ilovecues.com ?
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B
Bruce S. de Lis
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Devide YEN by 107 and you are close in U.S. Dollars. 
yes but hes got alot of things that we cant get.paulybatz said:
cornerstone said:
not to mention the fact that people will pay more for cues in his target area than people will pay for cues in the states.
VAP
B
Bruce S. de Lis
Guest
cornerstone said:
Lucky does well like other Cue Merchants in Japan....
Lucky has done well here in Japan (where I too work in the billiard business). But even the people here know and admit that his prices are a crime. The only reason most people buy from him is because they can't speak the English to negotiate their own deal directly with the US based cuemaker/dealer. And, like another post mentioned, he has cues that although are made in the US, are not available in the US. He has tied up with a couple of cue makers with agreements that prohibit them to take orders from anybody other than his organization. Or, agreements that aren't so binding, but he pays so much for these cues, and orders so many, that the cue maker in question is backlogged with orders for Lucky only, and has no time to take orders from others that won't pay as much as lucky does. Several years ago, many other Japanese dealers had deals like these with several makers. I once ordered a cue from a well known maker and was given a quote for xxx amount of dollars. When the cue was finished, I sent my address (Japan) and the amount doubled. When I reacted, he told me to go the the local Japanese dealer where I could get one of his cues for about double the US price. Bullshit!! Three months later, I ordered another cue from the same guy, but disuised my Japanese address and had him send it to my Colorado residence where the price remained as quoted. I then had the cue reshipped from Colorado to Japan, and after all the shipping, I still had a better deal than driving across town to buy a cue locally!!
I admire luckys love for cues, and if I had the money, I'd love to be able to do what he has with his collection. However, dealers like him (and others) are responsible for making cues unavailable in the states, and untouchable in Japan............................my two yen (exchanged rate at 107/$1)
dave
I admire luckys love for cues, and if I had the money, I'd love to be able to do what he has with his collection. However, dealers like him (and others) are responsible for making cues unavailable in the states, and untouchable in Japan............................my two yen (exchanged rate at 107/$1)
dave
The cue mentioned in my previous post is not a Hunter Classics. I have a Hunter as my personal playing cue, and Wes has always been happy to deal with the average Japanese consumer directly.
dave
dave
ilovemoney
hi all the japanese may be getting a good deal but for a american to go on ilovecues and pay that much is totally crazy. unless its totally a cue you would die for literally and impossible find it better be real impossible!
other than that i would say noway.
hi all the japanese may be getting a good deal but for a american to go on ilovecues and pay that much is totally crazy. unless its totally a cue you would die for literally and impossible find it better be real impossible!
other than that i would say noway.
B
Bruce S. de Lis
Guest
Well I found Dave’s post Interesting, and many of the Cuemaker Cues Lucky sells are available to us in the U.S.
Capone, Gina, Samsara, and a Few More. Several others are Tied Up, or All their production goes to Lucky, who is a Shrewd Businessman.
Think if you put Lucky & Bill Gates under a Microscope to see who was Best, or Who was Worst, it would be a Tough Call.
Think Lucky has the Gold, so as the joke says in Government, The Man With The Gold Makes The Rules. Lucky is the man.
Think Dave should become a Middleman for the Japanese who do not Speak English well enough to do their own negotiating with U.S. Cuemakers, as it would seem that Dave could put a few Yen in his pocket, as his service would be in demand.
Capone, Gina, Samsara, and a Few More. Several others are Tied Up, or All their production goes to Lucky, who is a Shrewd Businessman.
Think if you put Lucky & Bill Gates under a Microscope to see who was Best, or Who was Worst, it would be a Tough Call.
Think Lucky has the Gold, so as the joke says in Government, The Man With The Gold Makes The Rules. Lucky is the man.
Think Dave should become a Middleman for the Japanese who do not Speak English well enough to do their own negotiating with U.S. Cuemakers, as it would seem that Dave could put a few Yen in his pocket, as his service would be in demand.
Let me try to make my point by using this as an example: if I go to a trade show and buy 5 cues from cue maker Mr. A, but those 5 cues stay in my shop for over a year becasue I cannot sell them. I then go to the show next year, and buy 5 more from cue maker Mr. B. These 5 cues again stay in my shop for a year. I go to the show the next year, I see an up and coming cue maker who is OK and is cheaper to buy, so I buy 10 of his cues, and I sell these 10 cues in a year with a good mark up. In the mean time, I have never ordered from A and B for 2 years as I still cannot sell the cues I bought from them before. And since I sold all Mr. C's cue, I tell Mr. C I want the exclusive. Other people in the show see me buying from A, and B, and C year after year, and they see that I am "buying out" Mr.C, they all think I am doing very well and that I am a hot shot.
As a matter of fact, I have sold zero cue for Mr. A and Mr. B in two years, I have never ordered from them in more than a year, and all I have actually bought from Mr. C is 10 cues in a year with the promise that I may order more. Since other people only see me once or twice a year in trade shows and I have a fancy web site with a fancy store, they all think I am buying and selling like crazy...
Nowadays, most customers in Japan are no longer fooled by a very high mark-up. It is not a difficult thing to find a friend to call the cue maker in the US to order a cue, and a lot of Japanese can type English and send e-mails directly to the cue makers.
With this in mind, a company can no longer rob its customers as if they were idiots. Too high a mark up is going to back fire the company as being a ripped off--it will cause its customers to stop trusting the company, and as a result, bring the company down.
Richard
As a matter of fact, I have sold zero cue for Mr. A and Mr. B in two years, I have never ordered from them in more than a year, and all I have actually bought from Mr. C is 10 cues in a year with the promise that I may order more. Since other people only see me once or twice a year in trade shows and I have a fancy web site with a fancy store, they all think I am buying and selling like crazy...
