Alter Ego Comics

[Mike86]

So I just received this email from Marc at Alter Ego Comics. Basically Sideshow flagged them, and they’re being forced to charge shipping and possibly taxes. The email I received in part is below.

Marc's Remarks​

Hi Michael,

Have you heard the expression, "When it rains it pours?"
Well, it's pouring here at Alter Ego HQ this week.

PLEASE READ

We've been flagged by Sideshow as violating their terms of service by offering free shipping and not collecting sales tax.

Last time my accountant checked, we were under the threshold to collect sales tax, but we're taking another look. If...IF...we have to collect sales tax from every state in the U.S., I will do my absolute best to NOT make it retroactive on existing orders. Hopefully I'll have more info next week.

As for Free Shipping, I'm afraid that it has to go.
Again, it is NOT retroactive, meaning that existing orders on items with free shipping will still ship free. BUT, starting today with the new Hot Toys Loki and Sylvie figures, as well as the Star Ace Toys Billy Butcher figures, those will not ship free.

HOWEVER, we have tweaked our Rewards Program to help save you some of that money.

Starting today, in addition to earning 1 point per dollar spent, there are three new VIP Tiers in our Rewards Program:

URU
VIBRANIUM
ADAMANTIUM

You'll reach URU when at least $300 worth of items have shipped.

You'll reach VIBRANIUM when at least $1200 worth of items have shipped.

And you'll reach ADAMANTIUM when at least $3600 worth of items have shipped.

Each VIP Tier earns you bonus points!

You'll find more details by logging into your account at AlterEgoComics.com.

I know, this sucks, but I'm going to do my best to continue to provide you the best value that I can, while still paying the bills over here at Alter Ego HQ.

 

[SwedishHeat]

I'm doing my part not to order from Sideshow, or order any of their figures.

If there's a Hot Toys figure I have to have, I'll order it from overseas.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Sad to hear the antics taken in business, especially against smaller retailers.

Disappointed too that the days of free ship may be ending. The added tax thing was bad enough.

Oh well, as they say, all good things come to an end.

 

[dukefett]

**** Sideshow, holy crap how low can you go. They literally limit how many figures these small retailers can order. Alter Ego said it's in the 50-ish unit range a while back. Doing all this for 50 figures? How can they even force them to do sales tax, that's not their business. They could be paying it on the back end for all Sideshow knows. Terrible.

 

[The Buffinator]

Ohio businesses only need to pay sales tax on out-of-state sales if they have nexus in other states. Nexus means that the business has a physical presence in another state. Aug 27, 2021

I don't know what the terms & conditions are with respect to shipping in Sideshow's arrangement with AE, but Sideshow has absolutely no authority to dictate to AE that they need to collect sales tax on out-of-state orders. That's contingent on the individual state requirements, and based on the above AE isn't required to do so. It's also why "use taxes" exist, where individual states (such as mine, Michigan) ding us on yearly returns for such untaxed out-of-state purchases.

 

[Entropy]

With Sideshow trying to limit a cheaper alternative to purchasing directly from them, their ongoing squeeze on 3rd party sellers, combined with the huge price increases per figure and the glut of 1/6 product, I wonder about the future of this hobby. Many more reissues I wager if Mandalorian and Spiderman variants aren’t enough to sustain HT.

 

[Bleah]

I do hope Hot Toys gets out of their distributor contract with Sideshow as soon as they can. Sideshow isn't doing them any favors. **** Sideshow.

 

[Mike86]

Yeah, I would love if Sideshow lost the exclusive distribution rights for Hot Toys. It makes them nothing more than bullies in the market. Sideshow’s actions as of late come off extremely petty.

 

[The Green Goblin]

Why even sell to smaller retailers if you're just wanting people to buy directly from you?

 

[The Green Goblin]

I do hope Hot Toys gets out of their distributor contract with Sideshow as soon as they can. Sideshow isn't doing them any favors. **** Sideshow.

I don't know if Hot Toys even sees this as something negative. Could just be part of the plan to continue raising the price of basic figures.

 

[goatchumby]

Being an AE customer for the greater part of a decade, it was a bummer to get that email from Marc. They're a great vendor and it sucks to hear that they're under the boot like this.

 

[Bleah]

I don't know if Hot Toys even sees this as something negative. Could just be part of the plan to continue raising the price of basic figures.

Don't they retail for less in their own stores or is it only if bought wholesale? If Hot Toys wants to raise prices, anything coming from Sideshow will be higher than what Hot Toys have set for themselves and I can't see that as a positive in the US and EU region that get their supplies from SS. At some point, people won't spend at a higher amount.

