Jump to content
tamiya3speed

Tamiya prices at Tower/MAP Pricing

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, Juggular said:

Konghead is $260.  I paid $159.99 on January 29th.  So that's $100.01 more.  Makes you wonder what you are getting for that extra $100.

Apparently, the satisfaction of knowing that you've helped the managing director of Tamiya USA keep his job?  :lol:

Konghead is currently $208 at Tower.  So MAP technically only increased the price by $48. 

Between the MAP Monster Beetle and Konghead, looks like about a 30% price increase.  That's hefty in my book and definitely a deterrent to future purchases.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The only thing we know for sure is that this new MAP pricing in the U.S. only took place after the Hobbico bankruptcy. We can only speculate that Hobbico owed Tamiya U.S.A a boat load of money, not to mention Tower hobbies was probably able to keep the left over inventory in the end and simply sell it all off at a huge profit. This has forced Tamiya USA into a fight or flight situation, and possibly a mandate from Japan, to raise prices and try to be profitable. Unfortunately, this has never worked out for any R/C manufacturer.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, Champ85 said:

I did that and never got the email.  Not in spam either.

 

I just did it and it worked fine for me.  The email came from "noreply@tamiya.com".  Maybe they were working out the kinks earlier, so give it another shot.

 

11 hours ago, Juls1 said:

TamiyaUSA used to be a bible website for a majority of the models from 58080 onwards, now it’s just a crappy web store of current stuff only, Very sad. 

 

Apparently, all of the discontinued items are still there but you have to search for them rather than them being displayed by default.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There appears to be no parts cross reference on the new site, showing which part fits which cars.  This was probably the most useful feature of the old site for dealers worldwide.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Hobbimaster said:

The only thing we know for sure is that this new MAP pricing in the U.S. only took place after the Hobbico bankruptcy. We can only speculate that Hobbico owed Tamiya U.S.A a boat load of money, not to mention Tower hobbies was probably able to keep the left over inventory in the end and simply sell it all off at a huge profit. This has forced Tamiya USA into a fight or flight situation, and possibly a mandate from Japan, to raise prices and try to be profitable. Unfortunately, this has never worked out for any R/C manufacturer.

 

Tamiya still sells the kits to stores at the same price, they just dictate what the stores can advertise them at. This doesn't make Tamiya more money, it's supposed to make brick and mortar stores able to compete with online retailers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Biz73 said:

Tamiya still sells the kits to stores at the same price, they just dictate what the stores can advertise them at. This doesn't make Tamiya more money, it's supposed to make brick and mortar stores able to compete with online retailers.

How do you know what the stores pay for their kits? I have no idea what they pay. From what I understand Hobbico was a major distributor of Tamiya product here in the U.S. even though Tamiya has had an online store for a while now, it was always cheaper to look other retailers such as RPP hobby, then Tamiya themselves. The main point I was trying to make was that this whole MAP debacle was made soon after Hobbico went under. Was Hobbico the one dictating kit prices, or U.S. market prices? probably not, but I for one will still buy Tamiya products, along with many other brands, just not as frequently. Re-releases need to be something special, not just another color variant of the same thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, Hobbimaster said:

How do you know what the stores pay for their kits? I have no idea what they pay. From what I understand Hobbico was a major distributor of Tamiya product here in the U.S. even though Tamiya has had an online store for a while now, it was always cheaper to look other retailers such as RPP hobby, then Tamiya themselves. The main point I was trying to make was that this whole MAP debacle was made soon after Hobbico went under. Was Hobbico the one dictating kit prices, or U.S. market prices? probably not, but I for one will still buy Tamiya products, along with many other brands, just not as frequently. Re-releases need to be something special, not just another color variant of the same thing.

Resellers in general purchase kits from brands at 50% off.. the discount does vary depending on volume.. so Hobbico / Tower may have even received a greater discount. The MAP doesn’t change their whole discount pricing in.. it puts a floor on advertised price be reseller. 

The shop at TamiyaUSA website wasn’t meant to compete with RPP, Tower etc.. that is why they have full retail prices listed.

Retailers had the option of purchasing through Hobbico or direct through Tamiya.

I doubt Hobbico’s bankruptcy is the cause of the MAP. The debt owed to Tamiya will be written off. This move has to do with increasing tbe percieived value of Tamiya.. trying to say that their kits are better than the competition

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, Hobbimaster said:

How do you know what the stores pay for their kits? I have no idea what they pay. From what I understand Hobbico was a major distributor of Tamiya product here in the U.S. even though Tamiya has had an online store for a while now, it was always cheaper to look other retailers such as RPP hobby, then Tamiya themselves. The main point I was trying to make was that this whole MAP debacle was made soon after Hobbico went under. Was Hobbico the one dictating kit prices, or U.S. market prices? probably not, but I for one will still buy Tamiya products, along with many other brands, just not as frequently. Re-releases need to be something special, not just another color variant of the same thing.

