Thread for those who don't want exclusives

[claw guy 3]

Post here to help deter the release of exclusives.

I've just been scamed by an on-seller. So I get to pay twice for a Grayskull I might get once What's worse is Mattel doesn't get the money. If my $75 bucks at least went to them, I would take comfort in knowing that I was supporting the line.

Classics is supposed to be for the collector, so let us collect them. Not throw money at cheats.

I've only got so much money, so that's $75 I can't afford to give Mattel for 2 other figures, which is what I want to do.

Say NO to exclusives

[adam03]

Sorry to hear that, that sucks I usually try to buy from sellers with A+ feedback to avoid being scammed. Bu they are always going to be there, it`s the luck of the draw when buying online.

[Dark Sorceress]

that sux man hope you can get the money back some how
but they have to do exclusives 99.9% of all toy company's do them and if Mattel did not they would kind of be a laughing stock and they do bring in a lot of money and publicity to the company and exclusives are a good way to give fan's a figure they would not otherwise get

[CocoaSmooth]

I like exclusives as long as atleast scalpers are honest and deliver the goods. I hate getting fleeced but I like exclusives.

[Darkspecter]

That's terrible claw. Did you pay by credit card? If you did, you should be able to get your money back at least.

Exclusives do kind of suck because they're usually so hard to get. If Mattel made all the exclusives available internationally and only allowed people to buy 1 per person (NO more variant exclusives!), then I think it would be more fair and everyone would have a better chance of getting them.

Unlike King Grayskull, where Mattel didn't limit the amount (at first) and people walked away with 3 cases of them a piece, selling them on Ebay for crazy prices (specific case). If Mattel REALLY didn't want KG to end up on Ebay like they said in the very beginning, they would have done a much better job at limiting the KG per person ratio. I'm going to put out a wild guess and say over 400 KGs have appeared on Ebay so far, which is very, very sad.

[Emiliano]

Unlike King Grayskull, where Mattel didn't limit the amount (at first) and people walked away with 3 cases of them a piece, selling them on Ebay for crazy prices

Hum, better to stress that again: Mattel didn't allow anyone to walk away with 3 cases of KG after Thursday.
To Anybody that has seen people carrying lot of cases in San Diego on Friday: those people where me, Val and Eamon, getting the KG for the people on the org who requested them through Val's thread.
Not a single one of those Grayskull is being sold on ebay.

[Vegtablesam]

First off, sorry to hear about you getting scammed. I think alot of us have had it happen and can sympathise with you buddy. But sorry, I disagree with you about no exclusives. This is the first year Ive foun it easy to get a con exclusive (thanks to Eamon), but every other year Ive always enjoyed tracking down exclusives and usually got them for a reasonable price. I think the most I ever paid for an exclusive was $60 for Keldor, which was a steal at the time.

I feel theres more pros than cons to exclusives. Yes they can be tough on collectors, but they also give a chance for some figures we'd possibly not get, plus theyre a great way of keeping the line in the casual collectors mind, both through the con and the secondary market.

Just my opinion anyways

[TheVileOne]

I kind of want to respond to this because I was at Con.

When I was in the Mattel booth line the limit was 3 Grayskull figures per person. Yet everyday I saw people buying and walking around with cases and cases of them.

On the Saturday of the convention, I saw scalpers going down the lines of Hall H selling them at $40 a pop which I found rather disgusting. I know I know, free market, bleh.

So Mattel clearly didn't hold true to their 3 per limit policy.

Also isn't Mattel selling this figure on their site? Why even buy from Ebay at all?

[Vegtablesam]

Also isn't Mattel selling this figure on their site? Why even buy from Ebay at all?

Its a pretty sore subject for alot of people lol. It *was* on the site, for a very short while, whilst the site crashed alot.

[zaid_almahdi]

So sorry to hear that Claw,

Like Adam03 mentioned, Always look for a VERY WELL rated seller.

Leave a feedback that will keep people away from this seller. Contact the site admin to ban this seller from selling. Expose him if you can. Warn as many people as you can about this seller and I'm sure he'll regret the day he took money from you.

Keep your chin up.

[JimPansen]

I say NOtoo! My only chance was eBay caus im from Germany and ive made a preorder... I am still waiting...

