300 replies to this topic

[Gothneo]

Okay...I am REALLY Urked at this whole situation. I had a friend that went to SDCC, she got there at 9:00 AM this morning and the BoP was already sold out...I guess they sold out on Preview Night....Now that is just B******t. A "Preview Night" should be to show off toys, not sell the exclusives to all the Scalpers that are the ONLY ones that can even get into preview night. My friend has the 4 day passes every year. BAD BAD Decision on that DST by selling those that night. The Hallmark Kelvin was also sold out as well.

 

BUT... THIS PERSON HAS 8!!! ONE person has 8 BoP on this Ebay auction...Seriously? Plus there are other auction from different people that have like 4 or 5 of them as well...I am seriously Livid about this situation and the bad practice by DST on this one.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...=item1c34d8c915

 

 

ouch! all sold out on preview night?! yeah that seems wrong!

 

I hate to say it but since he sold 1 he might have his price right. At least some thinks thats an ok price.

[Prometheus]

Feel your pain BBM..... DST should have limited one per person and not sold them on preview night.... I really dislike scalpers :-(

[BadBunnyMike]

with all the auctions up and how many some people have i'd say there are about 60 out of the 200 on Ebay...including one numbered 201 of 200... hmmm....

[DSTZach]

It's difficult to get tickets for any day of SDCC, but thousands of people had tickets for Preview Night. Thousands. They may have bought them a year ago, and they may have had to attend last year to get them, but I believe anyone with a four-day ticket can buy a ticket to Preview night. It's not something only available to scalpers.

And everyone sells exclusives on Preview Night. We did put aside some to sell on Thursday, but they sold out pretty fast. I believe we were still selling them at 9, but they were definitely gone by ten. A few were returned throughout the weekend by people who had picked them up for friends, then found out they didn't need them, and those were put back on the shelf.

[robster]

Not how Preview Nigth works. You either buy a four day pass WITH PN or four day pass WITHOUT PN. So any scalpers can buy a four day pass with PN,which they obviously did. I just wish you'd handled the selling of this item better,y'know,give everyone a chance,not just the scalpers. Easily done by selling a certain amount each day,which some of the other companies did,and limit it to one per customer,also what some other companies did. You still would've sold them all it seems.

 

Hopefully you'll have someting for NYCC,even though I doubt I'd even bother trying to get it. A great jumping off point from collecting Trek stuff. Don't see the point when things are handled the way they are. Thanks for saving me tons of money though,lol! And who knows,I might even get into collecting Trek again way,WAY down the line somewhere,lol!

 

J-R!

[tuvok47]

Not how Preview Nigth works. You either buy a four day pass WITH PN or four day pass WITHOUT PN. 

 

Isn't that what Zach said?

 

 

but I believe anyone with a four-day ticket can buy a ticket to Preview night. It's not something only available to scalpers.

[VulcanFanatic]

Sure, i am sure they sold out pretty fast if you let people buy as many as they want, so they can throw them up on ebay. Should have been one per attendee, with an allotment for each day set aside. I still think they should have held back some for collectors who couldnt go to buy on their website. Say whatever you want, exclusives and scalpers ruin the hobby. DST, spin it anyway you want to but you slapped your customer base in the face. I hope your company loses more customers over this. 

[robster]

Ok,I thought Zach meant that anyone with a four day pass can just pop over and buy a PN ticket. That's what I was thinking when replying to it. My bad if I misunderstood. Yes,anyone can buy a four day pass with PN,it's the one that sells out the quickest,but you have to choose that when buying a pass online. There are multiple choices of course,lol!

 

VF-couldn't agree more. I'm not saying DST will loose me as a customer.....they have a cool SPM KITT coming out,lol...but it'll be a long time till I get back into Trek collecting.

 

J-R!

[TheHSBR]

Ill say this, I used to be a completionist on a lot of lines and you know what ultimately turned me off, overpriced exclusives.  Hasbro was the first offender with all of their SDCC stuff.  At first they offered it up on their website and it was reasonably easy to obtain at a fair price.  Then the last few years it sells out within seconds.  Do I still collect GI Joe and MU...sure, but not at the pace or excitement I did before.  Why should I care about hunting down figures and gobbling stuff up immediately if there are going to be holes in my collection?  I just pick up pieces a lot less frequently or wait for bigger ticket items to go on clearance.  My point being is that at the end of the day, I am spending less money on these lines than I was before.  I understand the balance of wanting to create buzz with overproducing but sometimes companies go too far.  Ultimately I also don't understand the wanting of SDCC buzz anyway from people that will absolutely not support the line any further than SDCC.  So far on this thread I see negative buzz from some of the most ardent fans.  Star Trek is NOT a property that can sustain losing even a few fans who constantly buy product. 

[Gothneo]

So I'll give the other perspective, which is as a long time collector, I've found my fair share or rare items at retail, and have been happy to add them to my collection. For example, Hasbro released This "double" variant of Marvel Girl where they made 500 variants of the variant where she is package backwards.

 

It drove completest nuts, and I had relegated the thought of ever seeing/owning one to an after thought. But one afternoon I walked into a Wal-Mart and one was right there for $10. I love having that variant, and it makes my collection a bit extra special to me. Especially since I didn't have to pay an outrageous amount of money.

 

I guess my point is that I've learned to be patient, and if I can't get something in my collection right away, I keep hunting for a better deal, or learn to live w/o it!

