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The OFFICIAL LICENSED 'moans about pricing' thread

Stern did eventually allow distros to sell TMNT and LZ at whatever they wanted, may have just been in US though and the distros had to take the hit not Stern
 
Jib said:
Stern did eventually allow distros to sell TMNT and LZ at whatever they wanted, may have just been in US though and the distros had to take the hit not Stern
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I dont think there was anything stopping distros from selling them cheaper, they just couldn't advertise a lower price unless they wanted to feel the wrath of Stern due to their price fixing BS.
 
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Pooman2084 said:
Which is illegal over here of course.
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It's far from black and white as to whether it's legal in US Law either. At the least, I suspect they are exposing themselves to a Federal level anticompetitive investigation and would need them to justify what they are doing (and screwing over customers and/or distros wouldn't be an acceptable answer)
 
I appreciate this may have been asked before in this thread but -

If the Yank distributors are selling NIB premiums for $9500 and the exchange rate is 80p on the dollar.

Why is a UK NIB 48% more expensive?
 
Quick maths

$9500 = £7500

£7500 + 20%vat = £9000

£9000 + £500 shipping/customs fees = £9500

£9500 + Electrocoin profit (anyone's guess) = £10-10.5k

So if you're picking up a NIB premium for £11k ish then I suspect the final seller is making £500 ish profit?
 
And if you are US resident and buy in your own state there will be local sales taxes (same as our vat) to pay up to about 10 percent and the US distributors also usually charge up to $500 for shipping / delivery. Neither of these are included in the US stated prices. So the differential is not as large as first appears. Both VAT and shipping are usually included in prices stated over here.
 
jonathan said:
Quick maths

$9500 = £7500

£7500 + 20%vat = £9000

£9000 + £500 shipping/customs fees = £9500

£9500 + Electrocoin profit (anyone's guess) = £10-10.5k

So if you're picking up a NIB premium for £11k ish then I suspect the final seller is making £500 ish profit?
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Pretty much this plus the extended 2 year warranty we get here might add a bit. Only thing is $9500 should already include end retailer profit although business running costs here vs USA could be vastly different.

Looking at JJP Avatar prices, Electrocoin is mostly the answer on sterns I think but who really knows, it could be as simple as enough sell at current prices to charge this much.
 
Definitely electrocoin is the major factor as EU prices are significantly cheaper than UK
 
cooldan said:
Why does Electrocoin have a monopoly on all UK imports?
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I understood that it was because uk market was not big enough for Stern to warrrant its own main distributor as main distributors have to commit long term to taking so many of every machine and every version
 
cooldan said:
Why does Electrocoin have a monopoly on all UK imports?
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No one else is willing to send Stern $1 million multiple times a year to cover the minimum order for each machine.

Bear in mind that they have to order that amount no matter the title - Godzilla or John Wick, the minimum order is the same - and they have to place this order for every single game Stern release. They can’t just pass on a title because they don’t think it will sell.
 
What you are not factoring in is the cost per game to Electrocoin, there is no way they are paying $9500 for a premium, neither are the US distributors or they wouldn't have a justifiable business model either.

Be very surprised if they get charged more than $8k per unit, which gives them around 15% margin, which is still a pittance in real terms.
 
Back in the day after shifting 1000 LW3 and SW , Rocky and bulwinkle must have been a VERY hard sell in the UK
 
JustLikeMe said:
No one else is willing to send Stern $1 million multiple times a year to cover the minimum order for each machine.

Bear in mind that they have to order that amount no matter the title - Godzilla or John Wick, the minimum order is the same - and they have to place this order for every single game Stern release. They can’t just pass on a title because they don’t think it will sell.
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So Electrocoin send more than a million dollars to Stern per year? How many units do they take then?

Say the pricing structure at wholesale is -

5k for a pro
7k for a premium
9k for a LE

That could break up as an example like -

100 pros
50 premium
15 LE

Is each Stern release selling this many units in the UK?

Admittedly, Godzilla probably managed double this amount.
 
Depends on the title I guess but hard to see that in many releases particularly in venoms or wicks
 
JustLikeMe said:
No one else is willing to send Stern $1 million multiple times a year to cover the minimum order for each machine.

Bear in mind that they have to order that amount no matter the title - Godzilla or John Wick, the minimum order is the same - and they have to place this order for every single game Stern release. They can’t just pass on a title because they don’t think it will sell.
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That sounds like BS.
I reckon they have minimum orders on pro, prem,LE but not held to a specific title.
Even if this came from Electrocoin themselves, still wouldn’t believe it.
Heard all the stories about warehouse full of Beatles Gold - that turned out to be BS also.
 
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Sako-TRG said:
That sounds like BS.
I reckon they have minimum orders on pro, prem,LE but not held to a specific title.
Even if this came from Electrocoin themselves, still wouldn’t believe it.
Heard all the stories about warehouse full of Beatles Gold - that turned out to be BS also.
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I think the warehouse is filled with beetles diamond and platinum as who would want to pay 3x and upwards's for the same game with just different colour metalwork and the exclusivity or being "limited"

I heard for those they had to buy packs with x amounts of gold, diamond and platinum in them.
 
Fantazia2 said:
I think the warehouse is filled with beetles diamond and platinum as who would want to pay 3x and upwards's for the same game with just different colour metalwork and the exclusivity or being "limited"

I heard for those they had to buy packs with x amounts of gold, diamond and platinum in them.
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Several years ago, was rumours of boat loads of Golds they couldn't shift at Electrocoin.
I got drunk one night and tried to get a Gold - but there wasn't any.

The market in UK is nothing like US. I accept a distro has to be able to provide latest titles to the retailers. But to be held to significant numbers of a particular release ?
With all the new releases from Stern, including vaults etc... this would amount to a lot of pins without potential orders.
Does it make sense to load containers without orders this way?
I'm just surmising but thinking:
1. Stern have latest release and other production machines on lines, consisting of numerous titles
2. Punters place orders to preferred retailer PH, Home Leisure, Liberty, Games Room Coy etc......
3. Retailer has order book with Electrocoin - numerous titles
4. Electrocoin is provided set max LE allocation from Stern for new release - who in turn gives LE allocation to retailer - priority # given to preferred partner
5. Containers ship from Illinois to Electrocoin based on order books
6. Additional non ordered machines added at bequest of distro to fill containers where applicable in hope of making future sales

Does it make any sense to fill containers full of crap themes nobody has ordered in front of ones on an order book?
Does it make any sense to fill your warehouse full of crap themes nobody has ordered?
Would be a matter of time before you run out of room or money or both

Just my thoughts....
 
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