What if Sideshow changed their cancellation policy?

[Silent December]

I had to cancel a few things due some unforseen financial uhm....events (go to the classifieds and buy my stuff!) and I started to think how much it would suck if Sideshow charged like a cancellation fee or something like that. How would your buying habits change? I know there are a ton of us here who pre-order on a whim because we can always cancel later. I wonder how much Sideshow production numbers would change?

 

[The Mike]

If Sideshow charged a cancellation fee, I would only order if absolutely sure I would keep it. Right now I order whatever I want because I can cancel and it leads to getting a bunch of pieces I normally wouldn't have if I had to make snap decisions.

 

[gabberjawa]

Probably this

 

[TOE]

i don't care if they do. If they do, more power to them. As a matter of fact, I think they should.

I order what i like and most likely keep it. I rarely cancel things.

 

[Dally]

I'd stop ordering from their website. I have no problem paying an extra $10 or so when an item ships if it means that I have the luxury to cancel without charge if I so wish to do so.

 

[LordAzrael]

I'd certainly get more picky before I preorder. The big problem is you can think you're all good based on dates provided when you order - but then delays and whatnot can mean that you suddenly have a big smack in one hit. Maybe part of the solution would be to enable "flexpay" type arrangements on more products. I mean - you can flexpay a $300 statue but if you have 3 x 12" figures all hit at once its the same pain.

 

[DeadLeaves]

Probably this

HAHA, gold.

I've got more cancelled items on my SS account than shipped (well actually more processing), If I had to pay a cancellation fee it would definitely change the way I shop. Prop wouldn't impulse preorder at all, would have to sit there and really think it through on the spot rather than let other things decide the outcome later.

 

[ortiz344]

I dont think they would change because IMHO it makes it easier for items to 'sell out' (since more people are preordering them), sure a fair amount will be cancelled but a few im sure will be charged (that they may not have gotten if the didnt have a friendly preoder policy).

 

[Kibishii]

I would be preordering ALOT more items from other online shops whose prices are much lower than Sideshow's. Let's face it, we can order Hot Toys, Bowen and NONEX Sideshow cheaper from other places, but they all charge cancellation fees. This encourages us to preorder from Sideshow simply to avoid that cancellation fee.

I think if they start charging cancellation fees, they are going to be stuck with alot of NONEX pieces and other companies products and will end dropping their edition sizes dramatically.

 

[The Ringer]

It would be mass enduced panic!

 

[Agent0028]

It wouldn't effect my buying habits too much. I don't cancel all that often and when I have canceled its usually been a very difficult choice and something I really wanted to keep, but something I wanted more came along. If they changed the policy I'd likely keep my original order and miss out on the newer item or add the cost of the cancellation to the newer item and decide if it is worth the new price. Like others I would also order from other stores more often too.

 

[Darth Waller]

I've got more cancelled items on my SS account than shipped (well actually more processing), If I had to pay a cancellation fee it would definitely change the way I shop. Prop wouldn't impulse preorder at all, would have to sit there and really think it through on the spot rather than let other things decide the outcome later.

That's me as well.

 

[dr_teng]

I would shop way less, and I expect that's what the majority would do. There's so many considerations involved when you're pre-ordering items worth hundreds of bucks, especially when there's been cases (even recently) where a variety of those items come out early or late and ship in the same month. Some months, it isn't a great choice for me to spend like a grand+ on statues.

Plus, as others have mentioned, it's easy to get Sideshow statues for less than what Sideshow charges, aside from exclusives. If I'm paying a cancellation fee, I'll preorder from another online shop, or just buy it from Ebay for even less.

 

[galactiboy]

I know I'd be a bit more cautious with my pre-orders. I'd say at this point I keep over 75% over my pre-orders from Sideshow. But sometimes if I'm on the fence I'll order a figure and then wait a bit to see if its a keeper or not.

 

[lerath666]

they already DO have cancelation fees, but only on flexpay. and speaking of Flex-pay, you can now Flexpay ANYTHING.

 

[xenofreak]

call me crazy, but I think they should charge for cancellations. It seems like a big game to me. Item goes up, everyone orders, sells out, people go on waitlist, shipping email sent, many cancel, waitlist converts. WTH?

 

[DarthNeil]

You're crazy.

(but I respect your right to be crazy)

 

[KBA]

If they had the fee's I would bet the edition sizes would shrink. And I would take lower edition sizes for pieces I would never cancel over larger edition sizes just because of fence sitters that cancel after the edition size is set.

 

[The Josh]

If Sideshow charged a cancellation fee, I would only order if absolutely sure I would keep it. Right now I order whatever I want because I can cancel and it leads to getting a bunch of pieces I normally wouldn't have if I had to make snap decisions.

Same here. It would really keep me from ordering any items unless I knew I wouldn't cancel.

 

[LOTRFan]

It would likely result in lower edition sizes, but MUCH more selective ordering.