Squeee!

[bladespark]

The first batch of PYO dragons went up today, and I got one!

Half of them sold within about ten minutes of the auction appearing... I'm betting the rest will be gone within the hour.

Happily there shall be more batches later, but I definnitely needed a blue-eyed one, so I'm very happy to have gotten this guy.

Glee!

Comments

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Nuts... missed them while I was out. Oh well... don't exactly have the money anyway, not after my ki-rin purchase with shipping, exchange, and duty cost me a bloody fortune (considering the size of the item).

I'm thinking I need a Canadian distributor soon... *LOL*

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Windstones are hard to get in Canada, folks on the forum gripe about it all the time.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Heh, tell me about it! ;D I think there's just one retailer selling them in Victoria now. Used to be several places in malls, specialty gift shops and the like that carried them. Sad...

I do encounter the occasional find second-hand at antique shops, but it would indeed appear Canada is exceptionally Windstone-less. Which, frankly, might be a good thing for a few pocketbooks. ;D

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* yeah.... I've spent a lot more on them than I ever have on anything other than fursuit/business stuff, I think.

Apparently years ago there was a single major Canadian distributor that bought Windstones direct in massive lots, and then re-sold them to Canadian dealers, this way shipping all that way was practical, but they went out of business, so now retailers have to get them direct, and many don't know how to, and others aren't willing to go to the extra expense.

I can ask around about places to buy in Canada on-line. I know of one off the top of my head, here: http://dragonmoon.ca/main/fantasy-giftware-windstone-editions-stock-c-24_218.html

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for that. :) Now I know where to go if ever our sole local retailer stops carrying them. The online prices aren't bad either it appears...

I should ask them (and my local seller) actually if they can special order the paint-your-owns. Can't hurt to try anyway. Probably a Windstone-store exclusive though...

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

The problem with stores ordering paint your owns is that Windstone doesn't offer them at a wholesale rate.

When a store buys, say, a fledgeling, it pays generally about half of what it then may sell them for.

But a store would pay the same $35 for a PYO ki-rin that I would. And thus would either have to just make no profit, or raise the price to an unreachable amount.

There is some talk of getting stores to carry PYOs eventually, when they can find an appropriate way to market them (as they're a craft item, really, and should be sold with paint kits, or by craft stores, and not just in kitch shops.) But that's still a long ways down the road, I think.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Ah ok, didn't realise they didn't offer those at wholesale like the rest.

Yeah I wondered if they'd try to market them through craft stores one day. That'd be awesome.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Heh, thinking back to my retail days (over 12 years ago already, cripes), we actually used to charge 2.5 times the US wholesale price as a rule (directly in Canadian dollars, no exchange) to resell American imports... oy that would be one expensive tiny dragon! In fact, the same as I pay to import one from Windstone off eBay these days... ;D

Mind, the exchange rate wasn't anywhere near par back in those days so we had to make profit where we could...

[keplilly.livejournal.com]

Lucky you....I missed them.... :-(