[RocketPunch]

No more exclusives. I had to get King Grayskull off ebay thanks to the fancy box. If they have to be made, at least ditch the electronic packaging so non-US fans can buy them from MattyCollector.com

[claw guy 3]

Thanks for the support, guys I paid through Paypal, so I'm hoping there's a chance to get my money back. The seller did have a good rating, high numbers and no negative feedback but they aren't even registered anymore, so bad feedback won't do anything

TheVileOne , I'm an international fan , as are alot of Orgers I'd wager, so the site was of no use to me, even if it was, having sold out in 5 hours or such I reckon I'd have missed it anyway. I'm really glad that our Org leaders were able to get a bunch though

[Matt79]

Sorry for you claw guy!
I'm still waiting for my eBay-KG. It was a reasonable prize this time (49$ plus 15$ shipping). That's even 0,55$ less than shipping from Mattycollector!
I'm a little bit split about exclusive figures. I know, that they are absolutely needed to advertise the line. And what is a convention without exclusive figures?
On the other hand they always were a slap in the face of all the international collectors and fans, and not to forget all the US fans who cannot afford or are not able to visit the Con.
I'd rather pay the extra money directly to Mattel than throwing it to the scalpers.
Im not totally against excklusives. But maybe there could be a better way for fans to get one. Why not selling the exclusives for a lower price and only one per person at the cons and after that, selling the rest for maybe 10$ or 20$ more on mattycollector (also one per person). That's a good bargain for both fans and Mattel. IMO

[TheVileOne]

So there's no chance of Mattel re-supplying this figure online?

[Marvelous0ne]

So there's no chance of Mattel re-supplying this figure online?

Nope, all the exclusives they had for the SDCC with exception of Giganta is sold out. If Mattel did reissue the figure it would probably be different in some way.

[Spikewolfe]

I don't mind exclusives, but I'd prefer them to be offered where we can still get our hands on them easily. (Is that still exclusive?) ToyFare or org exclusives work for me just fine! Convention exclusives work as a great gimmik for toy companies, but it is a pain for fans who can't attend to get the figure. Convention exclusives are absolutely fantastic for scalpers... I went with Toyrocket through ebay to get my bronze KG, and it worked fine, but there's still the uncertainty of inadequate figure amounts being available due to overwhelming demand. (it's possible!) I'd prefer to have control over obtaining an exclusive. Unfortunately, that's just not possible with convention exclusives. As annoying as it is, I'm still going to be buying convention exclusives so as to maintain a complete collection. Even if all of us here at the org decided that we hate convention exclusives, they are still going to be produced. For Mattel and other toy companies (and scalpers too), it's only good business. Sad but true.

[Lioncourt]

Every year, there's at least one of these threads.

CG3, I sympathize. I really do. I've had the same or similar experiences in the past.

However, exclusives are an essential park of the promotional and marketing machine, especially with toys, and while it makes it hard for some fans, it is just the way it is. If we want this line to succeed, this is part of the mechanism to see that happen.

Exclusives are going to happen whether any of us likes it or not.

I was there on Preview Night and no Grayskulls were sold at all that night. They hadn't received them in time to sell that night, and they were turning people away from the booth.

[KUZEH]

Emiliano:

I don't know how many KG come in a box, but I did see a guy right before me buying several and they gave him a box, they took out a couple I think...

[JVS3]

I'm all for exclusives because,
I know they are vital to offset the expense of the convention for many exhibitors,
they build hype and excitement,
and I've always thought the hunt was half the fun of toy collecting.

[Darkspecter]

At least one person bought 3 cases at the con and said they weren't limited on the day they purchased them and a person on Ebay was selling a full case of 10. The search feature is your friend. (That should be on a T-shirt, by the way).

[JVS3]

Well, like it says in Emiliano's post, there were no limits on Thursday that I know of.

They started limiting on Friday when it was clear the demand was so high.
They also had to start doing tickets because SDCC put the smack down on exhibitors for not doing this, and it was causing things to get out of hand with lines in the isles creating seriously congestion.
(we even witnessed some guy on Friday make a total jerk out of himself by cursing and screaming at the top of is lungs because they were doing tickets and limiting the number of folks who could be in line at one time)

But I think they lifted the limit later on Saturday evening and on Sunday when sales slowed down... I think. Don't hold me to any of that.

[CocoaSmooth]

Well, like it says in Emiliano's post, there were no limits on Thursday that I know of.

They started limiting on Friday when it was clear the demand was so high.
They also had to start doing tickets because SDCC put the smack down on exhibitors for not doing this, because things were getting out of hands with the lines in the isles causing seriously congestion.

But I think they lifted the limit later on Saturday evening and on Sunday when things slowed down... I think. Don't hold me to any of that.

I was there and you are correct....

[ash]

Well, like it says in Emiliano's post, there were no limits on Thursday that I know of.

They started limiting on Friday when it was clear the demand was so high.
They also had to start doing tickets because SDCC put the smack down on exhibitors for not doing this, and it was causing things to get out of hand with lines in the isles creating seriously congestion.
(we even witnessed some guy on Friday make a total jerk out of himself by cursing and screaming at the top of is lungs because they were doing tickets and limiting the number of folks who could be in line at one time)

But I think they lifted the limit later on Saturday evening and on Sunday when sales slowed down... I think. Don't hold me to any of that.

By Thursday afternoon they had the limit 3 going... tickets were started Friday

[JVS3]

Ahh, so even on Thursday too?
No surprise, it was pretty crazy at their booth then as well.

Cool, thanks ash and CocoaSmooth for the verification/clarification.