The Transformers Collector’s Club has released an update about the upcoming Subscription Service on Facebook. The key points of the announcement are as follows:
- You need to be a member to take part
- Figures are built to order, no purchase limit
- Closing date is 10 September 2012
- You can pay in full up front ($282 + $3 processing fee + shipping) or by three installments ($94 + $3 processing per installment + shipping)
- Figures will ship in a random order and will not be announced, as they want it to be a surprise.
- Single figures may be available, but there is no guarantee on availability. The individual cost will also be much higher.
- The ship date of the first figures has yet to be confirmed but is thought to be sometime in January.
Read on for the full text from the TFCC. They’ve also posted a small image of Scourge in robot mode which you can see attached to this story. A VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE
TRANSFORMERS COLLECTORS’ CLUB. Re: FSS
The launch of the Transformers Collectors’ Club Figure Subscription Service is imminent; we will notify you the link when we make the service active. While we are loading the final details, here are some things to remember:
1. You must be a member of the Transformers Collectors’ Club to take advantage of the Figure Subscription Service.
2. There is NO reason to rush the site or be in a hurry as this is a build to order system. We will build as many as you order, so we cannot run out. YOU CAN ORDER AS MANY AS YOU WANT, there is no limit.
3. What you do need to be concerned about is the closing date of the subscription service, which ENDS on September 10th at midnight.
4. You can either pay In Full or by Installment. There will be 3 installments. When you subscribe and choose pay by Installment, you will be billed for the first two months’ shipments. Then sometime during the second month, you will be billed for the 3rd and 4th months’ shipments and sometime during the 4th month you will be billed for the final 2 months’ shipments.
5. The figures will be shipped in random order. All members receive the same figures each month. The figure pairings will not be preannounced. So if you don’t mind, when you get your shipment each month, PLEASE do not go online and tell what you received. We want each shipment to be a surprise for as many members as possible.
6. The cost is $282 if Paid In Full (plus shipping) or three Installments of $94 (plus shipping). Please note that there is a $3 online processing fee for each billing. We take Visa, Discover or MasterCard. Unfortunately we cannot accept Money Orders or Checks for this offer.
7. If you pick a shipping service that does not include insurance or if you don’t pick the insurance, we do not have any responsibility for replacement of lost or damaged or misdirected orders.
8. If you move or need to change your credit card during the program, you can log into your account and change it there. This will change all of your future FSS billings and shipments. We will also be sending you reminders to check your address and cc before each billing/shipment goes out. We are not responsible for shipments that are lost due to incorrect shipping information on file.
9. We are waiting on the final schedule from China so we don’t know exactly when the first figures will ship, we “think” it will be sometime in January. We will announce this as soon as we get the final schedule.
10. Some of the figures (single figures) MAY be available in the Club Store after the subscriber’s figures ship. These will be at a much higher price per figure. There is no guarantee of availability of any of the figures in the club store. If you want to ensure getting these limited edition figures, you need to subscribe to the service.
Billzilla
People don't like to think like a business. They like to think "this is what I want, I will subscribe to the reasoning that results in me getting that regardless of how little sense it makes"
Dragonclaw
I just think it would be a bad idea…there's too big a risk that while you'd get sales today, you'd kill sales tomorrow…
I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that if there are plenty of the couple characters *I* wanted from the set once the time comes I seriously doubt I will renew next year and instead just pay extra per figure to just have the ones I want. While I'm not going to say I speak for everyone, I feel pretty confident in saying I am far from alone.
meanwhile stores like BBTS (again…just as the best example I can think of…) will no doubt order a lot less if when the time comes Joel suddenly sees 50-100, or even more pre-order cancelations because the figures are plentiful. We know the secondary market stores buy a ton of exclusives, and those guys will no doubt vote hard with their wallets next year if they get stuck with product they can't sell because FP upped their numbers.
