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Pokemon Pinball Hype Thread

JustLikeMe said:
So looking at EU prices, the Pro would be approx £7k inc VAT + shipping so around 7.3k to 7.5k delivered.
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If it's only a saving of £500 I think I'd rather just buy from the UK to get the extra years warranty, and peace of mind that any issues would be sorted by Pinball Heaven/Retro Arcade rather than some unknown in another country.
 
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JustLikeMe said:
So looking at EU prices, the Pro would be approx £7k inc VAT + shipping so around 7.3k to 7.5k delivered.
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I think if you import from Germany you need to add 2.7% duty in aswell because it’s manufactured in USA not eu . Not sure if the vat is added after the duty or other way round..

See this label from some pinball parts I just got in from pinball centre last week

IMG_2564.webp
 
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Surely the RRP from Stern is the price the end customer should pay. It’s then down to Stern to set their prices to the retailers at a level that allow them to offer this price. I really can’t fathom why this conversation didn’t take place before they published it.

If all other currently available games are also at the same price point the second hand market is going to take a massive bath.
 
johnwhitfield said:
Surely the RRP from Stern is the price the end customer should pay. It’s then down to Stern to set their prices to the retailers at a level that allow them to offer this price. I really can’t fathom why this conversation didn’t take place before they published it.

If all other currently available games are also at the same price point the second hand market is going to take a massive bath.
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The problem appears to be stern doesn’t seem to understand its own uk distribution network and that electrocoin operates still like its 1980…

I guess there aren’t many USA distributors that have been around for 40+ years…

If they are serious about these prices it’s them that need to make it happen. Phil having to try and sort it out seems pretty unfair when his hands are tied..
 
A pro sells at £8500 here. That’s $11,500. Think about that for a minute, almost double the pro price in the USA. Yes there’s a bit of shipping, and vat, but double? Something isn’t right. As there is only 1 uk importer there is no competition and therefore no choice.
 
myPinballs said:
I think if you import from Germany you need to add 2.7% duty in aswell because it’s manufactured in USA not eu . Not sure if the vat is added after the duty or other way round..

See this label from some pinball parts I just got in from pinball centre

View attachment 300060
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Does it say what commodity code was used?They probably declared it using a different commodity code than pinball machines (9504908000)
 
Seems simple enough to me - Stern's UK RRP is £5799+VAT which is £6958.00. There is no import duty. Things like warranties and support should not be additional costs. Personally I don't expect to spend £7k and not have delivery included either. If resellers can't do the RRP then they need to decline to stock it from Stern.

Premium £9118.80. LE £12598.80. FWIW I think anyone spending an additional £3.5k for an LE needs their head checking.
 
Can’t be many goods aimed at consumers rather than businesses that have a RRP excluding VAT.

Guess pinball is in a bit of a grey area being originally almost exclusively for business customers and now I’d guess that’s pretty much flipped.
 
MattCarr said:
They should tell you what commodity code was used for your import though so you can see what was used and why.
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Yeah i know what code it should be, as i use it every day myself, but my point is if importing goods from Germany then you have no control over what happens regardless of the paperwork. And in this case the correct code was used and it still had duty added...

Just another thing to bear in mind if not buying a uk machine is what i was getting at...

And, trying to resolve the problem if it is indeed wrong after the fact is almost impossible.
 
MarkS said:
Seems simple enough to me - Stern's UK RRP is £5799+VAT which is £6958.00. There is no import duty. Things like warranties and support should not be additional costs. Personally I don't expect to spend £7k and not have delivery included either. If resellers can't do the RRP then they need to decline to stock it from Stern.

Premium £9118.80. LE £12598.80
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It is this simple for me. Stern have never set a RRP for UK before so although we could all do the $ conversion to see we were paying a lot for Sterns, there was never anything to back up getting a lower price. Now there is.

I'm in on a pro if we get RRP. Just need patience for some clarity.
 
johnwhitfield said:
Surely the RRP from Stern is the price the end customer should pay. It’s then down to Stern to set their prices to the retailers at a level that allow them to offer this price. I really can’t fathom why this conversation didn’t take place before they published it.

If all other currently available games are also at the same price point the second hand market is going to take a massive bath.
Click to expand...

The RRP is the price the end consumer pays in every market except the UK. We can now buy from Europe at the € RRP but we still can’t buy here at the £ RRP.

This suggests that Stern have set their prices at a level that should allow end users to pay this price - but something in the distribution structure over here means that we’re paying almost £1.4k above RRP for a Premium, and that’s with the updated pricing from Phil.

Sure, delivery is included over here and I don’t know if that’s generally the case in Europe when buying at RRP, but even if it’s not and we call delivery £150 then we’re still paying £1,250 over RRP for no clear reason given that EU machines are also imported from the States and they seem to come with a 12 month warranty so the these costs must be built into the €/£ RRP.


johnwhitfield said:
Can’t be many goods aimed at consumers rather than businesses that have a RRP excluding VAT.

