AMT Parts Pack prices

[Ben]

I was looking at the AMT Parts Pack that has the gasser wheels and tires. From everything I have seen, it usually retails for about 15.00! Really?? I figure the wheels and tires are about 1/5 of the whole kit. The whole kit nowadays usually retails for about 22.00. Shouldn't those Parts Packs be about 8.00 ???(throwing in a couple bucks for the little box they come in)

I guess they are taking hints from all these sellers on Ebay that break up kits and sell 1/20 of the kit for the price of the entire kit.

[Greg Myers]

I've always felt the same way on that particular parts pack kit, thus, I have none.

[randx0]

I also feel they are just a little over priced , if they were closer to $10.00 I'd have more of them .

[turbo nova]

the local shop seems to think the reissues are worth what originals where before the reissue. they move ZERO product, sad thing is I buy 2 kits a week minimum but havent purchased from them in years. I fully understand making a profit but try'n to fleece the customer isnt smart IMO

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I saw someone that had the Monogram Ford Dually and he broke it up like that, except he had each part at $30 a pop! $30 for two tail lights, $30 for the grille... Wow.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

the local shop seems to think the reissues are worth what originals where before the reissue. they move ZERO product, sad thing is I buy 2 kits a week minimum but havent purchased from them in years. I fully understand making a profit but try'n to fleece the customer isnt smart IMO

I wasn't impressed with my AMT kit I got last. From what I heard on here, it was a kit with excessive flash, which happens with every few out of a hundred, but, needless to say, I won't be getting another AMT kit unless it's really really good.

[turbo nova]

I have a couple, I wouldnt call any of them clean but I knew that going in

[Chuck Most]

If I recall, the Dragmaster slicks were about eight bucks- at least that's roughly what I paid when they came out. The Polyglas GT set is about double that. They don't seem to be moving as fast as the slicks did, but there must be interest. Inventory is down at both the shops I go to.

[AC Norton]

I too, feel they are very pricey...yet I envy you guys, in the U.S., as our shops have them priced at 19.99 to 21.99 here in Canada. all our hobby items are more here, but as for these tire and parts packs, there is no line up at our shops to buy them, I assure you. as another member stated , the tire packs were 8.99 to 9.99 when first around, a couple of years back. I think Round2 feels that all their product fills a specialty market, so reflect that with your price point. could be difficult in this day and age if the prices in general keep climbing. I just yesterday visited a shop about 30 miles from here that I have not been in for about 5 years or so. most all his AMT cars were on at 40% off, so I took advantage and blew 250 bucks. however, all those parts packs up at the checkout area were just collecting dust....the ace...

[Howard Cohen]

I have a small business and I have sold a few sets of the AMT Tire Packs at shows and to dealers. They are not a fast mover but they do sell. I think the high cost is due to the packaging and getting the tires made special. Getting parts made one at a time will always cost more and that reflects in the retail price. I often have people asking me about a set of wheels and tires from a certain kit but to break up a kit is not feasible. I have been to shows and seen vendors selling wheel and tire sets at $15-$20 each and they sell a lot of them, both plastic and resin, so there is a market for them.

[southpier]

I paid $3.199 per gallon for gas yesterday and thought I was getting a bargain

[Tom Geiger]

I love these threads where people arbitrarily access value without any concrete information. The price of any product is based on the cost of producing the product, packaging, labor to package, shipping cases, shipping (at least 3 different trips!) and all the handling through the wholesalers (labor, facility and profit) who eventually get that product onto the shelf of your local hobby shop. Add in royalties to the tire manufacturers. I'd suspect that the cost of everything I've listed beyond the cost of producing the tire, is much more than the cost of that tire! It's the same principle that the can cost more than the Coke inside it. And there's a big difference in the cost of throwing these tires in a kit, and offering them as a separate product.

The guys at Round 2 are pretty savvy marketing guys. They assessed market need for this type of product, estimated the quantity the market can absorb based on the sales record of their other products, and brought the idea to reality. They no doubt know to the fraction of a cent what each and every cost associated with this product is, and have priced the product to their best estimate... that rather fragile balance of the price the market will bear VS the cost of providing this product. They haven't over priced these because they think we're all idiots. They sincerely want to provide cool product to our market. And most important, they have invested their money in the belief that they can sell this product. The price represents the real costs of getting that product from rubber pellets in China to your work bench. Certainly they cost more than a dollar a set. Nothing cost a dollar today.

