[thechris]

I know I whine and complain a lot about the price gouging we Canadians suffer at the hands of America but by golly, it sucks! I finally found something reasonably priced on Toywiz of all places, the figure is only $16.00. I went through the checkout and when it came time to sort out shipping, they want $39.48 to ship the item!! It's a small 3.75 action figure!! What the hell, toy shops? It doesn't cost that much to ship here! You're losing customers with this B.S. Do you realize that the volume of your sales are going down the tubes? How is it some people on eBay can afford to ship out 4 or 5 MOC action figures to Canada from the US for say $9.99 at most, registered, insured, includes tracking ID, I don't pay a cent of duty when it comes through, where as a company like Toywiz charges nearly $40 on the shipping of ONE 3.75 action figure, when it arrives, I STILL get charged duty??

How is it it only costs BigBadToyStore 25% of what you're charging to ship the same thing?? It just doesn't make sense. It's like some companies are doing everything they can to prevent Canada from buying from them. You've got to assume that the profits from ripping off 1 or 2 Canadians who are actually crazy enough to pay their inflated shipping costs is significantly lower than the profits they could make from charging ACTUAL shipping costs and a fair handling cost. It just seems like bad business to me. Am I wrong? It's bad enough that the prices suck, it's worse when the shipping is insane on top of it. And how about those psychos on eBay? How can they even afford to relist the item each time it doesn't sell?

I know the first relisting is free but then you've got to pay again if it doesn't sell. I worked at a shop that had an online eBay component and the fees were insane. How is it worth it to them to keep listing an item for $40 that everyone else is listing for $9.99 or less? And it doesn't sell and they keep relisting it. And it's NOT cheap to list at such a high price to begin with. You'd think it'd just be cheaper to just list the damn thing at $9.99 and sell it the first time than paying fees and trimming profit off the top each time. By the time some idiot forks over $40, the seller already spent $50 in fees. Is it worth it? Are they making so much that they can afford to use it as a write off? And if so, aren't there less tedious and more productive ways to lose money and use it as a write off other than giving it to eBay? For example, giving to a charity??

[Tiberius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechris

I know I whine and complain a lot about the price gouging we Canadians suffer at the hands of America but by golly, it sucks! I finally found something reasonably priced on Toywiz of all places, the figure is only $16.00. I went through the checkout and when it came time to sort out shipping, they want $39.48 to ship the item!! It's a small 3.75 action figure!! What the hell, toy shops? It doesn't cost that much to ship here! You're losing customers with this B.S. Do you realize that the volume of your sales are going down the tubes? How is it some people on eBay can afford to ship out 4 or 5 MOC action figures to Canada from the US for say $9.99 at most, registered, insured, includes tracking ID, I don't pay a cent of duty when it comes through, where as a company like Toywiz charges nearly $40 on the shipping of ONE 3.75 action figure, when it arrives, I STILL get charged duty??

How is it it only costs BigBadToyStore 25% of what you're charging to ship the same thing?? It just doesn't make sense. It's like some companies are doing everything they can to prevent Canada from buying from them. You've got to assume that the profits from ripping off 1 or 2 Canadians who are actually crazy enough to pay their inflated shipping costs is significantly lower than the profits they could make from charging ACTUAL shipping costs and a fair handling cost. It just seems like bad business to me. Am I wrong? It's bad enough that the prices suck, it's worse when the shipping is insane on top of it. And how about those psychos on eBay? How can they even afford to relist the item each time it doesn't sell?

I know the first relisting is free but then you've got to pay again if it doesn't sell. I worked at a shop that had an online eBay component and the fees were insane. How is it worth it to them to keep listing an item for $40 that everyone else is listing for $9.99 or less? And it doesn't sell and they keep relisting it. And it's NOT cheap to list at such a high price to begin with. You'd think it'd just be cheaper to just list the damn thing at $9.99 and sell it the first time than paying fees and trimming profit off the top each time. By the time some idiot forks over $40, the seller already spent $50 in fees. Is it worth it? Are they making so much that they can afford to use it as a write off? And if so, aren't there less tedious and more productive ways to lose money and use it as a write off other than giving it to eBay? For example, giving to a charity??

