Forum - View topicDoes Robert's Anime Corner Store ever have sales like RightStuf?
Goto page 1, 2, 3 Next |
Author | Message | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
truanifan678
Posts: 73 |
|
|||
I hope it's alright for me to ask here, but I was wondering if Robert's Anime Corner store ever has sales like RightStuf? I noticed a 10% sale, but I was wondering if their discounts ever go higher than that? I'm not familiar with their record for sales and discounts.
You see, there's an OOP item I'm searching for which they just happen to have, but the price they have it listed at is higher than the MSRP and I was hoping that maybe there's a chance of a really good discount. I tried looking on eBay, but people have price gouged it to about the same price as Robert's or higher. The MSRP is suppose to be around $70, but Robert's has it listed for about $90. I can't spend a whole lot and if I am able to save a bit it'd be great. Does anybody have any input about them? |
||||
Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
|
|||
I think their mailing list has some coupons on occasion, but RACS is rather infamous for gouging on OOP items. I haven't shopped there enough to know much more, though.
|
||||
Alan45
Village Elder
Posts: 9972 Location: Virginia |
|
|||
The 10% on instock items is the best you will do at RACS. The only larger sale I've seen was on figures and that was a year or more ago.
His prices on current anime are competitive with TRSI and in a few cases substantially less. He does tend to be higher on Aniplex stuff. On OOP items his prices are consistent with the secondary market. |
||||
Blood-
Bargain Hunter
Posts: 24092 |
|
|||
I.e. he'll gouge you as badly as the other profiteers out there. That's one aspect of TRSI I really admire: they don't play that game. The most they will do with an OOP item is charge MSRP. |
||||
luffypirate
Posts: 3187 |
|
|||
I respect that. I tend to ask for MSRP on my OOP titles also (although they are "used" most of the time) some of the prices people want for a anime are absurd! |
||||
truanifan678
Posts: 73 |
|
|||
That's a shame to hear about Robert's pricing practices. The prices third party sellers expect is just insane. Alas, the struggle of any OOP anime buyer.
I guess I'll just have to hope I find somebody selling one (not too damaged, I hope) on eBay or some selling journal or something for at or below MSRP. Although it's a fairly oddball series that I don't know if it's popular or ultra hard to find. I have to agree with the prices people want for anime being absurd. Evengelion box sets tend to go for big bucks or are listed ridiculously high on eBay. Thank you for all the input, everybody. It's helped with my buying decisions. |
||||
potatochobit
Posts: 1373 Location: TEXAS |
|
|||
even large retailers like amazon are notorious for price gouging. That is because the anime industry works on a revolving door.
the real shame is how no one bought them at retail price and now they can't find it or it's too expensive because it is out of print. I like righstuf and I like schawn but they dont always give you the best deal, for instance, imported anime figures. they charge the full MSRP. The reason being they work with a midldeman to keep things 'available' for you to purchase where as other wholesalers may not restock once they are sold out. Pay for convenience or a similar concept. honestly, a 20$ difference is really not that big an issue. Either you want it at that price or you probably don't. If you are sure you want to add this to your collection, then go ahead and buy it. When you are considering paying 550$ for the gurren lagan blu-ray set, then you can come back and we can worry about it together. however, understand that old media is never a good investment and it will almost never be worth the amount of money you put in. Collecting anime is for your own personal pleasure and enjoyment. I recommend you save your money as there will always be something new in the future you might want to buy, there is no reason to pay high prices for old stuff unless you have flexible finances. |
||||
SpacemanHardy
Posts: 2509 |
|
|||
Really, the only reason I see to shop at RACS at all is to pick up the Anime Sols shows for much, MUCH cheaper than they are at RightStuf.
RightStuf sells them for $60, while RACS sells them for $40. Considering that they're DVD only, sub-only, with basic packaging and no special features, I think the latter is much closer to what they're actually worth. |
||||
truanifan678
Posts: 73 |
|
|||
While $20 may not seem like much to most, that's not always the case for some. I know anime is expensive which is why I try to be as cautious as possible when shopping around for prices. Also, I'm sure at one point it sold for around $35 which only adds to the sting of missing out on it. I would've bought the series when it was in print if I had watched the series at the time. I really regret not watching it then. I mainly wanted input about their sale history and they way they price things since I don't know much about them. Buy now, buy later, see if I can find for less. I wanted to get input so I could better make a decision. I also never buy anime for "investment" purposes which is why sometimes I get hung up on condition. I'm careful with my box sets, discs, and books and everything (except for secondhand gifts) look like they're brand new despite being 5-7+ years old. Anyway, thank you for your opinion. I'll take that into consideration when thinking about buying anime. Last edited by truanifan678 on Wed May 07, 2014 1:36 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||
truanifan678
Posts: 73 |
|
|||
Hmm. I will have to keep this in mind. Like I said in another post I don't know much about Robert's pricing patterns so this is a good insight. Thank you! I haven't watched any Anime Sols shows, but I'll definitely remember this for the future. ;) |
||||
Vata Raven
Posts: 710 Location: TN |
|
|||
Don't lump in Amazon with 3rd party sellers If it shows a 3rd party by the Amazon name, just means it can get free-shipping, it's not in the Amazon warehouse |
||||
potatochobit
Posts: 1373 Location: TEXAS |
|
|||
Ben-to ships from and is sold by Amazon for 59.99$
You can buy the same disc at rightstuf right now for 37$ That is obviously price gouging. If you were unaware, amazon raises and lowers their own prices daily. On low quantities of oop anime I have seen them raise prices. |
||||
victor viper
Posts: 630 Location: The deep south |
|
|||
The answer to the question is no, not really. RACS has had a few figure sales and there's a more or less perpetual 5-10% off coupon, and they usually do something for Black Friday, but they never have Rightstuf-like sales.
In their defense, though, I've been able to source some anime figures through them that were long sold out everywhere else at prices that were better than getting the same item pre-owned through a Japanese reseller. And, I seem to recall Robert writing on his blog about his pricing strategy on OOP media. The gist of it was that it makes no sense for a small business to underprice these items, only to see someone buy up all of their inventory and then promptly resell the items at inflated prices. Plus, that ensures that those OOP items will be available for fans who want to buy them. Now, I don't know who's going to buy that Angel Links DVD set at $129 http://www.animecornerstore.com/anlin.html , or if it makes any sense to have a bunch of inventory sitting around like that for months/years, but that's their business model. |
||||
ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
|
|||
No. It's really not. Righstuf may have it super cheap (they usually do) but not selling it as cheap as someone else is not price gouging. Amazon's prices do fluctuate a whole lot. Sometimes they're super cheap, or even better than Rightstuf. Sometimes they're really expensive, like nearly MRSP. But they're never more. And so is the case here. $60 is still $10 below MSRP. I don't really see how anyone can complain so long as something isn't more than MSRP. Besides, I rather doubt they're that interested in price gouging. As a large scale business I suspect they would actually prefer to just clear out the odd OOP item rather than be stuck with it even if it means milking a few extra bucks. If you've seen the price go up on any items that were OOP it was probably just a coincidence. As I said, they fluctuate a whole lot. |
||||
Blood-
Bargain Hunter
Posts: 24092 |
|
|||
That's just a lame rationale for price gouging as far as I'm concerned. If you sell an OOP item at MSRP, you aren't "underpricing." And if you are concerned about reselling, then limit OOP items to one per customer. You can't have it both ways. You can't claim you are a "real" online retail business and then turn around and act like every other two-bit Amazon third-party seller or eBay auctioneer who is trying to bleed every last cent out of anime collectors who are strongly motivated to get an OOP title. |
||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group