XM Studios Magneto

[filip629]

I will ONLY order XM merch from our boys on this board, from this point forward. Most of the retailers that sell XM stock online have gone mad. I mean, this staue has made some of them absolutely crazy. Major props to Kenny, Mark, and Scoots for keeping it real, being honest peeps, and not taking advantage of fellow collectors . If you are a member of this board and wait to buy your XM merch from one of these shady online retailers...I think that's a poor choice. Everyone here knows they have options. We just need to use them.

 

[SimplyToys]

Hello Ann,

Quick question regarding the subscription service.

Why do you have to order 4 consecutive XM releases without skipping one? Why not give the customer the opportunity to pick 4 XM statues he really wants instead of 4 consecutive XM releases? You guys have the $200 anyway.

Hi Ceetee,

thank you for writing. We have been thinking about this subscription service and thinking of all the possibilities. It was rather difficult to cram everything into a single email without making it too wordly/long-winded. We really do not know how XM is going to allocate future statues to us. After this scary Magneto episode, we are just finding ways to please all customers as best as we can. However we do know we can never please all. The easy subscription service we came up with is to cater to customers who order EVERY SINGLE XM item. If you are only interested in specific upcoming statues, you can indicate your interest in individual statues using the form at https://simplytoys.us8.list-manage....ddce0b54831df1af7e&id=1ba75a15b7&e=f7c11c116b

The coins, the allocation, etc really gave us headaches on how to please all customers. If XM Studios intend to just allocate 20pcs to us and we have 18 customers who would take up the subscription service, we will have 2 of each item left for sales to other customers who are not interested in getting every single statue. If you are not interested in one of the statues, you can write to us to express interest to skip that piece and if we are able to sell it to someone else, we will definitely oblige so that you need not take the statue you really do not want. In that scenario, you need not pay deposit for that piece.

We were just thinking of an easy way to roll out the subscription, but will definitely look into our customers' special requests like having statues sent out every 2 months or to send with another customer's orders as one single shipment to save on shipping, etc. We also check with the different courier companies to provide the cheapest and/or safest method to ship out your statues.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[loricstone]

I will ONLY order XM merch from our boys on this board, from this point forward. Most of the retailers that sell XM stock online have gone mad. I mean, this staue has made some of them absolutely crazy. Major props to Kenny, Mark, and Scoots for keeping it real, being honest peeps, and not taking advantage of fellow collectors . If you are a member of this board and wait to buy your XM merch from one of these shady online retailers...I think that's a poor choice. Everyone here knows they have options. We just need to use them.

From all I have heard Simply Toys is a reputable store. I can't imagine how hard it must be to allocate limited stock to multiple companies...no matter how much or how little product they have purchased from ST in the past.

From how it sounds, maybe there is some method to SS's extremely high edition sizes on their statues....especially if this is the kind of blowback companies are dealing with. Can you imagine if there were only 800 total SS Superman PFs to sell? The whole collectible hobby would have been in an uproar because of low and very limited allocations of a highly popular character.

So from now on, I am not going to bash SS or any other company for high ES's because I can see how it would be a massive problem. No prior to this Magneto, I had heard nothing negative about ST. But now since everyone wants a Magneto and can't get one....all hell has broken loose. You know, this is why I am of the mindset that if YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE!!!! Many people had the opportunity to acquire Magneto and any other XM product WELL BEFORE this sold out. So why all this bashing of a store that no one knows nothing about in terms of ST allocation to other buyers?

I know others will disagree with this comment, but if I was ST.....I would just keep on steppin and continue doing what you have been doing for the past few years. Its up to everyone else that did not acquire Magneto or Captain America or any other XM product to just get over it.

 

[sarakawa]

Well, the updates for SimplyToys is at least a good indication they are trying to do something professionally. It does seem they are in a tight spot. I think the way they went about it was wrong however. Even if the explanation was long and wordy, they should have included it in the emails they sent out where orders were cancelled. I think that would have prevented a lot of this negativity. I think XM stuff is amazing but unless I can get it from BBTS, I think I'm gonna steer clear til the retailers get a better understanding of how to deal with the limited stock. SSC will keep me satisfied until then.