I don't think your gripe is with Americans, as your title says, but with Toywiz. I think your going to offend a lot of people with this, at least with the title. I am as annoyed as you with the price gouging, but we Canadians don't only suffer. Imagine how the Europeans feel? Probably a lot more pissed than you or I. The problem comes down to Hasbro distribution issues, and I hate to say it, but even Mattel has done a better job thus far and their products are crap in comparison to Hasbro. I don't see how much harder it is to ship something a bit more north, honestly. It's all a game to these companies, and they KNOW people with money to blow will most likely pay over top dollar for the figure. God knows how much I want the SHS Beast, but refuse to pay 30+ dollars for it, give me a break, its a piece of plastic! I guess it all comes down to what you are willing to pay, and some people do pay a STUPID amount of money on this stuff. All in all, I'm sticking to BBTS, set my pre-orders and just wait it out, god knows we will NEVER see any of these new figures in Canada.

[Saint Phe]

Tiberius is right. Toywiz isn't just ripping off Canadians. I'm American and I never buy from them.

[thechris]

Oh no, my gripe isn't with ToyWiz specifically. Like I said, it's with a lot of sellers from the US. I don't have an issue with Americans, I have an issue with American price gouging on the shipping end of things. It's actually often cheaper for me to buy things from England and Hong Kong than it is from the US. As funny as this sounds, it sometimes even arrives faster. In my experience, the shipping is usually less. I mean I hate it say it, but it seems to be an issue that I come across most when buying from the United States. There are some decent stores like BigBadToyStore with a more reasonable shipping charge but mainly it's been gouge after gouge. Just to name a few, ToyWiz, ringsidecollectibles, almost anything off of Amazon.com, ToyGlobe.

This definitely isn't a crack against America as a country. I can't speak for all Canadians, and I can't speak for other countries who have the same problems we have buying from another country, but I can speak for myself and some other fellow Canadians who are really fed up. I've had a lot of positive experiences buying online from the US, too, as far as pricing goes on the shipping and handling and overall costs. BBTS, obviously. And a recent purchase from wbcollect.com. Excellent shipping rates to Canada (Sometimes free), outstanding customer service and communication, rock bottom prices on most items. I highly recommend both for non-US buyers, at least the ones from Canada. If anyone else has found some good stores, please let me know.

There are a few US eBayers I also highly recommend. I bought a huge lot of figures including several Frost Giants from one seller from the US and the shipping was barely $20 and it arrived in about 3 days, insured, tracked, etc! I don't get it. Why can't anyone else do this? Either USPS is highly inconsistent from city to city or there are a lot of crooks looking to make a buck or thirty on inflated shipping rates.

[Primacron]

Admittedly there's not much you can do about companies such as Toybiz charging what they like, but on eBay, if you see a really crazy shipping price then contact the seller to ask them to confirm it - often they use a automatic shipping calculator which always give crazy inflated international prices.

Having said that, international shipping isn't really proportional to distance - I suspect it's because an additional company is involved which wants it's pound of flesh. I live in Wales, I actually live a lot closer to Dublin than Belfast, but it's much cheaper to ship to Belfast because it's in the United Kingdom.

Yes, living in Europe for toy collecting sucks. It sucks slightly less than living in New Zealand or Australia though!

[thechris]

Ha, you guys get all the cool Dr. Who figures first, though. That and for some reason, I can get Robocop stuff really cheap there. :]

[omega145]

I understand how you feel but international shipping can be risky so to an extent Id understand why businesses would protect themselves by raising prices to discourage buyers from foreign countries to buy their products and at the same time make a nice profit because of that risk involved.

I don't buy from places like toywiz because to me they are a rip off anyway on most of the prices.

Ask around the forums first for what you are looking for and chances are that forum members here will give it to you at a fair process and actual shipping. Ask Tiberius!