Either way FP can't win. But as much as I hate to say it, as a business owner myself I think you have to go with less extras and a quicker sellout. It keeps your big customers happy and placing big orders and, again, as much as I hate to say it, creates a sense of urgency for future subscriptions that would otherwise take a hit if enough people figure they can just wait and get the characters they want ala carte…yes, being dissapointed is a bummer, but it's a fine line FP is walking and erring on the side of the future of the subscriptions is the better move IMHO.
influence82
I would prefer that TCC produce more Scourge and Slipstream than others Since that will better alleviate demand. Most complaints come from selling out of the popular stuff. People do not complain about not being able to buy Timelines Airazor because the demand was met a long time ago. We still have people complain about Punch Counterpunch and G2 Ramjet (I was one of them). The better TCC can meet demand, the more customers they can satisfy and thus make more money for themselves. It is a win-win situation. There will be extra singles at the store but they may sell out fast, like the old model. The subscription model guarantees that people will get what they want, even of they get more than they wanted. It is better than getting none of what they wanted.
My biggest complaint is the fact that we have pay up front before they produce a single toy. There is already a 25% cancellation fee. Customers really should not be charged that far in advance. The cancellation fee already guarantees that TCC will have capital to produce the toys. People are complacent because TCC has no competition (BBTS is second hand that is more expensive).
airfox
And yet, IMO there was more that should've been done, specifically regarding the release of better information to the fan community on the actions taken to make the TCC more secure; going one-by-one on the more common problems that arised during and previous to the CC fiasco (stolen CC info, stolen user info, internal print outs with full CC information, non members getting mass mails, members not getting emails, etc.), not to mention, implementing other payment methods such as PayPal which IMO would've been great PR for the club.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate Brian's message from late February where we were informed that the CC info was stolen through an SQL Injection attack, I appreciate his apology during BotCon 2012's club panel and I really appreciate all the work YOU do here as a direct link between the club and the fan community.
But that only covers how the CC and personal information was stolen, and skips over the other issues.
Regarding the FSS, in the end I decided not to order through the club, even though I wanted all 6 figures. I'll wait for a while to see if there are reports of stolen credit card info tied to the club, and will continue to monitor threads such as this one to see if the other issues were solved and if there are no new issues present, before trusting the TCC store with my new CC number; this thread made me aware that the new system still have too quirky a behavior for me to trust it (members getting invoices from other member, for instance).
Had there been more information regarding the steps taken to not only make the TCC store more secure, but also to make TCC's internal processes more secure like I said in my first paragraph; had there been the option to pay with PayPal; or had the FSS order window been in January when I still have access to my yearly $400 limit (mandated by my local government) on my e-Card (which I can turn on and off whenever I please, thus protecting me if the number is stolen), I would've ordered directly from the club.
-airfox
warriorpriest
Show me where they where advertised as a set?? They go together yes. They are a set of brothers that can be stored in the same boxm but in no way was they ever sold through the store as a set. And that is the point a lot of people are arguing over on figures for the set. Your example has NO bearing on the discussion at hand.
@Dragonclaw. you make a very good point.
G.B. Blackrock
To say nothing of the possibility of "you misunderstood the words they said, and took it to mean something else."
I won't say I always quote and/or link to my sources, but I do try to when I make claims of this sort for this very reason.
Edgewise
Hey, as I said, I don't doubt it's the case…. just saying have a quote or link, or don't expect other people to just believe it. But I'm also sure you know that too.
Bogatan
I can see them getting say 50-100 more of Scourge and Slipstream than the others, not enough to have fans going for the pitchforks but enough to help meet the higher demand.
Also , its likely to be those that fans will be most picky about and so most likely to spot faults with and be willing to pay postage to get replacements so is possibly going to see more returns.
salmonman78
This, the orders are in and I would imagine with those finalized this would be when they would sit down and make the last decision to what they will do on their own end.
