Kinda sounds like overseas retailers don't like to compete with Asian prices, so they are putting pressure on manufacturers to take measures to discourage overseas buyers from buying straight from the source. Wonder if this will spread to other manufacturers.

 

To to make a clarification... You won't get after sale support from Zeta directly if you're a customer outside of China, and you bought from a China based seller. You'll have to go to that China based seller to get parts replacement. As per their post, this is to curb some of those China based resellers who are not going by their distribution rules.

 

Fwiw that's how I read it too.

 

Hey @daimchoc - do you know (in general) if manufacturers that sell to China based sellers mandate to those sellers that they are NOT supposed to sell to customers from certain parts of the world (i.e. Don't sell to US based customers to protect the US retailers)?

I can imagine they would do this - but then there are SO MANY China based sellers that sell all over the world, that it seems kind of pointless to even bother trying. Or maybe they do try to give it lip service to apease their US retailers or to help build a bigger presence within the locations where they have local sellers. It does make sense for them to do this, but I don't know how they can really enforce it unless they stop selling to a China based seller who has broken their rules.

I know for stuff like cars - the same car will be sold for more in the US than Canada, just because the manufacturer considers them different markets and wants to gouge the customer for whatever they can. I often hear that it's because of different safety standards or different protocols that each country needs to follow - however, from friends that have purchased in the US, made the minor modifications to bring it into Canada - they've told me that the modifications are SUPER minor and the savings are WELL worth it. Not saying it's the same here - but maybe it is something along those lines...

I think we're saying the same thing when you indicate,"...if you're a customer outside of China, and you bought from a China based seller. You'll have to go to that China based seller to get parts replacement." To me this is really no different than how every purchase from a china seller works these days. Some 3P are ok if you go direct to them, some ask u to go thru the seller.

I just bought a figure from XTB. There was a qc issue right out of the box so I contacted XTB directly as I thought it'd be faster. They first asked me to pay for shipping the replacement accessory - which I thought was kind of crappy since it was broken out of the box. I told them as much and they asked where I purchased from. I told them ebay and the seller. They said they were familiar with the seller and would arrange a replacement thru them. Take it for what you will - but I'm guessing that maybe these 3P don't want to have to deal with the headache of the end customer needing parts and would prefer to channel everything thru the original seller.

 

What doesn't make sense is that if I'm in the states and I buy from BBTS, then I can deal directly with zeta, you would think they would still want you to get parts through BBTS so they could send a mass of replacement part to them instead of individual customers

 

A pre-emptive message like this one from Zeta that goes fandom wide is typically only going to send alarm bells through the ranks. People will assume first that Zeta is anticipating problems and second that if they do encounter an issue Zeta won't help them fix it or some other snafu will scuttle their efforts. No one is asking, but I think it would have been better to keep this an internal memo to retailers and let fans approach their retailer/e-tailer as needed. As they say no good deed goes unpunished and even though Zeta meant well in sending this out most fans are only going to see problems and backpedaling even though neither is the case... yet.

 

Exactly, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. These are things that businesses have to do. You have to have systems in place but you get to choose how they are communicated. Zeta just told me in the US that I am allowed to buy their product only through certain channels or risk not being able to get replacement parts for the broken ones I am likely to encounter. I am not their biggest fan so that tells me if someone else is doing an MP Bruticus, Superion, and Menasor that I should look elsewhere. Oh look, I have other options. In reality I just ignore what I read and if I like it I buy it where I want and really don't worry about this at all. Zeta's bots are $60 because their reputation has a lot of dings for a lot of reasons. I would like to tell you they are removing those concerns but they keep proving otherwise before their first release.

 

@rubadubspawn
Pretty much what you mentioned. Also according to their post, they also mentioned that there are at least two big foreign shops (outside of China) that are circumventing the wholesale guidelines that they have with distributors. Basically not going through RK.


Again, Zeta will help you directly if you bought your figure from your specified region based on the serial number of the product. Otherwise, it's better to just go with your seller.

 

You guys realize this is all subjective unless the actual figures are crap quality, right?

You don't need replacement "anything" if the product is good quality... Sounds to me like they know something, and are trying to weasel out with distribution shenanigans as the explanation of not replacing defective products.

Then again, what do I know...

