Walmart.ca Transformers Sightings and discussion

[Tiffster]

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron

I guess G1 Deco starscream is sold out from Walmart.ca. I can't find the listing anymore.

Yes currently out of stock Transformers Toys Retro The Transformers: The Movie G1 Starscream Collectible Action Figure - Adults and Kids Ages 8 and Up, 5.5-inch https://www.walmart.ca/ip/6000205667272

[wesperino]

My dead end for $21.42 was delayed and now cancelled.

[RNSrobot]

Originally Posted by wesperino

My dead end for $21.42 was delayed and now cancelled.

No! I'm sorry. =[

[The Nemesis]

Originally Posted by RNSrobot

Remember when this hobby used to be fun?

I'm seriously close to just quitting. I want to complete my Legacy Bruticus and I want the SS86 Dinobots that are supposed to come this year but it's becoming so infuriating trying to find anything that it's not worth it anymore. I was able to get like almost all of Power of the Primes and 99% of Siege just from grabbing stuff off the shelf when I went grocery shopping at Walmart. Now it's like I have to have 4 different pre-orders at 4 different places and hope that things break right so I get one of everything I want. And TRU is right out the window because they jacked all their prices up on some sort of weird "we're losing money so we'll do the one thing that basically promises we'll bleed more customers" strategy.



Because if I don't cast an expensive, wide net it means going to Toy Traders here in town. It was bad enough when I remember paying like $5 over MSRP for PotP Terrorcon Cuthroat when I couldn't find him anywhere else. Last time I went there Deluxe figures were running $10 to $15 over MSRP depending on how scarce/in demand they were. That's robbery.


With such shonky store stock out there it almost feels like the only way to combat this would be to go to the next evolution of the sightings board and instead of just posting "this is what I found" instead have a live chat where you can say "this is what I'm looking at right now" and let people tell you they need that so that everyone can buy stuff for everyone else and then trade/exchange/re-pay as needed. But that would probably be a logistical nightmare to coordinate and require a lot of trust.

Originally Posted by wesperino

My dead end for $21.42 was delayed and now cancelled.

Oh man, that really sucks. I fear that's where I'm going to end up too and I don't know what I'll do at that point because no reliable retailers have any.


I hope you're able to find an alternate way to get one.

[RNSrobot]

Originally Posted by The Nemesis

I'm seriously close to just quitting. I want to complete my Legacy Bruticus and I want the SS86 Dinobots that are supposed to come this year but it's becoming so infuriating trying to find anything that it's not worth it anymore. I was able to get like almost all of Power of the Primes and 99% of Siege just from grabbing stuff off the shelf when I went grocery shopping at Walmart. Now it's like I have to have 4 different pre-orders at 4 different places and hope that things break right so I get one of everything I want. And TRU is right out the window because they jacked all their prices up on some sort of weird "we're losing money so we'll do the one thing that basically promises we'll bleed more customers" strategy.



Because if I don't cast an expensive, wide net it means going to Toy Traders here in town. It was bad enough when I remember paying like $5 over MSRP for PotP Terrorcon Cuthroat when I couldn't find him anywhere else. Last time I went there Deluxe figures were running $10 to $15 over MSRP depending on how scarce/in demand they were. That's robbery.


With such shonky store stock out there it almost feels like the only way to combat this would be to go to the next evolution of the sightings board and instead of just posting "this is what I found" instead have a live chat where you can say "this is what I'm looking at right now" and let people tell you they need that so that everyone can buy stuff for everyone else and then trade/exchange/re-pay as needed. But that would probably be a logistical nightmare to coordinate and require a lot of trust.





Oh man, that really sucks. I fear that's where I'm going to end up too and I don't know what I'll do at that point because no reliable retailers have any.


I hope you're able to find an alternate way to get one.

Toy traders suuuucks


Btw lower mainland and Fraser Valley group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1305...567/?ref=share

[Soundwaves]

Originally Posted by RNSrobot

Toy traders suuuucks


Btw lower mainland and Fraser Valley group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1305...567/?ref=share

Love toy traders.

My niblings really look forward to going there anytime they are visiting. It's an experience for them.

If you think store like them can compete with the buying power of the Walmarts of the world, they can't.

No different than A3U.

[MapleMegatron]

Originally Posted by Tiffster

Yes currently out of stock Transformers Toys Retro The Transformers: The Movie G1 Starscream Collectible Action Figure - Adults and Kids Ages 8 and Up, 5.5-inch https://www.walmart.ca/ip/6000205667272

Thanks for the link. I signed up for the in stock alert.

Originally Posted by RNSrobot

Remember when this hobby used to be fun?

It's getting pretty darn ridiculous. With preorders, we are guaranteeing them a sale and yet they still would rather stay inefficient.

In the end, I think Hasbro's technique to issue the combiner components in different waves, unlike what they did with Combiner Wars, was a mistake. The relationship between hasbro and retailers for ordering s simply not mature enough to attempt stuff like this at a micro level. One party just won't put as much effort into making sure everything is stocked. In one or two waves, you can manage, but spread within 4 waves you're just asking for trouble.

Then again, that Earthrise Megatron/Quintesson wave never materialized in decent quantities in Canada, so it could go either way.

Originally Posted by wesperino

My dead end for $21.42 was delayed and now cancelled.

That sucks. My dead End is not cancelled yet but I think its just because it was in the same order as scraphook. They will wait till scraphook gets released and either ship me dead end if they have it by then or just cancel him.

By the way, TRU, Amazon and Walmart may still get these in stores eventually, as would winners or other toy liquidators. Those toys were clearly produced, so they will end up somewhere. Remember when Walmart got a whole batch of Siege for Black Friday for the following year? Just sucks that they couldn't be on shelves as scheduled

[ssjgoku22]

Remember, if Walmart fails you for Dead End, he's still in stock on Amazon.

[The Nemesis]

Originally Posted by Soundwaves

Love toy traders.

My niblings really look forward to going there anytime they are visiting. It's an experience for them.

If you think store like them can compete with the buying power of the Walmarts of the world, they can't.

No different than A3U.

Toy Traders is kind of fun to poke around in (though a little claustrophobic) but my main problem is that they are clearly taking advantage of the distribution issues to stick it to customers.


It was fine with them costing more when it was pretty consistent because of course as a smaller retailer they're going to have trouble competing on the margins that major chain retailers do on a consistent basis. But we went from them charging like a 15-20% premium that was relatively consistent across all similar items to charging like 30-40% depending on the demand level of the item. The fact that Wildrider at Toy Traders was $50 compared to his wavemate Tarantulas being $45 is the slap in the face because the only reason Wildrider is more expensive is very likely because it's the one thing everyone wants that nobody can find. It's essentially a very soft form of price gouging and its sketchy and exploitative as hell.



That said, thanks for the heads up ssjgoku. I might just bite the bullet and order one from Amazon as a backup/extra copy that I can sell to someone if they need it.

[RNSrobot]

Originally Posted by Soundwaves

Love toy traders.

My niblings really look forward to going there anytime they are visiting. It's an experience for them.

If you think store like them can compete with the buying power of the Walmarts of the world, they can't.

No different than A3U.

They are different than a3u. A3u prices on new product are MSRP.

Toy traders has been not just marking toys up behind that, but at *different markups.* They recently had one of the legacy stunticons priced$5 higher than his wavemates. He wasn't more expensive to acquire. He came in the same box. That's a lousy business practice and I won't support it. On top of generally lacking in customer service. Please don't make excuses for their bad choices.

It's a super fun store for kids to go to, but as far as being collector friendly or helpful...