That's a bit of a different case.

While the two of us would experience the Sengoku Driver, only one transaction would actually be made because you're not a business, but just another person. It'd be more akin to getting your money back as a consumer.

Also, you have to remember how kids work. Would you cite this situation if, say, Child A lent Child B his Pteragordon toy? Because 2 people would be experiencing a product that Bandai only received payment for once.

That's true and that's why I'm not against buying used goods at all. Sharing is something done since time immemorial.

I'm just thinking if you actually wanted to support Bandai with your money, would this work?

The thing is, after a year or two, a product Bandai is selling suddenly becomes out of production and it's no longer available outside of secondary markets (Some popular toys tend to last longer, but generally speaking).

I'm not against supporting Bandai, but as a consumer, I'm ultimately looking out for number one, first.

True, but a lot of lock seeds are already out of print and Bandai is having issues keeping up with demand for things like the AC line. Now, realistically, Bandai couldn't have foreseen the demand for some of this stuff. But from my point of view, Mandarake sales aren't costing potential sales for Bandai because Bandai doesn't have the stuff to sell. Especially in the case of the AC figures, I think people would rather buy them at a retail level than pay the higher secondary market prices.

I think buying trends are fragile things and just because someone wants to buy something today doesn't mean they will next week. If Bandai is losing potential future sales, from whenever they can provide the product again, I think they would have lost some of those sales from people who just lost interest in buying them over time - even had there been no secondary market to supply them immediately. Not all, obviously, as I think the steady rate of Sengoku driver sell-throughs on both the primary and secondary markets show.

That's a good observation. I was thinking about buying a Kyoryuzin for the longest time, but I insisted on AmiAmi. I of course, could not find it and then just lost interest altogether. So there was no sale to be made.

This conversation is 2deep4me.

The best way to look at Mandarake is like a Japanese Toy Ebay.

You mean everyone finds amazing deals and tells you stories about finding holy grails for pocket change and when you try it all you find are assholes asking for way too much for what they're trying to sell?

Well that's only half true. Buying new items on eBay isn't too different from say AmiAmi or CSToys.

eBay is practically just cheap storefront software it seems these days. I can't remember the last time I bought from an individual as opposed to a business on there.