Guess pinball is in a bit of a grey area being originally almost exclusively for business customers and now I’d guess that’s pretty much flipped.
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My guess is it’s because Stern are a US based company and the MSRP in the States is always pre tax. They’re also giving RRP for a number of different markets with differing VAT levels so easier to give the ex VAT price. If they were to given a RRP that includes VAT they’d have to specify for each individual EU country.
 
johnwhitfield said:
Can’t be many goods aimed at consumers rather than businesses that have a RRP excluding VAT.

Guess pinball is in a bit of a grey area being originally almost exclusively for business customers and now I’d guess that’s pretty much flipped.
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I think you hit the nail on the head there. The legacy of 'trade only' distributors here with a long strong relationship with stern and garry himself, is what makes this whole thing more complex. Well thats what i believe anyway. It's not that long ago that private individuals could not buy amusement games or parts directly. When you were a collector in the 80s/90s it was very different!! Getting onside with an operator was a must!
 
Jib said:
It is this simple for me. Stern have never set a RRP for UK before so although we could all do the $ conversion to see we were paying a lot for Sterns, there was never anything to back up getting a lower price. Now there is.
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Yes, couldn’t agree more. We’ve always paid way over the odds here but it was never entirely clear why. Now we not only have a manufacturer RRP, but we can see machines for sale for the RRP in other markets. If they can sell for RRP in Europe there’s no reason they shouldn’t sell for RRP over here too.
 
Pretty bad news really following the Star Wars nonsense, the next release had to go without a glitch. Definitely seems the UK is the least important market for Stern.

All the fine details aside, it doesn't seem too easy to buy a nib Stern in the UK right now.

I suspect it will get resolved and Stern will be well aware of what is going on with Electro Coin. I don't have a dog in the fight because I'm not getting one but I'd definitely wait and see before spending.
 
JustLikeMe said:
Yes, couldn’t agree more. We’ve always paid way over the odds here but it was never entirely clear why. Now we not only have a manufacturer RRP, but we can see machines for sale for the RRP in other markets. If they can sell for RRP in Europe there’s no reason they shouldn’t sell for RRP over here too.
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Wholeheartedly agree!
 
Pricegate aside.

Where the fackity fack is Jesse and James? Team Rocket logo is on the playfield and you can see them in the balloon in that first multiball from 500 miles out, but zero mention of them anywhere and no call outs and no close ups.
 
Alpha1 said:
Pricegate aside.

Where the fackity fack is Jesse and James? Team Rocket logo is on the playfield and you can see them in the balloon in that first multiball from 500 miles out, but zero mention of them anywhere and no call outs and no close ups.
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They are busy protecting the world from devastation! I was hoping they would be one of the team rocket modes but on the Loser Kid podcast they said they weren't in it.
 
Jib said:
They are busy protecting the world from devastation! I was hoping they would be one of the team rocket modes but on the Loser Kid podcast they said they weren't in it.
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That is absolutely nuts. How can you have the original Pokémon, utilise the cartoon assets and then not have Jesse and James and their amazing call outs when you've decided to include Team Rocket in your game.
 
I don't believe you should automatically have to pay duty as they are for private use, not operated by coin, notes , tokens etc, and not intended for re-sale. ??

Commodity code 9504500000: Video game consoles and machines, other than those of subheading 9504 30 - UK Integrated Online Tariff - GOV.UK

Video game consoles and machines, other than those of subheading 9504 30
www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk


Any duty due would have been paid in Germany. The retailer doesn't ask for duty when they sell it, just Vat ( which wouldn't be charged as it's going to the UK ).
 
The easy solution to this is EC change their model slightly and sell direct to consumer, cutting the other middle man out up the chain.. not hard really just employ a couple of customer facing staff offer standard 1 year warranty and off you go . The fact EC haven’t operated like that has for decades allowed a second business layer taking their cut to be created in UK .
 
Kelsbells said:
The easy solution to this is EC change their model slightly and sell direct to consumer, cutting the other middle man out up the chain.. not hard really just employ a couple of customer facing staff offer standard 1 year warranty and off you go . The fact EC haven’t operated like that has for decades allowed a second business layer taking their cut to be created in UK .
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That’s assuming that EC would sell at the Stern RRP.
 
Off the top of my head, if they want to sell for RRP there’s loads of options. EC sell direct to the public, stern sell direct to orther businesses that only sell to the home market. The other guys get stock from EU at trade price, EU sellers sell to the UK….
 
Kelsbells said:
The easy solution to this is EC change their model slightly and sell direct to consumer, cutting the other middle man out up the chain.. not hard really just employ a couple of customer facing staff offer standard 1 year warranty and off you go . The fact EC haven’t operated like that has for decades allowed a second business layer taking their cut to be created in UK .
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KMS manage to take a cut and pass on a margin to the retailers, no need to force EC out, just get them to see sense.
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if Stern had completely forgotten about how the EC business model operates in the UK and if the public were able to buy direct from them we would be able to buy the latest Stern Pro models for £7k (inc VAT).
 
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