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The madness that is TRU.com


buttheadsmate

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There's a difference between what Menagerie does and things like TRU Bullseye, X-Factor Angel, etc...those are legitimately rare and were hard to come by when they were released.

Menagerie is artificially trying to affect the secondary market by buying up the figures in bulk and charging a premium.

Some Minimates are genuinely worth the price they demand due to the scarcity, TRU Wave 19 is not.

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I've been reading what everyone been saying my question is, what do we do when we miss minimates that are hard to find and don't wanna pay the heavy prices ??

Save the search on eBay and wait. I'm not saying you'll get what you're looking for dirt cheap, but you can find a deal sometimes. But you have to be aware of the rarity too, you're not likely to get Bullseye/Moonstone for $15 but you can get what you're looking for at a decent price sometimes.

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Why does Toys R Us even have an eBay store? I understand having brick & mortar, TRU.com, & an eBay storefront is good exposure, but why diminish your own website? I bought the Wolverine/Sentinel 2-pack, their EXCLUSIVE, from the eBay store before it even appeared on the actual website. Why not have drive the traffic through your own website instead of giving eBay a cut of your sales? TRU.com often limits items to 10 per person. This cuts down on the eBay resellers a little bit.

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I have found patience my number one tool. Also, I put the word out that I am looking for said items via my "wants list" and I really have not been left to "do without" yet. People here are very helpful.



This is a TRU exclusive, but its not necessarily a short pack situation. TRU should just order more sets...

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I think people are overreacting here, as they often do when talking about Toys R Us and tru.com. Most of the scarcity issues we are talking about (Angel and Glenn) are in the distant past. We have no way to know if Quicksilver/Vision will actually fall into this HTF category, because the set just came out. Yes, it sucks that the Menagerie guy ordered a bunch of sets of tru.com (if indeed he did; I don't think anyone has any access to his shipping info) but I don't see how this is TRU's fault. And, other then setting quantity limits, I don't really see what they could do. I suspect that, if they did, some of the very people complaining about how many sets Menagerie ordered would be complaining about not being able to order as many sets as they want.

Honestly, how many TRU 'mates can really be considered rare? Obviously, they are rare now, but what about back in the day when they were being shipped? There were several Marvel sets that were short-packed at one per case; this was a bad mistake, and Chuck admitted as much, and fixed the case ratio. There was Hulkbuster/Gamma Hulk, which again Chuck has admitted he made a mistake in short packing (this time two to a case). There's Glenn, which I think was a case of TRU under-ordering the first wave of WD 'mates. And apparently now there is Ezekiel, though I can't claim I know the story about that as I don't collect the line.

Am I missing anyone? Even if I am, that is still a small fraction of the amount of Minimates released to TRU. Mistakes are going to happen, but by and large both DST and TRU have been pretty good at predicting what will and won't sell (Valiant's going to be a tough test case, I'm afraid). And I will repeat what I say every time a TRU-bashing thread pops up: it is easier to buy Minimates at TRU than it is to buy many other collector driven lines, and it is easier to buy Minimates at TRU then it would be if they were carried by other comparable retailers. It's not always easy, no, with their haphazard distribution to stores remaining a huge problem, but it is still better then it would be at another retailer. Trust me, whatever ill feelings we have to TRU would be nothing compared to the ire those swine at Wal-Mart would stir.

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I'm picking up what you're laying down, hellpop, but I still think any criticisms are better off directed at TRU.com via their customer service than vented here or worse, stifled altogether.

Yes, things could be worse but we're trying to make this situation better for all of us, the end consumers, as well as TRU and DST.

And patience used to be my friend as well. That hasn't been the case lately, not since TWD TRU 5. That's coming from a pretty optimistic guy.

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I also agree with Shane. Realistically, the best way to eventually get what you want is to put feelers out, hamper down, keep an eye out on things, and bide your time. Way back in the day, Nightcrawler was extremely hard to come by. He would rarely appear on eBay, and no one was publicly letting him go in the BST section. But I eventually got one via a trade with a boardie. Scour newly listed eBay auctions, and you'll sometimes find gems there, as well. And as Shane said, folks here will help others out in lots of cases, so post what you are looking for in your "want" thread, and you never know. I've given away rare figures, and have had rare figures given to me over time.

