Free Exclusive Web Armor Spider-Man Minimate Offer!

[captain_cbecker]

Well sportsfans, I conducted a little shipping experiment w/ AFX to settle my own curiosity.

There have been some claims that prices and shipping have been inflated as a result of the Web-Armor Spider-man giveaway.

I placed a pre-order a couple of months ago for a set each of BSG Wave 3 and St Wave 2 mates from AFX. Cost each was $20.99 (The same as I paid to pre-order BSG wave 2 when they came out). The Shipping was $11.53. This order is in process and that is exactly what was charged to my credit card.

The experiment: I added 2 sets of the BSG Wave 2 (same price as it was in June/July) to my shopping cart and started the checkout process. Theoretically, 8 2-pack sets of mates should weigh the same and have the same dimensions of my original order - therefore shipping for the same price.

In fact, the shipping charges were the same (well, within $.05) of the first order regardless of the Web Armor Promo.

I don't know what to tell you all, but it sounds like all the conspiracy theories and "AFX is using Spiderman as bait to screw us" may be unfounded.

I hope this helps put this issue to rest.

[Pete]

I recently got intouch with AFX, i picked an item for just under $26, but asked them not to send me it... to keep it themselves... and to just send me the Spider Armour Minimate and still charge me the shipping for it.

Unfortunatley they declined my offer... WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!!!?

C'mon, i ordered an item from there Holiday Gift Shop, i was willing to pay for it, i just didn't want them to send me it, thus they could send me the Spider Armour Minimate only, at whatever the cost of shipping is to them.

Is that not the exact way it would happen if i took the item?

Obviously the shipping would be more if i took the item, but that's because it will be a bigger parcel.

It's irrelevant how big or small the package is, the shipping costs are the shipping costs.

So what's different?

Surley they are not making a profit on the shipping cost they are charging us!?

Hello... SHIPPING COSTS... the cost of shipping!

Not the cost of shipping plus a few dollars extra for your greedy rip-off pockets!!

I guess the higher the shipping costs are, the bigger their cut!!

I understand why you are all giving AFX your money, you just want the exclusive, there's nothing wrong with that, but when you've got it or they've got no more, dump these rip-offs and never buy from them again!

I can't believe DST made a deal with a company like this who will rip-off loyal fans who just want to buy their products.

DST are basically acting like drug dealers... they give us a taste of their minimates and get us addicted, and when we desperatley need a special hit of minimate... they move it out of reach, forcing us to ultimatley pay even more for it!!

How many times as it happened... how many times will it happen again? (Scarlet Spider!)

Hey DST guys, how's about just for once, rewarding us fans for buying your products and keeping you in your f@*%ing jobs!!

Is that such a hard thing to do, y'know... giving us something back!?

I hope the DST or AFX guys post on this forum... i'd certainly like to hear them defend themselves.

[TM2 Dinobot]

Sorry Pete, you're flat out wrong. You order $25 worth of stuff from AFX. They just happen to throw in a free minimate. Don't buy the stuff don't get the mate. You were trying to buy the mate alone, by having them keep your stuff. That would be buying the mate, and thus no longer making it free. Sorry bud, but I'm siding with AFX on this one. That and I think you're being overly hard on AFX and DST for no good reason. You've got one of those "it would have been better if they had never made it at all!" mentalities that I just can't stand.

[captain_cbecker]

I recently got intouch with AFX, i picked an item for just under $26, but asked them not to send me it... to keep it themselves... and to just send me the Spider Armour Minimate and still charge me the shipping for it.

Unfortunatley they declined my offer... WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!!!?

C'mon, i ordered an item from there Holiday Gift Shop, i was willing to pay for it, i just didn't want them to send me it, thus they could send me the Spider Armour Minimate only, at whatever the cost of shipping is to them.

Is that not the exact way it would happen if i took the item?

Obviously the shipping would be more if i took the item, but that's because it will be a bigger parcel.

