Author Topic: Hasbro Direct Sales Website  (Read 24189 times)

Offline Brian

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 11749
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro to Offer Direct Sales?
« Reply #45 on: May 9, 2005, 03:56 PM »
I have (or had, now) two orders pending through them as of last Friday.  First off, I placed an order for 2 #41 Clones and a Wookiee Warrior on the day they opened.  Those are slated to ship on the 12th, according to my order status through their website.  I then ordered 3 of the Deluxe Figures from Series 2 (Vader med table, Yoda on Cancell, Flying Clone) last Friday, and promptly received a confirmation e-mail.  They also showed up on my order status page, shipping around the same time (late this week or next).  Today I went to check my order status, and the Deluxe order was no longer listed on there...and, ta da, they are also out of stock on their site now.  I e-mailed them to see what was up, but haven't heard anything back yet.  It will be interesting to see how this site is run, we haven't exactly had the best luck (particularly at opening) of online Star Wars figure selling ventures :P.

Offline DoctorPadawan

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 1996
  • Get that poison out of your system
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro to Offer Direct Sales?
« Reply #46 on: May 9, 2005, 03:59 PM »
I must have been on the phone with someone there at the same time you were Jared. ;)

I just attempted to cancel my order for the Battle Arena (since I actually found all three at Target earlier this afternoon; I only bought the Sidious/Mace and Anakin/Dooku sets just to be safe) and was told by the very nice and very helpful (no sarcasm here folks, he was a nice and helpful person) HTS representative that my order had already shipped.  On May 6th.  Last Friday.

I asked why it was the account section still said that the item was shipping on May 12th, and why if it had shipped I hadn't gotten a confirmation email, and he said he didn't know.  He did confirm that my order was shipping USPS standard though, so knowing Hasbro, they probably sent it by horseback and I'll get it once Episode VII finally comes out.   ;D

Again, I will update with further developments on my own order, but I will say this: I think they've got the customer service side of things going pretty well (in terms of overall congenial attitude amongst the operators), but in terms of knowing what the hell is going on at any given time with an order, we're/they're completely in the dark.

If Hasbro starts putting up HTS exclusives, we're all ******. 

Offline Brian

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 11749
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #47 on: May 10, 2005, 09:57 AM »
I noticed today that the order I placed the day it opened (2 #41 Clones, Wookiee Warrior), still claims that it has a shipping date of 5/12, but the status is now listed as "on backorder".  Not a good sign I'm guessing :).

Offline CHEWIE

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 14630
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #48 on: May 10, 2005, 11:29 AM »
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.   :)

 :P

Offline Brian

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 11749
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #49 on: May 10, 2005, 11:39 AM »
Quick update, our credit card has now been charged for the order I mentioned earlier (the one that is supposedly on backorder).  The plot thickens.... ;).  I do agree with what Pete_Fett was mentioning earlier, this might be the future of Star Wars collecting.  After the ROTS hype slow down, and give it another year or two (depending on re-releases and/or the television future), and this might become a direct market line like this.  I don't have a problem ordering directly from Hasbro, as long as they can get things right :).  This is the "trial" for them I think this time around, and we'll see how it goes for everyone.  I haven't heard of anyone receiving any shipments from them yet, we'll see how it goes.

Offline Jeff

  • Administrator
  • Jedi Elder
  • *
  • Posts: 26285
  • Leave me where I lie
    • View Profile
    • www.JediDefender.com
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #50 on: May 10, 2005, 11:47 AM »
Until I hear from someone who gets their figures in great shape, I'm not holding my breath for HasbroToyShop.   :-\

Does anyone remember a few years back when Hasbro opened the www.HasbroCollector.com store to sell Batman figures and other stuff?  It was a flop because after a month, the store was filled with Batman figures that wouldn't sell after the exclusives and villians were long gone...  ::)

I fully expect to start reading the "my figures arrived, but they were crushed/not minty" horror stories as soon as the figures start shipping...  :(  I have no faith whatsoever that Hasbro can pull this off without it being a major headache for all sides involved.

And the idea that I will have to trust the Hasbro monkeys to get me my Mint on Mint Card figures?  I hate it already as I'm imagining having to order 4-5 of each figure in order to chance that I will get one minty-mint one...  >:(

Jeff
"the glass is half-empty"
Editor-in-Chief  - www.JediDefender.com
On Twitter?  Follow JediDefender -> @jedidefender

Offline JesseVader08

  • Retired Staff Member
  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 10862
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #51 on: May 10, 2005, 12:07 PM »
I'll try and be a "glass is half-full" guy on this.   ;)

Remember the horror stories of StarWarsShop.com when it first started?  They had a LOT of growing pains, and I have no doubt that Hasbro's store will do the same.  If they can learn from SWS.com's errors, they should be able to turn things around and be a reliable source. 

However, I'd like to hope that HTS.com won't be the only source for Star Wars in the future.  Anytime a company has a monopoly on stuff, prices go up and quality goes down.


Offline ruiner

  • Jedi Master
  • *
  • Posts: 5023
  • raised to be lowered
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #52 on: May 10, 2005, 12:23 PM »
Jeff - if your #41 clones arrive in beat up condition, I'll take them off your hands!

 ;D

Offline Jeff

  • Administrator
  • Jedi Elder
  • *
  • Posts: 26285
  • Leave me where I lie
    • View Profile
    • www.JediDefender.com
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #53 on: May 10, 2005, 01:27 PM »
Jeff - if your #41 clones arrive in beat up condition, I'll take them off your hands!

 ;D

Sorry, but I haven't ordered anything from them yet.  After being burned and given headaches from countless other on-line debuts, I skipped this one entirely...

