Alter Ego Comics

[SwedishHeat]

Lando is slightly cheaper ($1.50) to order at KGHobby, over Sideshow. Mysterio is slightly more expensive (50 cents). For the peace of mind of avoiding Sideshow, I'll gladly pay the extra 50 cents.

It's just crazy that instead of providing better service to entice customers, they're providing worse service (hiding the Iron Man exchange program, "Sorry, they're all like that, we can't exchange it for something better", expiring Reward Points, limiting the amount of discounts they're giving out) and even further, punishing retailers for providing better service.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Big time d*** move by Sideshow here. They already control all stock so thus have a huge built in advantage as they can ship to their customers first and it's particularly pointed because of the way figures have recently been slowly trickled out in small batches. So the smaller retailers have survived by offering little incentives like free shipping and no tax which in turn helps collectors stay in the hobby. This is not just an attack on smaller retailers just trying to fairly compete, but also an attack on collectors in general.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Alter Ego should report Sideshow for throwing around codes for reward points... or better yet, Alter Ego should start doing reward codes themselves. Sideshow couldn't complain then.

 

[FlyAndFight]

I received the email from Alter Ego regarding SS's strong-arming but more devastating was the news of Marc's wife's diagnosis. Prayers go out to the both them and their family.

 

[Gipetto0812]

I received the email from Alter Ego regarding SS's strong-arming but more devastating was the news of Marc's wife's diagnosis. Prayers go out to the both them and their family.

I agree. His wife going through what she is and the procedure she's having, no words can describe. My mom had a scare like this when I was in college, but luckily it was caught just in time that nothing had to be done aside from initial medication. Hope all goes well with her

As for the topic at hand: AE has been my go to outside of Sideshow Exclusives since about 2009. They're such good ppl. Much better than any of the retailers in my own town that I gladly buy from them than dealing with my local guys who still order their stock from a Previews paper catalog. I love their rewards system and they give you a bonus for your birthday every year. Hopefully their accountant finds that they don't actually have to charge sales tax and they're about to fight back Sideshow with this ridiculous claim.

 

[matticus]

Clearly Sideshow is tightening the screws. Not sure what happened, maybe did some number crunching or loss of sales or some third party lawyer shark, but they are flexing their muscle in regards to Hot Toys.

Going from point A to point B, they have used whatever leverage they can to get it exactly their way. It seems like it has paid off too as TW took a hit, they ship when HK releases a fig, copied Justin's Collection reviews day 1 and now this. They are the shark now, but will it pay off long term?

 

[uticajc2]

So I just received this email from Marc at Alter Ego Comics. Basically Sideshow flagged them, and they’re being forced to charge shipping and possibly taxes. The email I received in part is below.

How can someone tell you that you can't ship your items for free, Sideshow have free shipping on a lot of their item........WTF..........

 

[uticajc2]

So I just received this email from Marc at Alter Ego Comics. Basically Sideshow flagged them, and they’re being forced to charge shipping and possibly taxes. The email I received in part is below.

How can someone tell you that you can't ship your items for free? Sideshow ships a lot of their items for free!! WTF.......

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

How can someone tell you that you can't ship your items for free? Sideshow ships a lot of their items for free!! WTF.......

Indeed. Tax laws and how they apply to different companies is also none of Sideshow's business. They are clearly overstepping here and frankly just being @ssholes.

 

[SwedishHeat]

I believe there are conditions to being an authorized retailer. Sideshow's interest is in maintaining retail price and avoiding the perception that their products are discounted, basically they want to avoid how threezero's products can often be scored at significant discounts, with people picking of GoT figs for $80 on Amazon.

AEC's promotion of Hot Toys products with 'free shipping' and 'no tax' presumably violates the conditions, in Sideshow's opinion. They can't force other companies to charge tax, but they can say 'your activities devalue the brand' and take action from there.

 

[Bleah]

I believe there are conditions to being an authorized retailer. Sideshow's interest is in maintaining retail price and avoiding the perception that their products are discounted, basically they want to avoid how threezero's products can often be scored at significant discounts, with people picking of GoT figs for $80 on Amazon.

AEC's promotion of Hot Toys products with 'free shipping' and 'no tax' presumably violates the conditions, in Sideshow's opinion. They can't force other companies to charge tax, but they can say 'your activities devalue the brand' and take action from there.

But does it really devalue the product just because of free shipping and no tax? The product only devalues if it was poorly done or has no demand for it. Were any of those $80 GoT figures highly sought after?

 

[SwedishHeat]

But does it really devalue the product just because of free shipping and no tax? The product only devalues if it was poorly done or has no demand for it. Were any of those $80 GoT figures highly sought after?

Yes, there are tons of 'premium' brands out there that do not allow discounting or promotions, or tightly restrict such activities.

For example, I used to work for a DIY jewelry store, that sold beads and string and what have you, to make your own jewelry. They sold Swarovski crystals, which were a hot seller, we used to always sell them at 50% off. Just recently, Swarovski made the decision to exit the DIY market altogether, because they didn't want their crystals to be sold on Etsy, craft fairs, etc. There was confusion in the marketplace because you'd hear that Jennifer Lopez wore a dress with thousands of Swarovski crystals on it, but then you'd go online and realize you could buy a thousand Swarovski crystals for a hundred dollars or so. The Swarovski brand wanted to be premium, so they changed how they were sold.

