To filtering out all the bullshit? I go to Target.com and type in "Transformers" and I get 50 pages of results, over half of which are sports figures(Who buys action figures of random Baseball players??), Walking Dead figures and Toy Story figures. Similar problems on sites like Amazon. I just want to see what's available and compare prices without having to spend an extra hour sorting through 6 and a half tons of bullshit. And then it won't let you be more specific sometimes too. I remember times I have typed "War for Cybertron Siege" into a site's search and not only got the extra crap to sort through, but also a lot of times, random figures that ARE in Siege and are available don't even show up in the search! Any tips would be helpful.
I find searching for individual figures via UPC/EAN much more useful. For Target and Walmart, you can use Brickseek. Target Walmart For Amazon, you can use Synccentric. Barcodes are collected in this list. Unfortunately, a lot of online places have very user-unfriendly interfaces. This might be alternatively due to incompetence (i.e. bad programming, and no effort spent on trying out the search function from an end user perspective, because the system, once programmed, is declared to be adequately functional by some bean counter) or on purpose (i.e. they want to show you a lot of stuff they hope you might also be interested in because they want you to spend as much money as possible on their website). Somehow I feel reminded of the lyrics of "The Return of Alex" by German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen: "There's something here, can't be denied, to satisfy their greed - when they say: 'We don't care what you want, 'cause we know what you need!'"
When I search on Amazon I usually included the name of the line to narrow the results, like "titans return" or "transformers siege". The fact that in Italy a lot less figures are available probably helps, though.
Instead of using the search function, I usually go through the site’s directory and drill down to the item I’m looking for. For example: Toys -> Action Figures -> Hasbro/Transformers. You still get some irrelevant hits, but it at least gets you in the ballpark.
That's what I do as well. I also, when available, choose the filter option of "newest/most recently added".
Just take the head off and put it on Siege Prime But to answer your question, I guess I am used to having to weed through stuff, and like TheDeception said, I usually search by a specific figure. Edit, I just noticed you said you are using Target.com. I was thinking Google, but I think my post applies.
That was just an example of the one giving me crap at the time...but It's mostly Walmart, Target and Amazon I have trouble finding things on.
Oh! well, I was just playing - no offense meant I do peruse Amazon from time to time, but I feel like I have luck with just 'Transformers Siege' or, like another user said, just the particular name of a given figure. Good luck in the search!
Preordering, like I did with Siege Astrotrain and Apeface, is always helpful. Otherwise, I just type in the entire exact name of what I'm looking for into Google or Ebay. That's how I found and ordered my Siege Spinister, Rumble and Ratbat, DirectHit and PowerPunch, Rang (Rong?), and Singe. They will get to me this or next week.
It gets more confusing when Target, Amazon, and Walmart searches result in 3rd party offerings. I have to filter out who's actually selling the toys.
Yeah. I did a search for 'high quality, die cast, metal,Transformer' and they sent me a step down convertor. What the hell?
...When it'll let you! I've noticed that for some searches on Target.com, the "Sold By" filter doesn't exist. WHY??