 

[keewan]

Maybe I am minority here. They are in the tough situation. So they come up with a way to promote the brand, and reward loyalty. If I still need it and didn't have all my XM statues already preordered, it's no brainer for me. They could easily make more from just selling Magneto at mark up than the rest combine at a retail discount.

 

[Spidey976]

Hi Spidey,

as mentioned, we did not cancel any order in favour of our subscription policy. The 5 pieces as mentioned were kept initially for display purposes and for the bosses' private collection. We have also explained to XM how we allocated our items and have been hounding Ben every day to ask if we are able to get more to cater to our wholesale customers and end consumers. As for wholesale customers who have ordered 100pcs when we do not even get allocated this number of statues, how can be fulfill this at all? We seek your understanding that it is is clearly impossible to fulfill such an order.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

Hello Ann

You were typing your response as I was typing mine. I see what you are saying, but you have to get that everything you are doing now seems VERY suspect. While I agree with the subscription idea. In fact I think it is brilliant, as of right now you are demanding about $5000 out of anyone who wants to get a $1000 Magneto. Now I am sure many would subscribe IF they had some more options. Like say Magneto, wolverine, Thanos, Iron Man Mark VII, and say another upcoming piece. Locking them in and insisting they buy pieces they may not want is not the way to go.

 

[SimplyToys]

Very strange decision if you ask me by Simply Toys. I can understand wanting to keep your current repeat customers happy but you're likely killing any chance of those who are first time buyers from wanting to buy from you again.

Hi Mjolnir,

we were given a small quantity of coins and we thought it would be nice gesture to say 'thank you' to our customers who have supported us in the past by buying the initial XM Studios statues when they are still a relatively new company. We are not trying to turn away new customers. But rather, we would like to send this message across to all our customers - "we are a small knitted company. No matter how minute the issue is, the priority is to take care of our regulars"

As a first time buyer, you will now be considered one of our regular customers and you will also be treated equally like the rest of our customers. In this scenario, time of order will be considered to give out freebies or extras.

Normally, we would have given priority to our elite-status members. However, since many of the XM studios statues collectors are new, not many has reached the elite member status. So we have decided to implement this method instead.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[Mqhuynh]

Hi Ann, sent you a Private message.
Just wanted to seek some clarification.

Thanks.

 

[wolf-brother]

Apparently they got a lot of request from collectors willing to buy a bundle of 4 or all future XM statues and they decided to cater to them as they are willing to drop some big bucks and include their private stock of Mags to the first five to do it to get the ball rolling on their new program.

That being said I still think peeps who were on the waitlist will not be cool with this.

 

[SimplyToys]

Hi

Hello Ann

You were typing your response as I was typing mine. I see what you are saying, but you have to get that everything you are doing now seems VERY suspect. While I agree with the subscription idea. In fact I think it is brilliant, as of right now you are demanding about $5000 out of anyone who wants to get a $1000 Magneto. Now I am sure many would subscribe IF they had some more options. Like say Magneto, wolverine, Thanos, Iron Man Mark VII, and say another upcoming piece. Locking them in and insisting they buy pieces they may not want is not the way to go.

Hi Spidey,

haha, it takes me some time to read through all the messages and trying to answer to each message that needs a reply from me as fast as I can. Oh we do make exceptions for customers who do not one particular statues. Just replied to someone who has asked about the same thing. We just did not want to type out a super lengthy essay that will take 20 mins to finish reading with all the exceptions, minor terms and conditions, etc. For customers who want to buy specific statues, we have created a form for customers to put in their requests: https://simplytoys.us8.list-manage....ddce0b54831df1af7e&id=1ba75a15b7&e=f7c11c116b

Of course we would very much like to sell as many statues to as many customers to make everyone happy. Now this decision lies with XM Studio - depending on how many statues they will allocate to us for future releases.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[filip629]

From all I have heard Simply Toys is a reputable store. I can't imagine how hard it must be to allocate limited stock to multiple companies...no matter how much or how little product they have purchased from ST in the past.

From how it sounds, maybe there is some method to SS's extremely high edition sizes on their statues....especially if this is the kind of blowback companies are dealing with. Can you imagine if there were only 800 total SS Superman PFs to sell? The whole collectible hobby would have been in an uproar because of low and very limited allocations of a highly popular character.

