POPCULTCHA and Other Figure Deals, discounts and what ever else saves money.

[Victοr]

Me, I put an order with PopCultcha about a year back, but they haven't been responding to any of my emails, weeks on end, so I'm out. I'm getting my figure when its time comes, but I'm not risking more POs. Which means that I'm in need of a new place for them. The problem is, there are tons and tons of online retailers. Beyond the usuals like Sideshow and BigBadToyStore, you have stuff like ToysWonderland and DarkSideToys. And I want to know if anyone's used them before. I'm asking because there's a huge price variation amongst the various stores. ToysWonderland has the best prices, and pretty good shipping. DarkSideToys is the closest one to me, and has a great Installment Plan, but there's also a 50-100 Euro markup. TW has, say, Venom for 325 Euros, Sideshow has him for 350, and then DST has him for 440! That's even more than the ~40 euro shipping from those other retailers.

Generally, what store's your go-to? I need to place some POs and I'm iffy on it. Back in the day I just bought in-stock stuff from eBay, but with how quickly everything's getting snatched up, I want to secure some figures. So whatever vendor anyone trusts and has 2 cents to share, it'd be great.

 

[Drake]

Popcultcha has always been slow, with poor customer service turnaround times, but in the past they were at least reliable in getting you what you ordered, however they have been absolutely woeful for the past six months or so. Even in the middle of a pandemic there is no excuse for taking, literally, weeks to reply to emails, if they reply at all. But they still find plenty of time for their barrage level of advertising and social media channel posts. Looking for new customers always seems far more important to them than looking after current ones, which feels pretty insulting. Kind of like having to chase them up for them to update their own 'rewards' points on your account after every damn purchase.

By the way, if you don't want to call to chase stuff up, try contacting them via their facebook page, they seem to pay a bit more attention to that.

Once my current pre-orders with them clear, I'm done with them for at least a while (until I hear they have straightened their crap out again).

And I'd generally consider myself a rather laid back and patient customer, God knows how some of the twitchier customers are coping with them at the moment...

 

[choombaz]

I tend to hunt around for the best price but I also think there are variables to take into consideration such as your location, currency conversion, imports and other fees, rewards systems etc.
I am in Australia and generally my lowest prices are either PC or Go Figure. Sugo also in Australia is also good. And Little Toy Company. I sometimes go HK used to be Kghobby but now more second batch TBA or TW. Can?t recall ever getting a figure from the States it just works out too expensive.

 

[Victοr]

Popcultcha has always been slow, with poor customer service turnaround times, but in the past they were at least reliable in getting you what you ordered, however they have been absolutely woeful for the past six months or so. Even in the middle of a pandemic there is no excuse for taking, literally, weeks to reply to emails, if they reply at all. But they still find plenty of time for their barrage level of advertising and social media channel posts. Looking for new customers always seems far more important to them than looking after current ones, which feels pretty insulting. Kind of like having to chase them up for them to update their own 'rewards' points on your account after every damn purchase.

By the way, if you don't want to call to chase stuff up, try contacting them via their facebook page, they seem to pay a bit more attention to that.

Once my current pre-orders with them clear, I'm done with them for at least a while (until I hear they have straightened their crap out again).

And I'd generally consider myself a rather laid back and patient customer, God knows how some of the twitchier customers are coping with them at the moment...

Honestly, I only email when a package is way overdue, but it just came off as pretty weird for them to not respond to an email in 2 weeks. Let's hope that by the time my figure is ready to ship, they'll have straightened their problems.

I tend to hunt around for the best price but I also think there are variables to take into consideration such as your location, currency conversion, imports and other fees, rewards systems etc.
I am in Australia and generally my lowest prices are either PC or Go Figure. Sugo also in Australia is also good. And Little Toy Company. I sometimes go HK used to be Kghobby but now more second batch TBA or TW. Can?t recall ever getting a figure from the States it just works out too expensive.

