Anyone Use Entertainment Earth for Preorders?

[Brian]

I was just curious if any of you have or will use Entertainment Earth for any Star Wars preorders.  I personally have never ordered from them, but after seeing a post in another thread about preordering upcoming figures (such as Hoth Luke, etc.), I went to their site to check them out.  The only preordering I have ever done is this year through Kebco, and they didn't end up getting their cases (which is not their fault from what I have read).  But, although I am not usually impatient, I did preorder the figures in March, and still don't have them...but then again I haven't seen them in stores either.  I guess I just was wondering if any one service is better than the other, or if any of you have switched.  I know if you visit GH.com, they seem to get theirs from EE pretty quickly to review, etc., but maybe that is because of sponsorship or something too.  Anyways, I have heard in the past that their prices are high, but I see now in some instances they offer figure sets instead of whole cases, which would be pretty nice if the price isn't too bad.  Anyways, I was just curious if anyone has used them, and how you would rate their service (pricey? speedy? etc.)?  Thanks for any advice.

[Scott]

I used to before Newforce order almost all of my stuff from EE...but Newforce came along and was $15 per case cheaper...with their recent price drop and the fact that I ordered right about the time all of those figures first went up on their site I decided to give them another whirl.

No real knock against Newforce except Rick's communication has been horrible lately, he really needs to get that Mailing list back up and running

[jadesfire]

I've used them...never really had any trouble except for that annoying wave 13 fiasco.  (Hopefully, they will get it in).

They don't bill you until they ship the product and the email updates are pretty regular.

[dustrho]

I've used them before, and really didn't have any problems with them.  I am skeptical now about pre-ordering anything, because I don't want to have to wait and wait for stuff after putting money down on things.

[Brian]

I am skeptical now about pre-ordering anything, because I don't want to have to wait and wait for stuff after putting money down on things.

That is exactly what I have been thinking.  I had preordered a lot of stuff this year, and I am just now starting to receive it.  I would sooner find it in stores, but I really don't want to miss out on the figures coming in late 2003/early 2004.  Its tough to know what to do, and how well we will be able to find things next year.

[Morgbug]

I'm in the same boat.  I really like dealing with Newforce, but I just never know what is coming or when.  I sincerely appreciate the thought of combining orders to save on shipping, but I really worry about stuff being misplaced and never making it to my end (hello, convention Kirk?).  

I know wave 13 wasn't Rick's fault, but that's not the stuff that's bugging me these days.  Any suggestions for other places are more than welcome.  I'm so-so with Kebco (shipped my figs in a box that was just big enough if nothing happened to the box) and would like to stay with Newforce, but am really open to suggestions.  

[SilverZ]

I've used them since... wow... the SOTE assortment. Their prices in the past have been high, something I think they recognized and have since fallen much more in line with other e-tailers.

Having done business with them for some time I can offer another opinion of the slow shipping assortments of late. I've had many, many situations in the past where I've recieved cases within days, sometimes even before sightings are reported at retail. I think that all the e-tailers who do direct business with Hasbro are in the same boat as NewForce - EE hasn't recieved didly either - and Hasbro is too busy making desperate attempts at satisfying B&M stores to ship to smaller accounts.

I still check stores, but since they're local to me, I always order the new assortments and can will-call them when they come in. If I score figs in-store before they ship, a quick phonecall to them will cancel the order. Its a good form of insurance, and I should have listened to my own advice with the first wave of Clone Wars 3-packs - I didn't order and now have no clean clones .

They do treat their customers right, too, which is sooooo important to me. The couple bucks over retail to get my figures when I don't have time like I used to to canvass Southern California, and to have them handed to me with a smiling face, is a small price to pay, IMHO.

J