New Sideshow Policy - non-refundable deposit figures over $224

[Haloid1177]

Guess BBTS gets my business now. Only will order through SSC for exclusives.

 

[GeneralZodLives]

I wish SS would concentrate on quality control first and foremost. I wouldn't care about paying a NRD if I absolutely knew that I'd be receiving a collectible that wouldn't have issues. Take away my fear that my statue is going to arrive damaged or the HS on a 1/6 scale figure isn't going to look like it got attacked by bees and I'll gladly give you the NRD to make sure I get one.

 

[Rambler]

I guess I don't really care about this new policy. I have cut back on PO's for the most part with the exception of a few figures I knew i just had to have. I agree with those that have said the PO window should be drastically reduced to a month or so before its ready to ship. I know some delays will be inevitable but to PO a figure a year in advance with a down payment is an easy pass for me.

 

[Khev]

Don't care about NRDs. I buy what I like

And how exactly do you know what you like when you're paying an NRD for a product that will likely look drastically different 12-18 months later?

 

[choopie]

I think the only thing I'm willing to put an NRD down on are PFs, which is what we've been doing for a while now anyways. I wouldn't put an NRD down on a 1:6 figure. Generally though I don't like the idea of putting a deposit down on an item. This is for anything, not just these collectibles. To ask for money up front for the privilege of securing an item, yet get penalized for having to cancel for whatever reason is wrong, IMO.

I'm nearing the end of my collection anyways. I've got room for one more PF, maybe two. Once those orders are filled, I'm done.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Well Mark over at Alter Ego said this year manufacturers and retailers/etailers will be cutting back production and stock. I would guess this is the first step toward that end.

Seems like the business (1/6th) as a whole is moving in that direction: higher prices per item so much lower edition runs. After a couple years of over-stock, HT, SS and even the retailers see that they get stuck with too much product as prices rise. So things like NRDs happen to "thin the herd".

I also expect to see items "sell out" like they used to. Not in minutes, but sooner than the new generation is used to. With prices where they are headed, companies can afford to do a smaller run and still make good money, especially on re-use figures that make up the majority of their strong licenses like Star Wars and Marvel.

 

[Mike86]

I really think this policy could backfire on Sideshow somewhat. I get why they're doing it from a business perspective, but from a consumer standpoint it feels very customer unfriendly if you ask me. Especially if Sideshow doesn't use pre-orders to gauge how much of something they should order it essentially comes off like them punishing us for pre-ordering (which they heavily promote) and canceling and them over-ordering (I assume they have a certain amount allocated or on order of they aren't using pre-order data to determine how much of something to get). That to me just seems pretty anti-consumer and like them being greedy so if people do cancel they still get something and basically dub it an overhead cost.

 

[karamazov80]

the figures are "hand crafted so they won't match the prototype exactly."

My Hot Toys Bespin Luke had a noticeable stain on his pants, and this was the response they gave me when I asked for a replacement. First, I didn't realize HT clothing was hand-stitched! Incredible. But secondly, it's pretty disturbing that these workers are somehow getting stains on the figures they put together. Who knows what it could be??? I don't want to think about it.

 

[teemu]

I wish SS would concentrate on quality control first and foremost. I wouldn't care about paying a NRD if I absolutely knew that I'd be receiving a collectible that wouldn't have issues. Take away my fear that my statue is going to arrive damaged or the HS on a 1/6 scale figure isn't going to look like it got attacked by bees and I'll gladly give you the NRD to make sure I get one.

If Sideshow matched their prototypes,like Hot Toys does,there wouldn't be so many cancellations...so it's mostly their Fault!

 

[Khev]

I think the only thing I'm willing to put an NRD down on are PFs, which is what we've been doing for a while now anyways. I wouldn't put an NRD down on a 1:6 figure.

I paid the NRD for the Han/Chewie two-pack but that's Hot Toys. I'll never pay an NRD for a Sideshow 12 inch figure. Just way too much of a crap shoot with them. I'm getting the Fett, Vader, and Cap Winter Soldier PF's so SSC is still getting a good chunk of money from me this year but the Cap PF had no NRD and I haven't preordered Fett or Vader because there isn't any need to. I'll order them when they ship.

 

[TonTon]

What still doesn't make sense is I can order 15 different $199 figures in one order and pay no NRD, but then if I order one $224 figure I pay the NRD? Seems stupid. It should just be across the board if they're going to do it, maybe make it 5% instead of 10% so it's less of a penalty if you do cancel for legitimate reasons. All that's going to happen is people will learn to stop caring about exclusives (which means fewer SS direct orders) and will stop pre-ordering at least until a coupon is available. And SS figures with head sculpts? Everyone will just wait for in hand pics to decide if a figure is worth buying.

 

[SwedishHeat]

First, I didn't realize HT clothing was hand-stitched! Incredible.

Did you think robots made all these figures??