I'm thinking of trying different retailers and see what sticks. Right now I need to PO a CW Anakin. At some point I'll need a CW Obi-Wan. I'm still not watching TCW, but with the added capes they remind me of GenndyWars, so I have to have them. Maybe I'll PO a Vito Corleone. And who knows what's on the horizon. Point is, instead of going with one retailer, I could try out three or so, and then see which one fits best. I've got a Tommy Shelby POed over at BigChiefStudios, but I've already POed through them back with the 10th Doctor, so I'm aware of their service, which IIRC was pretty good. Even now they respond to their emails pretty quickly (their site could use some work though).

I appreciate the inputs thus far!

 

[skizzoid]

Just to add my two cents, I've ordered from Popcultcha in the past, and a few years ago, their service was pretty good, and they tended to have good prices for items that were less readily available here in the US. Plus international shipping costs are pretty reasonable, and the bubble wrapping does a great job of keeping the figure secure in transit.

I haven't ordered from them as much the past couple years (slowing down my purchases), but the few times I've reached out to customer service this year, responses have been delayed (and not always super helpful), so I have fewer enthusiastic things to say about them. I still appreciate their shipping/packing practices though, and for my sporadic purchases, they're fine (not great, but fine). I have other go-to retailers here in the US, but Popcultcha works for me as a back-up when the other wells have run dry. For those who want more consistent/timely service though, I can see how the decline in customer service is off-putting. I'm not sure why they've declined the way they have, but here's hoping they turn it around for their more regular customers.

 

[Victοr]

Just to add my two cents, I've ordered from Popcultcha in the past, and a few years ago, their service was pretty good, and they tended to have good prices for items that were less readily available here in the US. Plus international shipping costs are pretty reasonable, and the bubble wrapping does a great job of keeping the figure secure in transit.

I haven't ordered from them as much the past couple years (slowing down my purchases), but the few times I've reached out to customer service this year, responses have been delayed (and not always super helpful), so I have fewer enthusiastic things to say about them. I still appreciate their shipping/packing practices though, and for my sporadic purchases, they're fine (not great, but fine). I have other go-to retailers here in the US, but Popcultcha works for me as a back-up when the other wells have run dry. For those who want more consistent/timely service though, I can see how the decline in customer service is off-putting. I'm not sure why they've declined the way they have, but here's hoping they turn it around for their more regular customers.

I suppose I'll see what happens when the time comes for my figure to ship. I'll spread out my preorders now, and come to a conclusion about the best service in... 2022, or so...

 

[Raven6009]

Brian's Toys is having a 20% off all in-stock items BF sale with code 2020BLACKFRIDAY. Here's a couple items at some great prices:

Wicket - $126
Sith Trooper - $176
Incinerator Trooper - $176
Mandalorian v1 - $216

Free shipping and no tax (for most). Credit to loki2371 for pointing this sale out.

 

[Stephen Gentile]

Thanks for the tip. They also have the Solo Darth Maul which I just ordered for $211 shipped.

 

[Saintv1]

Thanks for the tip. They also have the Solo Darth Maul which I just ordered for $211 shipped.

Almost jumped on that myself, but the shipping to Canada is $70, which is insane.

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[Big Mo]

No Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals from PC this year. Not sure who’s steering this ship but pretty bad form from them.

 

[Drake]

Does anyone have any suggestions other than popcultcha for Aussies like me to buy/pre-order 1/6 figures from for decent prices and reliable customer service? Given that PC seemingly has no interest in ever responding to my enquiries over an order that I have already paid in full for, and Sideshow has now raised their shipping prices to Australia to astronomical levels for in stock items, I wish to take my custom elsewhere in future. Cheers.

 

[choombaz]

Does anyone have any suggestions other than popcultcha for Aussies like me to buy/pre-order 1/6 figures from for decent prices and reliable customer service? Given that PC seemingly has no interest in ever responding to my enquiries over an order that I have already paid in full for, and Sideshow has now raised their shipping prices to Australia to astronomical levels for in stock items, I wish to take my custom elsewhere in future. Cheers.

Oh my goodness there are plenty! I mostly use Go Figure Collectibles, Sugo Toys and Little Toy Company. Go Figure has the best new prices for Hot Toys, great customer service and good rewards. Sugo also have pretty good start up prices, have an amazing range of 1/6, great customer service, ok rewards and a staggering array of payment options. LTC are a bit slow at loading new releases but have good prices, rewards and probably the biggest range of smaller figures and sets.

