It IS available only to club members. If you aren't a member, you have to join when buying it. That's why the non-member price is 40 dollars more. That's the price of membership. There is no way to buy the figure from the club without also being a member of the club, other than having a club member buy one for you.
My bad, so they're lying in the shop about the product then instead of on the front page, as what they should have written was "Member's Price: $54.00 Non-Member's Price: $54.00 + $40 for membership"
Is this true? If you were an international non-member how much would you pay to get them? International membership is not $40.
They do. It quite clearly states: "Non-membership price ($40 domestic) includes 6 bi-monthly full color magazines and 2012 Free membership incentive figure (ships Spring 2012). " They're not lying anywhere. It's clearly explained.
I have no idea how it is for international members. I would imagine it's considerably more expensive.
Clearly? Really? They say that there is a non member price, something that realistically can't exist if it's member only. Nothing on the pic I showed you mentions anything about a membership. Nothing on the past orders mentions anything about having bought a membership when buying the toy. Nothing in the order confirmation says you have bought a membership. But yeah, you're right the text you copy pasted is there - hidden away as a footnote after his bio description, which let's face it - most people will not read through before buying. And frankly - If I was to nitpick, it doesn't actually say that you are also getting a membership - What it says is that you will receive 6 bi-monthly full color magazines and a free figure. NOT a membership. if it was CLEARLY stating it it would do so in the name of the product you are actually buying, in the order confirmation, in the past orders section etc. PS Cheapest international membership is $78 - somethin that when buying the figure is balanced out with a really, really high shipping rate.
OK, But did you ever consider that there are probably a lot of people who are members of the club who really don't care that much about these toys? It's not like these are must have characters who were in the TV show. They were minor players who showed up in a few G1 comic issues. And I don't find a lot of people nostalgic over the original toy designs. I'm sure there are plenty of club members who simply don't plan on buying the partner toy.
Then most people are fools. You should always read the complete description of anything you buy. What the hell do you think the membership is?
Uhhh... you're asking me if I ever considered that even after I already mentioned that EXACT point in the very same post you just quoted and replied to? Wow. Since you don't want to read what you're responding to, here it is again. I even bolded it for you:
I'm going to refer to the 99% figure repeatedly throughout but I feel even if you change it to 90% or 70% or probably even 50% my point stands. Firstly. Just no! Try and remember these are childrens toys, the TFCC logo and web address appear on just about every Hasbro produced Transformer for the last 5 years. Some of them have will have asked for a membership for a birthday or christmas, just because being part of a transformers club is the coolest thing ever for them. I know it would have been for me at that age. They wont know who Runamuck is, that wont be why the joined. Maybe a toy their friends wont have was the reason, but it wont be because its a Runamuck toy. And then even if they want Runabout or Drift, how many are going to convince parents to spend $120 on them. Do you really think that kids (who likely have never seen the G1 cartoon let alone the Marvel comic) who are fans of Transformers because of the movies, Animated and Prime cares about G1? a 8 year old fan (the target audience for action figures) wasn't even born when Armada came out and probably can't remember when Cybertron was first aired. G1 is ancient history to them and even if they have seen it, it doesnt mean they would care about the battlechargers or need both. I dont know about others but my collection as a kid was largely made up of one or two examples of any group or class. So Runamuck would have been enough for me. I accept we dont know how large a proportion of the club they make up but we know they are out there because once in a while they would find there way onto the club boards and anyone whose been to Botcon has seen the kids who brought there parents rather than the other way around. But I do not believe they only make up 1% of the membership. One of the interesting things that came out of the hasbro sweatshop report was a rough idea of production numbers. 960 FE Prime Bumblebess where being produced an hour. Thats roughly 9600 a day even if they only produce them for a week or two that nearly 50000 -100000 figures. Most of which will end up in the hands of kids. Does it seem likely that only 50-100 of them are going on to join the club? Moving on to the adult collectors even there I do not believe that 99% of those members want Runabout let alone any other exclusive. First of all plenty of people only join for the Botcon discount and may either just keep Runamuck or sell it to further discount Botcon. Second there are hundreds (at least) of international members. International shipping mental, it puts a lot of people off. Go in the UK Toy Discussion thread and see who got what. Go to other UK boards. A lot of people passed. Third not everyone is a classics fan. I'm more than happy to believe that the vast majority are, but not 100% so there alone your down to 99% or less. Okay I've gone of the deep end here, but the constant belief of some that all fans think the same way in clear contradiction of the evidence slightly annoys me.
Actually, I guess I did kind of scan what you wrote but was drawn to the suggestion of a 5% differnetial. A 5% differential is negligable, really. I would bet there are a significant number of club members who don't plan on getting the other toy. Maybe upwards of 50%. Unlikely we'll ever really know, though, because I don't think they publish club membership.
While I agree it could be phrased better. It is not a lie. It is simply the cost of buying the toy if you are not already a member, it should be clearer that you will become a member in the process, but it is not providing incorrect information. On the whole though I agree with most of your list. Not the bubble wrap. Frankly I've never had a problem with how stuff has arrived without the bubble wrap, its still usually padded out well enough and making postage more expensive is just a bad idea. Paypal too I cant agree with, or at least I dont blame them for not wanting to deal with it. If it was there I might use it but it not being there doesnt bother me. But everything website related, absolutely.
Haha! The fists don't bother me, fortunately. I've been playing with the G1 seeker mold for far too many years to have a problem with fists that need to be popped off for transformation from one mode to another.
I would revamp the system used to ship out the free club toy. There is no reason that they can't mail the toy to someone's new address if they move during the 3 months between the free toy deadline and the actual ship date. Maybe give a warning "last chance to update your address if you moved" just before labeling everything and shipping it out. I would not continue to do it as is, and charge people an extra $5 even when they update their address well in advance.
It IS those two things...but also a discount to Botcon, a login, Acceess to the member pages, Access to the member forum, Transformers Club Shop discounts, Club Contests, Free listings on MCAX, etc, etc. There IS a distinct difference. to illustrate my point: if someone gave you flour and tomatoes then you wouldn't say you have a pizza. Flour and tomatoes are ingredients of a pizza, but those two alone isn't a pizza. Same principal here - getting the magazines and free figure, isn't a membership. Question for you guys out there though that have been members longer than I have. * Transformers Club Shop offering club discounts on Transformers toys What discounts on toys am I getting with the club as they mention here if the non-member price is simply a membership in disguise? Have I missed out on a discount I didn't know about?
I believe this is how the discount works but I'm not going to waste my money testing it. 1) Non-member purchase/cost of one Runabout - $94, with one membership. 2) Member purchase of one Runabout - $54, i.e. a $40 discount. 3) Non-member purchase/cost of two Runabout's - $94x2 = $188, and one membership. 4) Member purchase of two Runabout - $54x2 = $108, i.e. a $80 discount. EDIT: One other thing, membership discounts also apply when buying non-club exclusive items like movie toys and others. Kre-O Optimus is 59.99 with club membership and 71.99 without. These discounts really played a big part when the club had RTS Windchargers.
If they can't afford $60 for a rare toy, they probably wouldn't chuck the money at a membership in the first place. If it's a case of just wanting the mold, Tracks and Wheeljack are easy enough to find. As for your second paragraph, that would make lots of sense but would most likely mean NO BOX! I honestly think the packaging with the space for Runamuck is one of the nicest features I've seen from FunPub.
