Hasbro's Final 2009 Transformers Q&A Answers for Cybertron.ca

[Super_Megatron]

Sorry for the confusion on the Q&A responses from the Transformers team. Here you go, and again, please pardon the delay:

Cybertron.ca: Will the K-Mart Exclusive Nebular Starscream be released in Canada?
Hasbro: At the current time, we do not have any plans to be releasing this figure in Spring 2010.

Cybertron.ca: Will Universe Powerglide, Hardhead and Skyfall be released in Canada?
Hasbro: Unfortunately, there are no plans to bring these items into the Canadian market at this time.

Cybertron.ca: When can we expect to see the new Animated figures in Canada?
Hasbro: First off, we are definitely humbled by the continued outpouring of appreciation for the Animated line. Similar to the U.S. market, we will
continue to do our best to deliver those ‘unreleased’ characters to the market, but still need to work through the plan to achieve this goal. We certainly do not want to promise anything at this point in time, but we will try our best to make this happen.

[UTF]

We taking the next questions yet? If so,

1. What is your problem with Canada, and why do we keep getting the short end of the stick?

2. Do you ever have plans to release anything? You always seem to NOT have plans.

3. WHERE THE @#%$ IS ANIMATED WRECK-GAR?!

[Robimus]

If we are not nice to Hasbro they won't answer any questions...........;)

[Pascal]

3 lame answers. Hasbro definitely does not give a shit about Canada.

[Robimus]

I guess the follow up question should be if they plan to release anything in Canada?

The impression given is that nothing is coming here.

[GMfan]

We taking the next questions yet? If so,

1. What is your problem with Canada, and why do we keep getting the short end of the stick?

2. Do you ever have plans to release anything? You always seem to NOT have plans.

3. WHERE THE @#%$ IS ANIMATED WRECK-GAR?!

1. Blame the retailers, they are responsible for ordering what comes to Canada, not Hasbro

2. Transformers get released here all the time. Just not all of them.

3. He's out there, I know because I have one.

[jacobot]

No specific plans for #1&2 because Trilingual packaging may not be approved, But could show up anyway as a Special Walmart Clearout Sale or at Winners.

We now know the TFA line is continuing with the release of Freeway Jazz et all :)

[Protoman]

Rodimus.......................

RODIMUS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Icetron]

3 lame answers. Hasbro definitely does not give a shit about Canada.

I kind of felt the same way after reading the answers.

[OneShallFall]

Rodimus.......................

RODIMUS!!!!!!!!!!!



LMAO!!!

I am so suprised you would say that. :p



And to Hasbro,I didnt want to buy anything new anyways....(does reverse psychology work here?)

[justprime]

Seems to be a lot of Grey area on the answers (are you sure your not a political wing "LOL") I would ask that if the marketing department looks at sales, determins where to and what to sell (missed the boat on animated ) and if the toys are produced a year in advance (look at the date stamped on your toys people) do they not already know how many there are to distribute and where?........... Market research/Sales projections,marketing etc. are the decisions not made well ahead of time?..........what about us here in Canada ?we do support Transformers toy sales have a couple of cons,.. why do we not seem to matter ,.. we do not get many of the exclusives.. IE..Hardhead, powerglide, skyfall will not show here..( was there ever a Canadian exclusive.... not available in the U.S.)..let alone why do we get excluded when it comes to figures released in the States but not here,.... why is the answer so illusive..where is a straight answer?

[prime13]

Similar to the U.S. market, we will
continue to do our best to deliver those ‘unreleased’ characters to the market, but still need to work through the plan to achieve this goal.

Like shit you will.

1. Blame the retailers, they are responsible for ordering what comes to Canada, not Hasbro

2. Transformers get released here all the time. Just not all of them.

3. He's out there, I know because I have one.

1. Actually, I believe the retailers can only order what's available to them.

2.Yup. Really glad we got MP Skywarp and other exclusives.

3.*NERD RAGE* Still no HA Skids over here yet... Just got Animated Shockwave appearing at Zellers a few days ago...Ugh. GP is kinda sad...

