Hasbro Direct Sales Website

[SilverZ]

Despite their promises at the show, I am certain that after today, once those new figures come and go, they will suffer from the same inventory glut and slow replenishment that every other retail endures at Hasbro's hands. I doubt they'll be any better of a resource than any other outlet for army builders. They can't have enough supply of Clone Troopers for the site launch, for pity's sake.

EDIT: And I see that the Neimoidian Warrior has also dropped out of stock already. I hope they seriously don't interpret the quick sell-outs as a rousing success of the site launch. They're woefully understocked. Pathetic.

Perhaps the positive result of this will be a brutal wakeup call for them about the actual collector demand for certain figures, and they'll get to see, first hand, how poorly their case ratios meet demand and how much higher demand for army builders actually is.

I placed an order for the #41-44 wave through them, even though it doesn't look like it will ship until the Clone comes back in within the alleged 12-14 day window. I'd expect it to take longer than that, but come 12 days from now, I can cancel the order and complain that it took too long, and tell them that their inventory will need to be better to get my business.

[jadesfire]

I've got a 12" Bariss Offee in the cart but can't seem to get any pages past  3t loaded to see if Shaak Ti is available.  Can you say "S-L-O-W"??

[Paul]

Ok I popped my order in just to see.

The #41-#44 was all available when I ordered.  Don't know it they re-stocked or if they are going to send me an email telling me that I will have to wait...I also ordered a couple things for my daughter so we'll see what happens.

[CorranHorn]

i'm taking a look at their stock, and i find it interesting that all the items are at the regular retail price EXCEPT for action figures. they know the figures will be their top sellers so they are priced higher than most retail outlets. way to go hasbro, thanks for helping us out. though I just may buy an AT-RT, it's at the regular retail price and I haven't seen this bugger in stores yet...

[DoctorPadawan]

Just a couple of predictions (I still haven't gone to look at the site myself, so some of this may have already come to pass):

1.  Within the month, Hasbro will stop selling individual figures because everyone will be buying the Clones by themselves, leaving Hasbro (in poetic justice) drowning in a sea of Obi-Wans and R2-D2s that they can't get rid of at the inflated price.  To remedy this, they will only sell Clones in sets of two: one Clone and one Obi-Wan/Yoda/R2/Anakin/Tarfful/Chewbacca/etc.

2.  The site will completely crash at least 12 times between now and the end of the month, numerous orders will be lost, and Hasbro will find some way to blame it on retailers not supporting the line by pointing their customers to the Hasbro website.

3.  Nothing will ever ship on time (12-14 days from the actual company?  Shouldn't they, of all people, have stacks of this stuff sitting around in warehouses?), people will wind up with only parts of orders, and Hasbro will shut down the site completely.

Pessimism?  Sure, it is.  But after 10 years of this, I would expect nothing less from Hasbro.  I'm hoping I'm wrong, but honestly, would any of those three things I mentioned surprise you at this point?

[SilverZ]

I'm hoping I'm wrong, but honestly, would any of those three things I mentioned surprise you at this point?

Not in the least. My money, in the case of my order, is on it being endlessly delayed. I’ll be interested to see the condition they show up in, if they eventually ship.

It seems like the #41 Clone isn’t even coming up in site searches there now. This isn’t a surprise, but dammit, if there is one reason for a Hasbro direct shop to even exist in the world, it should be to deliver on hard-to-find or popular figures that retailer’s can’t keep up with. I’ll gladly pay $6.99 if the hassle and stress of tracking army builders down in the scalper, speculator, and hoarder infested Southern California stores could be removed from my life. That’s the one solid angle I see they should have working to their advantage. From day one, they look to be proving that they either don’t recognize or can’t deliver on that potential.

I’d actually be singing praises for the site if not for my questions about their need to exist and their ability to be a benefit for their customers. It’s clean looking, has a nice layout, and from the looks of their policies, and the existence of an 800 number for orders and questions, could be a pleasant shopping experience.

Time will tell, but I’m expecting the worst. I wonder if they focus-tested this at all. They should know damn well the first people through their doors would be collectors looking for the latest hot product, and to not have that ready in abundance is just plain stupid. They’ve done nothing but send a message that confirms what we’ve known all along – they don’t know who their customers are, they don’t know what products they are interested in, and they can’t take appropriate steps to meet that demand -- even in their own house.

[Ben]

No GI Joe stuff on the site? Bummer.

I forsee the Star Wars section will look exactly like it does right now for months-- no army builders, and the only stuff that's in stock is what we be on clearance at retail shortly.

Yeah, this whole effort is a joke. At least it hasn't crashed yet.
That will probably happen when all the Joe stuff hits the site.

[Darby]

Once again I arrive late to the party.     What's the point of this if you can't even find what you're looking for?  Can't find it in the store, can't find it online from the people who make it, so screw it.

[Morgbug]

Well, there's only pilots now   None of #41-44 that I can see.  Tempted to order 10 pilots and see what happens, just for ***** and giggles.  Would have snagged some of the new deluxe, were they available.

Time will tell, but I’m expecting the worst. I wonder if they focus-tested this at all. They should know damn well the first people through their doors would be collectors looking for the latest hot product, and to not have that ready in abundance is just plain stupid. They’ve done nothing but send a message that confirms what we’ve known all along – they don’t know who their customers are, they don’t know what products they are interested in, and they can’t take appropriate steps to meet that demand -- even in their own house.

