[stillinamerica]

It seems that now I am having a huge problem keeping up with corgi's new releases. at one time I thought I could collect every Spit, however have now given up the fight. I wonder if this influx of models from corgi is an attempt to capture some of the money floating around ebay.

This is what I mean: with fewer models around and coming out less frequently, us collectors in an effort to spend our money, part with crazy dollars such as nearly $300 at one time for an FM 262 which listed at $29.99, that is $270 that did not go to Corgi but floated around the economy.
So corgi....by releasing many more models is able to capture that excess money because we spend it on them. you can see what I mean if you look at people struggling to sell the FM 262's, Tucks and Robertsons going cheap on the bay. I think it is an interesting strateggy by corgi if that is some of their thinkning.

We have the money and it is going to be spent, if corgi bring out lots of planes, we will by them and therefore loose a little interst in pursuing the older models, therefore decreasing not their value but black market price.

Does this make sense?

[Canucklehead]

Magic 8 Ball says:

[p-51d]

Please realise Corgi has alledgedy now been effectively taken over, the management changed and hopefully sanity will prevail.The early 2007 realeases were alledgedly the last actions of the old organisation , hopefully they will sort themselves out this year, stop over producing and end the insane decerting scheme or it may be curtains for Corgi .

[SKUNKY]

I have to say I think I'm in total agreement with the ball on this.

[mikeb1958]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

I have to say I think I'm in total agreement with the ball on this.

Not quite sure, I guess I'm behind the ole 8-Ball.

[DADoser]

stillinamerica -

I understand what you are saying. I'm just not sure. Even though the money spent on "collector" diecast on the ebay market seems like a lot to me, I'm not sure if it is big enough for Corgi to consider in its market/sales/release strategy. (How many Me 262 have been put on ebay for those ridiculus prices? 10? 20? ???) Maybe, but again, I'm not sure.

One thing I think may happen (if its not already) - with the volume of Corgi's07 releases and the desire for the casual collector/hobbyist to want several of the new models - We may see more old Corgi models being put on Ebay in order for folks to clear out space as well as bring in $$ to pay for all those new models. The result being - if more of these old models start appearing on Ebay - supply will be greater than demand - then these old models selling price will go down - i.e market saturation. (How many of us, here on the hangar are thinking seriously about selling some of our old models to make space and increase cash flow due to our future diecast wants?)

The demand for models on Ebay seems pretty selective. Certain models always seem to bring in great (above list) prices while some tend to retain their list value over time - and others i.e. the Tuesday Morning dumps appear on Ebay at lower than list price. However, having said this - Lately I've seen several models on Ebay that I thought would go for (at least) slightly above their list - go pretty cheap - i.e. Eastern front early Stuka and the first relaese Nowotny Fw 190. (of course now there are 3 Corgi versions of that FW 190 out - and the close FOV version - while not as good, very cheap - of that Stuka).

I've gotten away from your original post question. Hopefully I haven't hijacked the original intent of your post too much.

[mhackl]

I can tell you that it's just this simple.

Corgi realized it was over producing when it was having to bargain bin and Tuesday Morning inventory. So they cut their production runs. They increased the amount of offerings to offset the smaller production numbers. As far as the prices are concerned, Zindart Manufacturing had employed consultants that advised Corgi to reduce their average MSRP to around $20 to increase sales. This is why we saw Corgi working its way into that price range over the last thirty months. They made the price reduction and sales didn't increase at all. So, Corgi is going back to their original pricing structure. This and material cost and production increases have also had an effect.

It sucks when a good thing ends, but you can't really blame Corgi. They've tried just about every maneuver to boost sales. Produce less, Produce more, Produce Smaller Runs, Reduce the MSRP, and so on.

[djjeffhall]

Hey folks,
Corgi couldn't care less about the secondary market. (i.e. EBay) That has NO effect of how and why Corgi makes decisions.

I could be wrong, but Corgi is not signifigantly changing the number of planes they are releasing this year, they are reducing the number of announcements by %50.

In previous years they have prodiced two catalogs, summer and winter. Spilt the number of new annouced planes in two and you have a "regular" annoucement. Announce the second half of those titles 6 months from now and you have the second half releases in a "normal" year.

What Corgi did was cut their catalog, mailing and advertising costs in half. One catalog, instead of printing two. One set of announcements instead of two, etc.

I would bet that every manufacaturer out there knows what they are planning on releasing for the next year, if not longer. Telling the customers risks having them burn out and not be interested anymore. (After all, how much gripping is done on this forum already about Corgi delays?) Or another manufacturer beat them to the punch. (i.e. Dragon's strategy of jumping in once someone has annouced a P-40, P-38 and P-51B, when Dragon first starting speaking of these moulds several years ago.)

As far as Tuesday Mornings go, Corgi doesn't lose money selling their planes and tanks to Tuesday Morning. They don't make the big mark up they make by selling direct to the hobby shops, but I'd be willing to bet they are not losing money. It helps them clear their warehouses (Which in many states, and perhaps in the U.K. as well, saves them money on their quarterly business taxes.) and increase cash flow. It's good business as the money to manufacture and ship those planes is LONG spent by the time they are sold off to Tuesday Mornings.

If anyone knows differently, please correct me, but in the end it's not a change in the company, but good business that dictates what is going on.

[PH-LKK]

Hate to differ with you djjeffhall, as you make excellent points, but Corgi can't really afford to ignore evilBay, Tuesday Mornings or the 'bins' in the UK. While none of these avenues represents a direct threat to Corgi's bottom line, they do directly affect Corgi's retailers. And Corgi's established network of retailers has enormous influence over Corgi's marketing decisions. If something hurts the brick-and-mortar types, Corgi is going to get an earful about it. That's why Corgi has variously tried to put an end to or severly limit on-line sales, eBay sales of new stock, the sale of new models below MSRP (called "RRP" in the UK), etc. Corgi has been trying to make its retailer network happy.

The proliferation of releases over the past year may be a reflection of a new approach being brought to bear by the new American owners, but I can't imagine that they are prepared to completely abandon their historical base. Not yet anyway.

[flaps]

What a waste of time this thread is. I just enjoy what I get and quite a few come from Ebay at very good prices.

I hope Corgi is around for some time, they have made and are releasing some really neat models. And if you care about packaging , no one does it better.

Flaps