Jump to content
bindarrian

No Tamiya at Banzai Hobby?

Recommended Posts

I'd be interested to know as well. Banzai is usually one of the first places I go to check for kits and parts. Always have had top service from them. They did this once before maybe 1-1/2 to 2 yrs ago from what I remember, no Tamiya products. Then all of a sudden Tamiya was back on the site. Never did give an explanation as to why it was pulled off. Strange.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Something strange is happening, all the Tamiya spare parts are coming up as sold out also, as if Banzai is having a Tamiya strike

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe they cut with Tamiya, who knows?

The best thing to do is simply ask them.

 

Max

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How bizarre. But as said, this has happened before. 

Glad I placed my latest order last week! 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought I was going mad last night or my phone was playing up. I'd only put an order in on Thursday and had posting confirmation Friday.

Could it be some sort of licensing / distribution agreement issue?

Where is the next best alternative?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Strange, they where still selling Tamiya when I looked in their shop a couple of days ago.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Probably another Tamiya HQ hissy fit. Same thing occurred about 12months ago  

Banzai used to be a flat 40% off Tamiya RRP, and some JDM only stores and some distributors complained as they were taking so many international customers. 

So they agreed to reduce to 25% - perhaps that is now too much as wel. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here is the response I received from Banzai

"Unfortunately, all the overseas agents are complaining about us because they are doing perfect jobs offering fair price and providing perfect customer support but because of us, they cannot sell the products.

Because of this, at this moment we are having supply issues with Tamiya and cannot sell products at this moment."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I curious which oversees agents are complaining. At current exchange rate Yen has been strong against dollar, so Banzais prices has been close to Stella and RCMart.

I wonder if it's the likes of TamiyaUSA? 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, on the one hand, this is bad.

On the other hand, if you think of local hobby shops near closing down and miss the old days, keep in mind that Banzaihobby is one of the many companies responsible for it.

I for myself had only a few purchases over the last years at Banzai, with the majority of kits and parts bought at Tamico's local store, some through Seidel, and some other custom and vintage stuff through ebay and Tamiyaclub.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 minutes ago, GregM said:

Well, on the one hand, this is bad.

On the other hand, if you think of local hobby shops near closing down and miss the old days, keep in mind that Banzaihobby is one of the many companies responsible for it.

But on the other hand I would not be in this hobby if I had to find shops with stock and mess about going in to town. Banzai and their prices and veriety of stock are one of the reasons I got so deep in to this hobby. It is a shame they are forced out of the business by others who are just not very good at doing their job

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said:

But on the other hand I would not be in this hobby if I had to find shops with stock and mess about going in to town. Banzai and their prices and veriety of stock are one of the reasons I got so deep in to this hobby. It is a shame they are forced out of the business by others who are just not very good at doing their job

It is the same for me, really. Whilst I live in a sizeable town, I'm not aware of a shop which stocks Tamiya.

I'm new to the hobby so have enjoyed my little Banzai parcels. Bigger purchases have always come from the UK or Germany. I've already planned my next order from Fusion. 

This means I will likely take more time between my orders to build up a greater stock of items to off-set postage and more funds to cover the higher prices.

And fewer impulse buys so probably less money to Tamiya overall.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Banzai must be doing a perfect job too if they are getting all the customers?

Doesn't make sense. If Banzai can sell at 40% off, and complainer #1 can only sell @ MSRP (Manufacturers SUGGESTED retail price) or way more than 40%, then your overheads are too high, your greed is too great, or you are rubbish at your job. = gtfo.

 

2 hours ago, Raman36 said:

 

I wonder if it's the likes of TamiyaUSA? 

 

Highly unlikely it is a small fry hobby shop somewhere. I would agree it is more than likely a national distributor. Also the "customer support" reference kind of gives that impression.

Just remember people, it is your money, You've earned it, you have the right of where you would like to spend it. Complainer #1 etc isn't entitled to it by default, they have to tick all the right boxes (just like anyone else) to get you to part with it. Doesn't matter if it is a LHS, distributor, online shop, etc

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Adding the costs of customs and overseas shipping, I often find myself in the situation where it just doesn't make any major price difference if I either buy from Banzaihobby Japan, from German based online shops, or Tamico themselves. Getting charged for overseas customs/VAT is pretty common in Germany. Other local hobby stores not specialized in selling Tamiya kits however aren't really competitive price-wise against them, but stll within an acceptable price range.

Plus, I don't like having to wait weeks or even months for my orders to go through the shipping process, plus the customs office here in Berlin office takes its merry time (1 week minimum) until sending out a delivery notice, too.

So to sum it up, the inconvienience of long shipping times, expensive shipping, picking up parcels from the customs office where I've got to sit and wait for hours, and paying additional customs charges is putting me off. It is putting me off enough that I'm more likely to have a search at my LHS and domestic online shops to get what I want instantly or at least within a single week, before I consider ordering anything from overseas.