It's irrelevant how big or small the package is, the shipping costs are the shipping costs.

So what's different?

Surley they are not making a profit on the shipping cost they are charging us!?

Hello... SHIPPING COSTS... the cost of shipping!

Not the cost of shipping plus a few dollars extra for your greedy rip-off pockets!!

I guess the higher the shipping costs are, the bigger their cut!!

I understand why you are all giving AFX your money, you just want the exclusive, there's nothing wrong with that, but when you've got it or they've got no more, dump these rip-offs and never buy from them again!

I can't believe DST made a deal with a company like this who will rip-off loyal fans who just want to buy their products.

DST are basically acting like drug dealers... they give us a taste of their minimates and get us addicted, and when we desperatley need a special hit of minimate... they move it out of reach, forcing us to ultimatley pay even more for it!!

How many times as it happened... how many times will it happen again? (Scarlet Spider!)

Hey DST guys, how's about just for once, rewarding us fans for buying your products and keeping you in your f@*%ing jobs!!

Is that such a hard thing to do, y'know... giving us something back!?

I hope the DST or AFX guys post on this forum... i'd certainly like to hear them defend themselves.

You're just buying the 'mate.... albeit for a high price, and they specifically stated that it wasn't for sale.

This is no different marketing model than anyone else who offers exclusive merchandise bundled with another item to boost sales.

What I can't believe is how many people who want this mate, but don't like the terms, think this is some big conspiracy to rip them off.

[blacksun1520]

I, for one, don't think this is a conspiracy at all. I do think that AFX has high prices and high shipping costs, but so do a lot of other retailers and I don't see anyone complaing about them. AFX just happens to be a partner of DST and they have exclusives that no one else has, including Web Armor Spidey. If you think that their terms are unreasonable, then don't take part in the offer. The price of something is only what it is worth to you...

BS

[Pete]

I take onboard what you say... fair comment... but,

It just pisses me off when something isn't made available to everyone.

I've stood by DST and gave them lots of my money... and this is my reward. To not be able to get my hands on the product i've been waiting for. What's wrong with just making it, putting it on the shelves and we give them money for it. It's fine with the other 98% of there products!

Just because we're collectors and we're passionate about what we like, doesn't mean we're happy to jump through hoops to add to our collections.

Definition of the term exclusive...

1. Excluding or tending to exclude.

2. Not divided or shared with others.

3. Excluding some or most, as from membership or participation.

4. Catering to a wealthy clientele; expensive: exclusive shops.

"Exclusive"... How nice of DST to do this for there loyal customers!

Anything deemed exclusive is bullshit in my book!

What's next... run through tiananmen square naked and you'll get a free Deadpool Minimate!?

[Lobsterman]

Here's a conversation I bet never happened:

"Hey Pat over at AFX, Chuck from DST here. I've been thinking – we should really give something back to the 300 die-hard minimates fans that are entirely responsible for our financial solvency."

"I'm listening."

"What if we did a special minimate of an obscure costume variant nobody under the age of 25 has ever even seen, and then just give it to people, for free. I realize we probably won't make any money on it, so we're all willing to forgo our paychecks this month if you guys will kick in the other half."

"No problem, Chuck. I feel it's my calling not to run a profitable business, but to make the fans happy, at any cost."

Contrary to popular belief, neither AFX nor DST are in the business of doing each of us personal favors. They are in the business of manufacturing and distributing toys, and trying to make a living from it. If our personal fancies happen to intersect with that business model, happy day. If not, it's ridiculous and unfair to imply they're not doing their jobs by failing to jump to sooth every one of our scraped knees.

Miraculously, though, they do manage to squeeze out characters like Web Armor and Scarlet Spidey, minimates nobody but the biggest fanboys will care about, because, yes, they do want to make us happy. They could be doing much, much worse as far as fan service goes (Mattel's infinite florescent Batman repaints, anyone?)

