The shelf price of any particular kit is almost entirely dependant of the wholesaler with rights to the country you are in.

eg, in the UK, Trumpeter used to be really cheap, but now the new Fennek is near as dammit same price as anything from AFV Club or Tamiya.

Or why is the HobbyBoss GTK Boxer twice the price of the Revell Boxer?

Or why is it cheaper to buy an Airfix kit from HongKong than from the toyshop?

Or why is it cheaper to buy CMK (czechoslovakia?) from Australia even with shipping, than in the UK?

I was at a recent show.One vendor had the Tamiya Mark IV for $107 on the other side of the room, another guy had it for $70 and he sold it to me for $65.The same room - go figure.

Volume.  Online retailers have taken over the trade once filled by local shops.  They have warehouses of inventory that they ship all over the world.  This gives them leverage when negotiating prices with manufacturers.  I suspect that a number of online hobby sites are probably owned by holding companies that own many other sites giving them additional buying power.

That guy at the show was probably sitting on that kit for years.  You just happen to be the lucky guy walking by at the moment he got sick of looking at it.

I'm rarely "that" guy.

And in some cases it's just whacky... the new Tamiya 1/35th JGSDF Type 10 MBT:

Sprue Brothers: $62.49

Squadron: $74.10

HobbyLink Japan: $34.08

And on some other things HLJ is higher- yes it does pay to shop around.

CN Spots

Volume.  Online retailers have taken over the trade once filled by local shops.  They have warehouses of inventory that they ship all over the world.  This gives them leverage when negotiating prices with manufacturers.  I suspect that a number of online hobby sites are probably owned by holding companies that own many other sites giving them additional buying power.

That guy at the show was probably sitting on that kit for years.  You just happen to be the lucky guy walking by at the moment he got sick of looking at it.

I'm rarely "that" guy.

 

I don't think so,the kit just came out this year.

The sellers have got to make $ off model products.Local shops,retailers,and vendors.Even on Ebay and other internet sites.Example::The Monogram SU-25 Frogfoot now is listed 50$ on to 100$..It's rarity is what makes $.I my self have collected many kits throughout the years.I have at least 150,000$ worth of good and rare kits.But it took lots of work and space to achieve this.Kits will cost and if going to 32nd scale , you will enter the world of $$.

Aussie modeller

I am going to purchase it online from a hobby shop in Melbourne who sell it for $100 cheaper.

You might want to check out Frontline Hobbies in Newcastle too. Listed at $119.00 (excl. shipping)

The problem in Australia is the miniscule size of the market. The number of specialist hobby shops is already small and dwindling rapidly. We just don't have the volume required for the local distributors to get decent discount breaks.

I will genrally shop around myself (to include ebay).  I've found that I can often get a kit much cheaper on ebay than anywhere else if I am patient.  I'll just set my max bid slightly below the price to purchase a new one (make sure you watch the shipping costs though).  That said, I will still grab a kit if I have a coupon (Michael's/Hobby Lobby), but almost all of my purchases come from online sources when the purchase +shipping price is less than what I would pay in-store.  

I get pretty much all of my AM stuff online as well (stores just don't usually have the resin, PE, and decals in quantities large enough to have what I'm looking for.

That said, I do buy almost all of my paints, glues, styrene, etc. in-store.  These are things I am rarely willing to wait for, and the prices are so close it doesn't really matter.

Groot

I understand.Well, your best bet is to go to your nationals around your area of the country and shop at the Vendors.If you ever take a trip to England , you will find good deals and get rare kits at their nationals.Good prices.

RobGroot4

I will genrally shop around myself (to include ebay).  I've found that I can often get a kit much cheaper on ebay than anywhere else if I am patient.  

Ditto.......and I could care less if the kit has been opened either.  I've had good luck with Ebay so far.

Joe

I had one instance where someone advertised a model as all pieces present when some ordnance was missing.  It was a bit annoying considering the instructions have the sprue layouts so one could check.  I"ve made it a practice to very carefully check any kit I get from ebay that isn't wrapped in celophane when I receive it.  Most folks are pretty good if there's any issue though.

 

 

Groot

I happen to have some old model mags from my youth, when I was first starting modeling.  I compared prices then, and used inflation tables to look at prices today.  For the most part, the range of prices today do seem to be mostly inflation.  There are some outliers, of course,as there have always been.  Some kits are, and always have been, overpriced.

One thing, though, that makes me feel better about prices.  When I remember how primitive the early kits were, and the fantastic parts count and detail of today's kits, we get a lot now for our money.  Of course, I started before plastic, with wood kits, where you got a box full of roughly cut balsa or basswood parts, and some die cast pot metal details.  But even the first plastic kits were primitive.  The Testors racing planes, 1:48 scale. were the first plastic kits I built. If you want to see what plastic kits of 1950 were like, buy and build one of those.  And, by the way, the pricing of those about at inflation.

It is a bit baffling. Supply and demand does play a good part. We need more modellers!

You can get a really nicely engineered Revell 109 or spit for $25, while a Tamiya Spit is well over $100. Yes, Tamiya is pretty much elite, but .... such a difference! I suppose a lot of has to do with tariffs, supply, etc.

I shop around considerably before buying and yes, sometimes the prices are "all over the place".

After seeing a closeby LHS close a year or so ago, I decided I'd fall on the sword and buy from the remaining one more, though it's downtown and I know the kits are more expensive. It's nice to have them there and to be able to get paints, etc. 'today'. If more did that, then maybe the prices would go down a bit?..another topic however.

I usually try and wait till someone like Squadron has a good sale going on. As much as I wanted the Trumpeter A-6 when it came out, I was patient and eventually pick one up for nearly half the MFG price. And now it is collecting dust with the rest of the stash.

I think these guys buy up old stashess then turn around and up the price ..i know this cuss i bot my colletion at good pricess ...then these so called venders buy them up for the frachion of what u payed ...i payed $30buck for a1/32 hasgawa p-51 then turned it around $60..these guys are ripoffs ...my intire stash was whorth over 400 i mean over 60kits i was forced to sell for $180 ...never again will i trust these guys ....p.s ever go to ur l.h.shop and see kit not factorey sealed ...that someones old kit that he bot for next to nothing ..and now wants u to pay 87bucks ...thats why there so pricey ...just one big ripoff ...thats my two sents and change

Here's my 2 cents...I found a kit on Ebay that i built as a child and it cost about $8.00 then.  it was a lot of soda bottles collected and cashed in but I did it.  The one on Ebay would have taken a wharehouse full of soda bottles  as it sold for $299.00.  That's just nuts !  BTW it was Monogram's "Air Power" consisting of 14 1/200 scale jets on a display stand.  Very cool but at $ 299.00 much too cool for me.

for that price you can get one that flies!