BEMON CLear Unpainted:US$220(includ shipping to worldwide,without any header & Bag),Thank you!

quit buying these damn things so folks who want them get a chance to!
your reply is welcome and please do so to explain why i paid this much
before and why i should at this point!

i hate that the toys we love are bought up by folks only to exploit our love of
them so take it or leave it.. willing to pay 90 plus shipping. yes you don't
make any cash that way but why do you need to?

its not your fucking product! explain yourself or please just go away!

killerj (skullbrain member/"artist")
auction_toy (on ebay)
chaos (skullbrain member)
old balance (retail in Japan)

done
if any of these names is wrong, please speak up for yourself as wrongly accused.
kichigai, if I'm missing any of the names please fill them in. I love the Smoking Star, but enough's enough. This knowledge is already half-public anyway. as far as I know, all four of the above names are the same person (or two people).

you are missing two key players and a few minions.

i payed $600 for a vintage figure i searched for over
a decade and never regret a thing but after speaking
to a friend in japan who knows about this bemon
exploitation i am disgusted by it.

like i said speak up answer why you ask these prices
moreover answer why you bought it at all.

put these suckaz on blast!

Getting warm in here?

Leave him alone, he is only 24 years old.
And he is Chinese living in Hong Kong. Old Balance store is in Yau Ma Tei Hong Kong, not Japan.

What does that have to do with anything?

Nothing at all really. This whole thread is kinda have nothing to do with anything.

Someone stated that Old Balance is in Japan...

Go git em Kichigai.....
If there is a person on this board with multiple handles then it should be stopped. Whats good for the geese...

what grinds my gears the most are scalpers and flippers.... especially when they dont collect or at least know anything about the toys, and only buy on impulses of whats "hot"

I'm not defending anyone here, but this is the way I see it. Until these items are available for international sales, we have to buy them from someone else if we want them. If they only went to collectors who had no intention of ever giving them up, we would NEVER EVER get any of them ourselves.

Also, would you present your same argument to KT, S7, or any other retail store? Just look at the Marmits up for pre-sale at S7. Marmit won't ship internationally, so I assume S7 must purchase them through someone else, who has to mark them up to cover costs. In turn, S7 must do the same. In the end, it comes out to twice retail. Are you going to tell S7, "its not your fucking product!"?

It all boils down to what someone is willing to spend. Take the Space Troopers. When these first hit ebay, they went for ridiculous sums of money. Now some of them are selling for $50. Even a lot of RxH, some rare ones too, are selling for cheap on the boards. The point is, if you don't like the price, don't pay it. If no one is willing to buy it at a certain price, the price will end up dropping.

So let him offer it at $220. When no one bites, it will come down to $200 or maybe $180. Eventually, it may even go as low as $90. We just have to know what price we are willing to pay, and have the patience and the discipline to stick to it.

If you don't like the price on an item, don't pay it.

I don't think anyone is arguing with your logic, kaiwi...but I fear it misses the point.

The point, I believe, is that these prices are being artificially inflated directly because of such flippers. Now, you're right that people need to know what they're willing to pay and be disciplined about it...but that doesn't speak to the fact that there is clearly an ethics thing going on here.

...Unless, of course, you're a pure free market economist and believe that "ethics" have no place here.

These are toys, though...and it's pretty much impossible to extricate the emotion and passion (and, thus, need for ethics of some sort) from the hobby.

to address some points here:

its not a personal attack & its not about the asking price.. its about buying only to resell which is pure exploitation. pricewise ask whatever you want & pay what you can afford. chaos don't be nervous just LMK why you have hard to find figures for sale time after time after time for way more than it cost. maybe you need cash to make your own product?

if chaos & killer j are the same guy that would be a shame for various reasons. not the least of which having 2 identities on here & i don't think these are the same dude. btw clam did you get the $380 you 1st asked for the blue clear bemon? hope so because i know thats prolly close to what you paid right? that was you right? or were you taking a loss?

S7 & the network are domestic retailers of these products, that said i think their prices on 99% of what they offer pre order or have in stock are very fair & it is their product so its their call. on top of that there are some older figures in their sale section that blow my mind just sitting there while folks scamble for fresh golden eggs some end up buying quick from the friendly neighborhood flipper then in turn complain," i should have waited, now S7 has these cheaper." etc

just speculation here but if S7 were able to offer a bemon figure, particularlly the 2 headed goliath it would likely be well above $200 which i would be 100% fine with because the guy in Japan who actually crafts them would get the business not some guys walking into his shop going,"wow this thing is awsome so happy to buy one!" then put it on yahoo japan 5 minutes after they walk out of the shop or eBay it & offer it here etc at 2x 3x even some figures offered at 10x their cost.

big difference and most of my point summed up: the only folks who should profit on these are actual retailers which to me is justfied by their service, time involved and commitment to the fans, but certainly this profit should go to the craftsmen who make said product blessing us with their creation. its not exclusive to bemon or toys in gereral so maybe there is no solution to greed other than not buying into that which offers it.

I sometimes think 2 members are the same when they end with this ~
not cool to have 2 Identities

Their typing styles are very similar.

Notice the (parentheses),with a comma afterwards and no space.




Also, words abbreviated oddly. "anniver" and "includ" being two of them.

These are just a couple of examples. I really like Killer J's toys, so I'm not trying to do any personal attacking here, but if you actually are trying to come off as someone else, you'd think you'd change it up a bit.

That's quite perceptive bansheebot, I guess that would be the best indicator when they suffer from the exact same spelling mistakes that they're unaware of.

Haha, yeesh. That IS a good observation. I really would like to think that there is another explanation, but hmm...

If there is one person using multiple handles here we'd like to know about it. Please send me a PM with the suspected identities and I'll look into it.

killerj is going to ruin his reputation if he is a dirty fucking flipper. Stick to the customs and designs.

[quote="kaiwi"]

Also, would you present your same argument to KT, S7, or any other retail store? Just look at the Marmits up for pre-sale at S7. Marmit won't ship internationally, so I assume S7 must purchase them through someone else, who has to mark them up to cover costs. In turn, S7 must do the same. In the end, it comes out to twice retail. Are you going to tell S7, "its not your fucking product!"?

[quote]

I think that's his point. We cover our costs and not by much sometimes.

As opposed to a flipper, who has no store and no overhead(josh needs to eat!), and who bases his prices on the highest amount someone is willing to pay.

Getting hot in here!

so if japanese artists want to reach an american public, part of the deal should always be that the artist and the collector get screwed on retail?

this may be the way this type of collecting has evolved stealth, but things need to change. the artists need to be aware of where their market is and how it's being manipulated. I'm not saying that knunt and auction_toy aren't providing a service that is beneficial to many collectors in the US. But the system is corrupt. Let me pay $200 for a bemon directly from the artist or HIS representative. this isn't real estate, prospectors should be shot on sight.