Is buying from Mandarake supporting Bandai/toy companies?
 

I really hope this doesn't get too controversial but something I've always wondered is, is buying from Mandarake supporting the toy companies? For example, usually buying preowned games from stores like Gamestop means Gamestop gets the full profits while the developers usually don't. Would this be the same when buying from Mandarake, which purportedly deals with "used" items?

I would think it depends. Generally, no I don't think it's proper support. One thing you have to keep in mind though is the limited nature of a lot of these toys.

The videogame thing is usually a cheaper alternative to buying a brand new one, but many times, the stuff people get from Mandarake are not in stock at all. Anywhere.

But then there's the possibility that Mandarake as a company supports the companies that produce the products they end up with. They could have something going on there and none of us would know.

On the surface, it's the same at the GameStop situation.

Why do you ask?
If an item becomes "Used" it was bought once prior, meaning that they received the profits for it already.

Well the idea is that when something is bought used, money exchanges hands but the manufacturers don't receive it. Someone else paid that price earlier and you are just paying that person, not the company.

Yeah but the fact remains that the item was already paid for in the first place. The seller is merely getting their investment or a portion back. Sooooo, yeah.

But the price was paid. The company got their money for the product. I don't see where the issue comes from. Yes, the company isn't getting the money for the transaction for the "Used" product, but they already received it when it was initially bought...

I had a lengthy and probably boring response written based on over a decade in retail but lost it. I'll be more brief this time. In general, buying from a secondary retailer costs someone a potential sale. In some cases it's the manufacturer and in some cases it can be a retailer. The manufacturer is paid for goods before they hit the shelves for you to buy. Some retailers have the clout to return unsold goods, pushing the cost of that unmade sale back onto the manufacturer. Smaller businesses that can't usually eat those costs themselves.

However, this is not always the situation. A lot of what Mandarake sells is material no longer in production. Bandai can't claim a lost sale on a product they no longer provide. In that case there is no longer a way to support the manufacturer and it only hurts them in the fact you aren't buying some other toy they still make.

I hope that all makes some sense. I'm still suffering from that going away party earlier (booze). Also, my understanding may be a little out of date since I left retail in 2002.

I guess that's true, the company was paid regardless. Maybe what I'm trying to get at is that it's not your money that goes into the company's hands. :lol

Also among some game developers preowned purchases are frowned on because two(or more) people get to enjoy a product for through just one purchase. So if I bought a Sengoku Driver and then sold it off to Matrix, we both get the experience but Bandai gets money from only one of us.

I think what he means is that someone who may have bought a new item will buy a cheaper used one instead, costing the company a potential second sale (guy #1 who bought the originally new but now used one + guy #2 who was going to buy a new one but is now buying the used one from guy #1).

I think, for the most part, that's kind of a moot point for a lot of the Mandarake stuff because new isn't an option anymore.

Edit: Ninja'd

Yeah that's right. And Mandarake does sell current stuff too, like Gaim figures and Lock Seeds and I guess that's where I'd like to debate this.

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.

The answer to this question has to be different depending on whether or not you live in Japan. For most of us, we can't walk into a store and buy these products off the shelf. The reality is that we don't factor into Bandai's equation. It leaves us consumers to search for the most bang for our buck. Even buying from stores like CSToys, Amiami, or HLJ is indirectly supporting Bandai, since it is the store who pays Bandai before we pay them. I try to buy from these stores when possible, but most of the time it is easier to find it on Mandarake. The way I look at it is that my money goes to helping out the overall toku community that is over there making the purchases from Bandai. Hell, we aren't even able to by directly from Bandai on web exclusives without the use of a middleman. I mean the only way we consume the media is through downloading the episodes, so the whole fandom is in a gray area.

I had considered geographical differences, too. That's actually a pretty interesting post, and I liked how you talked about buying from Mandarake supporting the local toku community. Thank you.

By that logic, no one but direct buyers for those Japanese stores or the main suppliers are "supporting" Bandai, and at that point you're splitting hairs in this discussion. Those stores and suppliers place their orders with Bandai in the expectation that we, the consumers, are going to make purchases and allow them to remain profitable or they run the risk of being stuck with unsold stock to discount or toss out. In such a context, "supporting Bandai" would be ensuring that retailers continue to order particular products in large enough numbers to remain profitable and with minimal issue. One gaijin's purchase is merely a number, same as any Japanese fan's purchase, and in that sense we "count" just as much; the difference is that we have virtually no impact on the local stores (Mandarake is actually a good example of us doing that, as is CSToys, being a couple tiny storefronts) because we rely on the huge e-tailers like AmiAmi or the middlemen services, and we have little to no influence on overall Japanese purchasing trends.

There's nothing more I can add on for the original question that hasn't already been stated by this point. It's a neat perspective I think most of us don't typically consider.

I'm the exact opposite. I don't remember when I last bought from a business since most of the stuff I do get off there is from individual sellers.

Although this isn't some deep insider knowledge perspective, I've never had a huge problem with secondary markets. Although the UK isn't a third world country - although go to the job centre on dole day and... - compared even to the US the quantity of what we actually get imported, especially in niche markets, is extremely small and usually very costly. So if a company isn't going to let us support them, then I'm gonna go ahead and find other means.

This is to some extent why piracy exists, most companies forget that (generally speaking, there'll always be an exception) people are happy to pay if it's worth their while. Why would I pay seventy pound directly for an imported Megazord or something from a toyshop here if I could go onto Mandrake and get it for forty with shipping?

To be fair, I've never seen an item on Mandarake listed for much above the current market value.


Except for a glitch like Figuarts Gokai Green being listed for like, 90,000 yen or something equally as absurd.

This makes another point. Basically, the secondary market supports said manufacturers. When they have a line, like Figuarts, that's ongoing, and a subline or character goes out of production, it hits the secondary market. But the ongoing characters in that line support the desire for the current line and the discontinued character for those that missed out. So trust me Bandai's not losing much. It's when they (!) end something like SHFiguarts. That's why there's so much involved with diversity of product lines within a company. Just my $.02.

As others have said it's a lot different than something readily available to buy. Even if it wasn't, used and worn items have been a thing throughout history. There will always be a market for it for reasons of cost and timing. What game companies wanted to due by making used games go away really violates the way free markets have always worked. When people know they can't resell something or lend it to a friend they don't have the same sense of ownership and thus aren't willing to pay as much. We've seen this with PC games. Those have lower starting prices and the bulk of their sales from people who buy at deep discount.


Anyway, I would actually argue that sites like Mandarake help encourage sales of Bandai products. There is the obvious of people looking to make money over time but that isn't what I'm talking about. People in Japan live very differently than we do. They have a whole heck of a lot of space. They can't have a whole room filling with shelves for all their collectibles. Heck, even just one wall is a big commitment. Lots of people like to buy figures short-term. Maybe they just want to have it for a bit. Maybe they take it out and take a ton of pictures and get their fill. Either way, knowing that they have a place to take it and get most of their money back fast helps them feel good about buying in the first place.

If it weren't for Mandarake and Jungle, I'd have never completed...or even tried to get the Shinkenger, Gokaiger, and Dekaranger teams in S.H. Figuarts form given how crazy expensive they are outside of them like on ebay.

It also got me to get S.H. Figuarts figures I'd have never considered in Akibaranger (Itasha Robo being the biggest and heaviest thing I have ever imported next to Masterpiece Megatron), Jetman (the two released), and Ryuranger.

In all honesty, this is the same kind of conversation people bring up when buying used games. More often the vintage stuff like NES, SNES, Genesis... The companies got their money long ago, now you're getting this stuff off people selling what they bought as used goods.