But I eagerly await this to start, need some new stuff that aint Prime.
stad
Sorry, can't link to what I physically heard them say at both BotCon and again at JoeCon, more than once when someone asked for clarification.
I'm also not going to search the entire FB page just to prove a point, as I don't remember exactly where else I read it. So you can take it for what it's worth, and believe it or don't believe it. Yours or my belief, or lack of, (much like what the Club has previously stated) will likely have little effect on what the Club actually does.
Lumpy
yeah, if they make more, i see them making it around the same prices as BBTS…
exactly, they're kinda in a bad spot either way, but ultimately we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
wolfe
Good, thoughtful post. After reading that I do think it would be dangerous for future business to produce more of the hot figures (for reasons you listed). I would have to imagine that they will stick with even numbers.
Dragonclaw
OK…no longer a club mod (no boards to mod) and not a big reseller for these…I have 2 subs coming my way..so I have no horse in this race, but I will say it's going to be a fine line to walk and I see FP in a pretty much "no win" situation (though how is that different from every OTHER FP situation? )
If FP goes totally even with the numbers they pretty obviously seel out of the usual suspects immediately. The fan backlash will no doubt be "But you KNEW these were popular! Why didn't you order MOAR!?!?!? Rabble rabble rabble….."
Meanwhile if FP orders a bunch more of the usual suspects that are pretty easy to figure they risk killing the golden goose…the specualtors and the guys who orderred by the TON. If they suddenly find themselves with tons of Slipstreams and Scourge's they can't move because FP themselves is undercutting their prices (no to mention all the Circuits and Jackpots they are sitting on hoping to recoup those costs with sales of the more popular guys) then for the next year and even the years after those big guys like BBTS cut their orders drastically and it hurts FP and the future subscriptions with lower overall orders. I'm just using BBTS as the obvious example and not at all trying to go after Joel at all but we do know his order alone was at least a couple hundred and if he suddenly saw a ton of cancelled pre-orders I'm pretty sure he'd second guess his order next year. Not to mention all of us who were on the fence but figured better safe than sorry only to see a ton extra made of the couple figures we wanted.
For those who would say "good", remember, the club is small and NEEDS specualtors to help pad their numbers and give them the operating capitol the club needs to survive.
wolfe
Could be. If that was the case I wish it would have been decided beforehand. That way they could have announced that more would have been made of the popular figures (if they decide to make more of certain figures). Then some people would have not felt pressured to get the subscription (or go to another retailer) for just the one or two hot figures they wanted. Of course this might have led to a decrease in subscription sales so there was no chance this would have been done for the members. I do recall it being said that some figures may be available in stores but that's not the same as saying that they will produce extra of the in demand figures.
Edgewise
It's possible that they haven't even decided if they're ordering different numbers yet… his 'gasoline' sorta implies that to me…acknowledging there are pros/cons to both sides and FP may currently be discussing just that.
wolfe
Clearing it up a little would be nice instead of the gasoline that was mentioned especially since the chance to buy subscriptions is closed so stirring up the pot isn't going to increase sales.
Edgewise
All true, but I"d guess that, excluding Botcon, a large percentage of the club's profits come from the exclusive toys/new subscription model. So it may be of more interest even if it's fewer customers.
Powersa
"They want people to buy the subscription!" – No doubt.
"They are making equal amounts" – Needs evidence to support…please.
When you marry the two together, "They are making equal amounts because they want people to buy the subscription!", that's conclusion before evidence, or wishful thinking as people call it.
This year's subscription is over. Chapter closed. New business awaits. Fact is, subscribers as a whole, is a subset of Club's customers. Subscriber's interest (what you said) accounts for a percentage of Club's interest, not full. What's next probably depends on how strong that percentage is, and long term goal if there's any…after all making Scourge is like printing money. Just don't expect it to cost a whole lot less than BBTS.
Thundershot
Rather than use water to put out the fire, you used gasoline??
Pete Sync
Yes, there are rationalizations for both sides…