 

Or they are just stating what they want to do with any possible replacements. More like some "foreign shops" are undercutting their Distributor (RK), and just want to curtail that.

 

What is the meaning of that word?!

 

Google is my friend hahaha

 

Seems like a smart play from ZT to cut down on taobao or other China-based sellers purchasing the product for the lower CN price and then reselling to overseas markets for maximum arbitrage profit and then ZT having to come out of pocket even further on those items for replacement parts plus shipping. Since it's not like they can physically stop the practice, they are attempting to discourage customers from buying that way. It simultaneously is and isn't anti-consumer. Like, it's easy to see both sides of this. And for ZT it makes a lot of sense.

From what I've seen, #2 should ship roughly 1-2 weeks after the first one.

 

The reasoning here seems obvious to me. Remember that Zeta is made up of ex-ToyWorld staff. Remember the huge runaround and stuffups that happened with constructor replacement parts - order from retailer, no contact Toyworld, use TW special parts website... followed by long periods of radio silence. ToyWorld had a lot of trouble getting parts out for Constructor and the Zeta folks would have been observing that mess from ground-zero. This is a proactive attempt by them to say "we learnt from TW's experience and are implementing solid procedures front the start". That's good for me. What's not good for me, is that this seems to also be a solid attempt to stop Westerners buying direct from Taobao or AliExpress. They're trying to reinforce the existing western retailer policies of gouging western customers with markups. Possibly they were requested to implement something like this in order to get their stuff into the big retailers. But that last bit is pure speculation. I really hate this kind of regional paywalling - there's absolutely no reason we can't be a proper global marketplace now. People have access to a lot more information now and we know if you're charging me more than you're charging my neighbour, and we don't like it. And if you stand by the quality of your product, you'll warranty it properly, irrespective of where the customer bought it from. But that's just my opinions of course.

 

You can still buy from China sellers, just don't expect for them to send replacement parts to you directly. You have to go through your reseller in China. That's their point.

 

In regards to preventing Taobao sales from Westerners, this could be true. However, most people on Taobao already know it will be difficult to get replacement parts through their sellers anyways, because of the language barrier. It's one of those trade-offs you have to make when considering their cheaper prices. (But if your seller happens to understand English, of course this doesn't apply. I'm just saying what tends to be the norm.)

 

Well that's one interpretation, not necessarily the truth. We don't actually know the truth. What worries me is this: "Any overseas (outside China) customers who got items from China (with Number 00001-02000) will not receive any after sale service.*** Distributor will explain the situation to all dealers, and will not ship the items to inappropriate ..." If you buy from Chinese seller and go back to them for support, Zeta will not ship them replacement parts. The retailer themselves may well turnaround and quote that same paragraph to you and say "sorry, nothing we can do". Likewise this statement: "We acknowledged that there are at least 2 foreign shops who seems refusing follow our wholesale guideline and break our agreement with distributors and may get our product from China distributor instead... " Essentially if you are unfortunate to buy from a legit retailer who hasn't followed Zeta's rules, shit out of luck with support. The onus is now on the purchaser to work out whether their retailer is one of the "chosen". They're trying to push the reponsibility for aftersales support onto others, while companies like FansToys or MMC are perfectly happy to provide replacement parts if you contact them directly. Like I said earlier, if you stand by your product, then do so fully, don't mess me around with silly rules and restrictions. MMC have it right: if you own one of their products and there's a problem with it, they'll bend over backwards to help you out, knowing that a happy customer is a repeat customer. Screw me around with rules about where I bought it and what the serial number is? I'll remember that next time I consider one of your products. Again, my opinion only.

 

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet. It's in Chinese.

 

I believe @leandro gomes posted that vid before. I'm still waiting on part 2 to the transformation lol

 

Hey guys...

I confirmed with my supplier on these that if you purchase thru me, he will get u replacement parts (which is what he does anyways). This is no different than any other 3p product that any of my suppliers have offered. They have all been pretty good about standing behind their sales.

I know some ppl like to go direct to the manufacturer, so I guess zeta is saying they don't want ppl doing this. Is this really that big a deal? Don't most ppl go thru their retailer anyways and let them deal with all the hassle and back and forth and shipping expense?

Just my perspective... As a lazy man. Lol...