Correction: we have now been told that this action is a a China-only market initiative, and the article has been updated to reflect this.
Overpriced Instax film will soon be no more (we hope), as Fujifilm China is putting its foot down and made a statement regarding stores that sell its products at exceedingly inflated prices.
It's become pretty hard lately to find Instax photo paper in stock in some parts of the world, due to a supply-and-demand situation arising from stock shortages. Even Amazon has begun to reduce its usually wide selection of fancy frames for the Instax range, as a result of ongoing raw materials shortages in Japan.
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Instax film has never been considered "cheap", but some retailers have been driving up the price of it lately in an attempt to capitalize on the situation. Fujifilm China is pretty peeved about all this, and has released a statement that the price hike violates consumers' rights as well as the company's goodwill.
Fujifilm is aiming to put an immediate stop to the overpricing by increasing production and eventual stock levels, and by cracking down on the high-priced sales of photo paper at unofficial stores.
"Affected by the epidemic and the Spring Festival holiday, coupled with the temporary shortage of raw materials, the recent supply of photo paper has been affected to a certain extent," reads the statement (translated by Fuji Rumors).
"Our company has taken note of this situation and intensified the production of photo paper. It is expected that the supply of photo paper will gradually resume.
"In addition, we will also crack down on the sale of photo paper at high prices in some unofficial authorized stores. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, consumers are requested to purchase products in regular stores authorized by our company."
In the meantime, Instax camera users might have to shop around a bit further to find some film at an acceptable price – and maybe even buy a few packs in bulk, with the usual Fujifilm-authorized stores being mostly out of stock. Keep an eye on our cheap Instax film deals page for bargains!
• You may also be interested in the best Instax photo albums to store your prints, as well as the best portable printers for printing images on the go. Take a look at our Fujifilm Instax Link Wide review, plus the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2 review and begin printing your favorite images onto Instax paper using just your smartphone.