[Bruticus82]

Looking at the results of our questions, I think this should be our next question:

What exclusives do you plan to offer to Canadian retailers in spring/summer of 2010?

[Stapler]

I'm really worried that MP Grimlock may end up as MP Starscream and miss Canada altogether. Hopefully MP Skywarp is a sign to expect Grimlock and not just a bone thrown to us.
And to those upset that we Canadians miss out on things, just thank your lucky stars that we get what we do. The UK has been putting up with worse for ages now.

[Batman]

I was really hoping for Hardhead :(

I will keep my fingers crossed for the rest of Animated.

[Delta-Raven]

3 lame answers. Hasbro definitely does not give a shit about Canada.

My first impression as well.

[Alexander Quinn]

Hasbro must like helping support Ebay, customs taxes and the stolen Chinese toy trade. Thanks a bunch guys.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

If we are not nice to Hasbro they won't answer any questions...........;)
That seems to be their preference regardless.

[renegade_decepticon]

I'm just wondering when will hasbro release out the legends devastator pack for Canada?

[Pascal]

1. Actually, I believe the retailers can only order what's available to them.

Exactly. If Hasbro decides to not produce certain toys with bilingual or trilingual packaging, retailers can't do shit about it.

[Animelee]

Guys, it's not like they don't give a shit about us.

It's just that they don't give half a shit about us.

[Nocturn]

You too, hasbro. You too.

[GMfan]

1. Actually, I believe the retailers can only order what's available to them.


Everything is made available to them, they have a choice of all items produced. Even if there is a store exclusive that we don't have in Canada (IE Target, K-mart) it is made available to other retailers to pick up.

Exactly. If Hasbro decides to not produce certain toys with bilingual or trilingual packaging, retailers can't do shit about it.

That is not how it works. If the item is picked up by a retailer the packaging is made after for the languages required. Canadian release does not depend on if packaging is available because if it means more money they'll make it. In this case there was probably a lack of interest from Wal-mart Canada possibly due to poor sales of the previous Universe 2.0 Ultras.

[Pascal]

Source?

[Nocturn]

Walmart/Toys R' Us/Zellers.

[Pascal]

I want to hear it from official sources or it never happened. :)

[pulsedragon20]

pretty bad answers, if can even call those answers.

[CobraCommander]

Let's face it we are a significantly a smaller secondary market, what maybe 5-10% of Hasbro's sales? You can't expect them to put much effort if the returns aren't there :(

[FreedomGundam]

Just a somewhat unrelated question:
Does Cybertron.ca's staff pick the 3 questions for Hasbro to answer, or does Hasbro get the batch of "approved" questions (which I hope is more than 3) that the Cybetron.ca staff sends them and they pick which ones they want to answer?

[soundwaveCA]

1. Blame the retailers, they are responsible for ordering what comes to Canada, not Hasbro

This! And this is true for every region not just Canada. BTW when it comes to availability of toys I just want to remind people that Americans have just as many problems finding this stuff as we do.

That is not how it works. If the item is picked up by a retailer the packaging is made after for the languages required. Canadian release does not depend on if packaging is available because if it means more money they'll make it. In this case there was probably a lack of interest from Wal-mart Canada possibly due to poor sales of the previous Universe 2.0 Ultras.

Retailers in Canada don't necessarily have to conform to the trilingual packaging, only Quebec really. Hasbro has definitely released a good share of English only packaging recently (G1 reissues for example.

3 lame answers. Hasbro definitely does not give a shit about Canada.

Considering the same type of corporate answers are given to every site and not just this one makes this statement just a little unfair. I think people are expecting a bit too much from these Q@A sessions, yes we would all like to hear the real answer but what do you expect.

I'm just as unhappy with some the answers given as everyone else but I hardly think it's worth breaking out the torches and pitchforks over. And I have to say in Hasbro's defense as well that they really do try and get everything out up here. After hearing them talk at TFcon I know for a fact they try very hard to satisfy the fans here and it's upsetting to see all the Hasbro hate flying around in this thread. As far as I'm concerned they are to be commended for their work in bringing Transformers to Canadian shelves as they do a pretty good job. And like I quoted GMfan at the beginning of this post it's ultimately up to retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us to decide to stock particular exclusives or not.

