Marvin's iMagic

[AJM]

Hi all

Re. the special version which is on sale at Costco - does anyone know what this retails for?

The Costco near me on this side of the pond doesn't appear to carry it.

Cheers

Andrew

[Richard Kaufman]

It was made only for Costco in the US, only sold regionally (that is, most parts of the country didn't get it) and it sold out. The price was $29.99.

Look for the lowest price online for the cardboard box version of the set--you'll enjoy it and the only thing you'll really be missing is the D'Lite so that you can do the tricks that come with that (and you have one in your drawer at home anyway, I'm sure).

[AJM]

Thanks Richard

Argos, the UK based retailer, is selling the UK version at half price at the minute - around 12 pounds, which seems like a good deal.

Andrew

[Richard Kaufman]

VERY good deal!

[performer]

I used to have an international exchange personnel programme with Marvin. I would loan him my demonstrators and send them over from Ireland and he would send his people over to me. I suspect his people would return a little more crooked and my people would return a little more corporate. I think it was mutually beneficial.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Performer, are "crooked" and "corporate" necessarily mutually exclusive terms?

[performer]

Same thing really. Just that I am a bit more upfront about it. I told Marvin's dad that my opinion of his son had gone up when I discovered the Drawing Board he sold at the time (and may still do for all I know) leaked like a sieve with all the ink coming out of it and was a faulty product in my estimation. Alas David did not seem to be amused about it even though I mentioned it as a compliment.

I come from the world of selling oven cleaners which appear to clean burnt stains from ovens. Of course the burn stains are gravy browning applied every morning. Or unbreakable pens where you appear to run the nib along a board and you hear a screeching noise as the nib goes up and down across the hard board. Then you show the nib completely unscathed. Of course it is not the nib screeching but a ring that you happen to be wearing. Or selling sub standard perfume which seems to smell wonderful at the time but of course nobody knows that you have sprayed your booth all over with high quality perfume at the beginning of the day. I won't even mention the rubber rings I used to sell which stopped spectacles slipping down your nose. They actually worked but of course ruined your glasses over the long run.

But that is what the corporate world do too on a higher scale. There is a great deal that the corporate world has learned from the pitchman and this has been pointed out quite astutely in a book I am reading which I often recommend called "The Hard Sell" by Colin Clark and Trevor Pinch.