Master Replicas is an "interesting" company.
When they first started, I ordered, ahem, "pre-ordered" an FX Light Saber. It got back ordered several times and took almost a year to get to me. When I got it, all the anticipation had really built up my excitement over the item to a point where the final product could not possibly compare to the one in my head.
I learned a valuable lesson that day, Don't pre-order anything from them even if it means you'll miss out getting #23 of 1,000,006!
Next I ordered one of their TOS communicators from a guy on eBay. He was promising to ship within 30 days. Well, the 30 days came and went and I cancelled the order. The guy wasn't a crook or anything; he was in the same boat as all the other pre-order folks, hurry up and wait...
Once MR said they had the items in stock, I went ahead and ordered. My communicator arrived in a couple of weeks in a HUGE box. I opened it, and just like the lightsabre before it, the communicator was nice but not the be all and end all of Star Trek props.
They gave me $25 off my next purchase which I stashed away for later use. Several weeks later, they sent me an offer for free shipping and 10% off on my next Star Trek purchase. I combined those offers with the discount coupon and got the TOS Type II Phaser. This came in and was wonderful. It is as good as my Richard Coyle Phaser.
After getting the phaser I got another discount offer and discovered the way to buy at MR - Don't pay retail for anything there. Wait until they have a sale and use whatever discounts you find online. That brings me to my whole point here. The TNG boomerang phaser retails for $299 plus $24.95 s&h. I just got it for $135 total. If these folks are still making money off me at a third the original price, it tells me they have a LOT of mark-up on their items and can play around with the prices as the market dictates.
They have affiliate programs for folks who want to sell their items and dealer programs as well. I haven't signed up for these at all, it seems there's a lot of red tape to jump through, but for folks who are inclined to do so, it seems like a good opportunity.
Despite the overall negative tone of this article, they do have some nice stuff and they are expanding into Men in Black items later this year. Just shop around and wait to get the best deal. Like Data (and the Romans before him) said, "Caveat emptor," -Let the buyer beware! Shop smart and you won't be disappointed.
Stompy