Amazon and Target, mostly. There's no Walmarts anywhere near where I live, so that's not an option.

For 3P and KOs, I use a mix of BTTS, TCP, ShowZ, AliExpress, and eBay.

 

Just happened recently, I was one of the victims. The payment didn't go through, of course, but it did ding the card twice.
It seems to be their card processor, they don't really do much about it. Some people think it's an actual employee at TFSource, which I have no idea on, but I guess it's possible. Just highly unlikely.

And no plan to fix it. Apparently.

 

By didn't go through, do you mean it just liked errored out and charged anyways?

 

Online, I tend to go through BBTS, Amazon, and Pulse, but I'll also check out Mercari and eBay occasionally. Physically, it's pretty much limited to Walmart and Target because those are the only stores nearby, but there's also a Vintage Stock near me that I check out occasionally to see if they have a neat second-hand find.

 

How's Mecari been for you, I have heard A LOT of mixed reviews about them.

 

It's definitely a deals website. Their buyer protections are decent, and I've gotten some fantastic steals on sets, but those are rare. More often than not it's a worse eBay.

 

Capital One will allow you to set up a virtual card for a specific retailer. It will only work with that one and that one alone.

Because it was set up solely for TFSource, it denied the charges but told me the amount and what the retailer/company was for each attempted charge.

PayPal simply said they detected unusual activity on my account. I changed my password to be safe.

 

So in other words, should probably stay away from this one then, got it.

 

ShowZ or TerryTFSClub.

 

Bbts and toydojo for me. Great experience with them. Out shopping id say target only place around here i seen transformers that weren't wave 1 kingdom.

 

How have they been?

 

ShowZ is great. Good after sales support, free shipping, usually the lowest prices outside of taobao. They're quick to respond to everything and have a huge selection.

Terry i like for buying stuff i was late to get. They usually have stuff in stock way after it's out of stock on show z. They also have better coupons than showz when available. Their shipping cost is separate from the price while showz is usually built into the price. If you buy multiple items the combined shipping can be often discounted enough that the total price of the order is less than showz. Terry isn't as fast to respond. Family health issues that occasionally cause delays. I haven't personally had any delays but I've heard of them.

 

BBTS or Pulse for stuff that I expect will be hard to find at retail…the Target down the street for stuff I expect to be plentiful. I occasionally find stuff at Walmart, but there isn’t one within a 5 minute drive from me, and I’m not real big on hunting retail incessantly these days.

 

For online orders, I go with BBTS. What everyone else hates about them, I think is an advantage: they tend to get everything later than the other sites. If early reviews of a figure show that it is a dud, I can easily cancel my BBTS preorder. This has saved me from a ton of buyers remorse.

I'll preorder things from Hasbropulse, Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. when I want an item that's exclusive to them.

 

Amazon. Transformers are a bitch to find in Chicago, because they leave all the scraps. So Amazon is my best bet. Unrelated, but Showzstore is useful and I may shop there more often.

 

I'm in the same boat for retail hunting, all the stores by me always have questionable stock and its not worth going to 5 different stores for chance they might have something. I don't know if it's just bad managers or them just not having stock, but all the stores near me are always struggling to keep their shelves stocked.

 

The one store I hunt the most (nearby Target) does a good job of stocking stuff EVENTUALLY, but they don’t seem to receive as much stock as other stores. The two nearest Walmarts are often trashed and fruitless, so I don’t typically even bother with them.

 

I have like 4 walmarts in a 30 mile radius and every single one is out of stock and trashed. Pretty much gave up completely on them, but haven't used Target, primarily because I am frustrated that I had to go to too many stores with little to no stock. I used to use Target way back in the day, but I do agree that their stock my not always be the best or soonest, but is probably more reliable than Walmart. But honestly, after the RED line, I am probably never gonna use Walmart again. I ordered a figure through them online, and they used the sketchiest delivery company ever, they took forever, packed in the weirdest boxes I have seen, and used like their own personal vehicles for delivery. I don't think I ever got a notification it was delivered, some random dude just showed up, didn't knock and left it there and the only reason I even found out because I was watching for the package.

I whole heartily cannot reccomend Walmart online because occasionally they use this third party shipping company and they have like an 80%-90% failure rate so I guess I got lucky that I had very little problems with mine.

 

One thing I’ll say for Target is that, other than their Cobra Island Joes in 2020, I’ve never had any trouble finding their exclusive figures. In fact, they usually seem to go on clearance eventually.

 

Yep time to bring this thread back as a warning to yall; be sure to stay FAR AWAY from TFSource at all costs. I tried a gamble an ordered a figure through them. It was a preorder with aways till the release date, so I patiently waited. The month came and went and was delayed, so I waited again. Once again delayed. Again, thought I gamble it and waited the third and last time. Delayed for a third time at which I asked to get an actual release date or a refund in which they immediately ignored my question and immediately refunded me while someone else here is having a somewhat similar issue with a preorder and they haven't refunded them (yet).

So I guess I'll ask the question again, what are some good reliable stores to get third party, or hard to find figures as I was disappointed that I didn't get some new MP figured for the first time in a long time.