I don't have a problem with Trebleshot or Jmacq. I just didn't believe he really thought Hasbro doesn't give a crap about the secondary market.

This is a touchy subject.

I don't think they care as much as some other toy companies. The fact they have started rereleasing older MU's is an indicator of that.

Actually no, the secondary market doesn't "intensify consumer interest" in the brand, because the secondary market is fueled almost purely by collectors who are already interested in the brand/product being resold.

To put it another way: If the interest was not already there, they wouldn't be looking on the secondary market for product in the first place. No "new" interest is being generated by the secondary market.

I take that back. The only interest that might get "intensified" by the secondary market is the interest of other scalpers/resellers when they see which figures are commanding higher prices and start hunting for them themselves. It's a vicious circle.

Alright, we don't even have to bring broad sales and marketing principles into this. I'll keep it personal: the whole reason I went back and bought the Odin figure with gold details was because somebody on here told me it was selling for alot on Ebay. And it wasn't even because I wanted to sell it (and I didn't). This Fall when I stand before the new Thundercats figures, I will be significantly more likely to buy them if I know they are quickly disappearing from shelves. I'm a collector and I'm always interested in highly sought after figures. And I'm not alone. Collectors are a vital part of the modern toy business, whether they make up the bulk of sales or not.

Hasbro cares about the secondary market. That after market buzz feeds future sales whether or not you think it makes a sizable impact on their bottom line.

But I did not mean to derail the conversation. I leave it alone now.

Treble does rule, but I see what Saint is saying about consumer interest, even if it makes no difference to Hasbro what we do after the (initial retail purchase) fact.

I dount they acre what they go for after the initial sale exactly but certainly someone is watching to see what figures are hot- the revision cases are full of variant Warpaths nad visions in response to demand- and by making them variants, they did not screw the value of the original versions.
That cant have been by chance.

Certainly someone is watching what is sought after- why else ask fans any questions about anything at all?
Most companies just put out their product and cancel lines that dont perform- I'd bet no one is asking questions over at the DCUniverse line- those figs suck badly and they could have been fantastic...

Yeah those DC figs suck!

Well consumer interest in the secondary market matters and doesn't matter at the same time.

They don't probably care about the sales data, but if it shows a large consumer interest in the figures being released again, they will probably repack them into later waves like they did recently with the revision waves that had the variants.

So it's not really that they care about the secondary market so much as they pay attention to the demand for certain figures they've released, because that means they are pretty much guaranteed to fly off shelves.

This.

And if anyone would care to read back through my previous posts, I did allow for the possibility that Hasbro would watch the secondary market as part of their R&D/marketing process.

Sounds good to me.

...what were we talking about again? ;)