But is that any different to any other major European distributor?
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Pokemon Pinball Hype Thread
- Thread starter Kaufmanised
- Start date
Everyone needs to make a profit, that's not begrudged Chris but something here seems to have gone wrong if the price of pins in this country are £1000's more expensive than they are supposed to be.
I sell toys and games and as a rule of thumb, the wholesaler makes 10 percent, we make 25-30 depending on the product.
Now I don't know the margin on pinball machines but I'm guessing EC is taking the same cut as the likes of PH and Retro which has bumped our retail price up considerably. What's going to happen as we've seen, is that people are looking to import from Germany at £1000 cheaper or more even after Phil has dropped his prices, and something is going to have to change.
The options are that EC drops their commission rate for holding stock, the customer facing companies take a hit to their profit percentage to keep the customers which isn't right or fair, or people buy from Germany / somewhere equivalent and the UK loses out on sales and EC has a warehouse full of machines they won't be able to sell.
I don't think it's overly fair that STERN announced these RRP's without talking to their distribution network first but apparently they're not too happy with the pricing over here either.
There's some hokey bull**** going on somewhere. We're forever getting fleeced in this country for everything, would be nice if pinball was exempt
I understand your points Chris, but the dynamics have shifted if Stern have given the European distributors the go ahead to sell to us at RRP. Up until now we had no choice but to suck it up and pay the inflated UK prices if we wanted the games - now it appears that we have other options.
Also, as an aside - if they’re sitting on so much stock that not only isn’t selling, but is costing them money to store, why do we never see sales or discounts on older titles? I’ve heard of it happening in the States, but not over here.
I agree on both guy
I think if Ec refuse to comply with stern rrp then I think it will make for a bit of a uncomfortable relationship with stern
Ec sales model is so outdated with now most sales been to the public over operators like back in the day plus they have no interest selling to the end user
And yes I have never understood why they don’t just try sell off stock that has been hanging around for years there is lot of bond 60th at Hadfields I wonder if they still have the bm66 sle in stock
Thinking logically, if they sell off these super limited edition games at bargain prices that may hurts future sales, or maybe there's so much profit in £20k+ games it doesn't matter if they don't shift them all, or holding depreciating assets allows them to offset tax?
David retro
Site Supporter
As Above our new RRP will be
Pros £7995
Premiums £10,495
will be updating website
Pros £7995
Premiums £10,495
will be updating website
It’s still a grand too much on both counts Dave according to sterns official rrp for the uk
It’s been coming for a long while this and people have had enough by the looks of it
Not David or Phils fault on the pricing though.
Stern need to update their business model here so EC, Phil and David can all buy direct from Stern and none of them have to pay a middleman. Then EC can sell to businesses and David/Phil can sell to consumers. It surely can’t be that hard for Stern to see theres an issue with the current model and fix it.
I’m blaming neither Phil nor Dave I’m simply saying something is a miss if you can order a premium from Europe direct to door with all fees for a grand cheaper based upon sterns official rrp
OP
OP
Agreed - I'd just like to point out that its neither @philpalmer nor @David retro fault and we all know this
This is has been years in the making!
If prices came down to RRP I think we'd see an increase in sales in the UK and might help this niche hobby grow
Two things I have learnt from people privately messaging me over last couple days.
1. More people are buying from Europe already then I realised.
2. People confirmed if they were getting at RRP they would more inclined to buy
Can't our friendly neighbourhood retailers buy from KMS instead of EC?
I was thinking this.
Yes agreed on all counts. I’ve bought 15 NIB pins over the years, 10 of them Sterns. I haven't bought a NIB Stern for years now though because I’m not paying £11.5k for a Premium - the value just isn’t there.
I’m not interested in Pokemon but if I can get Premiums for around the RRP of just over £9k going forwards I’ll be back in the NIB market for sure.
This is my worry, along with stern putting a quick stop to these imports. Hopefully not.
The suggestion that stock won’t move, is only the case at the current prices, if you sold at RRP then stock would move much quicker. The Beatles games at ridiculous prices are a good example.
That was the other thing I forgot to mention, when I had the phone call today, I asked the sales executive if they're now allowed to sell to the UK, and they told me they full have been allowed to by Stern so there's absolutely no red tape anymore.
Stern don't make the best pinball machines anymore, although some Elwin titles remain the best shooters.
That said, a 7 grand pro is decent value as a budget pin. As a consumer, you don't mind it not having the bells and whistles of a JJP, BOF or Spooky if it's 5 grand less.
I love loads of Stern games but they're like Bally Williams to me now. I'll continue to grab them second hand if a good deal comes up. But as a company, Star Wars followed by this nonsense means I'm done unless something drastically changes.
There is no set of circumstances that would see me wire 7 thousand pounds to a company overseas.
My last two nibs weren't Stern and neither are my next two. . . Can't see it changing either.
That said, a 7 grand pro is decent value as a budget pin. As a consumer, you don't mind it not having the bells and whistles of a JJP, BOF or Spooky if it's 5 grand less.
I love loads of Stern games but they're like Bally Williams to me now. I'll continue to grab them second hand if a good deal comes up. But as a company, Star Wars followed by this nonsense means I'm done unless something drastically changes.
There is no set of circumstances that would see me wire 7 thousand pounds to a company overseas.
My last two nibs weren't Stern and neither are my next two. . . Can't see it changing either.
Can you point on the diagram where stern touched you
I do agree there last few games been bit boring
they need a Wednesday pin!!!
This still blows my mind… a ‘budget’ game is now 7k or 8k if you don’t go elsewhere.,
20 years ago they were ~2500, which according to devaluation calculators is ~4500 now so where’s the other 3500 ,(at 8k) coming from????? Materials and cost of sales can’t have gone up that much surely
Can you point on the diagram where stern touched you
View attachment 300193
I do agree there last few games been bit boring
We shouldn't be afraid to purchase from Europe. Yes wiring money probably isn't a great idea but these are established businesses. Pay with a credit card and protect your purchase if there's any concern.
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Weren’t people buying from Germany until Brexit happened getting better deals for Sterns, I was on the verge of doing it and know someone who did without any issues.
OP
OP
Plenty of people been doing it for years...
Now Stern have officially lifted the embargo on selling to UK...
The bigger companies already have processes in place to streamline the process to ship directly to us...
They even offer a service to deal with VAT before entering the UK, to save you dealing with it on arrival
Jib
Site Supporter
I'm just waiting for a bit to see what happens, I'm not sure everything has been finalised yet. If we get RRP it should be cheaper than buying from Europe anyway. If it makes financial sense I'd rather give business to a UK distro that I've been happy dealing with for a while.
Europe's still an option in a months time if nothings changed here but also understand if people buy from Europe now to make sure they get an early one.
Game looks fun. If this one's not for you hopefully the next one is and by then we should have clarity on the price front.
Europe's still an option in a months time if nothings changed here but also understand if people buy from Europe now to make sure they get an early one.
Game looks fun. If this one's not for you hopefully the next one is and by then we should have clarity on the price front.
LOL I think stern has touched every NIB buyer there
Think it's time to revive the confessional thread. I have still never purchased a NIB Stern.
Can someone post the links to sites that will send you a stern from abroad, I’m going to look at this option, this pricing thing is the last straw for me, it’s RRP or no purchase going forward.
I would like to add that this is no disrespect to all the shops I buy of in the uk but it’s time to stop getting the **** deal
I would like to add that this is no disrespect to all the shops I buy of in the uk but it’s time to stop getting the **** deal