[thechris]

Hey omega, yeah, I've been doin' a lot of tradsies lately with forum members. It's actually quite a relief and like I said, wbcollect is great. :]

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechris

I know I whine and complain a lot about the price gouging we Canadians suffer at the hands of America but by golly, it sucks! I finally found something reasonably priced on Toywiz of all places, the figure is only $16.00. I went through the checkout and when it came time to sort out shipping, they want $39.48 to ship the item!! It's a small 3.75 action figure!! What the hell, toy shops? It doesn't cost that much to ship here! You're losing customers with this B.S. Do you realize that the volume of your sales are going down the tubes? How is it some people on eBay can afford to ship out 4 or 5 MOC action figures to Canada from the US for say $9.99 at most, registered, insured, includes tracking ID, I don't pay a cent of duty when it comes through, where as a company like Toywiz charges nearly $40 on the shipping of ONE 3.75 action figure, when it arrives, I STILL get charged duty??

While I fully understand your frustration, companies are free to charge what they like when it comes to shipping and handling. But it's that second part that most people seem to gloss over: the handling. Handling could cover everything from locating the item in the stockroom, wrapping/boxing the item up, the materials used for packing (box, bubble wrap/paper, invoices, labeling, etc), to the salaries for all the personnel involved with completing that task. And that's before it even leaves the company's front door.

Some companies can get really shady with the types of things that they lump into that "handling" part while others are very reasonable. As for the discrepancy with shipping prices on Ebay, I think it really depends on what company they use for shipping and how the package is labeled. And that's not even counting those who use flat rate shipping costs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiberius

I don't think your gripe is with Americans, as your title says, but with Toywiz. I think your going to offend a lot of people with this, at least with the title. I am as annoyed as you with the price gouging, but we Canadians don't only suffer. Imagine how the Europeans feel? Probably a lot more pissed than you or I. The problem comes down to Hasbro distribution issues, and I hate to say it, but even Mattel has done a better job thus far and their products are crap in comparison to Hasbro. I don't see how much harder it is to ship something a bit more north, honestly. It's all a game to these companies, and they KNOW people with money to blow will most likely pay over top dollar for the figure. God knows how much I want the SHS Beast, but refuse to pay 30+ dollars for it, give me a break, its a piece of plastic! I guess it all comes down to what you are willing to pay, and some people do pay a STUPID amount of money on this stuff. All in all, I'm sticking to BBTS, set my pre-orders and just wait it out, god knows we will NEVER see any of these new figures in Canada.

Once again, Hasbro does NOT control retail distribution - even in Canada. If you want to blame someone, blame the retailers for A) not buying the product, or B) not stocking the shelves with said product. At best, regional Hasbro reps can ask local store managers about toy lines or displays. But they can't force the manager to stock a particular product any more than we can.

As for a solution to ridiculous shiping/handling prices, be patient, be knowledgable and be willing to look elsewhere. It's only price gouging if you're forced to pay that amount.

[wbcollect]

"And a recent purchase from wbcollect.com. Excellent shipping rates to Canada (Sometimes free), outstanding customer service and communication, rock bottom prices on most items. I highly recommend both for non-US buyers, at least the ones from Canada"

[Tiberius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

While I fully understand your frustration, companies are free to charge what they like when it comes to shipping and handling. But it's that second part that most people seem to gloss over: the handling. Handling could cover everything from locating the item in the stockroom, wrapping/boxing the item up, the materials used for packing (box, bubble wrap/paper, invoices, labeling, etc), to the salaries for all the personnel involved with completing that task. And that's before it even leaves the company's front door.

Some companies can get really shady with the types of things that they lump into that "handling" part while others are very reasonable. As for the discrepancy with shipping prices on Ebay, I think it really depends on what company they use for shipping and how the package is labeled. And that's not even counting those who use flat rate shipping costs.



Once again, Hasbro does NOT control retail distribution - even in Canada. If you want to blame someone, blame the retailers for A) not buying the product, or B) not stocking the shelves with said product. At best, regional Hasbro reps can ask local store managers about toy lines or displays. But they can't force the manager to stock a particular product any more than we can.

As for a solution to ridiculous shiping/handling prices, be patient, be knowledgable and be willing to look elsewhere. It's only price gouging if you're forced to pay that amount.

