Testing the water - interest in Zoids Wild in the UK?

[Zarwolf]

Hi everyone. This is a testing-the-water type of post to guage the level of interest in the Zoids Wild line from other collectors in the UK. While searching for any means of buying them myself that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, I began to explore the possibility of doing a wholesale order from HLJ. By buying in bulk I could get the models themselves more cheaply, keeping some for myself of course but also having extras to sell to other collectors here in the UK and make some of that money back.

So really I'm just trying to get a sense of whether this is a reasonable plan. How many of you reading this are in the UK, and would potentially be interested in buying these models from me if I were to do this? I can't promise it would be lots cheaper than buying them yourselves from HLJ, ebay sellers in Japan or wherever, as even if I'm buying the kits at a discount, undoubtedly the shipping costs, customs charges etc. will still be pretty expensive. However if I can make that initial outlay and get them here, postage within the UK will obviously be very cheap and fast in comparison.

Let me know what you think - it's not a small effort, I would need to register as a business and a bunch of other issues to be eligible for wholesale purchasing. But if enough people express an interest then I'd be encouraged to go ahead with this plan.

[SteelRain]

I'm not sure this would be a great idea. There would be a huge initial outlay, getting them to the UK would take a considerable amount of time, money, and hassle, and I'm not sure there would be enough UK collectors to make the investment worthwhile. Zoids Wild is already a hot commodity in Japan and the supply issues show no sign of going away, so even getting a wholesale order together could be difficult. And if they don't all sell quickly, storage will probably become an issue. From what I've seen most people are either biting the bullet and ordering direct from Japan or waiting for an international release.

[Zarwolf]

OK thanks for the advice - in a way the other reason for the post was was for somebody with more experience in this area to say "that won't work because...". So yes maybe it's too much hassle. Though storage shouldn't be an issue as such, wholesale doesn't mean a massive order necessarily, we're talking about a number of kits that would comfortably fit in my attic. But then, it only really works if the interest is there, and I figured most of the people likely to want to buy would be reading this, and since it hasn't generated any other responses yet then that's probably a sign that it isn't worth it...

[Hanyoutai]

Gotta agree, most people will just go straight to the sources: AmiAmi or HLJ to pick up the items as soon as they're released. If you wanted to try this I'd recommend buying a small (affordable) batch, and then just listing them up on Ebay UK or whatever equivalent sites you use, and see if they sell. It'd reach more people than advertising on this forum, and people are usually more tempted to buy from locations closest to them. Try a bigger batch depending on success.

This would both advertise specifically to people who are looking to purchase the item from the UK, and those who are in the market right then to get the item. I've seen a lot of group orders turn south because the middle man gets everything organized, then people pop up and say "nevermind I don't want to wait, I'll just buy it myself." You can avoid some issues by taking payment first, but it might be harder to convince people to "pre order" through a third party instead of a large site.

[Zarwolf]

Oh yes, listing on ebay was definitely my plan, if nothing else because I need to show I have a "shop" of some description to qualify for wholesale, and apparently an ebay store page counts. I'm not trying to advertise through the forum or get any kind of group purchase together, just get a sense of whether there are enough other local fans to make the idea worth it.