I'm in a total "wait-and-see" mode to determine if I will ever order anything from them.   :-\

Jeff
Editor-in-Chief  - www.JediDefender.com
On Twitter?  Follow JediDefender -> @jedidefender

Offline Pete_Fett

  • Jedi Knight
  • *
  • Posts: 3737
  • Jedi Killer
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #54 on: May 10, 2005, 02:18 PM »
However, I'd like to hope that HTS.com won't be the only source for Star Wars in the future.  Anytime a company has a monopoly on stuff, prices go up and quality goes down.

I hope that doesn't come to pass either. But if the Star Wars section has good sales, then I could see them start to open up to the possibility of selling exclusive items that they can't get any retail outlet to carry.

In fact, I think they should do something like this:

1) Put out a news post on starwars.hasbro.com alerting people to www.hasbrotoyshop.com and say that exclusives to the shop are coming. This gets people to go and check out the Star Wars selection. If you can manage to sell one or two items and deliver them to the customers in a TIMELY manner then great.

2) After you've got a lot of the bugs worked out post a new message on starwars.hasbro.com and take a gamble - alert SW collectors that the HTS will have exclusive AT-TE and Cloud Car vehicles, but there will be a slight catch - production will not begin until a certain date and all pre-orders for these exclusives have to be in by that same date. The gamble comes in at price - say make the AT-TE $60 and the Cloud Car $25. Give discounts ($5) off a second one (or for each additional multiple of 2) - I'll explain why in a second...

3) Sit back and see how many pre-orders come in take the number of orders you get and then multiply that by 1.25 - that should be how many you make. Design cartons that fit two of each MIB vehicle.

4) Let your product runs come into some warehouse on the west coast via the slow boat from china. As soon as they touch down on US soil, run the Credit Cards for every person who ordered even multiples - print out mailing labels for them and slap the stickers directly on each case of 2. Don't waste your time re-packing stuff, just send them out like you normally would to retail outlets. After that, start opening cases to ship people their vehicles if they only bought one (or any odd number after that). Save the extra for exchanges in case anything got damaged - after a couple of weeks, put it on your website as "In Stock" or offer online retailers like StarWarsShop.com and EntertainmentEarth.com smaller quantities then what they would of had to order if it had been exclusive to their respective sites.

Pros:
1) You only make a little more than what the market seems to need. Any design costs of the AT-TE will be helped/offset by the fact that for the Cloud Car, you used the same mold from the vintage line w/a new paint op.

2) Generate revenue directly for Hasbro w/o any middle-men AND if you quickly get people their vehicles after they've been made, you also make them happy.

3) Chance to instill confidence in ordering from your site.

4) If you don't get enough interest you can always cancell the item due to lack-luster pre-orders.

Cons:
1) The estimated cost of $60 per AT-TE may cut into profits if fewer are ordered than expected.  The fewer you make/made the higher your cost per item becomes.

2) If you have to cancel the vehicle due to lack-luster orders you do two things (1) you're basically broadcasting that the Star Wars franchise collecting fan-base isn't as big as everyone thinks and/or (2) you're alienating SW fans who pre-ordered from you hoping to get these two sought after vehicles.
Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Offline DoctorPadawan

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 1996
  • Get that poison out of your system
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #55 on: May 10, 2005, 03:36 PM »
At this point, it looks as if it's already destined to fail, given that they can't even ship out the stuff that was listed as "In Stock", much less the stuff that is on backorder (the irony of Hasbro not having their own toys in stock amuses me to no end, though).

I was told yesterday that my order (placed on May 2nd, that was for an item that was advertised as "In Stock: Usually Ships in 24 Hours") had been shipped on May 6th, despite the fact that I had not received a shipment confirmation email, the account section on HTS.com still showed it as being unshipped and expected to ship on May 12th, and the temporary authorization which had been on my card since last Tuesday has disappeared.

Not to mention the fact that their site, as I mentioned earlier in this thread or the other one in Watto's, is starting to look a lot like TRU.com (due to all the "not currently available" or items that are pictured but not in stock) SW section, but without all the useless Brian's Toys crap mixed in.

Why they would launch the website before they actually had stock and, more importantly, all the bugs worked out is a mystery to me.  Then again, this is Hasbro, and they're not exactly known for logical thinking.

Offline evenflow

  • Jedi Master
  • *
  • Posts: 6073
    • View Profile
    • Myspace
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #56 on: May 10, 2005, 08:21 PM »
My order was put on back order, so i canceled it.  :-[
Quote the Raven, Nevermore.

"It Can't Rain All The TIme"

Offline Ook

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 1499
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #57 on: May 10, 2005, 08:50 PM »
Mine's on back order, too. >:(

SilverZ

  • Guest
Re: Hasbro Direct Sales Website
« Reply #58 on: May 10, 2005, 09:01 PM »
I made another phone call. Today, they say that it is processing at the warehouse and should have shipped today. Call me crazy, but I don't believe it.

I brought up the fact that the order status component of the website doesn't seem to work worth a damn. When I told her that my order status still said "declined" (from the Visa hiccup earlier in the week) she seemed surprised. From what you guys are saying, I figure mine will go to backorder status tomorrow.

-Jared
"The glass is ******* empty and heads must roll"

Offline Ook

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 1499
    • View Profile
Re: Hasbro to Offer Direct Sales?
« Reply #59 on: May 10, 2005, 11:37 PM »
I ordered 2 Wooks and 2 Clones. Still don't see them in stores. Like some of you, my back order status is still expected to ship on the 12th. Which means I'll probably find the figs at retail on the 13th. :P