Okay, such as?

Saw this on Reddit. I assume that this is what En Sabah saw and posted about.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ActionFigur...ent_from_them/

That is the post I read on another board. There are warnings signs. Constant sales for nearly a year on new products. This is an indication that they need $ to pay bills, employees, etc. No new Hasbro Pre-orders for the past few waves. Customers having orders for pre-order products and in-stock order canceled.
Most retailers large and small have had sales to get through inventory while the economy has slowed down due to inflation. As Buyer for a retailer, I have canceled many orders this year for seasonal products and reduced regular replenishment orders because of mandates from Upper Management. If a retailer I not taking steps they will find themselves in a cash & credit crunch.
On another board a retailer was describing the challenges he was facing with another Hasbro order about to hit worth $15k. I suggested if he can't afford it, cancel it. He said that Hasbro would hit him with 10% restocking fee.
I have no axe to grind with Dorksidetoys.com. I have been a customer for 5 or 6 years but 3 months ago, I decided to cancel all my pre-orders because other retailers were getting product in faster and I recognized the warning signs that they are in financial trouble.
I went through something similar with a company I worked for 21 years ago. It sucked to be an employee during that situation and it sucked that a lot of customers either never got their $ back or never got the products they ordered. I would rather warn my fellow collectors so they can take steps to protect their $ and where they are making their purchases, than sit back and see a lot of people hurt.
Everyone here is an adult and can make their own decisions.
Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Whoa... so that's where all the Classified Major Bloods came from... it all makes sense now. Anyway when it comes to smaller local hobby businesses like toys or video games or comic/card shops I tend to believe where there is smoke there is fire and when the ship starts to sink it goes down fast.

I read the same sinking ship post from an alleged former employee last night, and went and checked out their site, and will say that most of what they have up for preorder is out already and much of it has been out for a long time. That’s not unusual in this industry on an item-by-item basis, but when every new item is still showing as a preorder, that’s a pretty strong indication that the problem is not with availability, just with their ability to get it, and the likeliest explanations are financial or because they burned one or more bridges.

Well I wouldn't worry, if you used PayPal and they run off with your money, you can file a claim. But from the sound of it, no one has been buying from Dorkside for awhile anyway.

Honestly, it’s hard to make money on toys even when people are buying them. If they’ve gone from being a healthy enough business that they decided to open a retail store, to drowning in debt and having accounts frozen, the truth is likely a lot more complicated than people just not buying from them.

That sucks. It's always nice to have options. Reminds me of Megalopolis.

Interesting. I don't even remember if I ever ordered anything from Dorkside because BBTS has my go to since 2001.

That's really sad to hear. I supported Dorkside for quite a few years and tried to order most of my orders from them, though the X-Men waves were always the one I would stick with wherever it was in stock first, needed those "ASAP".

But I haven't ordered much from them the last couple of years, for various reasons and nothing against Dorkside either. Lack of what I really wanted versus seeing it elsewhere before they get it. Not ordering as many full waves, which could take even longer.

It sucks because they are local to the metro Nashville area, and I feel for them as well. They opened up and almost right away the pandemic hit. Everything about the industry is still playing catch up or recovering from that, with shipping, prices, delays/early arrivals, etc. It's not been an easy couple of years from e-tailers if you're not the big "A".

I canceled most of my orders with Dorkside around Jan./Feb. 2021. They screwed up two of my orders and I decided that I wasn't going to preorder from them. At least not higher priced, harder to get items like Super7 Ultimates or Mezco One:12 figures. I've ordered from their site a handful of times since then but it was mostly in stock items. I'm happy to shop in their retail store but my online orders tend to go to Pulse, Amazon, and BBTS.

I would also add that my buying habits have changed a lot over the past year. I've stopped buying whole waves from any brand. The only things I will preorder now are figures that I absolutely want.

@JCarterVA

Thank you for confirming that the post I found on Reddit was what you read. And also for providing the extra information based on your work experience.

I hope those action force troopers go to other websites cause they’re bad ass.

Not to belabor the topic, but I remember when Dorkside opened the physical store and thinking to myself, "Really???". Don't get me wrong, I miss toy stores as much as anyone, and I was excited by the prospect since they're local to me. It's just that standalone physical retail toy stores are a relic. It's simply not a wise financial investment anymore, if it ever was.

I've been to their store a couple of times, knowing the area very well. The store is in an extremely popular outdoor mall, alongside many national retail chains (Children's Place, Bath & Body Works, H&M, etc.). I'm sure they get tons of foot traffic. I'm also sure the lease in a location like that ain't cheap, especially for a one-off, locally-owned shop. If they are indeed having money trouble, I wonder if the decision to open a physical store will end up being their undoing. Of course, I'm just speculating.

Happy Thanksgiving yall!!

It's a good speculation. Only physical stores I've seen thrive are those that deal more exclusively in vintage product, and even that is risky. But all too often you see vendors want to deal just in new product and often find themselves losing in direct competition to big box stores or sites like Amazon and even Hasbro itself with Pulse. In a market where the figure you're offering for $30 is easily available elsewhere for less plus even the occasional sale, I just don't see how you think you can win.

Watched the Guardians Holiday Special. Now to wait for the eventual Swole Groot figure

https://i.imgur.com/vXm1v9h.jpg

He musta chugged a tone of Miracle Grow. ;) haha

Oh, is it out already?

ya hit D+ today

Well...Ive decided to sell off my collection of "non X-men" Marvel Legends. Hard decision but one I have thought about for some time. The price of the figures has really been digging into my bills. Im also out of space.

So if anyone is looking for a specific character...hit me up. My latest acquisition is Galactus...so if you need him...and his heralds I'm your guy!

With the upcoming Ultimate Captain America figure, do you guys think it's a sign that Hasbro will be making more Ultimate Marvel figures? Or do you guys think that Hasbro just wanted to release a new Captain America figure but didn't want to repaint the 80th Cap again?

I'm asking because I received the Venom 3 pack from Amazon today. Looking at Riot and his new head, it seems like all of the pieces are there for Ultimate Venom. I mainly wanted Venom from the 3 pack and have no interest in the 2 Life Foundation symbiotes. So I'm left with the dilemma of selling Riot or customizing him into Ultimate Venom.

I REALLY hope it is a sign of things to come. I've already customized/kitbashed a number of Ultimate characters but I'll happily replace them with official ones if Hasbro wants to do them.

I always did like the look of Ultimate Thor... but I think I am done with buying multiple versions of the same character. Probably will just finish off my teams now... West Coast Avengers, Classic Defenders, maybe New Warriors, but holy hell when did Night Thrasher become so expensive... plus the X-teams.

An Ultimate Hulk would certainly be easy, just a new head on the grey Hulk they already made. I'm pretty sure someone here actually did that or at least we discussed it. Broadly speaking we've already gotten the "main" Earth-616 looks for most characters that were featured in the Ultimate universe so getting those versions at this point shouldn't raise any eyebrows.

I don't expect we'll ever see Ultimate Wanda or Pietro. But I hope we can get a deluxe Ultimate Giant-Man (after a 616 version that is).