Price Increase in Malaysia

[wally]

I'm not sure if all area are affected by the price increase of Pokemon TCG product but the local shop at my country [Malaysia] just confirmed the rumours going around here. TCG price in Malaysia is set by Singapore price with the currency value of Malaysia and Singapore is different even a slight increase in Singapore price will effect Malaysia more.. But the problem is.. a Booster Pack at Malaysia will cost 41.7% out of it's original price going from RM12 to RM17 to and this is really a not good sign to player buying booster. This will effect the tournament price especially pre-release. A theme deck had it price increase from RM50 to RM55 (10%) while a 3 Packs Blister increase by 31.5% (RM38-RM50)

The increase of pokemon card price will drop it's popularity more mainly due to how fast the cards value falls due to new card and mainly the rotation. I fear pokemon will soon be less playable due to this sudden price hike. As a collector I can't even imagine the price of future SR cards.

For your information 1USD is Roughly RM3.20

What is your opinion on this matter?

 

[PokemonTrader]

My opinion is that it probably has something to do with the actual distribution of the cards itself and they need to compensate for the shipping to Malaysia?

 

[King Piplup]

I'm jealous of the RM12 price you did have. That's a good ~$0.50 discount on what packs cost around here.

That's definitely quite a nasty hike though.

 

[rileysill32]

Before we go blasting the pricing, be sure to do economic research on import taxation as well as other political research. Nine out of 10 times, price increase almost never has anything to do with the companies that produce goods and services, it's almost always some sort of legislature or something to do with the price of oil. I would suggest researching where malaysia get's a majority of it's oil, and if it comes from anywhere near the middle east. You will have your answer. LOL.

 

[wally]

If the price is effect by those taxation and such.. The hike for price per booster is too much. Usually what is see for other type of products, any changes in economy does not increase the price of per item to 40%. Considering most of the card obtain from current set are quite low in term of price if you want to sell them by pieces and the randomness of the box content. buying the whole box might not even compensate a bit of the cost if you were to sell all cards from that box

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I'm jealous of the RM12 price you did have. That's a good ~$0.50 discount on what packs cost around here.

That's definitely quite a nasty hike though.

That shop is taking the lowest profit margin from a booster. Other shop are selling RM14-RM17 at normal rate. I'm pretty sure those other shop wouldn't reduce their profit margin

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I'm jealous of the RM12 price you did have. That's a good ~$0.50 discount on what packs cost around here.

That's definitely quite a nasty hike though.

That shop is taking the lowest profit margin from a booster. Other shop are selling RM14-RM17 at normal rate. I'm pretty sure those other shop wouldn't reduce their profit margin

 

[Otaku]

Before we go blasting the pricing, be sure to do economic research on import taxation as well as other political research. Nine out of 10 times, price increase almost never has anything to do with the companies that produce goods and services, it's almost always some sort of legislature or something to do with the price of oil. I would suggest researching where malaysia get's a majority of it's oil, and if it comes from anywhere near the middle east. You will have your answer. LOL.

One may also want to consider what the mean, median, and mode disposable income levels are in Malaysia. I don't have that information handy, but a quick Google search turns up a GDP per capita for Malaysia of about $10.5 k, compared to the U.S.A. clocking in at about 50 k. Without knowing cost of living expenses and comparable goods and services, it is hard to get an accurate picture of whether or not the boosters are more or less expensive relative to what people actually have to spend.

Otherwise good points; the price hike is otherwise most likely due to government policy or tied into oil prices (fuel for transport, or if any petroleum products are involved in the manufacture of the cards).

 

[wally]

One may also want to consider what the mean, median, and mode disposable income levels are in Malaysia. I don't have that information handy, but a quick Google search turns up a GDP per capita for Malaysia of about $10.5 k, compared to the U.S.A. clocking in at about 50 k. Without knowing cost of living expenses and comparable goods and services, it is hard to get an accurate picture of whether or not the boosters are more or less expensive relative to what people actually have to spend.

Otherwise good points; the price hike is otherwise most likely due to government policy or tied into oil prices (fuel for transport, or if any petroleum products are involved in the manufacture of the cards).

Basicly the game card is consider a luxury already as it is. Not many people can afford to play this game anymore compare to the old time. Especially with the low probability of getting good cards from booster falling down

 

[Tylertyphlosion]

Buy singles.
17171717

 

[wally]

Buy singles.
17171717

That would result in more expensive cards.

 

[Tylertyphlosion]

How in the world would that result in more expensive cards?

 

[Otaku]

How in the world would that result in more expensive cards?

Why wouldn't buying "singles" be more expensive? We aren't just talking about buying that one rare card you need for your deck, but the entirety of your deck (at least in some cases). Granted, I am assuming that players can't order singles from another region to use.