Maybe BUM has a list of one hundred collectors who have a goal of buying every release that BUM puts out, and feels like kicking the crud out of them , or needs some fast cash. I can't imagine product like this competing on the open market . It would get killed. Even slot car people aren't generally nutty enough to go for this one.
One of the first defense usually offered for a high priced questionable value product is that it is "hand made" or "limited" production.
As you can feel by my tone, I take exception to this. Normally, I just let it go and wish the seller good luck in finding interested customers, but this time I think I will state some objections.
To me, quality or desirability justifies a price, with the ultimate decision made by the consumer, not product discriptions.
Unless the product's features meet my needs, hand made, limited, no big deal. I hand tie my shoes every day, and eat hand made meals all the time. The change in my pocket is all limited edition. I own some limited edition Scalextric cars, yawn.......
I suspect calling the cars under discussion hand made would be much like calling my shirts hand made because the were sewn together by a person. I could be wrong, but, to me, a production run with a mold doesn't say hand made. Sticking on parts doesn't pass either. Assembled by hand, is not hand made.
I do wish them well with this product. I don't think limited edition or hand made justifies the price of any product. It might effect someone's buying decison according to how they react to hype, but the value of the product is seperate from these issues. Even a collector of rare things must first see the item as desireable.
As for the list price, no problem here.
There is a phrase, "mark it up to mark it down". Meaning a piece of crud that used to be tagged at 1000x will seem a bargin at 10x. Some people might be aware that like items might be had for 1x, but you only need one guy to bite at the 10x price, and you have made a nice sale. The guy selling like goods for 1x will have to sell many more to see the same amount of profit. These Bum slot items are not going into volume outlets. I am not saying the price is unfair. I am saying reasonable price (and profit, to some extent) is set by the consumer with the buying decision.
If they sell all at list price, that was a fair price. I would think the price too high, because of how the product looks. Bum thinks otherwise, thinking there are 100 people that will pony up. Time wil tell. Perhaps some buyers will be motivated at a lower price thinking they are getting a deal, since they used to be priced at ......
If I want stuff that looks like that, I wiil go to....oh wait,..... I don't want stuff that looks like that, it will always be "limited" to me .
