Exclusives in Europe?

[Wulf]

Why is it that no exclusive Sideshow or Hot Toys collectible is sold from European retailers?

We europeans pay more for the regular version than what the exclusive version costs in the US. If we'd like to buy the exclusive we must import it and pay 20-30% extra in import taxes and not to mention the high shipping costs that comes with it... Why can't you make the exclusive versions available over here? I mentioned Hot Toys because as far as I know Sideshow is the distributor of Hot Toys figures in Europe..

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Why is it that no exclusive Sideshow or Hot Toys collectible is sold from European retailers?

We europeans pay more for the regular version than what the exclusive version costs in the US. If we'd like to buy the exclusive we must import it and pay 20-30% extra in import taxes and not to mention the high shipping costs that comes with it... Why can't you make the exclusive versions available over here? I mentioned Hot Toys because as far as I know Sideshow is the distributor of Hot Toys figures in Europe..

Any retailer in Europe or the US has to buy the Exclusive at retail as Sideshow doesn't offer Exclusives for Whole sale and they only sell them on their website. If your local retailer doesn't carry them it's because they don't want to purchase the statue at retail, pay custom fees and then try to sell the statue at markup.

 

[Wulf]

Any retailer in Europe or the US has to buy the Exclusive at retail as Sideshow doesn't offer Exclusives for Whole sale and they only sell them on their website.

Yes but my question is why?

 

[Mr Quimper]

If a seller can buy regular at trade price then the profits made make it good business. If they buy the exclusive at retail, the profit isn't there and it becomes more of a risk.

Sideshow only sell exclusives through their site. If they did trade discounts to other outlets then it ceases to be an exclusive. It would just be a limited variant (if that makes sense)

 

[Wulf]

If a seller can buy regular at trade price then the profits made make it good business. If they buy the exclusive at retail, the profit isn't there and it becomes more of a risk.

Yes but my issue is WHY are sideshow doing this, selling it at retail. It doesn't make any sense. Why not just charge the price difference. Say if their trade price for a regular item is 100 dollars, which sells for 150 retail. Why can't the trade price for the exclusive be 120 when it sells for 170.. Understand? Why go to such extreme length and charge 170 for it.

Sideshow only sell exclusives through their site. If they did trade discounts to other outlets then it ceases to be an exclusive. It would just be a limited variant (if that makes sense)

I can understand that they want their own special editions to be their own exclusives, which really sucks for us over here. But why do they have to do the same with Hot Toys special edition figures? Do they really have that kind of monopoly over HT?

It's unfair in my opinion.. do they not know about European import taxes? Or do they simply not give a damn? Why can't they open up a store/warehouse here in Europe?

My alternatives living in Sweden are already messed up as my only local dealer usually charges way more than UK sellers (again, only regular items and as I said they are more expensive here than in the US).. and the UK sellers have incredibly high shipping costs. While the UK residents get free shipping or pay £15 I have to pay £30-40.. and that's on top of the price which sometimes is "free shipping" for the UK (shipping costs already included in the price).

I want whoever is in charge of this, to see it out of the perspective of European collectors. We should at least have a chance to buy exclusive/special editions at a fair price just like the North Americans do. It shouldn't be that "special" that you need to pay high shipping costs and 30% import taxes of the value of the item + the shipping costs.

Oh and I forgot... Sideshow reward points... It's incredible how much we are getting ****ed over here in Europe.

 

[RobertoBagg10]

Thank god for flippers!

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Yes but my issue is WHY are sideshow doing this, selling it at retail. It doesn't make any sense. Why not just charge the price difference. Say if their trade price for a regular item is 100 dollars, which sells for 150 retail. Why can't the trade price for the exclusive be 120 when it sells for 170.. Understand? Why go to such extreme length and charge 170 for it.



I can understand that they want their own special editions to be their own exclusives, which really sucks for us over here. But why do they have to do the same with Hot Toys special edition figures? Do they really have that kind of monopoly over HT?

It's unfair in my opinion.. do they not know about European import taxes? Or do they simply not give a damn? Why can't they open up a store/warehouse here in Europe?

My alternatives living in Sweden are already messed up as my only local dealer usually charges way more than UK sellers (again, only regular items and as I said they are more expensive here than in the US).. and the UK sellers have incredibly high shipping costs. While the UK residents get free shipping or pay £15 I have to pay £30-40.. and that's on top of the price which sometimes is "free shipping" for the UK (shipping costs already included in the price).

I want whoever is in charge of this, to see it out of the perspective of European collectors. We should at least have a chance to buy exclusive/special editions at a fair price just like the North Americans do. It shouldn't be that "special" that you need to pay high shipping costs and 30% import taxes of the value of the item + the shipping costs.

Oh and I forgot... Sideshow reward points... It's incredible how much we are getting ****ed over here in Europe.

Money my friend, I'm fairly sure they pay either a fee or have some kind of contract to have their own exclusives for Hot toys.

