cases in most every country where items skip the wholesaler and/or distributor stages.

And I don't think it's been mentioned that there are import taxes. As a luxury product, I'm sure that your non-Japanese country's customs officers are charging a higher percentage on these items.

So, yeah, as Graham said, Yamato is only making ￥1,000 or ￥2,000 per item, but as they are being exported/imported, you guys are giving money to the ship (or plane, for you richer MWers) across the ocean, customs, brokers, and distributors, shippers, and retailers in your country. Kudos for propping up the economy!

[VFTF1]

I just want to add one thing to what Sketchley has written:

Some might wish to infer from it, that IF it were possible to just "buy directly" from Yamato, then things would be a whole lot cheaper than if there were wholesalers, retailers, and the multiple shipping charges in between.

NOT TRUE.

Why? Because if producers - Yamato or anyone else - decided to also sell their product directly to consumers, then they would have to incur HUGE costs. Yamato would have to invest in putting a store EVERYWHERE where there is now a store - because there wouldn't be one if it wasn't making some kind of money to stay afloat.

Yamato would in essence - have to shift its' focus from the design and production of goods to their distribution and a massive global logistics.

Even if they were to go the route of selling via the internet from one place, then they would still have to pay to maintain a whare house, pay people to provide customer service, pay for boxes, pay for computers to hold info on the customers etc etc etc.

One could say the same about just about any other industry. Wouldn't food be cheaper if farmers just up and sold it to us directly? Wouldn't your shoes be cheaper if the guy at the factory just put them in a box and shipped them to you after producing them?

N-O. No.

In fact - if every producer were their own distributor then things would BE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THEY ARE NOW. Why? Well - because if every producer were their own distributor, then each good would have ONLY ONE DISTRIBUTOR - you'd have a monopoly situation with no price competition, no competition in customer service - just ONE DISTRIBUTOR.

Worse still - if you wanted to buy one Transformer, one Valkyrie and one Gundam - you'd have to buy each of them seperately from each producer and pay three times the shipping fee rather than being able to get them together from a retailer who went to the trouble of risking to stock up on a variety of goods.

It's called division of labor. It allows people to specialize in what they're best at and use money as a medium of exchange to trade labor values that otherwise would be very hard to "calculate" (aka - if you're an auto mechanic and you want to buy my YF-19 - what can you offer me? You'll tune up my car? I don't have a car. So...how are we supposed to trade?).

Complaining about this is really pointless because it's like complaining about the fact that sooner or later, you're going to run out of breath if you jog enough hours.

As with everything in economics, marginal improvements are possible. Better logistics, better production techniques, good marketing - all of this can and does bring higher quality items at lower prices to more people.

But it happens because everyone is trying to "greedily" make a little moe money, save a little more time, and get things done with less work and less hassel.

If you suddenly frown on that "greedy" bit - then there will be no incentive for people to try and improve anything in life.

Pete

[Cent]

Econ 101 brought to you by VFTF, lol

The only way it'd be cheaper would be to get it yourself (thus incurring no shipping/retailing/management cost on their part) straight from manufacturing. Except that's not feasible, as informal inventory behavior starts to occur, and you accrue extensive inefficient costs for each person who is doing that as nothing is being subjected to economies of scale.

Edited December 10, 2008 by Cent

[do not disturb]

Yes, and it's a no-brainer for me.

1) Gnu fast packs = $20. (a little more with the crappy exchange rate). Seriously, that's not a joke. I don't see how any company can justify that. They should be $10 mail away items for those of us unfortunate enough to have bought the toy before Yamato got their act together.

2) $170 VF-0 toys with exploding shoulders. This should have REQUIRED a public apology and free replacement parts for anyone who bought one. Yes, I know this wouldn't have helped all of us outside of Japan but it should have happened. Selling toys that break through no foul of their owner is insulting, to not even try to make amends is far worse than greedy.

I'm a big pro market guy. I think generally Yamato is right to allow the market to dictate what they charge. The two instances above though really make me scratch my head. If the new 1/60 VF-1 continues to have problems I'll add a third to that list.

the conspiracy theorist in me says...

yamato(as well as other businesses) are in cohoots with china/japan postal services.

the postal service makes more money than yamato, their distributors and their retailers all combined.

BTW, i thought the dollar was doing better?

[jenius]

The dollar is doing better against the Euro and BP but not against the Yen.

[eugimon]

if only yamato was a korean company... my god the Won sucks right now.

[macrossnake]

I just want to make a few points here:

Yamato is not a small company, it might not as big as Bandai, it has grown a lot.

Some of their products are certainly over-price. Such as 1/12 Scopedag (around 18000 yen) , 1/60 vf19 without fast pack(around 18,800 yen) and 1/24 Patlabor (28,000 yen). What they are thinking?!

Yes, the more units the products sold, the lower the price can be... on the other hand, the cheaper the product price, the more units can be sold too... (i will have everthing Macross toys they made, if they r much cheaper...)

Anyway, back to the topic - whether Yamato is too greedy?

YES.

They are in it for businness. What do you think?

[VFTF1]

Have we seen a lot of good high quality pictures of the 1/24 Patlabor yet? I haven't - if they exist, please point the way.

From what I have read, it is going to be loaded with detail and also has electronic lights. I don't think 28000 Yen for something as big as the 1/24 Patlabor and supposedly as feature heavy is a large price. The CMS are cheaper and also look very nice- I would be curious as to what (beyond larger size) the Yamato Patlabor has to offer that the CMSs don't?

In any event, it's a bit too early to make a judgment call on that one.

The YF-19 at 18000 yen is also a good deal - I don't see the problem with that price. Sure, lack of fast pack sucks; but then again with the fast pack it would likely cost as much as the YF-21 does now (which comes with Fast Packs and a stand) - and so there's always a trade off there.

