Strange, seeing as you are in Ottawa. Everything here is Bi-Lingual. Seeing pure english is a treat and always seems like a "mistake". I remember a few years ago when the MU Colossus wave was new. My local Walmart got them in all in American packaging obviously a mistake because the wave was just spotted in the states. It DOES take longer for us to get Bi-lingual packaging and it does cost more, not pennies.

it costs us more but is doesn't cost Hasbro or whoever more. Like I said it's pennies per item if anything. MU usually has the multilingual cards but I've seen plenty of figures and other toys that are only English. Even common items at Walmart and stuff don't have French. Quebec is really the only reason they do that stuff and that is typically what they ship to all of Canada so that it's one shipment. Collectors in Quebec complain about not being able to get some items because they weren't made with French but then I hear about things like MU sentinels showing up with English only packaging. The whole thing is a mess.

Again... must be nice in Ottawa because EVERYTHING here has french on it and we aren't even BESIDE Quebec. And AGAIN, it is not pennies because if there is French on it, it has at least 2 more languages on it then they have to make new boxes with these languages and WE end up paying for it. There is a lot more than just smacking on a language to a card. They have to pay professionals to translate it properly and so on. So maybe "pennies" to make the actual card, but more so to pay everyone who designs, translates, and so on.

Just read this, there is a lot more that goes into adding languages to cards: Multilingual packaging - Transformers Wiki

Man if I was in Canada I would get a friend in the US to ship it to me US-Canada shipping has cost me less then shipping from US state to state

It costs 7.88 CAD to ship airmail to the states, which is the cheapest method Canada Post gives us.

yes but USPS costs (Last time I did it) less then $5

I think it's changed, closer to on part what Canada Post is charging. I got a MOC Gi Joe and 2 loose Joes and it cost 8.05USD to ship it.

I checked before I posted it's based on ounces I don't know if Canada charges you Import tax.

The real reason stuff costs more up here is because that is what people pay for it because the Canadian dollar used to be worth more. As a business I know that Canadians are used to paying $1.30 for something that is $.99 across the border so why I would change my price as long as sales continue? A higher average minimum wage also dives up costs for retail, fast food, and other products that rely on entry level workers. Even import costs aren't a big factor on most items as very little even comes directly from the US.


The cost of having someone translate what ammounts to a few paragraphs at most is nothing compared to what it costs to do an actual run of products. Let's say you had to pay someone $1,000 to translate something (which is far beyond any actual rates) and then you make 10,000 units or something. That is $.10 a piece and even that scenario is unrealistically high. They likely have a firm that they contract out to translate all their stuff and the cost spread out over all the product lines is likely very low little considering we are talking about millions of units. The extra language on it is nothing. Heck, you see Spanish every now and then on items in the US. What would cost more is if they it had a voice chip or something and they had to put in a French option. With low dollar amount stuff every penny counts so a total increase of like $.20 per unit would be significant but it is still pennies and that increase gets passed on to us in dollars since retailers like numbers that end in .99 for some reason.


I used run a small production facility. We are talking like 10 employees and orders in the hundreds instead of the multi-thousands. Even though the product boxes were rather large it never cost me any more to change details on the packaging when I wanted to add or change something. It would cost more if I had them do a run and then wanted it changed after the fact and wasn't going to use what they made. Places charge a rate depending on the dimensions, colors, text, etc of what you want made. If it really cost a lot more on something like MU then they wouldn't be $10.99 to the US $9.99. Plus TRU up here is always having that 25%-30% off sale so I assume their margin is at least 40%. I'd guess they pay between $5-$6 per figure. The only reason it would be likely to cost a company a little more is if they wanted to do the multiligual run after all the English units were completed and they were ordering a much smaller run. Look at the latest Rhino wave. We got that up right when everyone else did.

Here, I found an article on it that is better than anything I can say.

'Country pricing' a cause of Canada-U.S. price gaps - Canada - CBC News

Thanks for the link Iceguy, was a good read and made blood boil haha. I guess we can conclude that Canada pays more because it's Canada. We can use any excuse we want I guess now, 90% of them are lies anyways.

