"Musketeer Miniatures US prices" Topic

Am I missing something or are Musketeer Miniatures $3-$4 a piece from the US distributor, Little Wars?

They're close to $3 USD a pop when you order direct from Musketeer themselves when you factor in shipping.

Distributors gotta make some money off the deal… a lot will depend on any discounts they receive off the MSRP from the manufacturer. Some of the smaller manufacturers don't offer much if any discount to retailers or distributors, so anyone that does import those lines needs to bump up prices just to make any money off the figures at all.

Is Little Wars still carrying them? I theoretically have a bag of pikemen on back-order for over a year now.

Rich

I don't know, maybe it's me but I just think $3-$4 for a 28mm is a bit much… Especially with good quality figs from other companies at $2 USD or less

I'm no fan of the jacking the price up way beyond what the actual retail should be. Navwar figs are a classic example of this. I'm not talking about an imported item where a small percentage is added to help with a retailers margin. Navwar would cost about $5.00 USD with some markeup. I can even see $6.00 USD a pack. However, they often retail for 7-9 dollars a pack in the USA. Retailers can set whatever price that they want. It is a consumers right to not buy such outrageously priced products. Oh, in 6mm I buy Baccus.

YMMV.

Thanks,

John

At Attactix, we were selling H&R for $4.95 USD a pack when others were selling them for $6.95….and we were still making 46%! FWIW, we still have a few hundred packs in the store. Haven't restocked since the bottom fell out of the dollar. I wiped us out of the SYW packs. There's still WWII, Modern, Ancient, Medieval some ECW (ACW wiped out) and lots of Naps left.

At today's prices, I really cannot understand why folks want figures made from across the sea, then complain about it's cost! Buy American or stop complaining! 40% (or more) of order value just to ship?….It sure isn't that much going the other way…..

Want to see their prices drop? Stop buying high priced figures! Companies have to charge what they do because of their expenses. If you buy figures that are advertised in full color page spreads, you'd better start enjoying the pictures because that is a part of what you are paying for in the figs. Same for those colorful boxes that some come in. In several cases, the cost of the packaging (that you usually end up throwing away) adds a couple of dollars to your purchase price!

Best
Tom

Because they are worth it! Beautiful minis, and a great guy to deal with. Interesting lines too. I'd like to see Musketeer keep doing what they are doing, so I'll pay to help keep them in business.

And, BTW, I'll continue to pay Musketeer directly as Little Wars is just an embarrasment. Absolutely no concern for their customers or business.

if you don't want to order direct, Brigade Games is stocking them now

Buy American or stop complaining! 40% (or more) of order value just to ship?….It sure isn't that much going the other way…..

Quit tarring everyone with the same brush; there are US firms charging that and even more as well, and plenty of British firms that don't….

Dom, irked….

I buy Front Rank, Perry and other quality lines direct and average $2 USD per fig. This is not a rant on the cost from buyng across the pond, I am just trying to figure out what's so specials about MM that it's worth shelling out £1.50 GBP – £2.00 GBP per fig…

Quite simple- Small anticipated turnover of figures has to be offset against sculpting and moulding costs to continue to expand the range. Perry and Front Rank ranges are geared to large armies, so one may buy 30 figures or more for one battalion. The sale of the rank and file packs supports the smaller selling packs, such as artillery.
Musketeer will not sell 500 figures to one person for their Irish War range, as the figures are for skirmish. The production costs are the same.
If everyone begrudges an extra 50 pence, then the smaller manufacturers unfortunately will probably not be able to continue. I pay £1.50 GBP for a cup of coffee regularly, which provides far less enjoyment over the long term.

I've got to stand up for Dom here. I ordered a bunch of decals from him recently, he charged 1.00 GBP for shipping. When they arrived a week later the envelope had 3 1.00 GBP stamps on it.

Had the same experience recently ordering direct from Raiden. A bit under 4.00 GBP shipping for 28 planes totaling (IIRC) 32.00 GBP.

(BTW Dom, you'll get another order once I've used up these decals. And it's o.k. to charge me actual shipping. )

Dear Irked Dom. Sorry, Didn't think you produced and/or sold metal figures…only flags that can be shipped in flat lettter style envelopes. Therefore, I did not think I was including you and fellow flag/decal makers as your products were a different category. IIRC, the topic was in regards to metal figures? Apples and Decals! 8>)

Best
Tom Dye
GFI

I find the discussion of % for shipping somewhat amusing as it surely depends on the price of the figures you are being charged a % on!

My 15mm are 22p each, others are anything up to 45p a figure – so if I charged 40% and they charged 20% you would still be paying the same shipping amount…

Mike

I theoretically have a bag of pikemen on back-order for over a year now.

I got a swedish command in the same status.

