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Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:06 pm
by andersonh1
And a nasty price increase it is too. Today at Wal-Mart, I saw that the prices had been upped to $12.89 per figure. Effectively $13 and change after tax.

It seems that after a few months of prices being $2 below the previous standard of $10 for a deluxe figure, that Wal-Mart has decided to up the price to $3 above the previous standard. I had expected (and seen in some cases) the price to return to normal from $7.77, or even go up a dollar, but I wasn't expecting that much of a change.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:13 pm
by Rampage01
Do you know if it's all stores, or just Wal-Mart? Hasbro may have had to adjust their prices to compensate for increased production and shipment costs.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:57 pm
by Onslaught Six
Well, Target is still having them for $9ish, so who knows. What I do know is that they're definitely $13 at every Wal-Mart now. It blows!

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:31 pm
by Mirage
Some Targets have them at 10.99, others still have them at 7.79 for the time being. The deluxe price increase, I'm sure, is part of the foretold "across the board" price increase Hasbro started warning us about a few months back. They've been sneaking the higher price points up for a while now, notice Leaders are now $42 at Target, and Ultras are $28, with Voyagers clocking in at $22 this past week. The deluxes are just the most noticeable, partly because it's a much higher percentage of the lower price point, and partly because they'd gone down for the holidays. The lower price was nice for a while, but now the increase just hurts more.... :(

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:40 am
by andersonh1
I understand a price increase over time, but $3.00 more for a formerly $10.00 figure? That's a pretty hefty percentage increase in price.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:40 pm
by Mirage
andersonh1 wrote:I understand a price increase over time, but $3.00 more for a formerly $10.00 figure? That's a pretty hefty percentage increase in price.
No doubt, but if you think about it, deluxes are the only price point that have never gone up since this size class system was instituted back in Beast Wars. They've been ~$10 for thirteen years. It was bound to happen eventually, no matter how much of a bummer it is. Unfortunately, now I'm going to have to start getting more selective, probably starting with the movie line. :(

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:29 pm
by Dominic
Mirage hit the nail on the head.

For all my jokes about choco-rations during the AEC years, the line was about due for a price bump then. Deluxes never, on the outsede, broke 13$ before tax. Basics/scouts went up with AEC, partially justified as R&D costs for Minicons at the time. (And, RiD was mostly repaints, which helped keep those costs down, even after the expense of BMac.)

Scouts largely went away, to be replaced by slightly more costly "Real Gears" about 2 years back. The only other scouts were (most expensive than normal) store recolors. Deluxes largely stayed under $12, if not directly at $10, as Mirage has pointed out.

Remember, Voyagers are modern Megas, the old $15 price-point. Ultras now weigh in between $25 and $30 dollars, (up 25% since the early Beast Era), Leaders, the old "Optimal Scale" are generally around $40, another 25% increase. (And, there are more of them. Remember when that was the biggest price-point.


It will be easier to be selective with this line, as many of the toys look to be recolors and retools from the first movie. But, it will also be more necessary. (Since AEC, there have been up to 2 or 3 Supremes per line, in contrast to the 1 per line, (not per year), of the Beast Era. There is more product at every price-point now.


But, short answer: The price bump is fair.

Dom
-fears and anticipates Devastator.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:07 pm
by andersonh1
Fair, possibly. But it is undeniably a large increase for the price point. From $10 to $13 is just about a 30% increase. That's not small change, relatively speaking, to increase the price of something by one third, as opposed to five or ten or even fifteen percent.

It may well be warranted, with transportation and plastic costs having increased. I'm not saying it isn't. But it is a large jump, regardless.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:51 am
by Dominic
True. And, we feel it, not just because other things are more expensive. But, because we remember the old day. Hasbro is probably banking new movie-drawn fans will just accept the new price as is.

Dom
-inflation is an ironic term.

Re: Wal Mart price increase on deluxe class figures

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:28 pm
by Onslaught Six
Yeah, it's a sad day. Who knows.