Buying merchandise from second hand sellers on amazon

dasia

Hello everyone,

I've just recently decided to start buying the dvds / tankobons of One piece because well I want Oda to make money ha , contribute to increasing one piece's popularity through sales ect . BUT help me out here please ,on amazon you have : the Amazon 'price', then the two options of 'new' or 'used' sellers. Im often tempted to buy from the 'new' sellers because their prices are cheaper than Amazon's. But if I buy from them will some of my payment still go to funimation prod /Oda at all? or do I have to buy the product from amazon itself for it to be an official selling and the money to reach Japan ?

am not good at business,thank u for your time :)

ps:title of the thread says second hand but I mean amazon's 'new' sellers. Dnt know if they are counted as 2nd hand or not,sorry for the confusion

m00n

Ok from what I've read on this board so far, Oda gets a fraction of the price for every Tankōbon sold in Japan (Shueisha). This was Gregs argument when he tried to convince people to buy Japanese tanks even if they can't understand them. That would suggest that Oda gets no fraction of the price of a Volumes sold in another language (ie. Viz). Same, I believe, goes for all DVDs no matter where they hail from be it Toei or Funimation.

So you want your money to reach Japan/Oda you have to buy new tanks from Japan. Who sells it, Amazon or some other trader merely using Amazon as a trading platform doesn't matter. If you buy DVDs or translated volumes by your local companies the money will go to them. There is a chance that a little bit of it reaches Japan if said item was successful enough to encourage the local company to license more products from the same franchise.

Remember I'm no marketing expert and neither is Greg, so this might be right or wrong.

dasia

Hey Moon thank you for the reply I understand. I think for now I'll stick to the translated dvds and tanks from funimation and Viz. even if the money may not reach Oda at least these are official parties so buying their products will keep them releasing and I hope increase Op's popularity in the west. Is it safe to assume assume that if I buy translated dvds,tanks from those 'new' sellers on amazon some of the payment they get will go to Amazon,which will then give some to funimation or viz ? or are the 'new' sellers private ones on amazon so the payment is all theirs?

actually maybe i shouldnt even be concerned as these sellers probably bought their merchandise from the officials in the first place therefore its as if it was my money that went to viz/funimation in a way :) ?

thanks again!

m00n

@dasia:

I think for now I'll stick to the translated dvds and tanks from funimation and Viz. even if the money may not reach Oda at least these are official parties so buying their products will keep them releasing and I hope increase Op's popularity in the west.

This is what I aim for with my buying strategy as well. Two reasons: 1. I think that Oda is a pretty rich man by now. No bad conscience about an author living in poverty. 2. The risk of my local translator going broke is higher than the risk of Shueisha (pretty big publisher) doing so.

@dasia:

Is it safe to assume assume that if I buy translated dvds,tanks from those 'new' sellers on amazon some of the payment they get will go to Amazon,which will then give some to funimation or viz ? or are the 'new' sellers private ones on amazon so the payment is all theirs?

I think it is safe to assume Amazon will get a few cents even if you buy the product from someone else who is selling it there. However the part of the money that goes to Amazon is not what partially goes on to Funimation or Viz. It's the part that goes to the seller that partially flows into licensors chash boxes, because these sellers are the ones that bought the goods in the first place.

@dasia:

actually maybe i shouldnt even be concerned as these sellers probably bought their merchandise from the officials in the first place therefore its as if it was my money that went to viz/funimation in a way :) ?

Yes! :)

Greg

@m00n:

Ok from what I've read on this board so far, Oda gets a fraction of the price for every Tankōbon sold in Japan (Shueisha). This was Gregs argument when he tried to convince people to buy Japanese tanks even if they can't understand them. That would suggest that Oda gets no fraction of the price of a Volumes sold in another language (ie. Viz). Same, I believe, goes for all DVDs no matter where they hail from be it Toei or Funimation.

So you want your money to reach Japan/Oda you have to buy new tanks from Japan. Who sells it, Amazon or some other trader merely using Amazon as a trading platform doesn't matter. If you buy DVDs or translated volumes by your local companies the money will go to them. There is a chance that a little bit of it reaches Japan if said item was successful enough to encourage the local company to license more products from the same franchise.

Remember I'm no marketing expert and neither is Greg, so this might be right or wrong.

A qualifier.

Oda probably 'gets' money from foreign volumes. However, it's probably an approximation of sales and a lump sum received in licensing. So while he gets a sum up front, it's basically what the publisher has 'fronted' to Oda and you're repaying the publisher which means ultimately you've 'paid' Oda, but I'm not certain whether there's a limit or not.

ie. Company A paid Oda X dollars but SELLS X +5 dollars so they keep the profit (otherwise there's no point right?)

Whereas how I understand the tank sales (lest you're buying them second hand) can be followed back to Oda consistently.

dasia

Moon Ok I get it ,shouldnt worry about where my money goes as the 'new' items sellers already payed viz/funimation when they purchased the products!now whether Oda sees any of that money we dnt know but like you say Greg he must see a tiny bit otherwise heck they making money on his back. cool thank you for your fast replies guys!!

m00n

@Greg:

ie. Company A paid Oda X dollars but SELLS X +5 dollars so they keep the profit

Yes, this is pretty much what I think as well. The overseas licensors pay a fix amount of money, buying the right to publish One Piece in their country. The profit or loss they make is theirs, while Oda gets a part of the money they payed for the license. More money goes to Oda only when new products are licensed, which becomes more likely as the licensors profits rise.