Well It's been 24 hours since I found out P/CP had gone on sale and sold out while I was asleep, so I've had a chance to calm down.  

I absolutely fine with a figure being exclusive or limited. Trying to get this type of figure is what collecting is all about and it why we all have "grails" that we want or that are the jewels of our collections. If I miss out on getting one of these figures by my own stupidity or failings that's fine and it for this reason that when a second run of P/CP was announced I made sure that I had the cash available and watched the Botcon Twitter feed and TF news sites ready to pounce.

What I didn't expect is for the club to put the figure up for sale at a time when I had no hope of being alerted to it and by which time I was awake and found out it had already been sold out for three hours. Yes, there is no time that is perfect for everyone, but you can provide for most of your members (or potential memebers) by choosing a time that gives them most of them a fighting chance. 11pm/12am (as it was in uk/europe) is not doing that.

migston26: I'm guessing that when Audrey Kawasaki art goes on sale, the sale date and time are announced ahead of time if she sells out that quickly? Personally I have no problem with this. I would even be in favour of them announcing when a figure would go on sale. Yes it would sell out quicker, but we would all be able to attempt to get it if we wanted it.

Finally, I think this has opened my eyes some of the other outrageous practices that the club indulges in, the incredible of these being the extortionate prices that the club charges it's international members for both membership and shipping. I would love to hear them justify charging over twice the price for international membership and why a deluxe figure costs more than $50 to ship standard post to the UK, when I've never had anything from the states cost that much - even by next day Airmail.

If next years Botcon set is decent, I might rejoin the club because then I might actually be able to sell the loose set and make the cost reasonable. Otherwise I'll buy my exclusives from BBTS/eBay - it's cheaper in the long run.

 

Why not take a list of orders with full payment and then fulfill the list orders? Give everyone x number of days to have put their order in and then march your ass over to the factory and start making them. Wow strange concept eh?

 

I could be wrong but im pretty sure you have to start a production run to get samples (in funpubs case). In most situations i really dont want to fork out money without seeing a pic of the actual item.

 

Maybe Samples but I don' think that is the case for the prototype. The prototypes are usually built by hand and then measured to set up the manufacturing molds so we would at least get to see the prototype and then a colored sketch to see the paint job.

 

Is that how it works for the club tho? I dont remember seeing prototype pics of anything recently. Personally i would want to see a sample or some kind of pic in some cases before i put down money.

 

Yup the time is announced on her art prints. There's even a countdown on her website. So yeah it's definitely more fair in that regard.

Sometimes she will announce that she will accept all orders that are made within a set time limit (usually an hour). This works out since printing out an art print is much easier than manufacturing a toy.

 

While I live in the states, I do understand what the international members go through. We in the states got a nice taste of it when the Chevy Aveo Swerve came out and people had to beg borrow and steal to get one from the UK or later on Canada.

In this case I have to say that FP did choose a time convinent for most of their members, as I would say that a vast majority of their members are in the US or canada. So when the order page went live, it was 3pm on the west coast and 6pm on the east coast. Which is a pretty darn good time to put up an order page.

Secondly, I don't think FP thought it would sell out that quick, esp with the restrictions they put in place

While I'm just guessing here, I have a feeling part of the elevated price is to pay the FP staff to fill out the customs forms that have to be filled out for every package shipped out overseas.

Even if it's a light enough package (under 4 pounds), I'm not sure if FP gives international buyers an option to ship via USPS first class package international since it's not trackable. The cheapest option with tracking is USPS Priority Mail International, but to ship a 1 pound box (USPS tends to round up to the nearest pound when calculating billable weight) is almost $30.

However going through Fedex or UPS websites for an international quote makes the US post office that look cheap.


Overall FP is caught in a catch 22. If they sit on the pre-order to find the optimal time to post it, people will be impatient and claim FP doesn't care about the fans and let us know as things happen. If they put it up as soon as they know, people get upset because it wasn't a good time for them, or they didn't have the money ready, etc. I give FP a HUGE pat on the back for doing a second run on P/CP. This is a shining example that FP does listen to the fans.

In parting let me just say:

You can please some of the people all of the time
You can please all of the people some of the time
But you CAN'T please all of the people all of the time

Also let me just add that this is not directed towards anyone in particular, just using the points raised to further the conversation.

 

While I agree that that time is the most convenient on a weekday, FP could have released it at 12pm(PST)/3pm(EST)/8pm(BST) on a Saturday or Sunday and included a large number of their non-Canadian international members too.

Alternatively, as mentioned above, they could have announced when it would go on sale and given everyone a chance.

None of the US shops I use charge for time taken to fill out customs forms and I never charged for this either when I was selling figures overseas.

As an example BBTS charged $30 for a deluxe to be shipped by USPS Express Mail, which is both Tracked and Expediated, taking 3 to 8 days.

To get it shipped Standard USPS Airmail, which is what the club uses and which isn't tracked and can take 8 to 20 days, BBTS charges just over half that (about $18). Why is FP charging $32 dollars more for the same figure? It doesn't take that long to fill out a customs form!

It also doesn't explain why International membership is over twice the price of Standard US membership.

No argument here. UPS and Fedex prices are ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, I praise FP massively for recognising that many more people wanted this figure than were able to get it the first time around and doing a second run. My issue is with their handling of that second run and how they treat their international members as second class citizens.

It's true that you can't please all the people all the time, but you can maximise those that you do. I'm not saying that I'm entitled to this figure, because I'm not and it really irritates me when people act like they are. All I wanted was a fair chance of getting it like everyone else and I don't feel that that has happened.

I should also point out that I'm not targeting you, just responding to your comments. I also don't feel singled out. I like a good healthy discussion.  

 

Yes, I just got my email say it'll be here on the 21st!

 

I just got mine in the mail today. Everyone watch your mail boxes for the gift giving postman.  

 

Got mine today too! He was a much needed surprise! : )