Has anyone ordered these (High Relief Dragon) from Downies? They sent out an email the day after the Perth mint sold them, and they offered them for the same price as Perth. Downies sold out in a day. However, they continued to offer the same coin at a much higher price of 199 Euro (261 USD) on one of their other "divisions" (Euro Collections Ltd.) for almost a week. Almost a week after the sellout at Downies, and only after they also sold out at Euro Collections, Downies sent me an email that they had experienced a "web error", and would not be able to fulfill 2/3 of their Downies orders (including mine). They explained it as an error that happened because their website can not track and remove inventory as orders are placed.
This reminds me of the Gold Center Debacle with the 5 oz ATB coins, and the USMint debacle with the AE 5 coin set.
Here is my take on the Downies Debacle (or Downies Dragon-Gate as I will now refer to it as).
Downies have several "division" websites that they sell through (4 that I know of; Downies Australia, Downies USA, Downies Auction, and Euro Collections International). They sold out (at 108 USD) in a few hrs at the Downies site, yet they continued to sell the same coin through the ECI site for almost a full week at a price of 261 USD (199 Eur). If they really oversold the coin due to a "web error", they had plenty of time to remove some from the ECI allocation before they had sold out - if they really wanted to fulfill the orders made at the Downies site (and at the original price) - and if they were really interested in correcting this "web error." I think their desire to fulfill their customers orders at Downies was overcome by their desire to make a nice profit on the ECI allocation. So, I buy the "web error" issue, but I don't buy that they could not re-allocate between divisions to correct their own self admitted error it if they really wanted to.
Comments
Now that the 2012 dragons have cooled off,you can buy them for about $80(1 oz) and ms 70s for $129.
This reminds me of the Gold Center Debacle with the 5 oz ATB coins, and the USMint debacle with the AE 5 coin set.
Here is my take on the Downies Debacle (or Downies Dragon-Gate as I will now refer to it as).
Downies have several "division" websites that they sell through (4 that I know of; Downies Australia, Downies USA, Downies Auction, and Euro Collections International). They sold out (at 108 USD) in a few hrs at the Downies site, yet they continued to sell the same coin through the ECI site for almost a full week at a price of 261 USD (199 Eur). If they really oversold the coin due to a "web error", they had plenty of time to remove some from the ECI allocation before they had sold out - if they really wanted to fulfill the orders made at the Downies site (and at the original price) - and if they were really interested in correcting this "web error." I think their desire to fulfill their customers orders at Downies was overcome by their desire to make a nice profit on the ECI allocation. So, I buy the "web error" issue, but I don't buy that they could not re-allocate between divisions to correct their own self admitted error it if they really wanted to.
Any thoughts?