I think a move like this might hurt Hasbro's relationship with retailers. Target doesn't mind if you can't find the toy you're looking for as long as you buy something else while you're there and that you buy something else the next time you're looking, too. That's the theory behind retailer exclusives, too.

Besides, I'd still end up waiting because I like looking at the figure before I buy it. I guess that'd be the price I pay for being anal about paint jobs.

 

That is until the marketing geniuses behind the AFA graded exclusives get a hold of the idea.

 

Heh, that was my thought as well.


Also, I'm sad that the ebay market appears to be drying up, before we were able to get our hands on some .99 cent Lockdowns, Prowls, and Voyager Ops. (Actually wouldn't mind the two pack figs showing up either, so I could snag a megatron, but I'll be buying that set at retail.)

 

Not only that, but on the internet you have to joke HARDER, because the internet is made up of little tubes and sometimes if you don't joke hard enough, one of the pieces will get lost and people will think you're being serious.

 

This is why you're the master.

 

Roger Delgado or Anthony Ainley?

 

this seems to be the marketing idea for this age the fact being that a ebay seller souley selling Wiis had on his account a corprate nintendo credit card.
it seems if u know you can make extra cash why not skip the retailers for as long as possible. i wouldn't say hasbro isn't doing the same heck wouldn't even blame them check my sig ya that's right i bought some too. seriously i cant wait for some things i know are finished so if i am buying them from hasbro or heck even the factory workers that make the things im alright with it.

 

i think its just a matter of the fact that TFA toys are pushed back due to extended run of movie toys (as evident by the 6 month gap between the cartoon and toy release date), and these toys are ready to be shipped out so theyre just sitting there due to marketing decisions, so some chinese opportunist are taking advantage of that.

man that was a long ass sentence.

 

ya join the long sentence club KA ive gotten many a hate mssg over mine

 

If Hasbro was a small independent company only churning out a few hundred figures per run, sure, it's actually a plausible conspiracy theory. But like others have already pointed out, there's no way a multi-BILLION dollar publicly traded corporation who manufactures hundreds of thousands of toys to the entire North American continent (and then some dependent on territorial licenses) would ever take the time to setup a covert eBay operation in the hopes of gaining an extra few thousand bucks. The potential legal repercussions and amount of red tape would cost them infinitely more than any amount of money they could ever make by doing it.

There's no doubt that they're aware of what's happening on eBay - and has been happening for years now - but it's evidentially not a big enough deal for them to make public noise about it. Rest assured, however, they're probably doing a lot behind the scenes in an effort to combat the problem. While a few thousands dollars *profit* might not be enough for them to warrant doing a little eBay operation like this themselves, there's no doubt that the few thousands dollars *loss* from potential retail sales is firmly on their radar.

It's really no different than what music labels & movie studios are dealing with - it's just a different type of product piracy. They'll still make the bulk of their money off legimate sales, but they'll still absolutely do whatever they can to stop or slow down the illegal ones. If the MPAA can track down a solitary movie pirate here in Calgary, Canada - which they recently did - a corporation with tons of limitless legal muscle like Hasbro can certainly track down some of the people swiping product from their assembly lines. It's just a matter of catching them all, and even when/if they do, we'll never know about it.

 

I don't think bid daddy Wal Mart would be too agreeable to such a business practice.

Wal Mart is afterall, a jealous partner.

 

twintwist.

thats the trouble with online posts, its sometimes difficult to decipher users meanings, in a world of conspiracy theorists and wackos anything is possible.  

 

its almost comical to imagine some factory worker sneaking a bulkhead under his jacket, damn, hopefully these things arent snuck out down somebody's trouser legs!!

 

Well, that is almost exactly how it is happening. lol I got mine today and am glad they did it.

 

Same here. Love the figures.

 

Roger Delgado every time. Ainley was a poor imitation IMO.

 

If the MPAA can track down a solitary movie pirate here in Calgary, Canada - which they recently did

Compare the population of Canada to that of China.

In addition, Hasbro cannot use its attorneys to find these individuals- they are forced to use local contacts.