Is this a normal practice though? I've been celga gold for about a year and have never been solicited for an offline auction.
yeah i think it's lame that they're offering things like that. i haven't been using celga much at all lately. switched over to another service and have had some nice experiences so far. i have debated closing the gold account, but if something comes up i like having the opportunity to grab it.
CELGA is open about being a consignment agency and a bidding agency, its hardly dodgy. Since some folks have basically established the price at 58,000 Yen to 100,000 Yen, its not even remotely surprising that someone consigned CELGA a 2 headed Bemon to sell at such an obscene price. If you pay USD you don't need to pay in Yen. I refuse to pay $580 for these plus fees (I think the price is manipulated) but folks have done it every time one of these hit YJA (up to $100,000 Yen). Routinely spend vastly inflated prices on YJA and they end up costing that much. I got the offer as well and was tempted to forward them the CELGA gold IDs of the folks who've been paying that much but figured they'd find them soon enough...
For those who are interested, the "official" 2-headed Bemon releases have been as follows. A.) Green version (20 "produced") at Cosmo Knight Alpha Store on 6/27/08 12,600 Yen (tax included): http://74.125.93.104/translate_c?hl=en& ... E7uCjhk6rQ B.) Red Version at Bounty Hunter (30 "produced") on 9/12/08 for ~14,000 Yen: http://www.bounty-hunter.com/news/20080912.shtml C.) Blue Version at Cosmo Knight Alpha (20 "produced") on 11/29/08 for 12,600 (tax included): Was not posted on his blog.
At first I thought the releases were being manipulated, but now I'm not so sure. After having talked with a few Japanese collectors who pointed out to me the release announcements and so forth, I think they may have been sold at or pretty close to the release date. I think any unofficial releases have been sold in the same manner other Bemons have been sold, ie- come to Ekoda often enough and one appears for sale out of the blue.
With Bemon (old sculpt) releases there's a definite YJA pattern after release. It might be that this is a different sculpt but the way these are being flipped is really suspicious (timing of the flips, which flippers get them, pricing etc). Since the run is 33.33% to 50% + higher than the factory smogs (10 - 20 runs) there are certain things that don't make sense. I have no way of knowing if Scott's right that there's no holding back stock or whatever, things just seem off in light of old Bemons but again different sculpt, different fan base, different value.
I got solicited as well, though they should have looked in my box first, would have been very clear I was not about to buy it.
I really didn't think much of the celga offer as honestly everything surrounding these releases seems off an shady to me. I'm sure active celga users got the solicitation, but again come on 580 starting? Yes I know that this release seems to go for that an up due to idiots (yes I said it) actually paying that much but that the niche market of limited (or in this case very limited) kaiju. I mean if you love the sculpt and have to possess it (my precious go for it. I pretty much off celga for the moment at 83 yen to the dollar it's starting to become a real bummer. Not their fault but it's not really worth it to me anymore.
I don't think its dodgy or shady for Celga to be soliciting offers on "rare" or expensive items. In the past, if you wanted, you can send them items and they would offer to sell them. I just see this as another way that they're exploring to make money. Especially when YJA and eBay are working on joint venture to merge YJA auctions and eBay. If there becomes the ability to easily bid on Japanese auctions and pay directly, why have a middle man?
I had mixed feelings about getting that email...on one hand when they or anyone is bidding on yja for you, it's more of a level playing field, and yes there may be shill bidding but it's a open field, anyone can outbid anyone. I'm not saying I don't trust Celga ,and aside from pulverizing my wallet, I think they have been a great service for collectors. But individually and directly soliciting offers just seems questionable. On the other hand, I can understand them doing it directly because no matter what it guarantees them their fee as opposed to a non celga member knocking a celga clients bid out on yja...after all, this is their business and what they do.
I agree with you Ralph that this is Celga's business. I just think it was handled poorly. The seller should have set a price and then offered the figure for sell through Celga on a first come first served basis. Otherwise it should have simply been sold on YJA like all the others being flipped. I don't think Celga is anything but honest. I just didn't really care for this sales method.
Seeing all 3 lined up like that in one single post, i'm wondering what the next color could be... A vibrant yellow one would be demented.
Yeesh, don't even fucking say that. I find this toy to be one of the most lovely things I've ever seen...easily gorgeous enough to make me break my gid-only buying habits. Of course, the price/rarity has kept me from picking one up. If they did make a gid, I shudder to think what depths I'd sink to to obtain one...
I'm with ya...but they are keen to the demand for them and to avoid YJA fees and more profit they did it this way. A set price would have been a good alternative and left no room for questionable ethics...heck they could have just posted a simple Celga storefront and given us all yet another site to constantly check and keep us gasping at our timing.
Celga has been a pleasure to deal with over the years. Never had a single problem with them. But the more I learn about this, the more of a disadvantage one is at. It appears to be blind bidding with no official ending time and no notification of if your bid was too low. Seems designed to encourage people to bid ultra high if they want this thing.