Edited by karamazov80
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Speaking of madness, I ordered 10 Wolverine/Sentinel sets for our international customers, and when they arrived I thought it was a giant shipment from Diamond. The 10 sets came in 5 boxes that could have each fit a small refrigerator, with 2 sets per box. The sets took up about 1% of each box. I can't even fathom how this happens. Why split an order of 10 sets into 5 packages? And why use boxes the size of a coffee table?

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Overreaction ? Check out what TRU.com are actually selling right now........... http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=50707166&skuid=19838283

edit: just in case my link isn't working TRU.com are now selling a Wolverine vs. Sentinel & Quicksilver with The Vision ,2 pack wallbash.gif

Edited by buttheadsmate
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Regards 'TRU 'mates' & them 'being rare' ......odd thing is ...is that they're often produced in numbers exceeding LCS 'mates but because of their widespread distribution they end up being rarer...which I can live with . Can I prove all this ? F*ck no....but I bet I'm right .

Ebay proves nothing but go & tap in 'Minimates' & then find yourself some TRU Plants & Zombies,TRU Battle Beasts , TRU Tomb Raiders ,TRU BSGs or TRU Terminators .................'Dream on' cos you'll find a tad more than diddly.

I can also give you a list of the rare Marvel TRUs ...but that's just playing into somebody's hands .

Regards the 'shipping info' of ....anybody .....Can I prove anything ? No . Do I have to ? no.gif Maybe there are many B & M TRUs out there ,huddled geographically around Schaumberg ,Illinois each laden with TRU exclusive Minimates ?

Whatever .

No offence meant hellpop but I research before I rant wink.png



From the TRU 19 thread...

I don't know if this is news, but tru.com has all of them back in-stock

ogrt.gif

Overreaction ? Check out what TRU.com are actually selling right now........... http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=50707166&skuid=19838283

edit: just in case my link isn't working TRU.com are now selling a Wolverine vs. Sentinel & Quicksilver with The Vision ,2 pack wallbash.gif

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How long are they going to be on there before Minimates Menagerie buys them all though? I hope something is set up to prevent him from buying up all the Pathfinder Goblins that should hopefully be available by the end of the month. I need to put some cash aside for those so I can get a few.

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I remember finding it really hard to find Glenn and Shane back in the day-then one time I went on Ebay,someone was selling the first full series of TWD mates for £20 with free shipping. They must have had no idea what they were selling so I got lucky.

Im hearing Abrahams really hard to get?

I have never seen Minimates in a TRU in the UK,weird...

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Yeah...Minimates are only sold in US TRU's. There's a big demand for them to be sold in UK TRU's as well but it can't seem to justify the added cost.

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I remember finding it really hard to find Glenn and Shane back in the day-then one time I went on Ebay,someone was selling the first full series of TWD mates for £20 with free shipping. They must have had no idea what they were selling so I got lucky.

Im hearing Abrahams really hard to get?

I have never seen Minimates in a TRU in the UK,weird...

The TRU closest to me got two cases of the last walking dead series in. Both times I found them with only the exclusives gone. There is a collectible/ comic shop a few blocks away and I have been there when the owner was on the phone with an employee who was at TRU. He was telling the employee what rare and exclusive toys to grab. Needless to say I stopped getting my monthly comics from there.

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Yeah...Minimates are only sold in US TRU's. There's a big demand for them to be sold in UK TRU's as well but it can't seem to justify the added cost.

I do not believe cost has anything to do with TRU UK not carrying our products. We already sell TWD in the UK, so it's not a Marvel situation, where past and (estimated) future sales did not justify the additional testing and licensing costs. I do not know if we speak to them regularly, but I imagine if they were to express interest, we would do whatever we needed to do to make it work. It's why I always tell UK collectors to tell their TRU and Disney Store what they want to see there.

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I hit TRU on Saturday and they had one pack of Iron Man/Ronan left and no TWD left. I grabbed a Manowar & Bloodshot pack since I was there. They have yet to stock ANY of the TMNT 2-packs. Not a single one.

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