[blitz]

*snip* In this case there was probably a lack of interest from Wal-mart Canada possibly due to poor sales of the previous Universe 2.0 Ultras.Yah I think that was probably one of the reasons why they had a clearence on those and you can still find some shelf warmers around.

*snip* Considering the same type of corporate answers are given to every site and not just this one makes this statement just a little unfair. I think people are expecting a bit too much from these Q@A sessions, yes we would all like to hear the real answer but what do you expect. *snip*Yah I'm just not as happy with the answers too but atleast Hasbro tried and did answer some of the questions. They don't have to do these Q&As and then we'll never find out if those exclusives get released or not until they are all gone. I was looking forward to getting those Universe 2.0 Ultras at retail too.:(

[jacobot]

Sorry for the confusion...

Cybertron.ca: Will the K-Mart Exclusive Nebular Starscream be released in Canada?
Hasbro: At the current time, we do not have any plans to be releasing this figure in Spring 2010.

Cybertron.ca: Will Universe Powerglide, Hardhead and Skyfall be released in Canada?
Hasbro: Unfortunately, there are no plans to bring these items into the Canadian market at this time.
Everything is made available to them, they have a choice of all items produced. Even if there is a store exclusive that we don't have in Canada (IE Target, K-mart) it is made available to other retailers to pick up.

That is not how it works. If the item is picked up by a retailer the packaging is made after for the languages required. Canadian release does not depend on if packaging is available because if it means more money they'll make it. In this case there was probably a lack of interest from Wal-mart Canada possibly due to poor sales of the previous Universe 2.0 Ultras.

If Hasbro doesn't plan to release or bring it to Canadian retailer, How is it the retailer's choice?:confused:

[justprime]

Maybe Hasbro could open up a venue .... mail ins or company outlet,... internet store...HERE,.. something that would provide the collector axcess to the figures not comming to Canada..... we are not the regular walk in customers in this regard we are trying to add to our collection we search and spend the "top dollar" for those pieces,..... I would like to see a little effort towards us ( we are still customers and persentage of sales to this contry is a redundant excuse one could then say why sell here at all,.... we still count as sales and there for are worth the effort )... these pages here seem to say there are a lot of frustrated collectors,...trying to find new product (not to mention vintage toys,) I would like to spend my dollars here not chasing new toy releases in the U.S. such as the animated line( buster magnus, atomic lugnut, wreckgar, limited exclusive figures etc, by the way the U.S. already is seeing the next release of ROTF pieces such as dirge, bludgeon, nest figures I have found that it will usally take 3 months before I come across them here if they show at all) just a perspective from my part I have been collecting TF since 84 (America, Japan,Europe) to date so I see the frustration that a Grey area answer on releases causes for us the collecting community

[Super_Megatron]

Source?

Direct from Hasbro Canada.

[jacobot]

A long time ago... For me anyway
Grade 9 Economics 101 we learned Canada is a Branch Plant Economy: They make/take what they are given... And we like it ;)

Zellers, Winners etc. will buy US/English only Exclusive or not product if the price is right and hawk it here... It's Hasbro that doesn't see any profit in it thus no intention/plans to sell it here.


Canadian Slag - YES :)

[Pascal]

Direct from Hasbro Canada.

I find it surprising, given the Universe stuff is shelfwarming the US like crazy too. I wonder why 2 similar results give 2 different decisions.

[Robimus]

In the spirit of fairness towards Hasbro we did see the odd product before the USA did. Activators Cliffjumper comes to mind.

For other Hasbro lines we saw the G.I.Joe: Combat Heroes Wave 3 months before the USA did, same with The Clone Wars Plo Koon and Mace Windu Battle Packs at Zellers.

