SDCC "Revenge of the Jedi" Death Star Mega-Box Set

[Paul]

Yeah I had my stuff in there as well.

No big, just pissed i didn't score the extras for the giveaway.

There is some hope.  My credit card got tagged, although my email says cancelled.

[Jesse James]

Hasbro rapes again!

This is definitely a bummer but it's the thought that counts. 

[evenflow]

Ir seem alike they canceled anything i had ordered 2 of and just shipped 1. I didn't get thecstar wars sad sadly though.

[Pete_Fett]

Ok - I can shed some more light on this, and it is something I am extremely pissed about AND I am actively fighting with Hasbro Toy Shop...

In the morning, before the items went up on the site, I called HTS customer service and inquired about the Death Star Set.

I had hoped to score two of them - one to keep "as is" and a second one to open up and remove the figures from the outer packaging so I could integrate the individually carded figures into my individually carded collection, thus alleviating any need to track down the Revenge variants from this set when the Wave 8 cases hit.

So I asked if there was going to be a limit. I was told yes BUT that it was 1-per person.

Now to me, there is a HUGE difference between 1-per-person and 1-per-household. There just is. This is why I made the comment in my earlier post, that if two collectors were roomates and both wanted to order this set, they were SCREWED.

So, because I was told 1-per-person, I set up a second account with HTS for my wife, using her e-mail address and her credit card.

I was able FIGHT the damn slow site and order my set and at the same time, my wife logged into her account and ordered a set using her credit card.

I thought all was good.

I was wrong.

Two days later, my wife received an e-mail  telling her that her order was cancelled. First I had her call up, and speak with customer service, they explained to her that her mailing address was also the mailing address of another order, they cancelled hers.

I then proceeded to call, and was treated rather rudely by HTS customer support. Which didn't sit well with me, so I asked to speak to that woman's supervisor.

I told the supervisor what happened - I calmly explained to the supervisor, that if I had just been told it was 1-per-household (which again, is NOT what it STILL SAYS to this day on their website), then I would have just called my sister, got her credit card number, Paypal'd her the cash, had the set mailed to her and picked it up the next time I visit.

She listened politely, but basically explained there was nothing she could do. Turns out the delay on the shipping these has been that they cross referenced the shipping and billing addresses of all of the orders and for any address that had more than one order, the extra orders were cancelled, regardless of whether or not it was a different name/credit card/e-mail address/etc... In the end though, she did tell me that she wrote to the Hasbro Corporate office about my situation and would see what she could do about getting my wife's order reinstated.

So needless to say, when I caught wind of the fact that Big Bad Toy Store had 46 to sell, well - that really pissed me off. I just KNEW that this was going to happen - whether it was BBTS or Brian's Toys or someone else - I just knew that an online retailer was going to have been able to get a hold of a large quantity of them.

What to do?

Call Hasbro Toy Shop Customer Service, and rat out BBTS of course! 

I spoke to the same supervisor, and got her direct e-mail so I could send her links to the RebelScum boards, to the item listing on BBTS, etc... - anything and everything to show that cancelling my lousy second order was ridiculous compared to this situation.

Needless to say, I got an interesting response back from her...

Peter, thank you for your email. I will forward to Hasbro corporate for review.  Hasbro does their best to try and stop Big Bad Toy Store from purchasing  the exclusive  items.

Well, if this wasn't an EPIC FAIL on Hasbro trying "their best", I don't know what else it was...

Personally, I would love it if for any of those 40+ that BBTS was taking pre-orders for HASN'T shipped yet, someone at Hasbro gives a damn, figures out the connection and then cancels the orders, leaving BBTS with no other choice but to cancel some of the pre-orders.

I'm sorry - but if the average collector wasn't going to be allowed a fair shot (and since I followed their instructions and fought to get an order through on their p.o.s. website only to have it cancelled, I don't feel that I was) at getting this item in the quantities that he/she wants/needs for their own collection, then BBTS should not have been able to get mass quantities that they could sell from their website for a 100% mark-up.

[Dressel Rebel]

Pete_Fett, you are totally in the right.  How the HELL did BBTS get 46 of these?  Did they really have them sent to 46 different addresses or maybe they got some directly at SDCC.