The sad part is that a big part of their decision to offer these wheel sets is that we, as a consumer group, liked them in the kits and campaigned to get them separate! And if we don't respond by buying them, well there won't be any more products like this in the future!

Edited December 17, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[Harry P.]

The price represents the real costs of getting that product from rubber pellets in China to your work bench.

Aren't they vinyl?

[LDO]

Thank you Tom G. I'm a plumber and boy do I get tired of people comparing the price of my work to buying the part at Lowes.

[Greg Myers]

DIY rule # 1 when doing plumbing work allow at least three trips to the store to get the right part,ask for "expert" advise, the missing part, the part you really needed, more "expert" advise . . .

[935k3]

Hobby Lobby does sell some of them for about $8.00 before coupon.

[Deano]

Aren't they vinyl?

That's a fairly pedantic point, Harry. Rubber, vinyl, bird droppings, what ever; the price reflects the cost of getting it from that raw material to the finished product on your workbench

[turbo nova]

not really, yes it,s a factor but production, lic, transport, and marketing costs dont set the price. Yes they control the profit threshold but the fact remains if they could make em for $2 and folks would buy all of them they could make for $400, no business is going to price them at $3 the notion that manufacturing cost set market price isnt accurate, never has been and wasnt wide spread until gas price's went nut's.

[Tom Geiger]

not really, yes it,s a factor but production, lic, transport, and marketing costs dont set the price. Yes they control the profit threshold but the fact remains if they could make em for $2 and folks would buy all of them they could make for $400, no business is going to price them at $3 the notion that manufacturing cost set market price isnt accurate, never has been and wasnt wide spread until gas price's went nut's.

You have no point. There is no situation with a $2 cost and a $400 price. Fantasy. I had said:

"and have priced the product to their best estimate... that rather fragile balance of the price the market will bear VS the cost of providing this product."

[Harry P.]

That's a fairly pedantic point, Harry. Rubber, vinyl, bird droppings, what ever; the price reflects the cost of getting it from that raw material to the finished product on your workbench

Real rubber tires look a lot different (more realistic) than most vinyl tires.

[LDO]

All of this is why I think parts pack are a dumb idea, along with lobbying a model company to offer a kit of the 1975 pile of junk 4-door that you drove to high school. Worse yet- someone who encourages other people to write and ask for a model of that 1975 POS.

[Greg Myers]

Finally, someone with the proverbial "lick o' sense." Lee you've summed up the bane of message boards across the interweb.

[Harry P.]

All of this is why I think parts pack are a dumb idea...

AMT doesn't think so.

[Greg Myers]

I was looking at the AMT Parts Pack that has the gasser wheels and tires. From everything I have seen, it usually retails for about 15.00! Really?? I figure the wheels and tires are about 1/5 of the whole kit. The whole kit nowadays usually retails for about 22.00. Shouldn't those Parts Packs be about 8.00 ???(throwing in a couple bucks for the little box they come in)

I guess they are taking hints from all these sellers on Ebay that break up kits and sell 1/20 of the kit for the price of the entire kit.

Some of us do.

[jbwelda]

the thing is, at least to me, they were fairly priced when it was about 8 - 10$ for a box of multiple, well detailed and printed, tires. even though it seemed to me the tires were immediately included in kits that were subsequently announced and released and therefore not really very "exclusive" to the parts pack.

I didn't pay attention to those wide oval whatevers because I don't build disco queens so I might have missed the price hike.

but this (one of) latest number with the one set of wheels and one set of tires for like 18$ is ridiculous. you can say this and that about marketing packaging distribution, but the on the face of it fact is (or should be): no one is going to pay twenty bucks for that package when you can basically buy an entire kit including probably exactly those wheels and tires for pretty much that same price.

I knew from the time this one was announced that I would not be partaking and would be willing to wager that they aren't gonna sell, at least not more than one set per person. they just aren't that great nor even a great deal.

parts packs like these have to be priced appropriately. and one unfortunate side effect of this mispricing might be the "industry" thinking parts packs aren't saleable to the model buying public, when the actual message should be: get your imagination to work and offer something that is both unique and at least fairly cost effective for the consumer. a good way to make that last goal is to remember: more is better even if the "more" is more tires or something relatively costless like that (costless because at point of manufacture it probably costs the same to make 2000 vs 1000 of something).

jb