We do get the odd treat like that:D

[Prowl_2009]

^^ You know, I've been wondering that myself, Pascal. :confused:

[Pascal]

I think the confusion comes from the way their answers are worded. They should not say "We don't have any plans in bringing those products to the canadian market", it makes it sound as if it was THEIR call. They should instead readily admit "Retailers aren't showing any interest in the products we are offering". But from a PR perspective, it would make them look like idiots.

[Prowl_2009]

^^ True, I feel their answers are worded the way they are to save face in the public's eye for the most part.

[Matrix_Holder]

We taking the next questions yet? If so,

1. What is your problem with Canada, and why do we keep getting the short end of the stick?

2. Do you ever have plans to release anything? You always seem to NOT have plans.

3. WHERE THE @#%$ IS ANIMATED WRECK-GAR?!


1- right on, they give us pittance now and then. I managed a toy store a few years ago and there were things I wanted to order from hasblo and they said that "that item is not offered to your region". in other words... you should have been born in the usa.

2.They know exactly what they are going to release and when, they just don't want to piss off canadians more than they already do...they still want our "monopoly" money.

3. back to answer 1. why should they spend money on a canceled line of toys just to show some good will to their canadian fans by making multi language boxes so we can get them too.

I find these question periods with hasbro meaningless. they never answer really the questions and basically flip us the bird with at least one of their answers.

[Super_Megatron]

Just because you get answers you don't like it doesn't mean the sessions are meaningless. When there are questions worth answering like will product x be released in Canada we receive answers straight from the source where in the past this was not possible. Chill out with the negativity towards Hasbro, they can only release what products retailers are willing to buy, it's not like they don't want to make money. Think about it.

[GMfan]

A long time ago... For me anyway
Grade 9 Economics 101 we learned Canada is a Branch Plant Economy: They make/take what they are given... And we like it ;)

Zellers, Winners etc. will buy US/English only Exclusive or not product if the price is right and hawk it here... It's Hasbro that doesn't see any profit in it thus no intention/plans to sell it here.


Canadian Slag - YES :)

Just because you get answers you don't like it doesn't mean the sessions are meaningless. When there are questions worth answering like will product x be released in Canada we receive answers straight from the source where in the past this was not possible. Chill out with the negativity towards Hasbro, they can only release what products retailers are willing to buy, it's not like they don't want to make money. Think about it.

QTF all my responses in this thread have been acquired through talking to Hasbro Canada personally, because I like to know how these things work so I can share that information with the community so they are a little more rational and less Hasbro hating. Crazy I know, but I believe that in a perfect world people will run on facts instead of conjecture.

[Matrix_Holder]

its not the retailers fault. when I was ordering toys for the shop I was managing they wouldn't sell most of the Gijoe figures to canada, the majority of the figure waves and vehicle and 2 packs were USA only, I would argue with the customer service reps all the time to no avail. they also never offered the last few waves of beast machines too. it is what hasbro decides to offer to canada, not what retailers want to order.

[GMfan]

Not to step on your store but...single store vs mass retail.....if I were a betting man if mass retail picked them up, you'd be able to get them.

[Super_Megatron]

If Walmart and TRU are not interested in ordering a product it's not going to be imported for a small retail store. Not worth the time and effort.

[jacobot]

If Walmart and TRU are not interested in ordering a product it's not going to be imported for a small retail store. Not worth the time and effort.

Just replace the words 'retail store' with 'country' and we're all on the same page here ;)


I love this great American toy maker... It's just the word 'plan' that makes it sound like they had no intention of giving us all thier plastic goodness. Fortunately... Best laid plans can go awry and the stuff shows up here some how anyway :)

[Aernaroth]

As irritating as it is, we really can't be surprised when Hasbro chooses to not shift its efforts on a line that is apparently shelfwarming to a region with 1/10th the population of its main market.

I think that if you guys don't want to keep hearing "We're not planning on bringing that possibly exclusive product with a nebulous release schedule up to Canada" for every answer, then just stop asking those questions, and just wait for them to release info if it will be. Distribution isn't great, but we're a relatively small market, and I think we have it way better than some other regions, such as Europe.

When are we starting up the next round of question submissions?

