Tracking toy tariffs

Damien said:
The most damaging things we can do in a hobby like this is have any expectation of fairness and honesty from these companies....
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I am guilty of this to an embarrassing degree. Marvel Legends figure breaks and I say, "well they're my friend and I don't want to bother them with replacing it". Megalopolis kept sending me an unsolicited case of figures every week for a month and I sent them back (on their dime). My one thin solace is that at least I know I'm a trusting putz.
 
Damien said:
Importantly... it has already happened. Most of us have been around long enough to have seen this near-exact scenario play out a dozen times already. There's ALWAYS some existential threat to toy manufacturing or unavoidable economic struggle that has to be compensated for by increasing prices to the consumer. And it's always the case that those prices do not come down after the 'crisis' is over.
Whether it's a labour shortage in China, increases in oil prices, material shortages, shipping cost increases due to limited availability of containers/shipping lane issues, etc. There's always SOMETHING that gives these greedy pieces of shit a chance to hike the cost up. Almost always beyond the actual level that they're being financially affected. And then that just becomes the new price, regardless of how those circumstances later change.

The most damaging things we can do in a hobby like this is have any expectation of fairness and honesty from these companies (even the ones we like), and give any benefit of the doubt that they will act with integrity. I see it every time something like this happens; there's always a crop of collectors that are like 'at least it's temporary,' and truly mean it. It isn't. It never is.
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Point taken, but I'd say 145% tariffs are a pretty unprecedented and all-encompassing reason this time around. That said, the companies that retain the price increases when/if the tariffs lower/go away will deserve every bit of lost business and distrust they get in return. Problem is, I'm not sure how anyone can be sure that they'll STAY away until this idiot is well out of office.
 
cmoney said:
Point taken, but I'd say 145% tariffs are a pretty unprecedented and all-encompassing reason this time around. That said, the companies that retain the price increases when/if the tariffs lower/go away will deserve every bit of lost business and distrust they get in return. Problem is, I'm not sure how anyone can be sure that they'll STAY away until this idiot is well out of office.
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I'm not saying this specific circumstance is not unprecedented. I'm saying that, just like with every other 'crisis' for these toy companies, when the specific circumstance passes and things return to normal (when = if), those 'necessary' price increases won't come back down unless the market itself collapses and people have completely stopped buying from them in the interim. Because once we tell them what we're willing to pay - that's how much they want.

You say they'll earn distrust and all this other stuff, but what I'm saying is they've already done this thing we're talking about. A dozen times. And they're still massively wealthy corporations that do whatever they want and we continue to thank them for the privilege of charging us whatever they like for increasingly less-worthy product.

It's never about what a product NEEDS to cost. It's always about what the consumer has proven they're willing to pay.
 
Damien said:
I'm not saying this specific circumstance is not unprecedented. I'm saying that, just like with every other 'crisis' for these toy companies, when the specific circumstance passes and things return to normal (when = if), those 'necessary' price increases won't come back down unless the market itself collapses and people have completely stopped buying from them in the interim. Because once we tell them what we're willing to pay - that's how much they want.

You say they'll earn distrust and all this other stuff, but what I'm saying is they've already done this thing we're talking about. A dozen times. And they're still massively wealthy corporations that do whatever they want and we continue to thank them for the privilege of charging us whatever they like for increasingly less-worthy product.

It's never about what a product NEEDS to cost. It's always about what the consumer has proven they're willing to pay.
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Yeah. We just did his with Quarantine half a decade ago (yikes). You see it now.
 
Damien said:
I'm not saying this specific circumstance is not unprecedented. I'm saying that, just like with every other 'crisis' for these toy companies, when the specific circumstance passes and things return to normal (when = if), those 'necessary' price increases won't come back down unless the market itself collapses and people have completely stopped buying from them in the interim. Because once we tell them what we're willing to pay - that's how much they want.

You say they'll earn distrust and all this other stuff, but what I'm saying is they've already done this thing we're talking about. A dozen times. And they're still massively wealthy corporations that do whatever they want and we continue to thank them for the privilege of charging us whatever they like for increasingly less-worthy product.

It's never about what a product NEEDS to cost. It's always about what the consumer has proven they're willing to pay.
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You're crazy, the economy is all sunshine and lollipops. I can't hear you.......lalalalalala

It's like with Loblaw up here. I just got an email the other day about the bread price fixing lawsuit. I had pretty much forgotten about that. Then of course Covid inflation that was more than the actual inflation. And that was the grocery chains!!! It will be just as much a temptation for the non-essential product manufacturers.

I mean Hasbro has already telegraphed that prices are going up, now it is just a wait and see how much they think they can milk consumers before they crack.
 
On my collecting spreadsheet, I'm keeping a list of all releases with a note of what it's worth to me. If I can get the figure for that price, awesome. If it's not worth what they're charging to me, then it's not worth it to me. I shall overcome my compulsion to own.
 
I just wanted to chime in, first post in this thread. I started following along late, every time I had time to catch up, I was about 5-10 pages behind. I’m finally on the same page (literally), but I just wanted to say I’ve always been on the same page (metaphorically) with those of you here in this community.