In the final analysis - if indeed it costs them 5000 Yen to produce one Valkyrie then that is a HUGE HUGE COST. A deluxe Transformer costs TWENTY FIVE AMERICAN CENTS to produce and sells for between 10 and 14 USD.

Look at those proportions - that means that the production cost compared to the final retail price of a TF is likely 0.025 percent! That is a vaaaaaaast profit margin for everybody in the logistics chain AND a decent price for the consumer.

If Yamato wanted to charge a proportional amount to what Hasbro were charging, the final retail price would have to be over 600,000 JPY for one Valkyrie.

THAT would be insane.

As things stand, the final retail price on a Valkyrie is likely roughly 3 times the cost of production. Those are RAZOR THIN margins for everybody involved - including Yamato.

Yet they have basically been able to take the idea that a company like Studio Half Eye had (perfect transformation and perfect detail) and make it into a mass market success - relatively speaking. As high priced as the Yammies are - they are still, grudgingly, at the end of the day - AFFORDABLE for the majority of people who have a regular middle class job.

You might only be able to buy 4 or 5 over the course of a year - but for Yamato that would mean you've bought about 1/3 of their Macross product line up for a given year - meaning - good.

In any event, 5000 Yen as the cost of producing a "toy" is insanely high and it takes gutts to run a company that makes things with such marginally huge costs of prodution.

Pete

[miriya]

I want to know why those dolls are so expensive, the ikki tousen ones and the minmei. they were like $600-$700 each IIRC.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

You can argue all you like but side parts should have been included imo for the vf-1 1/60 as standard. No excuses.

Also I think the 1/60 destroid is like the qrau and a bit overpriced compared to the valks since it is not as complex a toy. But I'll get one to show my support for non-variable macross mecha.

When toynami makes overpriced stuff it's "bad bad bad", but when yamato does suddenly it's "we shouldn't even talk about it?" Come on, I'm a fan of yamato toys like the next guy and been buying their stuff without much complaints but when something is expensive (like the qrau) but doesn't actually feel like it's really worth the asking price, it's greed.

Just like how here in australia we get really shitty prices for games and this has caused people to import (when the AUD was strong) because they could get it cheaper. Most people know the high price is because that's what people are used to paying for. Greed DOES play a part in it and that's just business. Not saying it's right or wrong because I'm a believer that so long as the two parties agreed to pay a high price and are both happy with the item/price nothing else matters. ...But we shouldn't stop having these threads just because it makes one group feel uncomfortable to have to explain things to us. If you are tired of it, why not just link to the old thread where you discussed it instead of retyping it up here and complaining that's it's beating a dead horse?

Sometimes companies DO want to keep a price high (just because they can) because they are the only game in town for a given thing they produce. As a console games example: look at the nintendo Wii vs the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 game consoles. You can't honestly sit there and tell me you are getting great value for money buying a nintendo wii compared to a ps3 or xbox360. It's like trying to argue that the Commodore 64 was only cheap because it was crap compared to other 8-bit computers. Nope, the C64 was great performance but at a cheap price. That's what this thread is for: what do you think about yamato compared to others? The consumer doesn't really care about the business they are buying from, just themselves. Any more than a business might not care whether they underpay a worker to get a good deal without caring about the worker only just barely being able to pay his bills or feed his family - it's business. No matter what side you are coming from: the minute you can find a better deal you go for it.

In the case of the v2 1/60, I think it is silly that they concentrated on the removable head thing instead of side parts. I'd rather they spent the effort on the side pieces. And for the Qrau: it just wasn't as good quality as the 1/48 VF-1 in terms of attention to detail. The micromissiles were not seperate pieces. As a non transforming mecha they could have spent some time to make them removable just like the micromissiles on the fast packs of the 1/48. People do notice these little things.

edit: and no I'm not just picking on yamato, I thought the CMs Legioss Tread was expensive for what you got. But like I say if you are a desperate fan willing to pay high price and are happy (grateful because no one else is attempting to release something like it) then that is all that matters. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about how you felt it doesn't feel worth the price, just because the urge to overpay is stronger than trying to find value. Bandai are also guilty of it through the chunky mac 7 toys which I also felt were overpriced.

Edited December 11, 2008 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[bigkid24]

When discussing whether Yamato is too greedy, one really needs to discuss this using Yen prices, not US prices, which are currently artificially high due to the crappy exchange rate. And of course you should not factor in shipping cost to you overseas as that is nothing to do with Yamato.

Anyway IIRC, a standard 1/48 VF-1 without FAST Packs cost Yamato somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 Yen each to produce. This is what Yamato has to pay the factory in China.

The MSRP in Japan for a 1/48 VF-1 is 14,800 Yen, but this is of course not what Yamato sells the toys for.

Again if I remember correctly what I was told, Yamato will normally sell the toys to a wholesaler at about 50-60% off the MSRP. The wholesaller will then sell the toy to a retail store at about 25-30% less than MSRP.

The retail store then marks up to MSRP, or there abouts.

Yamato is only actually making about 1,000 to 2,000 yen per 1/48.

Graham

QFT. This is pretty much what I going to post. The main things being that we need to compare Yen prices over the years and not USD prices that domestic sellers charge.

I don't see Yamato as greedy at all. If a company doesn't profit from their products what's the point of being in business? Sure they are milking the VF-1 mold but at least their releases make sense. If you want to call a company greedy for price gouging and milking molds then I would point the finger at TakaraTomy or Hasbro. How many times have we seen G1 Optimus Prime reissued? And the price of the 25th anniversary Prime at $69.99 is ridiculous especially since all they did was add a dvd, voice box, and comic.