People here think Sideshow products are crap, so they should be sold at a lower price. That's irrelevant. Beats headphones are crap, but they're always sold at high prices, so they're perceived as high quality. Sideshow is increasingly going after the 'pop culture' customer, and less after a 'collector' customer, they're positioning their products and Hot Toys products as high quality by tightly restricting how they're sold. It's why they're so severely allocating retailers and causing sell out, trying to create a 'fear of missing out'.

 

[Entropy]

FOMO is definitely a manipulative marketing trick. “Oh, BBTS and others are ‘sold out’ of a preorder. Better act fast and order from SS”

 

[Bleah]

I can understand what you're saying about the perceived value but Alter Ego is not selling Hot Toys cents to a dollar. It is still priced at MSRP. It's not discounted. Free shipping and no tax still doesn't affect the perceived value of an item. If FOMO, and as a result scarcity, is the goal, Sideshow themselves should limit their own preorders. As it stands, their preorders are up until the product is released for regular non-event items. People can also still buy at release as well.

You want a good example of manipulative FOMO? Look to Bandai. They do it well. Preorders sell out in minutes without them or their distributor bullying their retailers for offering free shipping and not collecting taxes.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Yes, there are tons of 'premium' brands out there that do not allow discounting or promotions, or tightly restrict such activities.

For example, I used to work for a DIY jewelry store, that sold beads and string and what have you, to make your own jewelry. They sold Swarovski crystals, which were a hot seller, we used to always sell them at 50% off. Just recently, Swarovski made the decision to exit the DIY market altogether, because they didn't want their crystals to be sold on Etsy, craft fairs, etc. There was confusion in the marketplace because you'd hear that Jennifer Lopez wore a dress with thousands of Swarovski crystals on it, but then you'd go online and realize you could buy a thousand Swarovski crystals for a hundred dollars or so. The Swarovski brand wanted to be premium, so they changed how they were sold.

People here think Sideshow products are crap, so they should be sold at a lower price. That's irrelevant. Beats headphones are crap, but they're always sold at high prices, so they're perceived as high quality. Sideshow is increasingly going after the 'pop culture' customer, and less after a 'collector' customer, they're positioning their products and Hot Toys products as high quality by tightly restricting how they're sold. It's why they're so severely allocating retailers and causing sell out, trying to create a 'fear of missing out'.

Yup, Levi's and Nike do this as well (or at least used to). Retailers are only allowed to do sales every now and you can never use a coupon on them or other brands. If you look at the fine print on a lot of department store coupons, you see there are certain brands you can't use it on.

I can understand what you're saying about the perceived value but Alter Ego is not selling Hot Toys cents to a dollar. It is still priced at MSRP. It's not discounted. Free shipping and no tax still doesn't affect the perceived value of an item. If FOMO, and as a result scarcity, is the goal, Sideshow themselves should limit their own preorders. As it stands, their preorders are up until the product is released for regular non-event items. People can also still buy at release as well.

You want a good example of manipulative FOMO? Look to Bandai. They do it well. Preorders sell out in minutes without them or their distributor bullying their retailers for offering free shipping and not collecting taxes.

But the FOMO/scarcity goal isn't to get items to sell out at sideshow. It's to have them sell out at everywhere else BUT Sideshow, so you have no choice but to order direct from Sideshow. There's so many ppl who don't PO on day one anymore and just wait for in-hand pics. Those ppl (like myself), don't have the luxury of waiting and still putting in a PO at our favorite retailers anymore b/c of Sideshow limiting allotments to those retailers. Therefore, unless you PO right away from your retailer of choice, you're now forced to order directly from Sideshow and pay their usually higher shipping cost and tax.

I wouldn't be surprised if this really started with SS having so much stock left over of some figures that they were literally giving them away for free with your orders, just to get them out of the warehouse. They also used to do DEEP discounts on languishing figures.

 

[Bleah]

We're in agreement here that Sideshow's tactic is diverting sales to them directly. But for me, it's not FOMO. You still have chance to buy at retail in spite of shipping and taxes. FOMO is lack of availability anywhere at MSRP.

 

[freestylex06x]

SS is terrible at running their business. I have not bought from them in a few years since they have gone down hill. Why would I when I can get my figures a quarter early at the same price overseas?

 

[SwedishHeat]

We're in agreement here that Sideshow's tactic is diverting sales to them directly. But for me, it's not FOMO. You still have chance to buy at retail in spite of shipping and taxes. FOMO is lack of availability anywhere at MSRP.

FOMO is not that specific, it can apply to anything. I could just as easily say one would be 'missing out' on a good deal. It's the same thing.

 

[dw316]

F**k sideshow. only purchases I make from now on will be with expiring points, and once they're all used up, never again. I will only support the smaller businesses from now on. Terrible news.