By the children, for the children

[DoctorPadawan]

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and order something that is in stock, just for the sake of taking one for the team and giving a totally unbiased (despite my constant ranting and raving about how they are all idiots huffing paint fumes in Pawtucket, RI, I am unbiased about stuff like this) opinion of HTS.com's overall ease of transaction and quality of shipment, etc.

And to prove I'm a complete idiot, I'm placing an order for one of the Battle Arenas that I will be sick of seeing once they actually show up at retail around here (Obi-Wan vs. Grievous' Bodyguard, in case you care). 

Fake edit: The order has been placed, the item is listed as "Usually ships within 24 hours" and I feel kind of dirty having paid 25 dollars for this thing that I'm sure will disappoint me.  I hope you're happy JediDefender!  I endure Hasbro's stupidity to report back to you! 

(I'm sure the Obi-Wan, "Who's the more foolish?" comment is somehow applicable here) 

[Ook]

Apparently, I actually got in on 2 clones and 2 Wookiees. The Neimoidian sold out while I was putting those in my cart, though. Took forever to navigate the site. I thought I was going to lose out on the stuff before I could get it ordered. But it says items you put in your cart stay there for 30 days...? WTF? What if someone was just screwing around, putting a bunch of **** in their cart, and then didn't order? Sounds like a lot of people would be waiting for in stock items to become..."available".

[Brian]

The site was really slow at first, but seems to be running better now (of course, after the "hot" figures are out of stock).  I ordered a couple of #41 Clones and the Wookiee Warrior, and we'll see how it goes.  I debated on whether or not to order any figures for $7 a pop, plus shipping, but I figured the clone for sure would likely be a tough find at retail anyways (we barely see #6 ones here), so a couple would be ok.  We'll see how it goes, apparently they will be "ready to ship" on May 12th, so if I am fortunate enough to find these figures at retail before then, I'll attempt to cancel.  I would have ordered the newer deluxe as well, if they had them in stock.  Just like was mentioned previously, everything else seems to be retail price, except for the figures which are $2 more than Wal-Mart .  I could also see the stock that is there now, being the same in a month or so.

[DoctorPadawan]

As promised, here's a play-by-play of my post-HTS.com order goings-on (a lot of this is in retrospect, since I was out of town for a few days).

Monday Night: I place the order and it goes through.  My account is created and all is well.

Tuesday Morning: Before leaving for a trip, I notice that the receipt I printed out is missing part of my address and I call the fine people at HTS.com on their 800 number to let them know of the mistake (the part of my address that was missing from the receipt and my order on the site was still present in the actual account section).  The woman I spoke to said (and I'm not making this up) that they could not access any of the orders from the previous night until Wednesday and therefore I would need to call back then to straighten it out.  Try as I might, I couldn't think of a legitimate reason to ask why they couldn't access their own information, so I just decided I would call back the following day.

Tuesday Afternoon: Hasbro placed a temporary authorization on the card I used for the full price of the Battle Arena I ordered the previous night.  How they did this without access to the order information is beyond me, although I'm sure that voodoo and my third grade spelling teacher are involved.

Also, Hasbro sends me the order confirmation email (again, how they did this without having access to any of it is something I don't understand).

Wednesday Morning: I call HTS.com's 800 number again and the woman who I speak to is very helpful and is able to make the necessary addition to the address on file for that order, which HTS.com is now apparently able to access.  I am happy, since this means that my order can be shipped out.

Thursday Afternoon (10 minutes ago):  I check my order status at HTS.com.  The Battle Arena, listed as "In Stock-Ships Within 24 Hours" when I ordered it and when I double-checked the day afterwards, is now scheduled to ship on May 12th.  Yep, over a week later (I guess the "usually ships" comment is put there so they can say, "Oops, we're sorry" but then again, how can they even judge when something "usually" ships until they've been open a few weeks and have actually shipped anything at all?).

So now I'm playing the waiting game on two fronts: the first is to see whether or not the Battle Arena will ship earlier than the May 12th (in other words, closer to what they originally stated it would), and the second to see if they actually charge my card before they ship the toy. 

Further updates will come as this story develops.  And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[SilverZ]

My order has sat without a single event, positive or negative, since the confirmation email for the order arrived. It was different than what the site said about the Clones when I put them in my cart:

ITEM(S) ORDERED
Item number: 85459
Item name: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Clone Trooper Figure
Quantity: 4
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Item number: 85461
Item name: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Wookiee Warrior Figure
Quantity: 2
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Item number: 85460
Item name: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Neimodian Warrior Figure
Quantity: 2
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Item number: 85462
Item name: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Destroyer Droid Figure
Quantity: 2
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Usually ships in 24 hours, or two weeks. Whichever works for them. I guess I'm in the same situation as yours... wait and see. I'm sure there will be more drama, though.

[Paul]

I too ordered #41, #42, #43 and some stuff for my daughter and it has a "ship date" of Tomorrow. We'll see how that works out.

Plus after seeing some of the new Joe Stuff that will be released in July...I am hoping this is experiment works out for us.

I wonder if the price of the figures is so outrageous because they do not want to "COMPETE" with their Brick and Mortar outlets.  Perhaps they agreed to never sell stuff for less than what the retailers were, as a gesture to get them to continue buying LOADS AND LOADS of poorly thought out case packs.