 

[youbastards]

I'm sure the port strike had a lot to do with this. They probably lost a lot of preorders due to "significant delay" cancellations. I view this as yet another sign that Sideshow will not be producing their own figures within the next 5 years, and solely acting as a stateside warehouse/distributor for other company's products.

The DC 1/6 line will be dead within that 5 years, too. They'll get variations of other basic "spandex" characters like Flash, Green Lantern, Superman variant, Batman variant #3, Deathstroke, Green Arrow, maybe a couple more Batman rogues like Two-Face or Riddler, a plain suit Luthor, but that's it. *MAYBE* Wonder Woman, but it wouldn't surprise me if she's the big name doesn't make the cut. There will be no figures that require intricate one-off tooling, so Hawkman, Brainiac, Clayface, Bane...etc.

 

[Tbolt]

To me, this almost begs the question of is SS in trouble? Is their bottom line looking so dire that they needed to do this? Seems a bit desperate to me.

The other thing, these 1/6 scale figures are not numbered. I pay the NRD on PF's because they are limited. The exclusive bonus varies from one piece to the other, but they have watered that down so much it is rarely the reason to order direct. I have gotten mostly figures so far this year, so they have enticed me, but no way will I start throwing NRD's around when the EX is usually a fairly yawn inducing add on.

 

[choopie]

I paid the NRD for the Han/Chewie two-pack but that's Hot Toys. I'll never pay an NRD for a Sideshow 12 inch figure. Just way too much of a crap shoot with them. I'm getting the Fett, Vader, and Cap Winter Soldier PF's so SSC is still getting a good chunk of money from me this year but the Cap PF had no NRD and I haven't preordered Fett or Vader because there isn't any need to. I'll order them when they ship.

Yeah, you're definitely going to get more consistency between prototype and final product with HT. I collect the HT Cap figures and have been happy with all of them.

If there are no EX with the PFs, then there's no reason to pre-order so far in advance. It would be nice if Sideshow got back to a shorter production window. It used to be about 8 months from pre-order to final product, which I thought was really reasonable. A year to year and a half or more now is really ridiculous. I still like the idea of securing a piece I really want instead of waiting until it ships.

 

[Matt S]

Guess BBTS gets my business now. Only will order through SSC for exclusives.

Same. BBTS has got to love this new policy. I don't want to take it up the wallet if their final product is their usual garbage final result

 

[karamazov80]

Did you think robots made all these figures??

I figured the clothing was magically conjured.

 

[ebor]

I don't have a problem with a company charging a NRD on figures. What perplexes me is that the prices of a standard 1:6 figure is $200+; will this be the norm for SS? All future projects will be $225+ so that a NRD will be automatic, if so, this will severely limit my purchases (a good thing for my wallet).

On another note, I purchase figures from a brick and mortar store in BC Canada, who are now advertising their prices in the store in USD!!! WTF??? I don't get that at all. One thing is sure, my collecting these expensive toys will be grinding to a halt.

 

[Tom Day]

Reading through this thread, Sideshow really seems to be in a tailspin. I'm sad to see this, as I remember how much I loved the figures I purchased from them over a decade ago - mostly Bond figures - figures that seemed amazing to someone whose only yardstick was the Bond figures that Action Man (of all people) put out. I loved the early Star Wars releases too, but stopped buying from them around 2006/7 because the customs charge to England was so crippling (I dread to think what it would be like now). Realistically I don't think I would ever buy from them directly with an NRD in place given that the quality seems so variable, even if they could somehow resolve the customs issue.

 

[marker2037]

What still doesn't make sense is I can order 15 different $199 figures in one order and pay no NRD, but then if I order one $224 figure I pay the NRD? Seems stupid. It should just be across the board if they're going to do it, maybe make it 5% instead of 10% so it's less of a penalty if you do cancel for legitimate reasons. All that's going to happen is people will learn to stop caring about exclusives (which means fewer SS direct orders) and will stop pre-ordering at least until a coupon is available. And SS figures with head sculpts? Everyone will just wait for in hand pics to decide if a figure is worth buying.

The whole point of the nrd is that it's a penalty. Why would they make the penalty less? That would just make it easier for people to flip flop which is exactly what they do now and what SS wants to eliminate. Legitimate reason to cancel or not, Sideshow has no clue why a customer cancels, they just know it's a cancellation and that affects them. I agree that I'll be waiting for order now until a figure become coupon eligible, but I pretty much do that now anyway, so it doesn't really affect me. And ordering PFs, I'm used to paying NRDs so again, that doesn't really affect me, but I'm also not a person who flip flops on pieces. Once I order I keep it, so I could care less about the NRD. IMO it just kills the false demand which is a good thing. So now people can't order everything in sight and then cancel it all come shipping time. If I ran Sideshow, I'd certainly have the NRD in place.

P.S. they already had an NRD once for 1/6 figures so this isn't exactly a huge change