I half disagree. My friend knows the Hasbro rep quite well for my area and even had a quick bite to eat with her. The main question during lunch was distribution, and as you say, its the retailers fault? A bit, yes, but it is also Hasbros. Hasbro will NOT ship to any warehouses unless it is successful in the USA. If retailers don't order the product and they get no numbers for sales, it just won't happen in Canada [and other places]. If the line isn't successful enough in a country with 10 times as many people as Canada, they won't waste resources making the legal packaging for Canadian shelves.

So after that rant, it is as much Hasbros fault as it is the retailers.

[behindthemask]

Part of Hasbro's distrubution issues stem from having to add french dialougue to the packing, and personally I find we get a lot of MU figures, but it's like 2-3 waves behind, as I've stated the newest I've seen is WWH line, Cap series 1 just got here, and thor series 1 is struggling to move. I as much as anybody would love to see items hit retail, the pricing kinda sucks though we pay more/figure then the US, despite our $ being worth more. As per the topic posted, Toybiz has lots of old figures and new, but they set collector pricing along with high shipping, so not the best unless it's a hard to find item, BBTS is the best for pricing, preorderings, shipping, I've found both good and bad examples of shipping from canada,us,china etc... there's always going to be great sellers, ok sellers and scammers. Some will sell the item low but keep the shipping consistantly high, such as $28.99 but it's the same no matter if it's a MU,ML or MI figure. Some offer the buy 5 get 1 free tactic, some have higher auctions costs but free shipping, and some may have high shipping but bulk shipping is only an extra $1 or 2, so it pays to check out other auctions, as you may think ya I need that figure, but it's $29 to ship it, but if he has 20 other things u need then the shipping seems better, I got 4 figures 2 ML Iron man figures, 1 thor mini figure and 1 cap figure for $30 shipped from china, so there;s always good and bad.

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiberius

I half disagree. My friend knows the Hasbro rep quite well for my area and even had a quick bite to eat with her. The main question during lunch was distribution, and as you say, its the retailers fault? A bit, yes, but it is also Hasbros. Hasbro will NOT ship to any warehouses unless it is successful in the USA. If retailers don't order the product and they get no numbers for sales, it just won't happen in Canada [and other places]. If the line isn't successful enough in a country with 10 times as many people as Canada, they won't waste resources making the legal packaging for Canadian shelves.

So after that rant, it is as much Hasbros fault as it is the retailers.

But notice that I said retail distribution. I wasn't talking about selling their products to companies outside the US. Once the company has placed an order and it's in Canada, it's up to that company to get it on the shelves.

Also, I hope everyone realizes that Hasbro is a business and their primary concern is to make money. If the profit margin for selling products in other countries is not to a certain level set by Hasbro, then they have every right to not sell their products there.

Of course, that isn't what most US fans are complaining about when they mention the words "Hasbro" and "distribution" in the same sentence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by behindthemask

Part of Hasbro's distrubution issues stem from having to add french dialougue to the packing, ...[snip]

That's not a part of distribution, though; that's part of product localization. The former is about physically moving product, while the latter is about make the product legal to sell in a given country.

[bluebikerboy1]

I will chime in here. I am actually very knowledgeble on this issue. Yes i need to post here more lol. In any case its not there problem exactly (toyarks).
The issue is on the side of USPS. there shipping calculator/module for commerce stores does not register first class international. the issue was finaly after at least 4 years that i know of fixed in january/february. Now toyark if they want to use first class international (and the other online retailers) need to update there software to accept the update. I did it about a month ago at my online store Welcome to Jason's Joes and More and can now ship first class international. So its not the stores fault necessarily, its a software issue.
hope this helps.

[Super_Megatron]

All the site links on ActionFigureNews.ca - Canadian Action Figure News and Discussion are Canadian, check them out.

