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RC Bargains - Discount Sites & Promotions

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Do you think modelzone messed up?, my mate was in the milton keynes store today and all the prices are back up. :(

I have never seen pumpkins so cheap, cheapest I have ever seen a lunchbox was £65 and that was many years ago.

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Could have been a **** up, who knows... All I know is I have a MP to build :)

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Can't see it was a nation wide mistake. I do wonder if they assumed the stock would last longer than it did, given their usual RTR bias. One theory is they were testing to see whether the interest for Tamiya kits was still worth catering for. If they didn't sell at vastly reduced prices then you might as well not bother wasting shelf space on them... think we showed them the error of that thinking :D

They certainly learnt how to capture our attention and that there are plenty of people that still BUILD rc cars :) Maybe they'll start stocking more kits and spares?

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"Could have been a **** up, who knows... All I know is I have a MP to build :)"

You kind of think it was, I mean in all walks of life I have never seen such an extent of a discount on items that are in no way at the end of their sales cycle.

Then also consider how long it lasted and the fact that it's all back on it's way up in price.

The BFIII is £160 now so although not back at the £280 it was originally reduced from to £85, but still double what I paid for last week.

The prices were silly, if they were all a mistake (as in for example, the BFIII was actually supposed to be £185 maybe) who knows, either that or they sold a lot better than MZ originally thought and thus have now put the brakes on.

It all could have just been a stock thinning exercise that went a little too quickly or maybe just a huge ploy to put themselves that bit higher on the radar of the dedicated hobbyist to trump their rivals. I for one am now going to keep an eye on them a lot more... or failing that, just this forum ! lol

Maybe if someone who is in retail/online e-commerce here on TC could enlighten us all as to selling tactics and what their take on this all is, whether MZ deliberately did it or someone in HQ made a bit of a booboo, it would be interesting to garner an experienced voice on this episode of "Bargain Hunt" !

Was it a one off?

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Interesting points. Maybe this will encourage them to start agressively pricing all of their Tamiya stuff to seriously compete with the online retailers. Can only be good news for us hobbyists. :)

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I think modelzone got exactly the result they wanted from this sale - loads of publicity, loads of people signing up for email alerts.

'ell, they sold what, 500 kits, at cost - thats cheap advertising. They could have sat on that stock for over 6 months in some stores at their normal pricing levels. As it is they got punters through the doors, people talking about them and hopefully a lot of future sales.

I've never been tempted by any of their Thunder tiger cars/truggies - i suppose those that want a pre-built model will be swayed that way through lack of choice in store.

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A discount like that, would have HAD to have been signed off by probably the MD or at that level! Couldn't have been a booboo, if it was, it would have been picked up within 24 hours and suspended.

I think this was a massive promotional drive to get the MZ name out there! I think it achieved exactly what they wanted it to achieve, and that was to get all the RC forums in the UK buzzing about Model Zone, and fair play, it worked.. Now, their sales will be higher as people will continue to use them online, and people like me who never knew about them and how local they are but now do!

My job is Business Development, and this is exactly the kind of idea that someone working for MZ as a sales director would have come up with

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I've bought a fair bit of Tamiya paint from MZ - well worth keeping an eye on them as i've picked up spray cans at 70-80% off RRP before now - even if they aren't the most popular colours, you never know what project will come along next :P

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Or perhaps they will be the next high street store to close down, and trying to sell off stock before they go?

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I'm only interested in tamiya and until last saturday would only ever consider kits TO BUILD.

Reason I went in was to initially get a violet racer as I thought it would be good for my young daughter, then I thought the black MP would be better as her older sis has a VLB. But when it came down to it at the £85 price for a RTR BFIII combo deal, well the rest is history!

But still, even if I doubt we will see aggressive discounting like that again, I won't be in the market again for a RTR and I will probably only go through the door/use the site if they are stocking kits/spares of tamiyas that I want.

So whether this exercise of theirs was to get more folks like me through the door, unless they regularly either move more towards better priced tamiya stock, be it RC, statics, paint or parts, it will only be a one off for me......

I've bought a fair bit of Tamiya paint from MZ - well worth keeping an eye on them as i've picked up spray cans at 70-80% off RRP before now - even if they aren't the most popular colours, you never know what project will come along next :P

This is maybe though why I will keep an eye on them from now on, but they have to be able to offer something that is either cheaper or at least easier/faster to get than the usual sources I use.

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It would be interesting to know exactly how many they did actually sell in the five-ish days of the sale.

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Its been great, Thanks to the cheapness of these deals I have alerted 3 friends get BF's and started them (And their children) into the hobby. One of them has already stripped down his BF3, ball raced it and bought a 8.5t brushless / steel pinion and oil shocks for it!! :)

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Its been great, Thanks to the cheapness of these deals I have alerted 3 friends get BF's and started them (And their children) into the hobby. One of them has already stripped down his BF3, ball raced it and bought a 8.5t brushless / steel pinion and oil shocks for it!! :)

I want to know how you pulled off getting yours for £39.99. :lol:

I went into my store and told them your story and asked if they could match it on the display example they still had but they turned me down. Infact they couldn't understand how your store could have authorised such a crazy discount.