Part of the benefit to AFX here isn't trying to scam some shipping money from you, it's to clear inventory out of their warehouse. They pay for the space every stocked item occupies. Not to mention, getting paid for an item and not shipping it means accounting for the inventory overage in their books. And breaking their normal shipping and handling chain to find a little envelope to ship out your Spidey by itself. And generally slogging through a pain-in-the-butt disruption of their normal operating procedure to do you a personal favor.

So, seriously, nut up. If you just can't stomach that extra few dollars in shipping, wait for Spidey to show up on ebay, or one of the many inevitable promotions AFX will attach him to next year. But don't skewer AFX and DST for trying to make a profit (or break even) on doing something nice for us collectors.

[TBT!]

Ok first things first... Blaming DST is way off the mark, they just make the minimates. What happens to them after AFX get the mates and give the cash to DST is totally up to AFX not DST.

Having said that I think that AFX is shooting themselves in the foot a little over this, to only be able to get the exclusive 'give away' minimate after spending $25 in the 'bargain basement' that doesn't really have much in the way of minimates ( or has them in the store then you order/pay and then they say they don't have them in stock!) is both insulting and sleazy.

They could have made it something like spend $25 in the bargain basement or $50 in minimates, giving the minimate collector a choice to spend more and get what they want.

What grates is that they are screwing the minimate fans over and know it, I bet there are going to be a lot of bobblehead buyers who get the free mate, take one look and give it to their dogs as a chew toy, but the guy who is just interested in minimates has to buy a bunch of stuff he's not interested in and pays $35+ for a single minimate and gets some random junk he didn't want in the first place.

It's certainly put me off buying from them in future.

It's a real shame as they had built up a lot of goodwill with fans over the Defenders set & just the other day I was using them as a shining example of a good company that gets exclusives!

T.

[TM2 Dinobot]

Just for the record, there is no 'blame' in this. No one has done ANYTHING wrong. I totally advocate 100% what AFX is doing. Am I going to participate? No. But that's my choice and I'm not gona bitch and moan about it.

Although I am a bit disappointed that their AFX Exclusive Transformer busts aren't in the sale. I asked them and they said it's cause they're preorders. Which makes sense if they're clearing out over stock. Dang I want that Coronation Starscream...

[DocVicVonDoom]

Yeah it is pretty much a rip, but it did give me an excuse to order the Defenders set from AFX and thus get it quicker than waiting for other stores to get theirs after the fact. Unfortunately, they inexplicably didn't put the Defenders (or practically any other) minimates into the Holiday special... whatever. Luckily, my mom was complaining about needing some bookends and she loves Harry Potter so I picked up those Harry Potter bookends that they had offered. Still, I'm not too happy about the nearly 13 bucks in shipping I had to pay, but it'll all come out in the wash.

[vbpanizzi]

I am probably not going to be very popular for this, but I have heard it many times from various people on this site.

No one forces you to collect! All the pressure comes from yourself. The whole got to have them all attitude is your desire to have that complete collection or have that specific costume. We are talking about little pieces of plastic. I agree that AFX should have more minimate items in the sale but that is not how they deceided to go. They own the site they own the mates. Who knows maybe they will not sell out of the mates and deceide to do another buy get thing. What we need to notice is that we are getting this 'cancelled' mate. I said it. let the egging begin.

[omendreamer]

I for one agree with you. I just didn't see the point in getting involved in an argument I have no real stake in. Deep breaths everyone.

[TBT!]

I said it. let the egging begin.

VBpanizzi has an omelette fetish... do not give him more eggs than absolutely needed!

As for no one "doing anything wrong"... that's probably the case but with a little thought things could have been done better.

As the man says I also bet this mate will appear in future promos so be patient if you don't have money to burn..

T.