[VulcanFanatic]

Well, i am sure that everyone here could live without buying Star Trek merchandise, but is that a good way for businesses to stay in business, by saying we are making these in a small quantity that will only be sold at one place that only a small fraction of people can afford to go to, and if you don't get one just be patient, maybe you will find one at a reasonable price in 5 to 10 years. I say that DST can stick their cloaked ship where the sun don't shine. Your company will never grow any larger if your strategy is to alienate your customers.

[TheHSBR]

And Id also point out that DST only makes the retail price.  Variants and such should spur the line on and should make consumers want everything more.  Here we are seeing the opposite effect, where individuals are making a quick buck and the devoted fan is left with the option of either paying high prices (2-3x retail) or go without.  There are ways already covered in this thread to satisfy all parties but that was not done here. And Id also say that this isn't your average go hunt out the variant at your local store.  Im not a huge fan of that either but in this case the only place youd be able to buy these ships is at SDCC, a place where most fans don't go.

[Gothneo]

I'm not trying to be an apologist for any toy company, DST or otherwise. I'm just trying to share a perspective and philosophy that has helped me try to enjoy what I can buy and not become upset or fixated on things that just aren't in my control. 

 

I sure wish I could have easily gotten the SDCC exclusive Marvel Thunderbolts set. A set that sold for $90 I might have to pay $160 or more for. But I didn't get to the con, and I was driving home from work when Hasbro put the rest up for sale online, so I missed out. 

 

Now I have to watch prices, and bid and try and get one for a decent price. Thats just the way it goes unfortunately. 

 

I'm seeing several auctions for this item that are starting out at about $100. That doesn't seem so bad.

[FHC]

You know the fact is that in a year, this thing will be bought at a reasonable price. we all know that. The only problem is if you have to have it right now.

 

I picked up a santa spock, guy charged me $50.00 bucks for it, an item he got for free? well I could have paid over $150 a few years back.

 

This isn't our first rodeo guys.

 

I just picked up one of these ships for under a $100 bucks. A sign of things to come. Yes I see them on ebay for $200 and they don't seem to be selling and as long as we don't buy..... Now is the time to start watching like I did. Make a $100 offer like I did.

[robster]

Well thankfully I've lost interest in this,lol! Thank you short attention span. If I see one in a few years time at an ok price,who knows,maybe I'll pick it up. Doubtful,but stranger things have happened,lol! Guess the new shiny ooooh and gotta have that,of it all has thankfully died away,as usual. YAY!

 

J-R!

[DSTZach]

We didn't let people buy as many as they wanted. We limited them to two on Wednesday, because for weeks I've been telling people to ask a friend to pick one up for them. We sold out of everything we had on hand. We brought in the remaining inventory on Thursday, and we limited sales to one per person. That's when we actually sold out.

 

EXCEPT a couple were returned over the course of weekend, because people who had bought them for friends found out their friends had gotten them elsewhere. That's right, instead of scalping them, people brought them back. We put them out for sale as we got them, at SRP.

 

I hope that everyone here that wants one is able to eventually get one, at a price you're comfortable with. I'm sorry that the inability to get it instantaneously, for the SRP, is causing people to abandon the line. I have never heard of that, not in my eight years as a toy journalist or ever since.

 

I would again like to remind people that it's an unpainted version of a ship we've released twice, without the stuff that makes it work. It's not like it's the Defiant.

[BadBunnyMike]

I have made numerous 100 offers on them, even went up to 120 and i keep getting return offers of 190...i mean that is over 3 times retail...

[tuvok47]

It's not like it's the Defiant.

Is that a hint?

[Bryan]

After doing the customary eBay search I see what the fuss is all about.

Zach, I'm glad you guys did limit the number of purchases.

But honestly you can't stop someone from getting a few of their friends together and each buying the allowed limit individually.

As for the inflated prices, remember the old saying "This too shall pass." The rule of supply and demand will bring the prices down.

And abandoning the line over not getting a Con exclusive seems a little extreme to me and I hope that's just being said out of frustration. If I dropped a line because I couldn't get a Con exclusive I wouldn't be able to collect any lines at all!

I think this ship is a unique idea and is love to have one. But I'm going to wait this one out.

[robster]

Oh I didn't abandon the line,or Trek,'cos I didn't get this exclusive,it just helped in taking a break from Trek,s'all. It's little things like this that take my short attention span for a ride,lol! I know I'll get back into Trek at some point,I always do,it just takes time. Sometimes weeks and months,sometimes years. Yeah,I miss out on a lot of fun stuff in the meantime,but I actually don't care about that. You can buy it all anyways,if you really wanted to.

 

Zach - you may not have heard of it,but I hear it all the time,funnily enough. Even just recently,with a certain change in scale of figs. Drove a lot of people away from that particular line,even me. But of course,I got back into it at the con since at least THAT was available at the time,lol! You say you limited the BoP's? And still sold out in half an hour? Hard to believe,but ok. 

 

And yes,if someone wanted more than one there are numerous ways to do that. I was offered the Boba Fett I wanted from a guy who worked in the Hallmark booth,he had six. Said I could have one if I paid double. I said,no way. If I was barely willing to pay 45 bucks,which was the original price,there's no way I was willing to 90. Besides,it's also available at the SW Celebration in Europe this weekend. AND they have a few for sale on their official shopping site. Sold out at the con? How on Earth do they have any left to sell elsewhere?! lol!

 

So yeah,that's just the way it is. Not abandoning anything,just taking a break and moving on,lol.

 

J-R!