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pumpkin, not BF3 mate :)

Nope. qatmix got a BF3 for £39.99.

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Really??? Whats that all about then? lol

Fairplay!!

EDIT: love how it changed my post to "whats that all about then" lol

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Really??? Whats that all about then? lol

Fairplay!!

EDIT: love how it changed my post to "whats that all about then" lol

No idea. 86% discount is not to be sniffed at though!!

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Sounds like a new boy behind the till got a bit confused. When I picked up my Violet Racer the "kid" salesman was about to offer me a reduced deal on some 2.4ghz radio gear until his boss walked in and told him it didn't apply to the discounted kits... close but no cigar :(

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A friend told me that their local MZ told them they hadn't sold a single unit (MP, XB BF, Violet Racer) until the sale.

I don't think it was a mistake. Just a bit of genius (or mad) marketing.

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A friend told me that their local MZ told them they hadn't sold a single unit (MP, XB BF, Violet Racer) until the sale.

I don't think it was a mistake. Just a bit of genius (or mad) marketing.

Right tell all the land, nobody touch any sand scorchers, NOBODY..... tell me they have sand scorchers that are not sellin' .... !

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In one of those crazy spur of the moment madness moments, I actually bought one of their MP Black Editions just before Christmas at full price...before I realised that the black special wasn't (as they stated) exclusive to them and could be sourced online for half the price lol. You live and learn.

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I spoke to a MZ manager yesterday after receiving my final delivery. He confirmed the pricing was a huge mistake from their HQ!! . The stores all received an email on Monday telling them to promptly increase the prices to what they should have been at!

I think we have all been extremely fortunate to grab what we wanted at ridiculously low prices (well below cost!!) while the going was good.

Thanks to Andy (TWINSET) for creating the awareness for us folk :-)

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I spoke to a MZ manager yesterday after receiving my final delivery. He confirmed the pricing was a huge mistake from their HQ!! . The stores all received an email on Monday telling them to promptly increase the prices to what they should have been at!

I think we have all been extremely fortunate to grab what we wanted at ridiculously low prices (well below cost!!) while the going was good.

Thanks to Andy (TWINSET) for creating the awareness for us folk :-)

Well even though at the prices that we all benefitted from it is not surprising to find it was a mistake, but still for it to have happened and to have been told by staff in shop that they asked HQ if it was a mistake and for 5 days to be told by HQ that it was not, then this really was the BooBoo of the century! lol

It was too good to be believed yet in a way not, as discussed above, to have created such a buzz about MZ was quite a unique event.

Will be interesting to see how MZ takes this fortunate/unfortunate lesson forward in regards to any possible changes made in future marketing strategies ? Will it change any company future policy, as I am sure one way or another they certainly have some data to pour over now! lol

The tale keeps twisting!

Funny on one hand and fortunate too for me and many others, shame on the other hand though that this says it won't be happening again.... or is that me just being greedy!

Heres one for you all.... mistake or not... lets take the BFIII for example.... at originally (their quote) £280 reduced to £85, obviously there would be a rush on sales, no brainer at nearly £200 off RRP

Well what level would you say it would have to have been to actually have made you open the wallet... buy or pass on it?

What price line is a discount here too good to pass (especially when you are not in the market for anything/can't actually afford it) and what is a descent discount but you would maybe still let it pass you by?

For me I was in the market for a kit, big wheeled starter kit and taking into account it was for my kid and a combo deal built RTR I would buy again but anything over £130 (over 50% off) and I might of looked at cheaper options, well I definitely would! Even though even 40 % off is great discount for example, it's interesting to think I might still of left it for a while or bought second hand or something else for well under £100. I just would not have been looking either at MZ or others for new & no doubt just have been scouting TC & ebay for a bargain possibly.

I doubt I will ever forget this episode!

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Even if it was a mistake they landed on their feet here. A small loss in sales revenue will pale in comparison to the cost of a targeted ad campaign to draw in RC fans from around the country. We we all talking about Modelzone last week? Nope, are we all talking about Modelzone now? Yes. That is priceless from a marketing standpoint.

I for one keep looking at the BF3 XB at its new price of £160 (down from £280?) and thinking 'well, its a **** sight cheaper than it was and it'd make a great basher'. And in so, I'm now considering buying one!

That seems like a great price to me as even if you import a BF3, with postage you're looking at a good £120-130, so throw some radio gear, battery and charger, and £160 seems good.

Well done MZ.

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It was too good to be believed yet in a way not, as discussed above, to have created such a buzz about MZ was quite a unique event.

Will be interesting to see how MZ takes this fortunate/unfortunate lesson forward in regards to any possible changes made in future marketing strategies ? Will it change any company future policy, as I am sure one way or another they certainly have some data to pour over now! lol

The tale keeps twisting!

Funny on one hand and fortunate too for me and many others, shame on the other hand though that this says it won't be happening again.... or is that me just being greedy!

It will indeed be interesting as it has definitely generated a serious PR stunt...........If MZ have had any beneifts from this maybe we can look forward to some further crazy price reductions in the future!!!!

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