 

[Victοr]

I cancelled all my POs with Sideshow after an incident with a figure, and I haven't looked back. This is some seriously scummy stuff.

 

[D'oh!]

At the end of the day, it's all about the cheapest price for me. I've been able to wean myself off of ordering from Sideshow for awhile now, so even if the other vendors have to now charge shipping and tax, they'll still get my business, even if they're only $1 cheaper than Sideshow.

Actually, based on these shenanigans, I'd probably buy from them even if they were a bit more than Sideshow out of sheer principle.

 

[FattyMoBookyButt]

Sideshow is a business that has to stay profitable to stay alive. That's how the world works. They have legal contracts with Hot Toys and with each of these resellers. If the resellers are becoming more popular and get bumped to a different tier on their reseller contract, that isn't some new evil tactic by SS. That's something that was probably defined 2-5 years ago.

You as the consumer have choices and that can be buy from SS, only buy from resellers or not buy at all.

As far as hope for different distribution rights, does anyone have any concrete understanding of the current agreement between SS and HT?

My opinion: high prices suck. $50 more for a repaint of the Scout Trooper and speeder but without a Grogu is absolutely ridiculous. But is it SS at fault? Or is it HT? Is it shipping/economy speculation? I have no clue.

 

[karamazov80]

With Sideshow trying to limit a cheaper alternative to purchasing directly from them, their ongoing squeeze on 3rd party sellers, combined with the huge price increases per figure and the glut of 1/6 product, I wonder about the future of this hobby. Many more reissues I wager if Mandalorian and Spiderman variants aren’t enough to sustain HT.

Sideshow is a business that has to stay profitable to stay alive. That's how the world works. They have legal contracts with Hot Toys and with each of these resellers. If the resellers are becoming more popular and get bumped to a different tier on their reseller contract, that isn't some new evil tactic by SS. That's something that was probably defined 2-5 years ago.

You as the consumer have choices and that can be buy from SS, only buy from resellers or not buy at all.

As far as hope for different distribution rights, does anyone have any concrete understanding of the current agreement between SS and HT?

My opinion: high prices suck. $50 more for a repaint of the Scout Trooper and speeder but without a Grogu is absolutely ridiculous. But is it SS at fault? Or is it HT? Is it shipping/economy speculation? I have no clue.

I agree with both of you. SSC is doing what it feels it has to do as a business, but as a customer, it's harder and harder to justify these ridiculous prices for what just don't seem worth it. I'll buy anything related to films I love like Back to the Future, but Sylvie or Loki in slacks and a white business shirt for $270 each? No thanks. If they were priced more like the original Bruce Banner figure was, I might consider something like that just for the hell of it once in a while, but not now.

 

[Bleah]

Sideshow is a business that has to stay profitable to stay alive. That's how the world works. They have legal contracts with Hot Toys and with each of these resellers. If the resellers are becoming more popular and get bumped to a different tier on their reseller contract, that isn't some new evil tactic by SS. That's something that was probably defined 2-5 years ago.

Therein lies the conflict of interest when Sideshow acts as a retailer as well. I doubt they cannot stay profitable without these tactics they're implementing such as limiting allocations and/or mandating retailers not to offer free shipping. If these smaller retailers, that I assume get less profit from the get go compared to Sideshow when they offer Hot Toys at msrp (since assuming Sideshow gets to profit as a distributor from selling to retailers), can offer free shipping and rewards points that don't expire, why can't Sideshow do the same? Never mind the taxes as that vary from state to state and something Sideshow cannot enforce. This looks more trying to snuff out the competition in my opinion.

 

[Stryker2011]

This looks more trying to snuff out the competition in my opinion.

That’s exactly what it is. Other sources on the retail end have confirmed the threats that Sideshow has inflicted on them.

 

[Mike86]

Every other retailer who wants to sell Hot Toys are essentially at the mercy of Sideshow. That’s not good for those businesses or for us collectors as consumers.

Sideshow is essentially allowed to monopolize the market for Hot Toys. Not sure why anyone would try and defend them.

I’ve been more and more put off by Sideshow as a company for a while. I try to go with other places (even though I know their stock comes from Sideshow).

 

[Entropy]

What SS seems to not want is a shift of US collectors buying direct from Chinese sellers. I’m not sure if international shipping will become affordable and reliable again but if there were a cheaper, faster, reliable alternative to buying HT from SS collectors would begin to cut SS out.