general price drops over time

[gkatz]

Hi all;

I did not check this in depth but I have noticed that at least for some items there is a significant price drop over time.

lets take the optima mid. when the latest re re launched it was about 430Euro on preorder and for some time after launch.

a few months later the price was dropped by 60Euro to 370Euro. (you can use the wayback time machine for comparissons)

I was wondering if this is always the case. or is this an inventory thing. do you have a strategy when hunting for a car model?

10x

 

[Twinfan]

I think it's the same for a lot of things, not just RC cars.  It's all about demand versus supply.

Initial release - if an item is popular there's lots of demand, supply is limited to production volumes so prices are high and stay high.

Over time - demand drops as less people are in the queue to buy.  If supply keeps coming then prices drop as shops want to move their stock and they compete for buyers.

When buying you have to weigh up how many other people want the same thing, and how long will the item be produced.  For the Optima Mid, there was always going to be a lot of demand and Kyosho were very likely to produce a lot of them.  Prices were always going to drop after a little while, IMHO.  In comparison, the Fantom Gold was a limited run of 1600 cars as it's quite a niche item.  It sold out very quickly at full price and won't be back in stock anywhere.  If you wanted one, you had to move fast.

So when looking to buy my strategy depends on what I'm after.  I got caught out by the Egress Black Edition as they've dropped in price much more than I was expecting as demand wasn't as high as I thought it would be and Tamiya seem to have produced them in fairly high numbers.

It's a massive guessing game unless you're so rich the price doesn't matter!  

 

[alvinlwh]

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[Twinfan]

The trouble is it's very hard to know how limited the release is.  The Avante Black Special and Top Force Evo both have 47xxx series kit numbers which means limited release so you'd think they're going to be low in volume.  However, they clearly weren't.  Similarly for the Dragons, although demand may have been reduced for those as a lot of people may have bought the higher spec Terra Scorcher which came out first.

Then there are things like second/third/whatever production runs of kits we've seen before.  Take the recent Boomerang run for example.  That kit has a regular 58xxx series number so there should be plenty, right?  However, it looks like that was a one batch run and when existing stock has gone it will be gone.

So there isn't a single strategy you can use across all cars, as "it depends"......

[Saito2]

I wondered if the Optima Mid's price drop on some sites is somehow connected to the introduction of the '87 Worlds version now being offered as well.

[Twinfan]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

I wondered if the Optima Mid's price drop on some sites is somehow connected to the introduction of the '87 Worlds version now being offered as well.

Possibly, and also due to the European Koswork version too...

[TurnipJF]

The price drops I like most are the ones on previous generation race motors. They are typically very well made and designed for strenuous competition use, but as soon as the Next Generation is released, nobody seems to want them, so if you shop around, you can get them very cheaply. The other day I got a 13.5t Hobbywing Justock for just over 20 bucks. That is less than a Bluebottle typically goes for these days!

[Kowalski86]

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[Willy iine]

@gkatz As with most consumer items, prices fall when a new model comes out..  by the end of the year the new WC Spec MID will be released and that will force price drop for the regular MID.

Honestly the MID by itself is a great car, but I had to spend like double the kit price to get them to where I thought was an appropriate premium car I can be very proud of.  The WC Spec MID in that respect is a super deal as it includes a lot of the parts I hopped up.   That is the car to get if one hasn't ordered one yet.   Just don't paint it green if you don't like the color and get some black wheels or what not.  👍

[Pylon80]

3 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

The price drops I like most are the ones on previous generation race motors. They are typically very well made and designed for strenuous competition use, but as soon as the Next Generation is released, nobody seems to want them, so if you shop around, you can get them very cheaply. The other day I got a 13.5t Hobbywing Justock for just over 20 bucks. That is less than a Bluebottle typically goes for these days!

Interesting you mentioned that, I am searching for a 13.5t at the moment and all retailers seem to have agreed that the only options would be a "Quickrun G2" (looks like a Justock G1 to me with a new color...) for 55usd or the new Justock G2.1 for 65$. I would pick a TBLM over these any second but Tamiya do not seem to make anything lower than a 15.5t.

Any tips would be welcomed!

[Twinfan]

9 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

Interesting you mentioned that, I am searching for a 13.5t at the moment and all retailers seem to have agreed that the only options would be a "Quickrun G2" (looks like a Justock G1 to me with a new color...) for 55usd or the new Justock G2.1 for 65$. I would pick a TBLM over these any second but Tamiya do not seem to make anything lower than a 15.5t.