Nowadays, most customers in Japan are no longer fooled by a very high mark-up. It is not a difficult thing to find a friend to call the cue maker in the US to order a cue, and a lot of Japanese can type English and send e-mails directly to the cue makers.
With this in mind, a company can no longer rob its customers as if they were idiots. Too high a mark up is going to back fire the company as being a ripped off--it will cause its customers to stop trusting the company, and as a result, bring the company down.
Richard
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ok another observation is that lucky is obviously targeting japanese buyers right! i mean i was just on there and what american is going to buy a used southwest for almost 5 grand. its crazy! hes trying to act like hes targeting american buyers then he needs to get a fully functional 100% english website.and he would go absolutley broke! but i do agree the japanese will still continue to buy up those 5 grand southwest like hotcakes and love it. i know i used to live in japan and my friend charles who worked at adams used to sell japanese cues they havent even seen for 3,000 dollars they are all rich over there they just hand over the money and say heres 3,000 give me a 3,000 cue.
iconcuecom said:question is - why hasn't he already gone down?
Did you see the discounts and payment options he is giving out on his Cognoscenti? I do not recall seeing anything like that from Lucky before.
I did not say Lucky should have already closed down; I said a company who loses the trust of its customers will eventually go down.
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Tokyo-dave said:
dave, correct me if im wrong, but when i was in japan it seemed like everything was expensive, 2 to 3 times the us price?
whats the current price of gas?
whats the current price of a coke?
a mercedes? a toyota? or how about a blue fin tuna?
the only thing i found that was cheaper than here was yugi-oh cards.
they may seem higher than should be ? but you also have to consider hes a collector.
iconcuecom said:question is - why hasn't he already gone down?
you should be ashamed talking about someone like that, not to mention about the biggest collector in the wourld, he has proven his love for cues for 20 yrs. and only been dealing for a few, which is completely different from most of these others that have web sites that claim to be "collectors" when in reality everything they have is for sale.
lucky has only supported cuemaking as an art form.
its funny only in the pool world do you get nocks like this, if it was a $2 piece of canvas with $8 of paint that sold for $milloins people say wow thats awesome, or a guitar, or watch, i would bet there are more shoes sold for over $5000 each year than there are cues.
its a shame seems most of the people in the pool comunity try to bring it down instead of support it. go figger why its where it is?
if someone buys somthing for x he has the right to sell for whatever he wants, i have many items i would not sell for 10x what i paid that doesnt mean i should be knocked for it.
give ernie a call and buy his first ivory handle, please lets hear the knocks after that deal.
Yes Lucky Is Correct Name For Him
who keeps talking about this lucky guy like hes a god or something
and from the look on his website of how many cues are listed hes not the biggest collector in the world either dr wus, and cornerstone and cueaddicts has him beat. as for how lucky has stayed in buisness.
i will say it for the last time. you got to realize there is a illusion hes targeting others rather than just japanese people. because he half assed
an attempt to make a english website. the only reason its not a full english website is he will go out of business if he loses his japanese customers for they are the only ones that will give the biggest mark up ive seen.
but you must understand thats a huge mark up because the japanese
are getting a imported custom cues and japanese are rich and they dont mind at all to buy a quality product like that.
how do i know all this because its simple i used to live in japan for 2 years
as a member of the air force. i still have friends over there and a good friend
who works for adams cues.
have anyone ever seen a japanese website fully functional in english
i have not.
to live in japan is so expensive they let money flow like honey brother
japanese lifestyle is so expensive thats why alot of japanese prefer to go
to another country because when they take their money some where else they live great but when they take their money back to japan. they are just middle class.
heres a good comparison say if you had a million dollars in the US you will live great like a king
but if you just have a million in japan your just middle to maybe just maybe slightly higher class.
in the end theres nothing wrong with what lucky is doing
but any american that will pay that much mark up on a cue unless they are insanely wealthy needs their head checked. i wished some japanese cue dealers that reside in japan will finally make a fully functional website and target americans and have appropiate pricing accordingly
i would mind to get my hands on some hard to find japanese cuemakers.
but as for right now if lucky sells a cue to anyone except his own people
HE IS INDEED LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
who keeps talking about this lucky guy like hes a god or something
and from the look on his website of how many cues are listed hes not the biggest collector in the world either dr wus, and cornerstone and cueaddicts has him beat. as for how lucky has stayed in buisness.
i will say it for the last time. you got to realize there is a illusion hes targeting others rather than just japanese people. because he half assed
an attempt to make a english website. the only reason its not a full english website is he will go out of business if he loses his japanese customers for they are the only ones that will give the biggest mark up ive seen.
but you must understand thats a huge mark up because the japanese
are getting a imported custom cues and japanese are rich and they dont mind at all to buy a quality product like that.
how do i know all this because its simple i used to live in japan for 2 years
as a member of the air force. i still have friends over there and a good friend
who works for adams cues.
have anyone ever seen a japanese website fully functional in english
i have not.
to live in japan is so expensive they let money flow like honey brother
japanese lifestyle is so expensive thats why alot of japanese prefer to go
to another country because when they take their money some where else they live great but when they take their money back to japan. they are just middle class.
heres a good comparison say if you had a million dollars in the US you will live great like a king
but if you just have a million in japan your just middle to maybe just maybe slightly higher class.
in the end theres nothing wrong with what lucky is doing
but any american that will pay that much mark up on a cue unless they are insanely wealthy needs their head checked. i wished some japanese cue dealers that reside in japan will finally make a fully functional website and target americans and have appropiate pricing accordingly
i would mind to get my hands on some hard to find japanese cuemakers.
but as for right now if lucky sells a cue to anyone except his own people
HE IS INDEED LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!