1/6 Hot Toys Avengers: Endgame - Iron Man

[Bleah]

I just seen this pop up today in SS blog:

https://www.sideshow.com/blog/iron-man-hot-toys-portrait-exchange
Links to Q&A here with link to portal process:
https://sideshow.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260806304030

Hot Toys ****ed up. They might as well give these out for free and not cause more hassle to the buyers and retailers. I mean what are they going to do with the other headsculpt? Touch it up and offer a Tony Stark on a wheelchair with IV pole 1/6 figure?

 

[Avery19]

They are only giving us ten days to pack up and ship out--at our own expense at that--the old head sculpts for the new one. I can't imagine a lot of people will engage with this exchange given the time limit and you having to ship the old sculpt out on your own.

 

[Victοr]

I just seen this pop up today in SS blog:

https://www.sideshow.com/blog/iron-man-hot-toys-portrait-exchange
Links to Q&A here with link to portal process:
https://sideshow.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260806304030

So it's a Sideshow thing only, at least thus far. Eh, whatever, it's too much of a hassle for me to go through with it. It's not like I'd ever display him with the Stark head. I want a proper Stark in a suit for that.

 

[subzro]

They are only giving us ten days to pack up and ship out--at our own expense at that--the old head sculpts for the new one. I can't imagine a lot of people will engage with this exchange given the time limit and you having to ship the old sculpt out on your own.

10 days to sign up. It will be awhile before the exchange happens. still i agree it is a bunch of BS,

 

[gmoney5000]

If anyone didn't order from SS have you contacted your authorized 3rd party vendor to see about an exchange yet? According to the FAQ we are supposed to contact whoever we ordered from...

I'll shoot an email to PCZ tomorrow, but if anyone has any idea please let us know!

 

[Mr.Tanker]

I would guess that this will only be done through Hot Toys distributors and retailers and not resellers.

The resellers themselves could most likely go through whatever retailer they got them through, but that might be more work than they are willing to do.

 

[Austano]

Seems dumb that if you had placed order after May 7 you are not eligible for the new head sculpt. Especially when they ship you out the figure with the original head still. For the price point anyone should be allowed to have the option to send the head back for the updated one.

 

[matticus]

Why would I spend more money to get a sculpt I should have gotten in the first place? I'll never use it on my Iron Man, just like Black Panther, so I'm not doing it. People who want one should have to show proof of purchase with retailer, get a list going and see the best way to distribute all of the head sculpts. It is a small head sculpt, shipping isn't outrageous. Who cares if people have the original? It will always be on the internet and you'll never get it off. It was HT who effed up and they just want a cheap way to make it look like they fixed it.

 

[dominishin]

This is done so sloppy. It's almost better if they just didn't do this program at all.

And so anyone who waited to buy can't get it at all now?

 

[Avery19]

I wonder why do they want the old head sculpt. Are they going to reuse them? Or are they going to destroy them?

 

[matticus]

I was curious since I ordered through Toys Wonderland and this is what they referred me to:

"Please be reminded that this is the “FIRST EDITION”, there will not be a replacement of the revised head sculpture. But you are still covered by the 30 days exchange & return policy. If you wish to purchase a revised edition, please click here to purchase the pre-order batch"

Got him in Jan. Thanks HT!

 

[SwedishHeat]

I wonder why do they want the old head sculpt. Are they going to reuse them? Or are they going to destroy them?

They just don't want people keeping the first head and selling it, meanwhile getting a 'free' head to keep. SSC will probably just throw all of them in the trash.

But still, the fact that SSC is requiring people to pay to ship back the first head is not okay. Just another thing to add to the list of reasons not to buy from this company. They are the absolute worst.

 

[Username]

They just don't want people keeping the first head and selling it, meanwhile getting a 'free' head to keep. SSC will probably just throw all of them in the trash.

But still, the fact that SSC is requiring people to pay to ship back the first head is not okay. Just another thing to add to the list of reasons not to buy from this company. They are the absolute worst.

To be fair, SS is just a reseller. And a business. I am not coming down on any sides, and not saying this to sound nasty, but they will make a cut of the figure sales. It doesn't all go to them. They didn't make the figure. They are only selling it. So why should they pay postage?
I don't think, in all the years i have been collecting Hot Toys that i have ever seen such a furore over a head(I mean, the usual suspects always complain, then then love sculpts in hand), to the extent there was an exchange program. Even the "shouldergate" Spider-man didn't get a redesign. Just new copies were shipped out to people whose figures were affected. This is truly a one-of-a-kind situation.
Perhaps they will put measures in place going ahead. But for now, it's not unreasonable to assume that, if you want a replacement, you have to cover the cost of the shipping to them for your old head.
Just playing devil's advocate.

 

[Deathstalker]

What?s to say the actual replacement head production piece will be what?s expected. The original wasn?t .
not to mention that. HT is saying this should be available by the end of the year.
That time frame is so vague I read it more like should be available by the end of this year OR the end of next year..
who are they kidding.
and the information is available in a blog, or here. What about the people that don’t see the blog or read this post. Everyone should be individually notified. That’s ridiculous in one of itself ..