Any tips would be welcomed!

Tamiya make a 10.5 that's popular, part number 54611:  

https://tamiyabase.com/parts/15134

[Wooders28]

48 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

Tamiya make a 10.5 that's popular, part number 54611:  

https://tamiyabase.com/parts/15134

Super expensive,  and paying the 'Tamiya Tax' for what I can tell, on a £20 Speed Passion motor (well was, don't think you can get SP now). 

Anyone correct me on that? 

(Can only find their 4.5t for sale now, not bad for the cash...)

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/407412?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiApuCrBhAuEiwA8VJ6JpR_IbjOMocdMAvQoO2wWBYN41_dVb_Exi1TTI79Fdb9Y9n2_7DBjhoCNy8QAvD_BwE

[Twinfan]

I was just letting @Pylon80 know that Tamiya had a lower turn motor available, I didn't say it was the best thing out there  

Only £50 from Plaza Japan, and that's if you order nothing else to offset the postage cost:

https://www.plazajapan.com/4950344546114/

[Pylon80]

Thank you all,

I find the Tamiya TBLM gorgeous looking and very well sealed from dust ingress; they also have adjustable timing which is nice when the ESC does not (which is my case). They also happen to be the cheapest (branded...) brushless motors on the market for us in the US. Cheaper than Hobbywing Quickrun or Justock for instance. The best prices are on Amazon, it changes all the time but it's around 50$ free shipping! Then PJ has them for a little over 40$ all day long, which is nice but you would need other bits and things to add to the order as shipping is always above 20$.

I am after a 13.5t unfortunately  It's strange that they seem to make a 15.5t and a 10.5t but nothing in between!

[Juggular]

Japanese yen dropped quite a bit. (Perhaps due to their habit of saving up when times get tough. The less money spent, the smaller the economy becomes, etc, etc.)

3 years ago, you could get little over 100 Yen for 1 USD.  Now you get 40 yen more (145 Yen for 1 USD).  The Japanese Yen is weak against Euro and Sterling too. That could account for falling prices on Japanese goods, especially if you order directly from Japan.  

 

[Kowalski86]

56 minutes ago, Juggular said:

Japanese yen dropped quite a bit. (Perhaps due to their habit of saving up when times get tough. The less money spent, the smaller the economy becomes, etc, etc.)

 

 

I'd like to note that while a number of Kyosho models have gone on sale due to the dropping yen, I don't believe that there are many Tamiyas on sale atm.

[Twinfan]

3 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

I am after a 13.5t unfortunately  It's strange that they seem to make a 15.5t and a 10.5t but nothing in between!

If you're worried about it being too powerful, Tamiya brushless motors aren't the most powerful out there.  If your ESC can take it, a 10.5 might be OK?

[Willy iine]

@Juggular Hummm.. I thought the MID was introduced about a year ago early/mid 2022?    JPY was already pretty weak (140+ range) although international freight was still on the high side.  I went back and checked when I started posting my MID and it was late September/early October 2022 I bought the cars.   I don't remember how soon I took action since release in the USA, but it was like $389 or something for the kit.   Now on sale $299.   Today's JPY is 146 to USD.

[Juggular]

4 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I thought the MID was introduced about a year ago early/mid 2022?    JPY was already pretty weak

You are right, especially on the MID.  The Yen has been suffering for a couple of years now. 

 

[Norco Kid]

During 2020 prices went crazy because there was a lot of demand for hobbies. Manufacturers tested the limits and raised prices to whatever the market could bear. Now that times are tougher and people don't have as much to spend the prices are coming back down to earth. I've noticed this with Arrma/Traxxas as well, not just Tamiya. I wouldn't say prices are "dropping", more that they were artificially inflated over the last few years.

Also it's pretty rare for something to be genuinely "limited" these days so I would never buy an RC based on speculative value. Anything that sells well and makes $$ will always get another run eventually.

[gkatz]

15 hours ago, Twinfan said:

I was just letting @Pylon80 know that Tamiya had a lower turn motor available, I didn't say it was the best thing out there  

Only £50 from Plaza Japan, and that's if you order nothing else to offset the postage cost:

https://www.plazajapan.com/4950344546114/

what a jem of a site. thanks for the reference