Hasbro Toy Shop may start shipping to Canada this January

[Autovolt 127]

Originally Posted by killer_tofu

That's crazy.... so now if I want MP Starscream I can only either:
a) Toss my money over to scalpers on eBay, most likely at an 80% markup (judging by previous auctions of the old MP Starscream); or,

b) Frickin' drive down to the US, cross the border, find a Wal-Mart, and drive back???

I'm so depressed now... :'(

Soo... anybody know the exact release date at Wal-Mart in the US for MP Starscream?

Novemeber,I think?

[Rodimus Jay]

I really hate harping on about my hunt for Alternators on the boards but my complaint has to do with so called "Walmart Exclusives" as advertised on the Hasbro website.

I checked Walmarts here in London, Kitchener, Milton and Guelph (with a few stops at the Zellers too) for the Rumble and Ravage "exclusive" and neither store had them much less even heard of them.

I emailed Hasbro (and I use this term loosely) "Customer service" almost two weeks ago and have not recieved an answer to my question. My question purely was:

"I have been to my local Walmart here in London, Ontario Canada and had no luck. I even went to ones in Milton, Ontario, Guelph Ontario and even checked the stores in Kitchener, Ontario also and nothing had turned up there also. I eventually checked both the Walmart Canada and Walmart USA websites and saw nothing there.

So my question is this ... where can I find them? They are "Walmart Exclusives" yet I can't find them at any of your stores. Will I have to buy them via the Hasbro website?"

If they are purely available to US Walmarts only why can't they specify that on the Hasbro site w/a disclaimer saying Canadian stores are exempt and citing why?

Anyways, just my frustrations about Hasbro and it's distribution dealings w/certain store chains!

[Super_Megatron]

It's not Hasbro, it's Walmart. When Walmart or another store orders the toys and it's up to them how they want to distribute them. Hasbro just ships them the toys and that's the end of their involvement. You should be complaining to Walmart for not bringing them up here, not Hasbro.

Regardless Alternators Ravage and Rumble are not coming to Canadian retail, they are sold out in the US as well so can't even be imported.

[Rodimus Jay]

Ah!!! I was not aware of this SuperMegatron! I feel silly now for writting the note I did for Hasbro.

I thought Hasbro had a say in matters.

My bad!

[killer_tofu]

Originally Posted by Rodimus Jay

Ah!!! I was not aware of this SuperMegatron! I feel silly now for writting the note I did for Hasbro.

I thought Hasbro had a say in matters.

My bad!

When you're dealing with Walmart, you have NO say in the matter. Lol...

[Rodimus Jay]

killer_tofu vbmenu_register("postmenu_16755", true); : Good call there! *LOL* I'm learning stuff as I go here so a valuable lesson was learned!

[Vagabond Elf]

Originally Posted by GMfan101

Hate to hijack the thread but did any attende's ask when the hell hasbro with adjust Canadian prices? I think its alittle rediculous that we have to pay $70-80 for a leader figure when in the states their $40 and ou dollar is nearly at par. If they wonder why the leader class doesn't sell well here perhaps if they made it equal or at least $45 here I'm sure they would sell alot more.

Hasbro doesn't set the price in Canada. At some point, probably a year ago, they made a deal with the Canadian companies - remembering that WalMart Canada or TRU Canada are not the same company as the Yank stores, even though they're owned by them - to sell so many toys at such-and-such a price US. At the same time they agreed on the US-CDN exchange rate they'd use. So the current exchange rate doesn't have much bearing on prices today.

Second, there are import costs. Companies have to pay to get things across the border just like we do. There aren't many of them, but they exist. Shipping costs are higher, too, because the toy has to travel farther.

Lastly, there's economy of scale. There are more people living in New York City than there are in Canada. So the American stores can buy more toys, and get a lower cost per unit, than Canadian stores.