 

EDIT: I think Banzaihobby pushes its victimhood a little bit too far. MSRP exists for a reason, and what Banzai is doing is like devaluing the reputable Tamiya brand in the long run for quick profit.

Rant aside, I still feel sympathy with anybody who just has no other means of getting their hands on Tamiya kits without getting ripped off by bad distributors. I've heard that the Australian distributor Toy Traders is rather infamous, isn't he? Or is that a story from the past?

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, they were the only source of hop-ups for me, due to the lack of LHS who sell Tamiya parts. Maybe it's time for distributors to rearrange their business, rather than to shut down the only source of Tamiya parts for many countries in the world.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Exact same experience as GregM, exept for the part that I live in the Netherlands.

Ordered a couple of times from Banzai, but in the end with all the extra customs costs and delivery time involved, it is not worth to buy there. Specialy for the kits, sometimes they can be useful for small cheap parts. My problem is Tamiya is hardly for sale anymore in the Dutch local hobby shops. There used to be a time it was available in every local hobby shop or toy store untill the Dutch distributor went broke. The current distributor doesn't seem to do a very good job. All hobby stores stock mostly HPi, Traxxas and some other brands. I order most of my stuff from Tamico and Ebay. Also have ordered with RC Mart, Stella and Seidel, mostly for parts that Tamiya doesn't stock.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 minutes ago, GregM said:

So to sum it up, the inconvienience of long shipping times and picking up parcels from the customs office where I've got to wait for hours is putting me off. It is putting me off enough that I'm more likely to have a search at my LHS and domestic online shops to get what I want instantly or at least within a week, before I order anything from overseas.

It's interesting to read the experience of people overseas.  In New Zealand we're basically a small and isolated market so international sellers, in my experience, have vastly improved the service, selection, and time frames in making purchases.

Personally, I had just made a nice big list of things to buy from Banzai Hobby a few days before they stopped listing Tamiya products.  My wallet is grateful even if I'm not.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Same as Blista, I am in Australia, I always purchase my non vintage hop ups, shocks, rims/tyres etc from Banzai, saves me a lot of hassle, I use the cheap and slow post option to save even more,

 

 I am about ready to put in another order ......

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess having a strong distributor like Dickie-Tamiya Germany helps a lot for having a reliable network of good retailers and fair prices. Plus, as I said, dealing with customs here is annoying enough to secure the local stores and domestic online shops a good market share against competition from outside of the Europian Union. Effectively, this is what helps keeping local hobby stores alive in towns and make sure that new customers get in touch with the R/C car hobby even today.

 

35 minutes ago, Blista said:

It's interesting to read the experience of people overseas. 

Thanks, I find yours interesting to read, too. :)

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm curious as to what other shops in Japan are complaining, or is it Taiwan as well? I only know of JR-RC, Rc Champs, and Banzai in Japan. JR-RC is often out of product, RC Champs has low Tamiya inventory now, that leaves Banzai as the major player. More often times than not Stellamodels and RcMart have cheaper prices than Banzai, but again they have low spare parts count at times. I just think that business is business, unless Tamiya says you must sell at MSPR, and thats it, there will always be competition among shops. If Banzai only wants to make 5%-10% off a model, its there business. Tamiya should not be taking sides in this matter. They are the Mfg and must move product to stay alive themselves.  And to be honest I wish more shops in the states carried Tamiya, aside from Tower who is there? We now have only 2 hobby shops in my area both cater to Traxxas, and Quad copter now. I have not seen a Tamiya kit in either shop in years.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got the same response from Banzai. For them to be able to initially do a 40% discount on Tamiya products suggest Tamiya provide a lot of margin to their retailers. Banzai reduced this to 25% because of the "complainers". Now even this isn't good enough, even though there are several other distributors offering this discount. For me, I used Banzai because of their efficient and low postage costs - they didn't try to make extra money off you through the shipping charges. I don't know of another shipper whose costs start at 180yen! I think this is just a case of greed - a big distributor putting pressure on Tamiya. Are Banzai then supposed to charge more than other retailers? For us in the UK it was handy to get small parts at a reasonable cost, rather than paying 3 times what it should have cost when you buy from a local retailer. No taxes below £15 goods value here. I still buy my kits from Fusion and Tamico/ Modelbau- Seidel generally. I'm going to contact Tamiya and complain and I hope you guys do too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Most of my cars have huge amounts of hop-ups because of Banzai. I can wait for the slow postage and the parts cost about what I would expect them to cost. If they cost more I will not buy them so Tamiya lose out. Tamiya is not a premium brand but I the UK we are charged as if it is.

I often buy kits from Germany as the cost over here is usually more. I am happy to pay pennys more to support local but pounds is out my reach. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...