[Captain Piet]

I was galled when I saw this yesterday, absolutely galled. Hasbro should question any set going to BBTS zip code if not the county and more. If I can't get one, BBTS should only be allowed one. It can then sell it for whatever it likes. Forty-six is disgusting.

[Darth_Anton]

When I was in line to buy this, they were kicking all the exhibitors out of line and they literally had to go to each person in line to check  their badges. Every single exhibitor, without exception, refused to cooperate and had to be taken out of line by security. That was a lot of exhibitors. Then, I had every other person and their mother ask me to buy stuff for them. How BBTS pulled off getting 46 is very disappointing to say the least.

[McMetal]

Yep, this whole thing sounds infuriating, most of all the BBTS aspect. They should be ashamed of themselves. Profiteers of human misery...just no way to spin that any other way.

This is why I can never take SW sites seriously that rail about "scalping" and have ridiculous "Collector Pledges" or whatever when the very sponsors that they pimp so hard are the WORST offenders. (Not talking about JD here)

It's just pouring salt on the wounds at this point, I hope Hasbro actually does something about it but I have no illusions that they actually will.

[Nicklab]

Something that I've seen numerous times at conventions is dealers getting in line for exclusives along with attendees.  Brians Toys expressly comes to mind here.  Some conventions and companies have explicit conditions about whether or not they allow people with exhibitor badges to purchase exclusives.  In the case of SDCC and Hasbro, they may not have any such conditions.

In the case of BBTS, I get the feeling that they had people buying a number of exclusives for their store at the show.  Is it fair?  Far from it.

[Greedo The Green Menace]

Looking at BBTS's listing it says that it included Crumb and the Mouse droid, they were show only exclusives weren't they? As crumby as it is to scalp in this way, i really can't hold it against them. At the end of the day, the only reason scalpers even exist is because of those idiots out there who are willing to pay them these ridiculous amounts in the first place. I also find that forums in general don't help either. Forums are great, don't get me wrong, but all those threads about "X item is so cool but man is it gonna be hard to get" are just giving any scalper lurkers an idea of what to snatch up. Our kind is our own worst enemy unfortunately.

[JediJman]

I think it stinks that they have so many of these, especially given my own frustrations trying to nab one.  That said, it really depends on how they got them.  If they sent several people to the show or to order, or if they bought them off others at the show, then good for them.  There are a bunch of these for sale on ebay and rebelscum for stupid prices...there's no difference between these guys and bbts in my mind.

[Greg]

I think it stinks that they have so many of these, especially given my own frustrations trying to nab one.  That said, it really depends on how they got them.  If they sent several people to the show or to order, or if they bought them off others at the show, then good for them.  There are a bunch of these for sale on ebay and rebelscum for stupid prices...there's no difference between these guys and bbts in my mind.

It blows that people are reselling these for insane prices. An individual putting a single item up on eBay is one thing, but a business buying nearly fifty of an item to resell at over twice the price is disgusting. If you can't make it by reselling the toys you get at wholesale from the manufacturer or a dealer, then close your doors. Don't scalp exclusives, especially those that are only available at conventions.

Pete, I want to feel bad that you couldn't get your second order, but at least you were able to get one set. Despite the fact that you had your wife order the set, you were still trying to circumvent the order limits since both sets would have ultimately been for you. I don't intend any offense with this, but you were depriving another average collector of a fair shot just like BBTS. (though not nearly on the same scale)

You do raise an excellent point about the roommate situation. Hasbro seemed to have had the best intentions with the limits, but I do wonder if the hypothetical roommates would have been screwed. I suppose the different last names and payment info might work in the roommates' favor, but sharing the same address would still be an issue. The unfortunate thing is that it would be nearly impossible to know for sure... even Hasbro contacting the people could have ended with Hasbro being told lies. I wonder if cancellations would have occurred if two people in the same apartment building ordered, or two folks on the same street.

I do realize that the items were meant as convention exclusives, but I feel that Hasbro could have avoided this whole ****-storm by making more than 75 (I know they made more, but the sets do seem this limited, right?) of some exclusives. A quantity in between the Sgt. Slaughter insta-sellout and the Senate Security Clone SDCC 2008 exclusive-but-still-available-in-2011 might be perfect. I get sick of people bitching and moaning about how $400 for the DS is reasonable since folks paid for airfare, tickets, and lodging to attend the con... if people are paying hundreds or thousands of $$$ to go to SDCC to buy a handful of toys, they need to get their priorities straight. I drove down to Atlanta back in June to see a concert. I sure as hell didn't go for the band's exclusive poster or t-shirt... I went to ENJOY THE SHOW!!!