That's why I try to never complain about toy prices here, since I know it's far worse outside of the US. Except for TRU. Their prices usually suck compared to other retails in the same city.

DCUC-style figures are ridiculous there. Last I looked, they were pushing $25 each.

No, it is not a bait-and-switch. Had the sub for DCUC succeeded, Mattel would have offered them right along with MOTUC figures. You were made fully aware of the conditions regarding the production and availability of the merchandise. Mattel did not advertise that the product was available, only to tell you afterward that it was not. There was no attempt to deceive on Mattel's and therefore no evidence of fraud.

Case dismissed. :p

No, that would just be fraud. Bait-and-switch is done before any money changes hands.

I will say that I fully expect mattel to switch Batzarro for Ice shes very Highly demanded and I only have seen 1 person say they want Batzarro. I'm sure if Mattel polled the collectors they would see Ice over Batzarro

THey won't. The sub line up was set in 2 years ago, remember?

I don't remember that. How can you set up for something you don't know is going to happen?

I am waiting to hear if they go ahead and make the DC figures they announced , but at a higher cost. I will be pissed if I don't get T-shirt Superboy and more importantly ICE!! I will get any other they can make like 90's Aquaman and Damian, but I will easily pay 40$ for Bound Doomsday and 50$ for Unleashed Doomsday. Hell I payed 75$ for the DC Direct Arkham Grundy, so bring me DOOMSDAY!!

But...Bait-and-Switch IS fraud. But I see where you are coming from.

It'll become Bait and switch if they produce them and sell them but only to those who took the MOTU offer those of us who didn't take the offer will have a different fight if they sell out. And believe me they will get a ton of Emails demanding their figures

I would expect that they might go as High as $25 per figure which is what the SHAZAM figure sold for and Doomsday will slip into the Comic Con Exclusive. Still doesn't matter to me if they release them I will pay whatever the price for all of them.

Both of these reveal how poorly Mattel planned ahead

Bbts
 

If anybody is interested...

On BBTS right now:


Batman: Arkham Asylum Series 01 & 02 - Set of 5 includes the following figures:

1x Poison Ivy

1x Harley Quinn

1x Joker

1x Scarecrow

1x Armored Batman

Our Price: $99.99

Yeah, it is what it is. Here in Canada things should level out but the probably never will. At least we aren't somewhere like Europe where MU or Star Wars figures are $20 or more if you can find it at all and stuff like DCUC is well over $30.

Well Scott claims they have to have the figures for a sub planned and tool'd two years in advance in order to ensure they come out mostly on time.

Yeah and The Popes a Muslim, Bears Poop in a swamp. If they actually knew what was coming why the Big Secret and why aren't they prepared for a sub to fail. I don't think they know beyond 4 figures and do not plan the month until 2 months before hand. Other wise they could simply say hypothetically 2014 was Aquaman, Ice, Superboy, Robin, Merlyn, Vixin, Jade, Indigo-1, General Zod, Batwoman, and Dr. Will Magnus with Doomsday Oversized if Scott knew everything then he dropped the ball worse then Mark Sanchez. I really think that Scott Neitlich is not capable of running the DC Line his focus is on the MOTU line and that why he fails the bad part is Mattel/DC contract is going nowhere and they will let him continue to mess this line up, put a store line out for a Month or two then cancel it, or come up some other new plan that he is to stupid to deal with

Well you know, DC is in reboot mode. Mattel is just following suit by rebooting their lines every year.

My life exactly. I'm happy when I find some SW figs in sale for 6 euros (9$)
The cheapest MU figs are in a big comic shop importing them for 20$ a piece.
DCUC are around 30$ ish

I've been 3 times to the USA, and entering in a toy store or a toy aisle of a supermarket is always a double-shock
-first, the joy of finding great figs at cheap price
-then beginning to understand how our wallets are raped in Europe

Well, we have nice chees and wine... :drunk