[GMfan]

Just replace the words 'retail store' with 'country' and we're all on the same page here ;)


Except that Hasbro will ship to your "small country" if the "large retailers" pick up product. I don't understand what you're trying to imply with this statement.

I think the big confusion here is this is about business and for some reason there are some that seem to see these decisions are based on a dislike of the country which is ridiculous to say the least.

[jacobot]

Yeah, it's just business... TFB
Where else can we cry about the toys we are shown here but can't get... easily :(

[Prowler]

Yeah, it's just business... Where else can we cry about the toys we are shown but can't get... easily :(

No one ever said we were guarunteed to get any of those exclusives anyways. People just assumed we were and that's their first mistake. We're shown Japanese versions of toys too, some that we don't get and some we do. See? it's the same thing, but this crying about not getting them easily is sad.

Instead of bitching and complaining about these answers try to appreciate the time Hasbro took to answer these and maybe try to organize getting some of these still available figures from the US somehow while there is still time instead of blaming them for not placing them on your doorstep.

Seriously, thanks Hasbro for these Q and As. If you're reading, hope this will continue in 2010.

[Mighty_Galvatron]

At least we have the ability to order the figures that are not released here through various web-stores. This allows us to "fill in the missing pieces" in our collections.

...if I see Animated...I buy Animated...all Animated, everywhere.

...oh, and we did get most of the Animated line here so far. I only had to order a couple.

[Pascal]

there are some that seem to see these decisions are based on a dislike of the country which is ridiculous to say the least.

You shouldn't read those comments at the first degree, you know how it works.

[Paradigm-Shift Prime]

3. WHERE THE @#%$ IS ANIMATED WRECK-GAR?!


3. He's out there, I know because I have one.

Just to clarify, no, Animated Wreck-Gar never got to Cdn retail. I'm not complaining, just don't want people confused, as really he hasn't been 'out there' in terms of a Cdn release.

And yeah, retailers do have to pick up on stock for it to make it here, and our Cdn retails tend to be rather fickle and uniformed/behind the game on what product to bring in to make it sell (though it does have to be produced in bi- or tri-lingual packaging for that to be a possibility).

[joshimus]

You know what I REALLY want fixed by Hasbro?
Get a REAL CANADIAN (like oh say Hasbro Canada :p ) ONLINE STORE where shipping doesn't cost 35.00 for an item.
I was gonna order Voyager Long Haul (before we finally got him) and not only do NONE of the promo codes work for Canadians. I inputed 2 codes, one for free shipping and one 20% off, so after customs takes their share, I basically get Long Haul for retail cost or maybe 5 bucks more, but when I filled out my canadian address, reverted to regular prices.
Went to checkout anyway, figured I was SOL with the discounts but to my surprise shipping was, and I kid you not, 35.00 (35.54 or something) So I passed on it.

Of all the issues we Canadians have with aquiring new or HTF toys or having to resort to paying more on ebay and all that crap, a well put effort at making HasbroToyShopCanada.ca a reality would make me MORE than happy. If I could GET U.S. Exclusives or toys that didn't make it to Canadian retail from THEIR site, I think that alone would make us fans bitch a LOT less about the whole issue.
I relize if I told Hasbro that I have a room full of TFs, Star Wars, GI Joes and Marvel (some during Hasbros take-over) they won't give a shit about helping me aquire hard to get toys.
I STILL want the damn Cloverfeild Monster AND the new Rancor that they repainted from the Force Unleashed line!!!
I already have the POTF Rancor and Luke, but this new Rancor looks WAY nicer....BUT I CAN'T GET IT except online.
See Hasbro?! Help Canadians who support you buy giving us the means to buy what we can't get at a fair market price.

[jourdo]

Looking at the results of our questions, I think this should be our next question:

What exclusives do you plan to offer to Canadian retailers in spring/summer of 2010?

This is a great question, as opposed to the will toy X be available.

Maybe Hasbro could open up a venue .... mail ins or company outlet,... internet store...HERE

This is one area where I commend Mattel for having a collector oriented online store. They even started carrying retail waves of the DC Universe figures as the distribution has been so crappy. I don't see why the same type of thing could not work for a company like Hasbro.