[Pete_Fett]

Pete, I want to feel bad that you couldn't get your second order, but at least you were able to get one set. Despite the fact that you had your wife order the set, you were still trying to circumvent the order limits since both sets would have ultimately been for you. I don't intend any offense with this, but you were depriving another average collector of a fair shot just like BBTS. (though not nearly on the same scale)

No offense taken. You're right, I was trying to circumvent the system, I fully admit that. My contention though was more that I had followed the recommendations of the customer service folks at Hasbro Toy Shop. Like I said, I would have just used my sister's name, credit card and address to place the order if I had been told, 1-per-household.

At this point for me, it's more of a matter of principal than anything else. 1-per-household is not the same as 1-per-person.

You do raise an excellent point about the roommate situation. Hasbro seemed to have had the best intentions with the limits, but I do wonder if the hypothetical roommates would have been screwed. I suppose the different last names and payment info might work in the roommates' favor, but sharing the same address would still be an issue. The unfortunate thing is that it would be nearly impossible to know for sure... even Hasbro contacting the people could have ended with Hasbro being told lies. I wonder if cancellations would have occurred if two people in the same apartment building ordered, or two folks on the same street.

I asked the customer service supervisor re: the roomate example, and she told me point blank it was based entirely on mailing address, so for roommates, yes, one of the two roommates' order would have been cancelled. The reason I went down that path was because I first told the woman that I would have just had my step-son place the order since his last name is different than mine (and I pay his credit card bill anyway, so he wouldn't have minded) and she told me that since his mailing/billing address was the same as mine, his order would have been cancelled.

[JediJman]

How is a business scalping 46 of these worse than 46 people selling a set each on ebay?  At least the business is employing people.  Maybe they could get by without these, but pretty much every company is in the business of making money.  They saw an opportunity to make some dough.  Don't hate the player, hate the game.  I blame Hasbro for limiting the number of these and their crummy practice selling the extras.  Sorry to break it to you, but a lot of the crap you buy at Target or Walmart goes thru a middle man as well.  Should those stores close up shop by your definition? 

Don't get me wrong, i'm not happy about any business having these available for sale, but I don't see them as any less ethical than someone else who bought one just to sell it. 

[Greg]

How is a business scalping 46 of these worse than 46 people selling a set each on ebay?  At least the business is employing people.  Maybe they could get by without these, but pretty much every company is in the business of making money.  They saw an opportunity to make some dough.  Don't hate the player, hate the game.  I blame Hasbro for limiting the number of these and their crummy practice selling the extras.  Sorry to break it to you, but a lot of the crap you buy at Target or Walmart goes thru a middle man as well.  Should those stores close up shop by your definition? 

Don't get me wrong, i'm not happy about any business having these available for sale, but I don't see them as any less ethical than someone else who bought one just to sell it.

The difference in my eyes between the business and the individual is that the individual didn't single-handedly remove 46 sets from the market. Plus there is a good chance that an individual "played by the rules" to get the set. When I originally posted, I wasn't thinking of someone buying purely for profit but rather just someone who got an extra or rethought their purchase. As someone who tries to help people out with HTF stuff at cost, I would ideally love to see everyone else doing the same... however, I can't hold it against someone when they decide to resell an item at a higher price when it turns out to be more valuable.

I do realize that I pay a markup at Wal-Mart or Target on the stuff I buy, but I do not see Target employees buying out Wal-Mart's stock to resell at an inflated price. In my eyes there is an acceptable mark-up when it comes to business, but what BBTS did is just pure greed. Sites like Entertainment Earth and Toy Maniacs prove that you can get by selling toys without having to blatantly scalp items.

I do agree with you 100% that more of these pieces should have been produced. Having enough DS sets (as well as Zaranas, Starscreams, and whatever else was limited to 1) would have allowed many more people to get what they wanted without circumventing the limits, and it might have created a fair shot for more people. I actually commend Hasbro for enforcing their limits by canceling orders, but their execution was piss-poor. Hopefully we will see increased quantities for items, more comprehensive cancellation criteria, and a website that can actually handle the increased traffic in July 2012.