Resellers in general purchase kits from brands at 50% off.. the discount does vary depending on volume.. so Hobbico / Tower may have even received a greater discount. The MAP doesn’t change their whole discount pricing in.. it puts a floor on advertised price be reseller. 

The shop at TamiyaUSA website wasn’t meant to compete with RPP, Tower etc.. that is why they have full retail prices listed.

Retailers had the option of purchasing through Hobbico or direct through Tamiya.

I doubt Hobbico’s bankruptcy is the cause of the MAP. The debt owed to Tamiya will be written off. This move has to do with increasing tbe percieived value of Tamiya.. trying to say that their kits are better than the competition

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 hours ago, Champ85 said:

I did that and never got the email.  Not in spam either.

I just did it and got the email immediately. Are you sure you used the correct email address and spelling? 

 

I did get a response back from TamiyaUSA telling me to use "Forgot Password". I am logged in and can see my order history. My recent order shows to have been shipped, but when I try to track it, I get a server error. Another email has been sent.

21 hours ago, Rb4276 said:

Lets hope they fixed the hack with not being able to pay by paypal 

I've only ever used Paypal there and have done quite a few parts orders. The way I got paypal to work was:

Not logged in, add everything you want to your cart. You'll see a paypal button at the bottom. Open a new tab and login through that tab. Go back to your other tab and click the paypal button. When it opens, you'll be logged in and paying with paypal. It worked that way for me every time. If I logged in first, the paypal button wouldn't work, or I just didn't have that option. Don't know if the new site has improved, but that's how I always have done it. Never used a credit card there after everything I read about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I reset my password again and it worked this time, immediately.  They fixed their issue.  Cheers.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 hours ago, Biz73 said:

This doesn't make Tamiya more money, it's supposed to make brick and mortar stores able to compete with online retailers.

If that's the case, then Tamiya is banking on online retailers not re-tooling their sites to enable purchasing below the MAP.

I'm tempted to call Tower and do a price check on a Tamiya kit. See if they have a policy to sell below MAP via a telephone call. That doesn't violate the MAP rules.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When I started looking at getting back into the hobby about 2 years ago, I thought (internally) that the Tamiya prices were pretty cheap.  I will say that I don't understand why some models are marked up so much higher than others.  I do think some of the pricing is off the deep end, but I do believe some of the price increases put the models where I thought they should be...

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I bought the Suzuki Jimny Wheelie 58531 for $99 + free shipping direct from TamiyaUSA last year. Price was too good to pass up. I've always wondered why this particular kit was priced so low. Someone mistakenly put dealer pricing on it instead of MSRP perhaps? Or they had too many excess inventory and needed to get rid of some. With the new website, price is back to $274, however.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, Hobbimaster said:

How do you know what the stores pay for their kits? I have no idea what they pay. From what I understand Hobbico was a major distributor of Tamiya product here in the U.S. even though Tamiya has had an online store for a while now, it was always cheaper to look other retailers such as RPP hobby, then Tamiya themselves. The main point I was trying to make was that this whole MAP debacle was made soon after Hobbico went under. Was Hobbico the one dictating kit prices, or U.S. market prices? probably not, but I for one will still buy Tamiya products, along with many other brands, just not as frequently. Re-releases need to be something special, not just another color variant of the same thing.

 

3 hours ago, Juggernut said:

If that's the case, then Tamiya is banking on online retailers not re-tooling their sites to enable purchasing below the MAP.

I'm tempted to call Tower and do a price check on a Tamiya kit. See if they have a policy to sell below MAP via a telephone call. That doesn't violate the MAP rules.

First, I never said I knew how much stores pay. Maybe this was talked about on another site, but it was said that this just affected the price they can advertise items for, not a change in wholesale costs. I'm not worried about it either way. Enjoy the thread, I'm out.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Juggernut said:

I'm tempted to call Tower and do a price check on a Tamiya kit. See if they have a policy to sell below MAP via a telephone call. That doesn't violate the MAP rules.

Please let us know what they say if you do decide to call them. Or find out if they have plans to circumvent MAP on their website. I'd rather buy from Tower than from eBay sellers in Hongkong, but in the end, money talks.

 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, d4dawg said:

I bought the Suzuki Jimny Wheelie 58531 for $99 + free shipping direct from TamiyaUSA last year. Price was too good to pass up. I've always wondered why this particular kit was priced so low. Someone mistakenly put dealer pricing on it instead of MSRP perhaps? Or they had too many excess inventory and needed to get rid of some. With the new website, price is back to $274, however.