I think the confusion comes from the way their answers are worded. They should not say "We don't have any plans in bringing those products to the canadian market", it makes it sound as if it was THEIR call. They should instead readily admit "Retailers aren't showing any interest in the products we are offering". But from a PR perspective, it would make them look like idiots.

If it was the retailers that were not interested, I would agree that they should just come out and say it. That gives us someone else to use our Official Cybertron.ca Pitchforks (patent pending) on.

[OneShallFall]

You know what I REALLY want fixed by Hasbro?
Get a REAL CANADIAN (like oh say Hasbro Canada :p ) ONLINE STORE where shipping doesn't cost 35.00 for an item.
I was gonna order Voyager Long Haul (before we finally got him) and not only do NONE of the promo codes work for Canadians. I inputed 2 codes, one for free shipping and one 20% off, so after customs takes their share, I basically get Long Haul for retail cost or maybe 5 bucks more, but when I filled out my canadian address, reverted to regular prices.
Went to checkout anyway, figured I was SOL with the discounts but to my surprise shipping was, and I kid you not, 35.00 (35.54 or something) So I passed on it.

Of all the issues we Canadians have with aquiring new or HTF toys or having to resort to paying more on ebay and all that crap, a well put effort at making HasbroToyShopCanada.ca a reality would make me MORE than happy. If I could GET U.S. Exclusives or toys that didn't make it to Canadian retail from THEIR site, I think that alone would make us fans bitch a LOT less about the whole issue.
I relize if I told Hasbro that I have a room full of TFs, Star Wars, GI Joes and Marvel (some during Hasbros take-over) they won't give a shit about helping me aquire hard to get toys.
I STILL want the damn Cloverfeild Monster AND the new Rancor that they repainted from the Force Unleashed line!!!
I already have the POTF Rancor and Luke, but this new Rancor looks WAY nicer....BUT I CAN'T GET IT except online.
See Hasbro?! Help Canadians who support you buy giving us the means to buy what we can't get at a fair market price.


X 1000

Dont we buy enough to deserve it?:confused:

[faustx]

Why is everyone complaining? Those of us who have been working on this have already located all of the current releases and can make them available at cost + shipping (WreckGar, Target/Walmart Exclusives). Sure it's nice to get them while already at our local big box...but most of us already spend way too much time running all over town looking for things for hours when there are more efficient ways that don't involve the time value of money.

Retailers are not the only source of bots boys and girls....haven't been for some time. Check my sales thread and the threads of the people near Detroit and Buffalo for other good leads. The US TF boards often have people with US exclusives willing to ship for reasonable rates too.

PM if you are looking for something specific...when we all work together this works smooth and everyone is happy.

[Echotransformer]

I've noticed that many of the Zellers exclusives have not sold well...and Zellers ordered 'too many' and seemed to stock 'too many' and thus we (as in most of the TF community, myself included) waited for a sale price (i.e. ROTF Superion, Bruticus, etc.) Profits diminshed, and product is STILL on the shelves. Twinkie TFA Ratchet, anyone?

Either way I'm not surprised they (or other retailers) aren't doing some of the exclusives this year...I'm disappointed, but not surprised.

For the big bots (i.e. Roll out Prime, Devy) I also try and wait for a sale...is this game of cat and mouse hurting sales and profits to the point we don't get all the releases?

For the record, I heartily support a beefed up HTS and think that's a nice solution. Sounds like a question for the next round--can we get shipping rates lower from HTS? Look at Automaton--flat rate, $9.99, anywhere in Canada. Compare that to $35 for Long Haul, and something is surely amiss.

Perhaps HTS Canada is actually shipping out of the US and not a Canadian warehouse?