 

[mrjingles]

Found this thread and just want to echo my Swedish friends sentiments. I live in Norway and just bought the Hot Toys Samurai Predator from Sideshows website direct. I paid $385,59 including shipping. To get it released from Norwegian customs cost me $102 in taxes. Total: $487,59. If that isn't eating a **** sandwich I don't know what is! Come on Sideshow, please try and accommodate us with better European distribution so we don't have to take such a hit in taxes.

 

[j14]

Didn't sideshow have a European Warehouse / Distribution centre a few years ago but then they closed it.

I am in the same boat though. In Ireland we pay 23% of the total as customs plus the Fed Ex $15 dollar charge.

I'd love somewhere in Europe where I could buy exclusives.

 

[Mr Quimper]

Don't get me wrong I'd love to be able to get the exclusives without paying through the nose on taxes. That's why I have to be very selective now about what statues I buy direct from SS.

As RobertoBagg10 said, thank God for flippers. I've picked up a few good exclusives from French dealers on eBay over the years.

But I wish I had the income when that European warehouse was open. Oh, what a missed opportunity.

 

[Taibhse]

I don' think there is any way round the Exclusives issue, over here in Europe.. If Sideshow closed a European Warehouse, it was almost certainly because the profit margins were too low, due to the taxes and shipping costs of importing the figures.. the shipping and taxes are a major part of the reason that prices on the secondary market tend to be high.

 

[devilof76]

It's too bad that Europe's hostility towards imports drove Sideshow out. Maybe you guys should do something about that.

 

[j14]

Maybe the massive tax breaks that Ireland gives to US companies isn't enough?

Like Google paying 0.14% on a sales turnover of €47bn over 7 years.

Thats sales of $63bn my US friends.

Looks like we look after US interests fairly well I would say.

All we want is our distribution centre back.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[devilof76]

I didn't know that Google and Sideshow were business partners. I also didn't know the warehouse had been in Ireland.

Whether you think you support American business interests or not is fairly irrelevant. If Sideshow thought it was worth their trouble to have an EU warehouse, they would.

 

[brucecamblzchin]

It's too bad that Europe's hostility towards imports drove Sideshow out. Maybe you guys should do something about that.

 

[devilof76]

I'm sure the reason they closed it is because they were making too much money off it.

 

[brucecamblzchin]

 

[devilof76]

 

[Kalus.dj]

I'm haveing the same problem too now. i have the money to spend but begrudge these import tax's.
Fu€|<!ng uk tax man needs to take a long walk off a short pier!!!!!!!
Seems like ss had an eu outlet and dropped it for whatever reason to our cost. They probably got the ars with all the tax's as well!!
If they had any sense they would do what all big foreign company's do now and dodge the tax by having their office in swizterland and loaning an outlet/shop money so they can claim all the profit back in interest.
Still though we would have the pleasure of 20%added for vat even though they pay no tax. Great country isn't it! Lmfao.
The only way to pay no tax at all is to take over the government and abolish it! Like that's ever going to happen though.lol.
I recently went on to entertainment earth to check the prices of the black series and was shocked that the shipping was the same price as the goods,$119.99.
After adding 8 boxes of goods the cost was down to $30 a box which was more reasonable. On privious experience with import tax I paid around £130 on £500 of goods so the shipment would of cost me £770 delivered and around the same tax I'd say. And over 300 saved on shipping.
I've messaged ss to In quire if they would apply any shipping reductions on multiple buys.
Mabey a few buyers should get together to try and bring our costs down. Will post any answers I get From ss in next few days

 

[El Mule]

Honestly guys, I was about to start a new thread about this, and I found this one right in the first page.

First of all - don't be disrepectful, no need for it. I'm talking to devilof, seriously, you don't see european people pop into threads to laugh of US customers that whine and cry 'cause their shipping cost went from $15 to $25, so don't flame over here with that attitude please.

I don't really see how this should be considered 'fault' of europeans collectors, considering how there is no incentive for us to buy exclusive. Let me explain you how it works: take a statue, add the shipping cost, then add a 23-24% of its price. That's the final price for us on an item directly shipped from SS.
So, for example, a statue that costs $400 shipped ends up costing towards $500. Recently, the % of duty tax tends more to 25% overall.
And Sideshow's politic of increasing prices more and more is getting this situation even more frustrating.

But I have to say, that we are used to pay more for Exclusives, so... has Sideshow even considered that an european warehouse could sell their Exclusives at a higher price? If, say, a statue is on sale for $400 in the US, it could easily translate into $450 here in Europe. I -and I'm sure, many other collectors- would gladly pay more since $450 is still lower than what we pay with taxes (which, I repeat, would be around $500, maybe more).
So, has anyone even considered this option?
Has Sideshow considered that they could put a much higher ES and sell more and sell out much faster if their products arrived here in Europe without the huge taxes we are forced to face right now?
It's been years since they closed their warehouse and I'd say the music changed, it's obvious that companies like Sideshow and Hot Toys are gaining more and more visibility and expanding a lot and this is tangible even here in Europe.