[hyejinx1984]

It does kind of annoy me that AFX doesn't make it ABSOLUTELY clear that you'll be definitely getting the Minimate. I just bought 3 of the Transformers minibusts that I believe were in the Holiday store... it would have really been nice for a confirmation telling me I'm also getting the minimate

[MinimateEspo25]

I was worried about that too, especially since the item I ordered was later removed from the list, but I e-mailed them last night (around 12AM) and got a response back from them in about 10 minutes saying that I was getting it. Sweet, they my charge a lot on shipping but they are fast and courtesous, at least in my deals with them.

[Shanester]

Pete, have the items shipped to my house. If you only want the Web Armor Spidey, I will forward him for free. If you want all the items, I can forward them for less than $50. I do this for folks often. In fact, when AFX sponsors a contest, they won't ship the prizes outside the USA. So, if a winner lives outside the US, I have the prizes sent to me and forward it out of my own pocket.

[omendreamer]

I have to say that when it comes to aiding fellow collectors out, this forum has some incredibly helpful and altruistic members. Just thought I'd throw in a declaration of your (and others') awesomeness.

[minijeff]

Pete, have the items shipped to my house. If you only want the Web Armor Spidey, I will forward him for free. If you want all the items, I can forward them for less than $50. I do this for folks often. In fact, when AFX sponsors a contest, they won't ship the prizes outside the USA. So, if a winner lives outside the US, I have the prizes sent to me and forward it out of my own pocket.

Shane

I gotta say this is darn nice of you.

actions like this are the one of the reasons I love this board!

Jeff of the Minis

[Pete]

Pete, have the items shipped to my house. If you only want the Web Armor Spidey, I will forward him for free. If you want all the items, I can forward them for less than $50. I do this for folks often. In fact, when AFX sponsors a contest, they won't ship the prizes outside the USA. So, if a winner lives outside the US, I have the prizes sent to me and forward it out of my own pocket.

Wow Shane... you amaze me!

Not only have you helped me out in the past with the SDCC zombies, you're offering to help again!

As the previous posters have stated, this is unbelievably good of you... great infact.

It's not often you come across such a decent person who'll help out for nothing in return, for this... i commend you!

OK, let me get my head around everything and i'll PM you about the next steps.

Thanks!

Pete

[Shanester]

I can even donate items you don't want to Toys for Tots (or any charity) if you like.

Folks here help me out all the time. Its a great community.

[TM2 Dinobot]

Okay, THAT is a GREAT idea!!!

We buy the toys. We get the free minimate. Kids get free toys! Someone write AFX with this option, have the toys donated to either Toys for Tots or Toys for Teens. They can have a $25 Grab Bag option just for donating, or you can just donate some of their toys. It saves shipping on us, we get Minimates, kids get toys, AFX clears out merchandise and gets a tax write-off. It's a win all the way around!

Personally, I don't think they'll do that. So why don't WE do it? Anyone who just wants the minimate, or only part of their toys, have the toys sent to one place, the person donates the toys and ships out the mates. Obviously we pay the $3 for s/h that's due to the person.

Hmm, the logistics seem to be a little fuzzy. Someone help me brain storm over here. And write AFX and DST. Gah, my head's hurting now.

[Dan]

Why do we need to tell anyone like DST or AFX? I think, as Shane has so very kindly offered, we should keep it in the community.

Many people here don't agree with their 'deal', so why give them Kudos for a Multiverse Idea?

Just my opinion.

[Mystery Man]

I'd really like to get one of these.

But I don't want anything in the holiday shop. If I could buy my Defenders sets and get this that'd be great...

If only.

[Shanester]

The option is open to anyone. If you just want the Web Armor Spidey, have it sent to me and I'll send you the Spidey free and donate the rest to Toys for Tots. I can have a picture taken of me delivering a load to the Marines/TFT folks close to Christmas.

I imagine there are other folks who would do this also. Toys for Tots is a great cause that I donate to annually. Its toys for Odin's sake!

[Rad]

An excellent idea and no need to involve AFX at all. Thanks for this Shane. I'm going to look at the bargain basement sale again.