I'd offer my basement as a warehouse for them. ;-)

[joshimus]

Not only that, but when online u.s. stores like BigBadToyStore can ship cheaper to Canada, it makes you wonder how a powerhouse like Hasbro can't.
I got Buster Prime from them recently and shipping was still roughly under 20.00 but even Buster Prime being a larger figure is still cheaper than Long Haul from HTS.
That said I still would't pay 15.00 to have Long Haul mailed out to me buy Hasbro. Not saying I expect it to be 5.00 but 10.00 is a more reasonable price range than 35.
I honestly think it's in Hasbros best interest to get MUCH better shipping options to Canada. If they ship it out of the Hasbro U.S. site that means high shipping costs and potentially customs too. This in no way inspires me to order from them. The only way they can grab the canadian online market, assuming they give a damn and they honestly SHOULD, is by having a HTSC where items are shipped from a Canadian warehouse.
I wonder if they are even discussing this as a possibility? It makes sense from a business standpoint. We may be a small Country compared to U.S., but we aren't THAT small.
Also if they aren't fixing the shipping rates, wouldn't hurt to have canadian promo codes that WORKED. U.S. gets them with WAY cheaper prices AND shipping costs, so why can't we at least get some sort of discount?!

Also wouldn't hurt if they didn't have 7 months of wave 1 and 2 when wave 5 and 6 are already out in the u.s., but that could also be a retailers issue and not a Hasbro one.

[GMfan]

Rant much?

Please people, rational discussion ^ these are useless

[faustx]

Was there any doubt about where they ship from? It's almost certainly from Hasbro US distribution networks, hence the prices.

Can anyone confirm an order they made online that came from a Hasbro address within Canada to dispute it?

[Grayfox]

I do believe Hasbro explained at some point that the high shipping rates are to cover for custom fees. While $35 to ship a voyager toy from the US to Canada is exagerated, it makes more sense when you figure customs fees in the amount. When ordering from BBTS for example, shipping was indeed lower than HTS', but I did have to pay custom fees (not always though). I'm not entirely taking Hasbro's side, but I understand an increased shipping price. Just try and order something from amazon.com and look at the crazy shipping fees. They also explain that they cover for the customs.

Overall, it's understandable that they'd charge more, but really, when they came up with canadian shipping from HTS, they should've thought about a warehouse in the country like others have said.

[justprime]

Don't they already have a distribution center/office in Qubec?

[justprime]

QTF all my responses in this thread have been acquired through talking to Hasbro Canada personally, because I like to know how these things work so I can share that information with the community so they are a little more rational and less Hasbro hating. Crazy I know, but I believe that in a perfect world people will run on facts instead of conjecture.


First let me say thank you for your effort I beleive that it is worthwhile I have to add as I have also delt with suppliers/Manufactrers... that sometimes the information is incorrect even comming from soarce or disinformation to avoid loosing/looking foolish or cranking people up, my question to you : does hasbro read and Understand the anger and frustration from us the collecting cummunity here in Canada,.. are there any plans to try and resolve it

[justprime]

Not only that, but when online u.s. stores like BigBadToyStore can ship cheaper to Canada, it makes you wonder how a powerhouse like Hasbro can't.
I got Buster Prime from them recently and shipping was still roughly under 20.00 but even Buster Prime being a larger figure is still cheaper than Long Haul from HTS.
That said I still would't pay 15.00 to have Long Haul mailed out to me buy Hasbro. Not saying I expect it to be 5.00 but 10.00 is a more reasonable price range than 35.
I honestly think it's in Hasbros best interest to get MUCH better shipping options to Canada. If they ship it out of the Hasbro U.S. site that means high shipping costs and potentially customs too. This in no way inspires me to order from them. The only way they can grab the canadian online market, assuming they give a damn and they honestly SHOULD, is by having a HTSC where items are shipped from a Canadian warehouse.
I wonder if they are even discussing this as a possibility? It makes sense from a business standpoint. We may be a small Country compared to U.S., but we aren't THAT small.
Also if they aren't fixing the shipping rates, wouldn't hurt to have canadian promo codes that WORKED. U.S. gets them with WAY cheaper prices AND shipping costs, so why can't we at least get some sort of discount?!

