Buyer beware.
I'm not going to bother protecting anyone here. Last summer, during Arashi's 'TIME' concerts, a user started selling concert goods for an obscenely marked-up price. Myself and a few others called her on it; she responded by deleting our comments and giving an excuse about needing to afford a school uniform. Which is really no excuse for ripping people off and hiding the truth.
Well, she's at it again, and this time she claims to have "lowered" her prices. Which is all well and good, except the markups are STILL OBSCENE. Her sales post is here. Her name? queencoc .
I've got three pieces of data here: the original cost of the goods in Japanese Yen and USD, then her price, then the profit and markup percentage. I understand that most sellers charge a service fee for having to go stand in line at the goods tables. Perfectly reasonable. But a professional shopping service will charge you flat rate fees (like i-TM4U). queencoc just seems to charge whatever the hell she wants. A store will sell items with a markup of between 10%-30%, although 30% is considered high. Her lowest markup is 64%. That's more than DOUBLE the "high" end of the scale.
EDIT: I forgot to mention these are all the prices BEFORE shipping from Japan is added. So it's not like part of this is going towards EMS or anything.
Here are the numbers.
Item and Original Pricequeencoc ’s PriceProfit and MarkupPamphlet ¥2,000/$19.00$33.50$14.50 profit, 76.3% markupUchiwa ¥500/$4.75$15.00$10.25 profit, 215% markupPoster ¥800/$7.60$18.00$10.40 profit, 136% markupClear File ¥500/$4.75$13.50$8.75 profit, 184% markupT-shirt ¥2,500/$23.75$39.00$15.25 profit, 64% markupTote bag ¥800/$7.60$15.80$8.20 profit, 107% markupCaterpillar strap ¥1,200/$11.40$23.20$11.80 profit, 103% markupPlate strap ¥1,200/$11.40$23.20$11.80 profit, 103% markupChopsticks ¥1,500/$14.25$24.20$9.95 profit, 70% markupVinyl Pouch ¥700/$6.65$14.20$7.55 profit, 113% markupPenlight ¥1,300/$12.35$24.20$11.85 profit, 96% markup
Live Photoset (6 per set) ¥600/$5.70$12.60$6.90 profit, 121% markupMember Photoset (4 per set) ¥600/$5.70$12.60$6.90 profit, 121% markupGroup Photoset (2 per set) ¥300/$2.85$7.50$4.65 profit, 163% markup
As you can see, she's pretty much ripping everyone off something BIG. I really would like to post this to the main Arashi comms so people will STOP BUYING FROM HER, because dude. Shopping services are not only easy to use, but they don't rip you off. But I don't want to get wanked, either. And she is a WANKY one. Thoughts?
EDIT: More math. (My mother would be proud.)
The total of all the orders in the comments so far: $1705.15
Total of the same orders WITHOUT the markups: $891.10
queencoc 's Profit: $814.05
Here's my point. No one should charge this much. "Other sellers charge the same" isn't a good excuse, because THEY ARE SETTING A PRECEDENT. This should not be the norm. Don't allow people to overcharge you just because "everyone charges that."
Not everyone does. Only people who are taking advantage of you will charge like this.
If we as consumers don't buy from these people? They will lower their prices. And if the "market price" lowers, then that's what everyone will charge. Just because people like queencoc are getting away with it, others think they can rip you off too.
You don't have to let them. There are other, just as easy ways to buy these goods without half of your money going to the seller. How do you feel knowing that for the price you paid for that uchiwa, you could have gotten two somewhere else?
Well, she's at it again, and this time she claims to have "lowered" her prices. Which is all well and good, except the markups are STILL OBSCENE. Her sales post is here. Her name? queencoc .
I've got three pieces of data here: the original cost of the goods in Japanese Yen and USD, then her price, then the profit and markup percentage. I understand that most sellers charge a service fee for having to go stand in line at the goods tables. Perfectly reasonable. But a professional shopping service will charge you flat rate fees (like i-TM4U). queencoc just seems to charge whatever the hell she wants. A store will sell items with a markup of between 10%-30%, although 30% is considered high. Her lowest markup is 64%. That's more than DOUBLE the "high" end of the scale.
EDIT: I forgot to mention these are all the prices BEFORE shipping from Japan is added. So it's not like part of this is going towards EMS or anything.
Here are the numbers.
Item and Original Pricequeencoc ’s PriceProfit and MarkupPamphlet ¥2,000/$19.00$33.50$14.50 profit, 76.3% markupUchiwa ¥500/$4.75$15.00$10.25 profit, 215% markupPoster ¥800/$7.60$18.00$10.40 profit, 136% markupClear File ¥500/$4.75$13.50$8.75 profit, 184% markupT-shirt ¥2,500/$23.75$39.00$15.25 profit, 64% markupTote bag ¥800/$7.60$15.80$8.20 profit, 107% markupCaterpillar strap ¥1,200/$11.40$23.20$11.80 profit, 103% markupPlate strap ¥1,200/$11.40$23.20$11.80 profit, 103% markupChopsticks ¥1,500/$14.25$24.20$9.95 profit, 70% markupVinyl Pouch ¥700/$6.65$14.20$7.55 profit, 113% markupPenlight ¥1,300/$12.35$24.20$11.85 profit, 96% markup
Live Photoset (6 per set) ¥600/$5.70$12.60$6.90 profit, 121% markupMember Photoset (4 per set) ¥600/$5.70$12.60$6.90 profit, 121% markupGroup Photoset (2 per set) ¥300/$2.85$7.50$4.65 profit, 163% markup
As you can see, she's pretty much ripping everyone off something BIG. I really would like to post this to the main Arashi comms so people will STOP BUYING FROM HER, because dude. Shopping services are not only easy to use, but they don't rip you off. But I don't want to get wanked, either. And she is a WANKY one. Thoughts?
EDIT: More math. (My mother would be proud.)
The total of all the orders in the comments so far: $1705.15
Total of the same orders WITHOUT the markups: $891.10
queencoc 's Profit: $814.05
Here's my point. No one should charge this much. "Other sellers charge the same" isn't a good excuse, because THEY ARE SETTING A PRECEDENT. This should not be the norm. Don't allow people to overcharge you just because "everyone charges that."
Not everyone does. Only people who are taking advantage of you will charge like this.
If we as consumers don't buy from these people? They will lower their prices. And if the "market price" lowers, then that's what everyone will charge. Just because people like queencoc are getting away with it, others think they can rip you off too.
You don't have to let them. There are other, just as easy ways to buy these goods without half of your money going to the seller. How do you feel knowing that for the price you paid for that uchiwa, you could have gotten two somewhere else?