Don?t really order from overseas anymore, Paypal has taken care of that with their currency rates. I still use Popcultcha but like everyone else becoming increasingly frustrated with them.

 

[Victοr]

I don't know where else to put this, and I don't want to clutter the board with a new thread, so I figured I'd ask here as a start. Does anyone have any experience with the ToysWonderland vouchers? I bought a DX16 Sparrow from them around Christmas. It arrived, all fine and dandy, and apparently I now have some 40K+ points. In their website that translates to a "400$ Coupon". And it's just left me wondering. Is it really 400 bucks? The Jack I bought cost abut 600 something dollars. It seems a lot to "return" to me. Can I use the coupon in any purchase? Does it work as a "discount"? Say, I want to buy something that costs 500 bucks. Can I use the coupon and add 100 bucks from my own wallet? I'm debating whether to redeem the points now and buy one of the figs I've missed, or keep them in case something else comes down the road, and add to them as I buy more stuff.

Still, I'd just like to hear if anyone's got any experience with it. I tried looking for a FAQ page but I didn't see anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[DioramaMaker]

I don't know where else to put this, and I don't want to clutter the board with a new thread, so I figured I'd ask here as a start. Does anyone have any experience with the ToysWonderland vouchers? I bought a DX16 Sparrow from them around Christmas. It arrived, all fine and dandy, and apparently I now have some 40K+ points. In their website that translates to a "400$ Coupon". And it's just left me wondering. Is it really 400 bucks? The Jack I bought cost abut 600 something dollars. It seems a lot to "return" to me. Can I use the coupon in any purchase? Does it work as a "discount"? Say, I want to buy something that costs 500 bucks. Can I use the coupon and add 100 bucks from my own wallet? I'm debating whether to redeem the points now and buy one of the figs I've missed, or keep them in case something else comes down the road, and add to them as I buy more stuff.

Still, I'd just like to hear if anyone's got any experience with it. I tried looking for a FAQ page but I didn't see anything. Thanks in advance.

It's probably $400 HKD, not USD.

 

[Victοr]

It's probably $400 HKD, not USD.

Damn I missed this reply, sorry. Yeah, it's what I thought, but I'm kinda hesitant to redeem the code in case it has some timer or something, so I figured I'd ask first, to see if anyone has any experience with the store and their rewards program.

 

[zeiss]

This "steal the deal" crap that Sideshow is doing is so irritating. Offer $40 off of Hot Toys Qui Gon for only 4 people so everyone can fight each other and crash the site to only to miss out on it. Not fun and doe not endear me to Sideshow. I miss the old days when they offered a list of discounts for figures and it lasted a couple days.

 

[Saintv1]

This "steal the deal" crap that Sideshow is doing is so irritating. Offer $40 off of Hot Toys Qui Gon for only 4 people so everyone can fight each other and crash the site to only to miss out on it. Not fun and doe not endear me to Sideshow. I miss the old days when they offered a list of discounts for figures and it lasted a couple days.

They still do that too, or at least they did during the last big event. The way I understand it is that these steal the deal and 100% promo code hunts are meant to answer the fact that they can't run contests outside the US. That is to say that if you're in Canada (or anywhere else), you're not eligible to enter their contests, but you still have a chance to get something through these other functions.

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[zeiss]

I see. They don't seem to be offering any sales for the May the Fourth event so I assumed this is the way they do things now. It would have ben nice to have had free shipping at least for the event.

 

[matticus]

This Sideshow contest/raffle/code stuff is just a big rat race. I just don't have it in me to watch the fakeness. Thankfully, there is a mute button if you want it on while doing something else or to skip back through.

 

[zeiss]

I was able to pre-order the Threezero DLX ROTF Optimus Prime with the code "Deep10" at Deep Discount. It came out to $185 before tax (shipping is free). As a comparison, it is $230 before shipping and tax on BBTS.

https://www.deepdiscount.com/threezero-transformers-rotf-optimus-prime-deluxe-scale-figure-net/4897056202658