Also wouldn't hurt if they didn't have 7 months of wave 1 and 2 when wave 5 and 6 are already out in the u.s., but that could also be a retailers issue and not a Hasbro one.

it would seem Hasbro has some control of when toys hit the shelves remember TF/07 movie Zellers was putting the product on shelves before release date( sticker on box read "not to be released before..") and when this was discovered they were promptly told to take product off of shelf this happen in a number of stores an over site by staff however it does suggest that there is control over product release and possibly where....casn any one conferim this

[Super_Megatron]

HTS is not run by Hasbro employees. The name is leased to a 3rd party that is in the US. They do not use the Canadian warehouse which retailers receive product from, this is why shipping is so high.

[faustx]

HTS is not run by Hasbro employees. The name is leased to a 3rd party that is in the US. They do not use the Canadian warehouse which retailers receive product from, this is why shipping is so high.

Heh, that explains something I've been wondering about for some time now. Once, during resolution on a group buy purchased from HTS, when an order got lost entirely, the Hasbro customer service couldn't provide any specific warehouse level details of what had happened...they kept telling me they would have to submit a query to "another team". Clearly, the lack of direct access to the 3rd party team members creates a choked information flow that forces issue resolution to take longer than it should....good to know...thanks!

james

[GMfan]

does hasbro read and Understand the anger and frustration from us the collecting cummunity here in Canada,.. are there any plans to try and resolve it

I know for a fact that Habsro Canada tries it's hardest to give the Canadians what they want, they're always open to criticisms and look for ways to improve. Honestly, they'll be at TFcon...talk to them, let them know, because believe me, be it Hasbro Canada or Hasbro US, they're a great team that only try their hardest to give us fans and collectors what we want.

[Richter]

When they get questions like this it also shows that we have interest in various things, which will probably change their future plans.

As for getting things from the US market, it's never impossible to do, it just requires a (maybe long) car trip, or a phone call to a US buddy and some shipping money.

Andrew

Just because you get answers you don't like it doesn't mean the sessions are meaningless. When there are questions worth answering like will product x be released in Canada we receive answers straight from the source where in the past this was not possible. Chill out with the negativity towards Hasbro, they can only release what products retailers are willing to buy, it's not like they don't want to make money. Think about it.

[Metroplex79]

Dear Hasbro, we have money to buy your products. Will there be anything good to buy for 2010? Or anything for that matter?

:p
=======================================
If we don't have numbers buying their stuff to affect their bottom line, then it appears there's 2 things to do...

1. Make lots of kids

or if that's not appealing to you...

2. Clone ourselves a few times

Yeah, I got nothing constructive to add.

Oh wait...maybe instead of asking what might or might not come up here, maybe ask what is.

I'm all for a Hasbro Canada store.

Another stupid thought, would getting to Canadian tv stations to play more TF help get the kids into buying more product? Currently Teletoon Retro is only playing G1. I think it's about time Beast Wars is back on tv...it's been 10 years. YTV only plays the series that's current, and FOX used to help out a little.

I mourn for the unmade G1 Robot Heroes...

[Prowl_2009]

^^ LOL. :p

[Whatigot]

Yeah...
Come on Hasbro.

Open an online store for canadians eh...
consider the low overhead and we are used to paying significantly inflated rates for hard to find exclusives.

Maybe we should start a petition....lol

[GMfan]

Maybe we should start a petition....lol

You won't be starting one on this site.

[OneShallFall]

This is serious business.

[Whatigot]

Come on guys.
I don't know how much of my hard earned cash I have put into Hasbro but I'm sure if they check me, they'll find nothing but love.

I don't think Hasbro would be surprised to see that Canadian TF fans are unsatisfied with their choices compared to other countries.

However,
For whatever reason, it's not a good business decision for Hasbro to offer us a little more and that's just a dollars and cents thing, not personal against Canada. Hasbro has been around for a while and they are obviously business savy and aware of this market's size and potential but maybe with enough loud voices saying please please please they might at least take a closer look.

It's not a bad thing to have your fanbase so hungry for more of your product is it?

I wasn't trying to start anything...
Just to make sure the good people at Hasbro know that we're here for them.