Wow guys, I do see that this is a point of contention, so I'll try to weigh in as best I can. Let me get this out of the way: I am aware that this post is tl;dr!
First, I didn't mean that my crew is hostile! I meant that this crew seems hostile! My coworkers are anything but!
I am aware that our prices are higher than big chain discounters. We don't get the same volume pricing or distribution they do, but that's only part of the story. The other part is that we are a small business that sells
collectibles. The collectible market sets prices, and we do price to that market (meaning the current going price for whichever item is in question). I'm speaking generally here, not just of Skylanders.
I've seen on these boards breakdowns of rare item distribution, so maybe I can shed a little light here. A big box store like Walmart gets the standard mix, of which the majority is common items. They don't take time to know each line and it's variations, so they just stick them all on a shelf and think no more about it. If their commons don't sell, then they just clearance them out when it's time to make more shelf space. They can do that because they've made up the difference in massive volume. *I've seen $20 MSRP McFarlane, for example, for $1.50 at Target. We just can't take constant hits like that and stay in business when margins are slim.
Our mix also includes those common items, which may or may not sell. We don't get the same discounts or quantities they get, so we have to be much more careful with our inventory - we can't make up losses in volume across thousands of stores. As a collectibles store, we do take the time to learn about each product line, and we watch the secondary markets. While collectors always lament that you can never find rares and variants at discount chains (at least not consistently), the same would be true for us if we were selling at MSRP - we wouldn't have the items at all, the instant those prices went up. That's a fact - your "scalpers" run software to scan for those constantly and will grab them immediately, still leaving no opportunity for average customers. And even average customers who know the market will grab them to resell as soon as they're posted. The first person gets them all, nearly every time. So instead, we sell at market price. That means the rarer items are available at our store, from a reliable retailer instead of a random Craigslist or Ebay ad.
And for a small company, that's the how we can survive against the discount power of large chains. We pay more for our figures, and we run an even greater risk of being stuck with inventory that doesn't sell - those common items that make up the bulk of each assortment. It's not an ideal situation for us either, but ultimately, we're not setting those prices or those distributions that force us to take unwanted merchandise along with popular items - all at a higher cost to us than to those larger competitors. Those prices are the result of scarcity from the manufacturers, distribution assortments that are far less than ideal, and a secondary market that establishes a "collectors price" that is higher than retail due to those first two factors.
And frankly, if we were putting rare items up at the same prices as common ones, they still wouldn't be available, just as you find them not on the shelves at Walmart or TRU very often. As for wiping out WalMarts, we're just a single toystore in Nanuet, NY. We certainly don't have the time or ability to wipe retail shelves. We do purchase items that are made available to us through a variety of resources, including some that are "exclusive" to another retailer. Again, that's part of a collectibles market, one that operates any time a company chooses to make certain desirable items scarce.
I realize that I'm probably not going to sway opinions here, but that's the simple reality of being a small business in a big-chain discount economy. You must specialize or you can't compete - just ask the millions of hometown hardware stores and local merchants whose shops closed when Walmarts opened. We've been in business for 20 years, and we do offer secure shopping, ready availability for rare items, and good customer service. We're not scalpers, "scumbags" or jerks. We actually love the merchandise we sell and enjoy things like the many contests we run and the fun communities we're part of. But I'll say it again: staying in business against the buying power and volume of massive corporations means being different. We can't sell at their prices. We can't discount to their clearance levels. But we can know the collectible markets far better than they do. And nobody is being forced to pay premium prices to get rare items - these are just toys, after all. But for those who want the simplicity of getting the thing they're looking for from a reliable source easily, we fill a niche. And that niche keeps the lights on, even in an industry that often seems stacked against small businesses.
As for the contests? They're fun and I'm getting tons of great entries. I appreciate seeing what everyone dreams up!
Edited to add: the opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily the official opinions of ToyWiz.com. In other words - this is how I see things.
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R pretty much say:
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