[wbcollect]

I say just buy from me and problem solved lol

[Tiberius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbcollect

I say just buy from me and problem solved lol

Good idea :P

[miketime]

I feel your frustration. I buy a lot of art on ebay and the shipping ranges anywhere from $7-$20 for shipping whithin the lower 48 states. most times the shipping can be half or more of the total sale price.
I see people charging $5 to ship a DC CNC Bane body part. Come on. I would understand if it were comming from California to Mas but with the way I've been recieving packages lately I feel that all that money just goes into there pockets while they just throw my art in an empty box with out padding and send it out with the excuse of well that's the way Marvel ships art.
Unfortuneately the buyer ends up paying for ebays seller fees one way or the other. I've had maybe one guy actually send me back the extra money I paid him in shipping because it cost him less. All I want is to pay what it actually cost to ship an item.

[CLASSIFIED]

I think paying high shipping costs is just the nature of the beast.

Scalpers need to make money too, you know, and who better to make money off of then adult men who still play with toys.

Now that we're all grown up and have money of our own, we're willing to spend it on all the toys our parents dennied us in our youth.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

[Do Boy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED

I think paying high shipping costs is just the nature of the beast.

Scalpers need to make money too, you know, and who better to make money off of then adult men who still play with toys.

Now that we're all grown up and have money of our own, we're willing to spend it on all the toys our parents dennied us in our youth.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Words to live by!!!

[CLASSIFIED]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Do Boy

Words to live by!!!

Scalper.

[thechris]

Funny it costs one guy $5 to ship me an entire BAF figure and I get it within days from the same state where another guy wants around $35 to ship a single 3.75 scale figure, won't budge on the shipping and would take up to 2 weeks to arrive. There's scalping and then there's just bad business. If you're only charging an American 5 bucks to ship inside the US and in reality it only costs 5 bucks to ship to Canada, but you're charging $35, you're dinging yourself out on a sale because it's unlikely that someone will pay $35 for an item to ship. You're also denying your auction of an entire country worth of bids. It isn't any different or more complicated or any hassle to send a package to Canada than it is within the US. When I go to ship packages to Canada or the US, I go to the same post office and go through the exact same process. It's just poor business. And another thing that is hilarious is when people list a $10 item for around $50 and it doesn't sell, ever. Mainly because there are about 30 of the same listed for around $10 to $15. What do they get out of doing this? Is this some sort of tax scam that I'm not in on?

[DogFashionDisco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechris

Funny it costs one guy $5 to ship me an entire BAF figure and I get it within days from the same state where another guy wants around $35 to ship a single 3.75 scale figure, won't budge on the shipping and would take up to 2 weeks to arrive. There's scalping and then there's just bad business. If you're only charging an American 5 bucks to ship inside the US and in reality it only costs 5 bucks to ship to Canada, but you're charging $35, you're dinging yourself out on a sale because it's unlikely that someone will pay $35 for an item to ship. You're also denying your auction of an entire country worth of bids. It isn't any different or more complicated or any hassle to send a package to Canada than it is within the US. When I go to ship packages to Canada or the US, I go to the same post office and go through the exact same process. It's just poor business. And another thing that is hilarious is when people list a $10 item for around $50 and it doesn't sell, ever. Mainly because there are about 30 of the same listed for around $10 to $15. What do they get out of doing this? Is this some sort of tax scam that I'm not in on?

So far I've noticed that to ship something small to Canada is painless and not too expensive, but something heavy is pretty pricey. There is also the risk that a package goes rogue and that is probably why eBay sellers either charge a fortune to ship to our northern brothers, or not at all. Honestly, I like sending stuff to you guys, the only problem I have with it is that they make me fill out a ridiculous customs form every time that I do.

[scottmurdock]

To help aid in the healing between my Canadian friends and American brethren I went ahead and bought a Spidey 3.75" Shocker that came complete with a horrifying mark-up. You're welcome! lol

[Rexplode]

When I ship internationally through ebay I always use USPS Priority International because it's the cheapest way to get tracking info on an item.

It's not cheap though, it's a minimum of $13 and that's a Small Flat Rate box, gets to be a lot more for just weighed mail.

You may run into some sellers who are willing to send it First Class to offer a lower cost but I'd rather lose out on a sale than send something to another country with no way to prove it got there.

I hate that you overseas folks have to suffer from the high cost but I have to protect myself and I imagine that's at least a little of the cause of these prices.

People who charge outrageous prices to ship within the country are bastards though.