Tom – as it happens I do carry a couple of metal ranges, but that wasn't the reason for me being irked; rather it was the overall tone of your message, strongly implying that *all* British firms charge unreasonable P&P, and *no* American ones do – neither of which, of course, is true….

Dom, While I did NOT imply "all UK companies" I now wish I had said "True for most UK companies". It's true for the most part! Why is it that we (MY company) can ship a one pound package, Global Priority Mail (with a value of $100.00+) for under $10.00 USD to the UK, while the same sized/valued package costs $40.00? Wouldn't that inequity give you some "tone" too,? What would $100.00 USD of metal figures cost to ship to the USA from you?

No, not all either way, of course, but you have to admit that 400% more in postage is worth a little "tone"! />( If you go back and re-read my post I did not say "all", I was specifically speaking about one range! I stand firm in my factual comment! (P&P for H&R from Navwar remains 40% for Air; 20 % for surface)

There are others as well! (In the following,I have posted rates to the USA found in adverts in Wargames Illustrated number 259):

North Star: 20%, Renegade-40%,(MINIMUM 10 GBP!), Curteys Miniatures/1st Corps: 15%; Warlord Games: 20%; Valiant Miniatures: 5 GBP…..PER BOX!!!!! (plastic figures!); Kallistra: 20% (a more reasonable minimum of 1.50 GBP)

Begining to see where I am coming from, Dom? Of course, the US retailer carrying any of these ranges must recover those shipping costs from the customer as well (on top of MANY UK companies only offering 30% to trade orders!)

So the fellow that complains about how expensive UK figures are in the USA has a legit gripe! My comment back is to "look locally" (ie: USA produced figures) if cost seems unreal! Perhaps lack of demand may see prices come down!

Of course, you may feel any way you desire, Dom, but I feel pretty sure you'd feel the same if the tables were turned! Are you now with what I was saying?

Over here, we still have the freedom to speak out against seemingly inflated pricing. (postage ranging from 15-40% from different companies in the UK) We also have choices for buying figures, as well.

Best (And I do mean that!)
Tom Dye
GFI

Well, I'm an American and I'll stand up for some of the UK companies. Copplestone, EM-4, Dom's, 15mm.co.uk and Gzg all are quite wonderful both to deal with and in their shipping charges. They are very reasonable. I do agree about some of the others though.

Thanks,

John

John, Yes, there ARE some UK companies that don't charge high prices for shipping and are simply great to work with! Contrary to what Dom might believe, I did not say "all" of them did.

Best
Tom Dye
GFI

Airmail postage from the UK is expensive.

1kg of figures will cost £12.26 GBP to send airmail small packet…

Mike

Ok this thread was derailed. I'm not concerned with shipping cost at all. I know it's expensive no matter where you ship from. I apologize for not making my op clear. I simply wanted to know if the quality on MM figs justified the higher price per fig? Believe me, I am far from cheap, infact I would rather pay more for a better quality fig. I just have not seen MM in person and wondered if I would be getting my $ worth if purchased.

Of course, you may feel any way you desire, Dom, but I feel pretty sure you'd feel the same if the tables were turned! Are you now with what I was saying?

Apparently you still don't get my point – the tables *are* turned; US firms can be just as bad shipping the other way (in spite of a postal service that's generally cheaper, and offers flat rate options which make calculating exact costs a doddle, as well as being an absolute bargain for shipping lead and books in reasonable quantities….) I'm not playing the name game, but offhand can think of at least one firm that charges 50%, and another that refuses to use the postal service, instead insisting on UPS, which can run to 100% and way beyond. (As an aside, nothing in your original post qualified your comments to specific companies, while "buy American or stop complaining" seemed pretty unequivocal to me….) <Rant over; time I quit TMP for a bit….>

In my opinion Noss, I would say yes they are worth the cash. For a look see on their figures pop over to the WAB Forum and put a search in to get an idea. Others for eye candy would be LAF and Steve Dean forum.

On postage, swings and round abouts. The UK postal system is a magical art depending on not only the weight of the product but also the size of the packaging.

I think it is up to the individuals to make the choice at the end of the day if you dont want to pay the postage then go for another range.

UK to US, 5 day airmail is 7.43 UK pounds for a package total weight 580-599g (ie about a pound of figs). Add the packaging cost and 4.50 shipping insurance, it's say 13 UK pounds, that's 21.45 US (would have been 26.00 US a year ago). Dearer than the US Post Office the other way but not 'end-of-the-world' prices. Though it's a big add to the cost of figs.

Noss

Another vote for Musketeer figures – they are very nicely sculpted and well worth the money

Mike

Yes,yes,yes!

Ok I'm biased as Bill is a mate of mine but his postage rates are not bad

and I quote from his site

Postage
UK and Europe 10%
Rest of World 15%
------------
Minimum charge £2.50 GBP

know I know that Bill often losses out when posting overseas but he refuses to up his rate as he wants to attract the foreign sales