 

[SwedishHeat]

To be fair, SS is just a reseller. And a business. I am not coming down on any sides, and not saying this to sound nasty, but they will make a cut of the figure sales. It doesn't all go to them. They didn't make the figure. They are only selling it. So why should they pay postage?

Why? Because that's the cost of doing business.

The cost of replacements is borne by the seller. That's how business works.

I had a sit/stand desk delivered to my home a few months ago. The motorized legs started malfunctioning. The company came out to my home to replace the motor in the legs. They didn't make the desk, they were just the seller of office furniture. They had to obtain a replacement motor from the desk manufacturer. They had to bear the costs of obtaining that replacement part and sending out their service technician. That's how it works. I was not expected to drive the desk to their warehouse and have them install the new motor.

Apart from that, with the price gouging, particularly on shipping costs, that Sideshow enacts, they can afford to cover shipping costs. Of course, the main problem is that they're requiring people to send back the original headsculpt in the first place. FFS, just send people the replacement head, free of charge. These figures are expensive enough as it is.

 

[Mr.Tanker]

Why? Because that's the cost of doing business.

The cost of replacements is borne by the seller. That's how business works.

I had a sit/stand desk delivered to my home a few months ago. The motorized legs started malfunctioning. The company came out to my home to replace the motor in the legs. They didn't make the desk, they were just the seller of office furniture. They had to obtain a replacement motor from the desk manufacturer. They had to bear the costs of obtaining that replacement part and sending out their service technician. That's how it works. I was not expected to drive the desk to their warehouse and have them install the new motor.

Apart from that, with the price gouging, particularly on shipping costs, that Sideshow enacts, they can afford to cover shipping costs. Of course, the main problem is that they're requiring people to send back the original headsculpt in the first place. FFS, just send people the replacement head, free of charge. These figures are expensive enough as it is.

As someone who was a retail manager when I was younger, this is just not how it works. The retailer would never give you a replacement for a faulty item and allow you to keep the original faulty item. The cost of the replacement is absolutely not "borne by the seller." If you buy something defective from Target and exchange it, Target does not eat the cost of that item. They charge it back to the manufacture. It gets sent back and then Target gets their own money back.

Sideshow is not the manufacture, they are a retailer. They need the heads to send back to Hot Toys for chargeback/inventory purposes. Most likely Hot Toys is giving money to Sideshow to facilitate the exchanges and so SS needs to account for every one of those heads.

The company coming out to fix the desk most likely already also has a delivery/assembly service. It's a built in part of their business.

A desk is not also not a practical thing that is easy for the consumer to return. It's simply not a 1:1 comparison with something where the weight can be measured in ounces.

 

[Chris2k]

So idk if Im remembering things incorrectly but I could have sworn that Sideshow said they would send out emails about the replacement program but I never got an email and only found out because I decided to check this thread out of boredom.

Also why in the world they only give us like 11 days to complete this process? And when they say eligible collectors must complete the process by 11:59 PM on May 31st does that mean that we need to see if we?re eligible, wait for sideshow to reach out to us, and mail the head back to them all before May 31st?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SwedishHeat]

As someone who was a retail manager when I was younger, this is just not how it works. The retailer would never give you a replacement for a faulty item and allow you to keep the original faulty item. The cost of the replacement is absolutely not "borne by the seller." If you buy something defective from Target and exchange it, Target does not eat the cost of that item. They charge it back to the manufacture. It gets sent back and then Target gets their own money back.

Then it was a poor choice of phrasing. To be more accurate then, the cost of replacement should not be borne by the buyer. Either way, the point remains the same.

 

[subzro]

As someone who was a retail manager when I was younger, this is just not how it works. The retailer would never give you a replacement for a faulty item and allow you to keep the original faulty item. The cost of the replacement is absolutely not "borne by the seller." If you buy something defective from Target and exchange it, Target does not eat the cost of that item. They charge it back to the manufacture. It gets sent back and then Target gets their own money back.

Sideshow is not the manufacture, they are a retailer. They need the heads to send back to Hot Toys for chargeback/inventory purposes. Most likely Hot Toys is giving money to Sideshow to facilitate the exchanges and so SS needs to account for every one of those heads.

The company coming out to fix the desk most likely already also has a delivery/assembly service. It's a built in part of their business.

A desk is not also not a practical thing that is easy for the consumer to return. It's simply not a 1:1 comparison with something where the weight can be measured in ounces.

I have worked in mutiple businesses where we allowed the customer to keep the faulty item if all we were going to do is toss in the trash. From car parts to plates and screws from broken bones if we were not going to use it again you could keep it. If it was something that could be returned, fixed and used again then we would keep it. We all know these heads are going in straight the trash.

 

[gmoney5000]

Let's give it up to HT and their great customer service!