It was $99 for a long time. I got one at that price from there. They also had a bunch of other random parts that were on sale with the old website, but aren't with the new one. I have noticed that some of the links on their new website also don't work and give an error. Maybe they still have some work to do on the website before we start seeing the discounted prices.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Biz73 said:

 

First, I never said I knew how much stores pay. Maybe this was talked about on another site, but it was said that this just affected the price they can advertise items for, not a change in wholesale costs. I'm not worried about it either way. Enjoy the thread, I'm out.

Its all good. in the end we all must decide for ourselves how much we are willing to pay, and if someone decides to get a kit from overseas and save a few $$ then good for them. I will do as I have always done, find a kit I like, and shop it around till the best deal is found. I do try to support my LHS, but the owner would rather carry Traxxas products, and do model planes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

We don’t even have a Tamiya UK!

You guys don’t know you’re born honestly, moaning about price increases... what I’d give to have price to increase!

(tongue removed from cheek)

  • Haha 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I work at a hobby shop.  I posted a while back, but it probably got lost in the number of pages.

The price increase came from Tamiya Japan.

Wholesale prices have NOT changed as far as what I have seen.

Kits CAN be sold for less than MAP, (minimum advertised price) we do quite a bit.

Hobbyco being bought out by Horizon had nothing to do with MAP policy

Small brick and mortar chops could not compete with Tower's price policy.  After all Tower's discounts were applied, their sales price was usually within 10%-15% of wholesale cost.  This at least puts everyone on the same starting level, allowing us to compete. 

If you want a kit, visit your LHS and talk to them, they have the option to sell lower.  They may not stock, but many will order for you.

Almost every RC company has a MAP policy, Traxxas, Losi, Team Associated, Arrma, and Axial.

The RC industry overall is not doing well across all brands, including aircraft and support equipment. (except Traxxas who has a huge marketing budget and social media presence) 

If anyone has any questions, just PM me, but I will not release wholesale prices to anyone.

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Jason1145 said:

We don’t even have a Tamiya UK!

Your UK eBay listings are WAY better than ours, and most of your guys don't even ship here. Want to trade?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, Kingfisher said:

Your UK eBay listings are WAY better than ours, and most of your guys don't even ship here. Want to trade?

Why is that? There are 4-5 times as many people in n the US so why is there not 4-5 times the number of Ebay listings aswell?

Trust me, after having to pay $50 for a shrunken down F104W into a tiny box from USA to UK ( from a fellow TC’er so it was done as cheaply as possible etc)  I won’t be buying anything bigger than a spoon from the USA again either.... I guess postage prices are very prohibitive both ways.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
24 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

Why is that? There are 4-5 times as many people in n the US so why is there not 4-5 times the number of Ebay listings aswell?

Trust me, after having to pay $50 for a shrunken down F104W into a tiny box from USA to UK ( from a fellow TC’er so it was done as cheaply as possible etc)  I won’t be buying anything bigger than a spoon from the USA again either.... I guess postage prices are very prohibitive both ways.

I search the US listings for used Tamiyas and don't find much that interests me. I search the UK listings and come across quite a few used cars at decent prices. Besides, you guys always seem to find the best deals in the "postman brought me" thread. :lol:

Oh yeah, I remember the F104 incident. Interestingly though, the Wolf is no longer on sale on the new Tamiya site. 

lol at the spoon. I wonder how Tony'sTamiyaParts can keep the prices low while offering free shipping to the US. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 hours ago, ncpantherfan71 said:

I work at a hobby shop.  I posted a while back, but it probably got lost in the number of pages.

From your handle, I'm assuming your store is in NC?  I visit Raleigh/Durham on occasion and would definitely check it out if your store is in the vicinity.

Checking out Tower's Super Clod ad ran across this in the Q&A:

image.png.2ffce2b7566be040dfb329f7b3f92202.png

:lol::lol::lol:

  • Haha 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

While I really appreciate Tamiya increasing the value of the 90+ unbuilt kits I have in my collection pretty much over night. I'm sad to say that I'm walking away from the brand going forward. Or at least new cars.  I'll continue to watch Tower and other sites for specials or close outs but beyond that I'm done with Tamiya. I can't justify paying the new MAP for their items. 

A couple of examples. Picked up the following on my order on May 4th this year. 

Neo Fight DT-03 for $99.00. Currently $156.00

Hornet Black Met.  $114.00  Currently $169.60

Wild One (this one really kills me)  $164.99 Currently $251.20  That's almost $90...........!!!!!!!

Good thing is I have enough NIB kits to keep me busy for may years to come and enough projects to keep me going for the rest of my life :)

 

TAMIYA  I hope you see this.  You lost me after 33 yrs and well over 2000 cars. 

 

  • Like 3

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...