Shrieving.......but the sins are small to moderate

Ardius said:
Well, thats likely because of exchange rates, last I remember, the dollar is pretty weak now. I dont know what it is compared to yen.
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Exchange rates might have some influence.  The dollar is weak right now.....assuming that the Merchandise is bought in pounds sterling, then the dollar is at 1.96 to the pound and the yen at 210.  The yen has strengthened slightly over the last few months, but is still, relative to the pound, historically weak....it had been trading constantly at around 180 up until about 2 years ago.....this from a high of around 140 reached about 14 years ago.  Last year it was hovering at around 240.

So 5000 yen in Japan gives us a sterling price of 23.8, and $35 calculates to 17.85.  Which works out to that same 25% price difference.  Even if the prices were calculated at the old 240 rate (assuming the merchandisers were ahead of the game and working out prices months in advance...an unlikely scenario) that would still give us a higher price in Japan of 20.8 sterling....about 16% higher than the US price.  The Maiden Merchandisers obviously feel the Japanese market can bear the higher price....Are Japanese Maiden fans less price sensitive?  There are certainly no hawkers outside the venues for fans to turn to.  If Onhell is right then Maiden will be denying themselves Merchandise profits by not reducing the price in markets where a $35 price tag is too high.  The T-shirts are of very high quality but I'm not at all sure that they cost more than $10 per unit to produce and ship........of course I might be wrong.  Anyone with fashion industry experience out there?
 
I'm not sure if this is of any help to the discussion but I remembered reading something about merch in one of Rod's old diaries, and so I just went and found the quote from his Tokyo diary in 2006:

"I went out and checked merch – again it is all produced here as you can’t ship in, as taxes are prohibitive. I always check the quality and all was fine."

Does that go for all countries or just Japan I wonder?  So maybe that explains some of the cost as they can't just ship in stocks from their main supply, but must produce the merch over here.
 
I've checked the labels on the T-shirt I bought at the Yokohama concert.  The label doesn't have any 'Made in....' information, but the label is 100% English language, which points away from Japanese production, and the company name is 'Shoot' described on the label as 'America's Favorite'.

Regarding the diary entry from Rod in 2006.....as Japan is a member of the WTO I can't see them being allowed to have punitive import taxes against products from other member nations....though I do recognise that garment industries in some countries are subject to agreed quotas and the like....its a quagmire.....but bearing in mind that its very difficult to buy clothing not 'Made in China' in the region of Japan where I live......the idea of taxes making imports prohibitive seems weak today (unless of course the initial production cost was already ridiculously high).....though 2 years ago who knows.

My god....We started with the high price of DVDs and T-shirts and gone on to the WTO!!!  What political heights will this thread not reach?

If it is import taxes that push up the price of the Japanese shirts then at least we know where the extra 25% goes.....to the Japanese construction industry.  Maybe the next time they build a new road here in Japan they could call it the 'Iron Maiden Highway to Hell'....or some such....in honour of the not inconsiderable input to the Japanese economy made by the boys.
 
The price difference is huge from country-to-country.  I got the Mexico-specific shirt last night, and it was $200 pesos (less than $20 US).  The other shirts were $250 (less than $25), and the hats were $160 (less than $16).
 
So it would seem that the prices are set to what the local market will bear.  It's only fair that Mexico should be cheaper than elsewhere, but the pricing for Japan still seems a little steep.  Maybe Rod had really done his homework, realised that the fan demographics in Japan pointed towards a more mature (in terms of age not necessarily character) fan-base and decided that Japan could stand the 25% premium.  Another drawback for Japans aging society........do I get no breaks?
 
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