finishes the Yellow Team.Hey, there!
Part one of this week's news stories: The Inevitable Price Rise of Doom!
I just ordered some more metal in, and the price is now officially Astronomical. When I started out 6 years ago, which is when a lot of the prices were set for things like the Mk 1 Big Borises and stuff, the price of metal was £4.65 GBP a kg. Now it's £10.90 GBP a kg! This is a rise of £2.70 GBP a kg this year (i.e. since January) alone.
Whilst that might not sound like much to you per figure, it makes a massive difference to the underlying cost of production, especially since I have to allow for whopping trade discounts. In practise, it means I have to conduct a hefty review of the entire range, because most of my older figures are seriously bulky, or come with an unfeasibly large amount of parts for a £3.00 GBP fig (like the Dwarf Inventor).
As a guide, all of the older mk1 Boris figs are currently £4.00 GBP but should now be priced at £5.00 GBP. Hellbeasts have long been held at a silly £3.50 GBP price - they need to be £5.00 GBP (they are, after all, massive models that struggle to fit a 40mm base!).
More serious affectees are the big monsters - the ogre with table should really be between £15.00 GBP and £18.00 GBP! Azaroth (£18.00 GBP) should now be between £25.00 GBP and £35.00 GBP! The Netherlord 2 should be a minimum of £65.00 GBP going up to £95.00 GBP!!! (Ay Carumba!) And so on.
How can I help offset these prices? Well, the only realistic way is to start restricting the number of alternate parts given out (giving people the option of entire kits at the higher price, or selection packs at a lower price), or to look into optional resin castings of some of the pricier pieces and see if that can control the prices any better. (Starting with me putting together a 'resinable' torso for the NL2, and doing a new head, etc., to boot.) That way, people who really really hate resin can still get a metal model if their wallet can take it.
I'm certainly going to be doing more 'regular human'-size models like the sci-fi range, where the massive price rise of metal is less impacting and affordable prices of £3.00 GBP a figure can be maintained for the rest of the year at least. Some of the bigger, heavier models may well become a combination of resin and metal - with resin used for the torso, and metal for the breakable extremities.
Before anyone suggests it, sending in your spare metal isn't really an option - bits of superglue get in there, quality of different castings affects the whole mix, some companies still use lead, etc. Also, you'd have to send a seriously heavy amount to get any sort of decent credit, and the cost in postage would wipe that out. Plus the whole keeping track of who's sent what thing...
LIKELY MODELS TO BE AFFECTED
HEROES:
HH001, HH006, HH007, HH009, HH010, HH012, HH013, HH017, HH019, HH020, THRUD01
VILLAINS:
HV001, HV004, HV005, FERALS, HV013, HV019, HV024/25, HV026
MONSTERS:
HM001, HM002, HM003, HM004, HM006, HM007, HM008, HM009, HM010, HM011, HM012, HM013, HM014, HM016, HM017, HM022
DEATHBALL:
HFF01, HFF03, DB001, DB002, DB003, DB004, DB005, DB006, DB008
SCI-FI:
NOTHING AFFECTED PRICE WISE at the moment
BASES:
Most of the 6-packs will be going up a bit.
I've yet to work out the individual prices, but you should assume at least 10% to 50% on any given model above, so the Big Boris mk1's will be £4.50 GBP to £5.00 GBP instead of £4.00 GBP. The £9.00 GBP monsters will be £10.00 GBP - £15.00 GBP depending on their individual weights - some of these suckers are massive! It's mainly these that will be getting resin alternatives sorted out. I'll also try to do some updated slimmer versions of some of the older-style bulky figs like Lord and Lady von Blutgericht, for instance.
Rest assured that if the metal price comes back down at some point, then the figure price will drop down again, too. I hate charging lots of money for stuff, I started this business partly to offer affordable, cool stuff.
Metal price is largely down to the Chinese control of the tin production market. Tin currently sells at approx $16,500 USD a ton or something...it was $12,000 USD at the start of the year...
This is serious stuff, and may well have a massively negative impact on my already meagre sales, so it's not something I want to do, but the price of metal is forcing my hand. If you have been holding off on buying some stuff from me, please order it now or you will have to get it at a higher price down the line. Higher prices are coming in, from August 13th. However, to offset this and also pay for a new casting machine, I will be running a sale from the 13th August until such time as I have covered the costs for the new equipment (£4,300.00 GBP) so it could be on for ages or only a couple of weeks, as it depends entirely on how much money comes in, and how quickly!
Part 2 of the news soon! (Featuring new minis to pre-order, such as Dr Hugh!)
All the best!
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