It’s a relief to read thoughts from sensible, likeminded people who share similar values. To be able to commiserate about the important and the trivial. The topic of the surreality of our current reality is not always uplifting, but I am uplifted by the people who’ve been posting in this thread and on this new version of a community I’ve been part of for over two decades.

We are at the beginning of the scariest downfall of society in my lifetime. I think I’m equipped to deal with it, I think my family and those closest to me are as well. But I fear for those who won’t come out in tact, be it individuals, families, demographics, small businesses, and so on. All at the whims of an administration that does not care about anything but themselves.

I'm a 47 yo Xennial. I am a husband of 20 years this July. A father of a 13yo and 10 yo. Ive been an educator and high school teacher for 20 years. I’m a lifelong Catholic whose greatest takeaway is not squashing the rights of those who don’t think like me, but the message of empathy and doing my best to exemplify that. I’m a NJ resident and Democrat and am finding ways to become more involved in my local community, because that’s where it starts. These are all part of my identity, and I wanted to state that because I hate being in a world where I’m no longer sure of who I’m talking to anymore.

Thanks TSI for setting this up. The spirit of Fwoosh lives on here, at least the best parts of it do.
 
In theory, if tariffs are suddenly lifted and that tax that is passed on to the consumer no longer exists, there SHOULD be no reason that a company who is playing fair will keep passing on that higher cost. But if you have the market cornered on, oh, say 6" Marvel or 6" Star Wars, and you see the die hards keep buying no matter what (which, let's face it, die hards are just about all that is left even if we're talking pre-tariffs), then I don't know if I trust some companies to drop those prices. If you're a smaller company, let's say Nacelle Company, for example, trying to sell C and D list Star Trek figures, it would behoove you to keep those prices as low as you possibly can. If companies like that are able to keep their prices down, I bet you they do it or they won't survive. If you're talking about a Hasbro on the other hand......

Anyway, Im putting the cart before the horse. At this point I'm just hoping for my very few BBTS preorders to come through before these costs rise. Mafex Superboy, '97 Gambit, figures whose estimated arrivals are April, previously March, previously February, previously January..........actually, ummmmm, maybe I better just give up hope on that.
 
Damien said:
I'm not saying this specific circumstance is not unprecedented. I'm saying that, just like with every other 'crisis' for these toy companies, when the specific circumstance passes and things return to normal (when = if), those 'necessary' price increases won't come back down unless the market itself collapses and people have completely stopped buying from them in the interim. Because once we tell them what we're willing to pay - that's how much they want.

You say they'll earn distrust and all this other stuff, but what I'm saying is they've already done this thing we're talking about. A dozen times. And they're still massively wealthy corporations that do whatever they want and we continue to thank them for the privilege of charging us whatever they like for increasingly less-worthy product.

It's never about what a product NEEDS to cost. It's always about what the consumer has proven they're willing to pay.
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Yeah, I know what you're saying. I'm just saying this whole situation is so crazy and different from what came before that I think they might have to readjust when/if it ends because it'll be so damned obvious if they don't. And maybe you're right, maybe they won't. Or, more likely, some will and some won't.

I do know for my own part that I've bowed out of a number of lines (mostly Hasbro) the last few years for reasons of increased cost vs. perceived value.
 
Adding injury to insult, yeah.

Of course there are many far more serious implications than the figure collecting stuff. But I feel like figures is a sorta 'safe', not so scary frame of reference.

I found a comic shop in Galway and the owner was talking about the tariffs. Apparently he gets a lot of his collectibles from the US, so he has to tack his own costs onto his price as it is. Now he was saying how things are kinda up in the air and he honestly isn't sure what's going to happen, or how severe etc, but he was clearly worried about the future. So while I'm talking about collectibles, the reality is this business owner in Ireland may go under because of this stuff, just as much as possible countless American businesses will. And other international businesses that have nothing to do with toys at all.
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As someone who is also fairly plugged into the political scene...

I give it a month, max. You're going to start seeing a massive turnaround and push back against Trump that we didn't even think possible. I won't say impeachment is on the table, necessarily, but you're going to be seeing his own party turn against him in a big, big way and that is going to lead to a lot of reform. Hearing loads of discontent rumblings. There are a LOT of unhappy people right now.

Billionaires can't buy what's not available and can't sell to the people unable to buy.

Edit: I should also say that this gives me a perfect out as far as collecting, especially Hasbro's greedy asses. I dumped my entire Classified lineup recently (and bought my wife and myself some awesome electric bikes that I'm getting much more enjoyment out of). And I only cherrypick Marvel figures.

I'm sticking with NECA and Nacelle, primarily. And a few Trick or Treat Studios figures. And I'm good with that.
 
Tariff whiplash is certainly a thing. Like a certain bit of cryptocurrency that showed up last year, I think the present occupier of the White House is enjoying what is essentially legalized market manipulation with his tariff talk. The obscenely wealthy are likely getting even more wealthy off of this stuff so I don't expect it to change anytime soon. Manufacturers might not even hate it because it's giving them a plausible excuse to raise prices going forward to cover any jump in tariffs, even if they're never actually assessed. We could seriously be dealing with this until the midterms in 2026 when the threat of Republicans losing control of one or both houses forces Trump to pick a lane and stay in it.
 
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