Asepticon wrote:I've seen very lttle advantage to being a pulse member so far.
Let's break this down...
I have more often than not cancelled orders on Pulse because Amazon gets them quicker -- see Siege Thundercracker. And often Amazon posts earlier ship dates on pre-orders -- see Earthrise Wave 1. And most recently, my brick and mortar stores have gotten them even earlier than that!
Pulse offers no availability advantages *for regular retail figures.*
Pulse, however, is an exclusive vendor to quite a few figures -- Toy-accurate Reflector, Star Convoy, the Seacons. You can theoretically get them from other online retailers, but at a 10-20% markup.
Pulse is slow on regular retail releases, but is the best option for imports or its own exclusives. So it's a wash.
Pulse shipping is trickier, because it ultimately depends on your purchasing habits. If you're disciplined with your purchases, you can make the $50 free shipping work for you. I don't know how that works with pre-orders with varying release dates. That could be a deal-breaker. If you're an impulse shopper, especially with the Generations Selects figures, then the free shipping won't work for you at all. I'm in the latter category. I tend to get randomly overwhelmed by FOMO and then rush to buy a figure.
Note that their regular shipping prices are downright usurious. $6 on orders under $50!!!!
Free Pulse Premium has been a huge boon for me all in all, but I don't know that I'd actually pay for it. If I could curb my bad habits and if the pre-order policy allowed for combining items to meet the $50 limit, then I might just well do without it. And if I really did the math, I'm betting that ordering through BBTS or TFSource using their Stack or Pile of Loot system would still be cheaper than either the $50/year cost of Premium or their ridiculous shipping prices.