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.