Rated X wrote:I guess I have to see a Japenese version up close to appreciate the difference. And honestly I never have. I must admit though most Hasbro red figures could use a little more gloss. As far as the import issue, If the cost is true and not fabricated, I honestly wonder why companies arent shipping them into the USA in the same fashion that they are shipping in other collectibles. Lets use Jada "Dub City" Diecast model cars as an example which are made in China. Is there really a division of government saying "let the cars go, but red flag all transformers for import costs ?" The cars (also collectibles) always seem to find their way from USA Store shelves for under 20 bucks. What is the difference ??? One dude on this site once stated that if you visit Japan, you will pay the same amount in Yen at a toy store as you would through mail order because thats just the set price the company charges and they arent marketing them as "kids toys" like in the USA. Anyone know if this is true ???
I'm trying to make heads and tails of your post, can you please tell me if I'm interpretting this right?
Dub City model cars sell in the US for under 20 dollars, thus you believe that there's no import cost on them? Are these cars made to sell in the US, or are they primarily sold in Japan, and then some US stores pick them up (i.e. they had to special import them).
Edit: Ahh, Jada Toys, based in america and sells cars to the American Market.
OK I think I see where your confusion is coming from. You think that a Classics Hound is and should be the same as Hankei hound, after this so called "import fee."
Let me bring another comparison which is relevant and decently comparable to this import fee. That is the act of buying cocaine. Now it's fairly easy to make cocaine and if you asked around the local stuff would be cheaper than the imported stuff. However most people would tell you that the imported stuff is better? Why? I dunno I'm not a druggie so I can't tell you. However the imported stuff costs more. Why?
because it passes through more hands and each hand wants its cut.
Let's bring that back to Hasbro vs Takara. Hasbro pays for their import fees, which is shipping/handling, loading/unloading, taxes, and whatever else. They then distribute that cost evenly among the millions of units that find their ways to the store shelves, thus being cheaper (completely ignoring the paint apps, QC, etc of the item itself).
Takara doesn't have to pay the shipping and handling to the US, or taxes to the US, or whatever else. Thus anyone looking to bring in Takara stuff has to do so on their own dime. Hasbro has cheaper costs because they ship millions of units, thus allowing for a wider base to spread their cost over. The importer (I'll use BBTS as an example) ships in thousands of units, but they have to go through a distributor that will orginize that for them. BBTS has to pay them for that. This means that so far there is Takara's Factories --> Distributor --> Importing --> BBTS. Compare that to Hasbro's model of Hasbro Factories (actually Takara Factories) --> Importing --> Store Shelves.
See that? Takara to the US would be at least 4 hands, Hasbro's direct-to-store is only 3. That's what we mean when we say Import Costs, those extra hands that are needed to get stuff from there to here.
