[TimothyR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trivial Psychic

Which brings me to a question I was wondering among all of you...do you think that the prices at many third party suppliers like BBTS, ToyWiz, Toynk, etc are starting to get a bit out of hand? They're starting to get to approach the level of scalpers. I've been a loyal BBTS shopper for a long time now, but the prices on the ASM2 and the Captain America waves were pretty ridiculous, nearly twice that of retail (with little to no options to buy outside of complete sets,) and don't even get me started on ToyWiz. Their prices are insanity at times, and I've often had better luck on ebay. While the luxury of being able to pre-order is nice, and sometimes they do have some very good deals (BBTS pile of loot service is outstanding and a steal!) but I don't know, I'm pretty torn about it, and I hate feeling ripped off. Even more shameful about it all, is that this is money that Hasbro, Mattel and others is just leaving on the table due to their shady distribution practices and general lack of product. I don't know, perhaps I'm rambling. I'm just curious as to what some of you guys think...

i always use BBTS.. i'll use ebay for older stuff that bbts doesn't have.. but for all of my online ordering i use BBTS.. their customer service is fantastic and i've never had a problem with them.

.. i NEVER buy mass released retail figures from them though.. it makes absolutely no sense to me when people do that.. unless you live in east bumbledouche, you'll almost always be able to find what you want at retail.. i don't need to pay extra just because i want something early.

and for most people there are usually several walmarts, targets, TRU's, and comic book shops where they live.. it's just a matter of going to those stores and actually looking. hell, i don't usually look in stores until like 7pm, and there hasn't been a single toy that i've missed out on, and there's never been something that's been hard to find that i hadn't seen at least twice in stores.

i imagine BBTS's prices keep rising because almost all prices are rising for stuff.. now toywiz.. they're insane and their prices are terrible.

but with BBTS, their prices for things that can't be found at typical US retail stores are rather good in my opinion.

for the transformers masterpiece cars, i've seen that robotkingdom.com sells them for considerably less than BBTS, but when i calculated shipping and what not into the equation, BBTS was only $7 more and i would only have to wait 4 days rather than 2-4 weeks. (had i done EMS shipping it would've been the same price as BBTS) so.. i figure the $7 extra was worth getting the toy a hell of a lot sooner, and the piece of mind that their customer service would remedy any problem if one had arisen.

so yeah.. for non US retail items i use BBTS.. otherwise, i can wait and find the toy in stores.