So from now on, I am not going to bash SS or any other company for high ES's because I can see how it would be a massive problem. No prior to this Magneto, I had heard nothing negative about ST. But now since everyone wants a Magneto and can't get one....all hell has broken loose. You know, this is why I am of the mindset that if YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE!!!! Many people had the opportunity to acquire Magneto and any other XM product WELL BEFORE this sold out. So why all this bashing of a store that no one knows nothing about in terms of ST allocation to other buyers?

I know others will disagree with this comment, but if I was ST.....I would just keep on steppin and continue doing what you have been doing for the past few years. Its up to everyone else that did not acquire Magneto or Captain America or any other XM product to just get over it.

ST is a business. This is their business tactic. I have zero problems with XM and their edition sizes. I will be the first to say that I'm ONLY getting Mags because of a good friend and one of our Singapore board members. I easily could have missed out on the piece. Well, if I did, shyte happens. I'd have to live with missing out. I made a mistake waiting on places like ST and SpecFic. I intended to order from them. That's a mistake I will NEVER make again.

I don't feel bad for any of the online retailers that had to deal with allocations. It's not hard to do the right thing. Put your ENTIRE stock up and make it first come first served on the PO's. Peeps may ***** about missing out, but that'd be it. Instead we have 'buy all of our XM pieces and future releases' to get an XM Mags. If it's not that, then there's the old...here's a Mags for $3000, PO now!

You are talking like low ES pieces are new in this industry. That's exactly what SSC was all about with there initial Marvel pieces. Just ask anyone who missed out and is chasing the old grails at high aftermarket prices. SSC and their respective dealers never went to these lengths. Could you imagine the backlash if SSC or their AD's did something along these lines?

To be honest, I don't care what ST or SpecFic does. It's their business. They can run it anyway they want. However, it's my money and I'll spend it wherever I want. With the legit options we have available to us, I know where my money is going or future XM pieces. It won't be with either ST or SpecFic.

 

[SimplyToys]

From all I have heard Simply Toys is a reputable store. I can't imagine how hard it must be to allocate limited stock to multiple companies...no matter how much or how little product they have purchased from ST in the past.

From how it sounds, maybe there is some method to SS's extremely high edition sizes on their statues....especially if this is the kind of blowback companies are dealing with. Can you imagine if there were only 800 total SS Superman PFs to sell? The whole collectible hobby would have been in an uproar because of low and very limited allocations of a highly popular character.

So from now on, I am not going to bash SS or any other company for high ES's because I can see how it would be a massive problem. No prior to this Magneto, I had heard nothing negative about ST. But now since everyone wants a Magneto and can't get one....all hell has broken loose. You know, this is why I am of the mindset that if YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE!!!! Many people had the opportunity to acquire Magneto and any other XM product WELL BEFORE this sold out. So why all this bashing of a store that no one knows nothing about in terms of ST allocation to other buyers?

I know others will disagree with this comment, but if I was ST.....I would just keep on steppin and continue doing what you have been doing for the past few years. Its up to everyone else that did not acquire Magneto or Captain America or any other XM product to just get over it.

Hi Loricstone,

thank you for your support and understanding! Yes indeed, this is a nightmare for us. Collecting toys are meant to be fun, not creating nightmares and migraines.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[SimplyToys]

Maybe I am minority here. They are in the tough situation. So they come up with a way to promote the brand, and reward loyalty. If I still need it and didn't have all my XM statues already preordered, it's no brainer for me. They could easily make more from just selling Magneto at mark up than the rest combine at a retail discount.

Hi Keewan,

thank you for your comment. We would have avoided all these backlash if we just kept these 5 pieces quietly and displayed them in the retail shops and waited for someone to offer US$2000/3000 for one statue to make us part with the display piece. Sadly, you can never please all. However, rest assured we will always maintain our policy to sell all items at prices no higher than the retail prices we have set (unless we have procured the item from different sources at much higher prices).

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[SimplyToys]

Well, the updates for SimplyToys is at least a good indication they are trying to do something professionally. It does seem they are in a tight spot. I think the way they went about it was wrong however. Even if the explanation was long and wordy, they should have included it in the emails they sent out where orders were cancelled. I think that would have prevented a lot of this negativity. I think XM stuff is amazing but unless I can get it from BBTS, I think I'm gonna steer clear til the retailers get a better understanding of how to deal with the limited stock. SSC will keep me satisfied until then.

Hi Sarakawa,

the orders that were so-called-cancelled are wholesale orders that are huge and definitely not able to be fulfilled. For instance, a retailer ordered 100pcs of Magneto via email or text to the sales manager which is even higher than the quantity allocated to us by XM Studios. Hence there is no way other than "cancelling" most of the order of 100pcs. Even if we are given all 800pcs, we cannot just be allocating 100pcs to one single retailer. Moreover, I understand from our wholesale manager all retailers understand at time of their orders their orders will not be fully fulfilled as we were given a small qty by XM Studios.

I seek your understanding after hearing our side of the story.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

 

[nemenforcer]

Personally I really like yhe ST response. Its business and I think they are being just. I've always been a loyal customer and appreciate when companies honor that. All the hate is coming from people who missed this in the first place and most who missed did so because they were trying to save money. Thats on you. Now you want a break on an exceptionally hot item when you have no relationship or history with the company. You think the shop owner is really going to sell his to you. As someone who runs a business I would favor my repeats as well over a new customer demanding top shelf treatment.

 

[sarakawa]

Personally I really like yhe ST response. Its business and I think they are being just. I've always been a loyal customer and appreciate when companies honor that. All the hate is coming from people who missed this in the first place and most who missed did so because they were trying to save money. Thats on you. Now you want a break on an exceptionally hot item when you have no relationship or history with the company. You think the shop owner is really going to sell his to you. As someone who runs a business I would favor my repeats as well over a new customer demanding top shelf treatment.

I actually like how they are responding on here as well. I think you should be careful about generalizing about everyone who has commented on the SimplyToys situation as haters who are only doing so because they missed out on magneto. I missed mags but am not upset about...whatever, I move on. The initial negative response to the SimplyToys method was an understandable one. They are doing the right thing in coming on here and giving explanations for their process. While I don't agree with some of it, I do commend them for not putting their final stock up for ridiculous scalper prices. I also think it's fine if they reward their repeat customers but that COULD have a slightly adverse effect on new customers. In the end, I for one am just commenting on what I think is right or wrong and my feelings have nothing to do with whether I got a PO for mags or not.

 

[filip629]

I actually like how they are responding on here as well. I think you should be careful about generalizing about everyone who has commented on the SimplyToys situation as haters who are only doing so because they missed out on magneto. I missed mags but am not upset about...whatever, I move on. The initial negative response to the SimplyToys method was an understandable one. They are doing the right thing in coming on here and giving explanations for their process. While I don't agree with some of it, I do commend them for not putting their final stock up for ridiculous scalper prices. I also think it's fine if they reward their repeat customers but that COULD have a slightly adverse effect on new customers. In the end, I for one am just commenting on what I think is right or wrong and my feelings have nothing to do with whether I got a PO for mags or not.

 

[yeek]

With such limited numbers the bottom line is not everyone is going to be happy with this release. Severe allocations are occurring and what Ann said is true. The retailers getting supplied by ST are most likely asking for numerous Magnetos and that's just impossible. We know collectibles get allocated to retailers often so what's the difference now? As for them handling their extra Magnetos ST is going by way of a loyalty/incentive type program. I honestly think that's the only way they can handle this since it rewards previous customers and repeat buyers. They would rather have the returning purchaser over the one who's just gonna buy Magneto and nothing else. It's hard to please everyone and this is what they feel is a fair way to deal with the situation.

 

[SurlyJ]

Hi Loricstone,

thank you for your support and understanding! Yes indeed, this is a nightmare for us. Collecting toys are meant to be fun, not creating nightmares and migraines.

Regards,
Ann
Simply Toys LLP

This. A thousand times, THIS.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

People are stupid to blame XM, and simply toys saying they are "hounding ben everday for more" dosent help esp when hes not even supposed to be selling to this region, because of some of these retails and there ways people are in turn going to facebook and complain which once again is unfair to XM for example mean people dont call up samsung or go to samsungs facebook and bash them when best buy has a bad selling tactic!