The Energon Pub

They ordered enough of them that It still took over a day to sell out after they got the credit card fiasco figured out.

Does it piss me off I had to wait around for the bozo's to put crap up for sale at 3:45 or whatever stupid time it was? It sure did.

Did I work all night and set it up so my friends would contact me while I was sleeping when the store went live again? I sure did.

If u can't find a friend or family member you can trust to order it for you having an over 12 hr window, it's your own fault.

I do agree with the people doing group purchases not paying for membership, that pisses me off, since I joined myself this year.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Mkall wrote:And lo the division between the Club-Haves and the Club-Missed-Outs shall begin again for another year.

Congrats to all who managed to get theirs. This current method of selling these sickens me to no end. I hope there will be a change next year.

Every year people ask for a change and it never happens. What needs to happen is one group buys all the figures and then goes to the boards trying to sell them at a mark up. I say this every year but there's no need to own more than one of the figure, period. I don't care about your dio, fan-fic, or pictures. There's also no reason to do group orders for non-club members; there's a reason why it's called a CLUB exclusive. Now if you'll excuse me I'm looking into how much my kidney will go for on the black market; I missed out on the pre-orders.

You know, I'm sorry that you didn't get to order a figure, but if someone wants to have 2 of the same figure, or if they want to help a friend out and order one for them too, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You missed out, it sucks, but it's not like you didn't know this figure was coming. They announced this figure quite a while back.

Two, maybe even three could be considered acceptable if you're getting them for your friends. But they allow you to buy 20 at a time.

Honestly, everyone who pays their dues should get a fair chance at getting it for themselves. End of story.

Because it's cheaper to send things in bulk to Australia?

Besides, those of us who may have gotten in on a bulk deal will still have to join the club to get the other dude anyway. Quite crafty of FunPub really.

I still think they should offer exclusive access to preorders (with a low limit of say 2-3 of each exclusive figure) to club members only on the first day or so, then open it up to non-club members as well as allow club members to then purchase more figures at their discounted price if they wish.

That eliminates the scalpers from squeezing out any members from having a fair shot at the figures before they sell out. Right now it's a $40 free-for-all, and you can bet that plenty of scalpers join the club each year just to get 20 of the figures to turn around and sell for a jacked up price (which should be illegal in my opinion, because they're operating as a business without a business license and using club membership+short supply to turn the club into a wholesaler instead of a retailer, which is not what they are supposed to be).

I bought 2 Runabouts but only because the postage costs are so high to the UK, and It's likely that I'll be hit with UK VAT as well. I am happy to divide the total cost (after customs) to myself in 2 and sell on one of the figures to a UK member. I will make £0.00 profit. It will still be cheaper for each of us than it would have been to buy the figure direct from TFCC. Again, this comes back to the huge postage charges.

In terms of how many figures should be purchasable? A cap of 3 of each figure would go a long way to stop scalpers, as you could reasonably argue that you would want 1 figure MIB, 1 for display and then 1 for a friend.

breastforce wrote:I bought 2 Runabouts but only because the postage costs are so high to the UK, and It's likely that I'll be hit with UK VAT as well. I am happy to divide the total cost (after customs) to myself in 2 and sell on one of the figures to a UK member. I will make £0.00 profit. It will still be cheaper for each of us than it would have been to buy the figure direct from TFCC. Again, this comes back to the huge postage charges.

In terms of how many figures should be purchasable? A cap of 3 of each figure would go a long way to stop scalpers, as you could reasonably argue that you would want 1 figure MIB, 1 for display and then 1 for a friend.

Every year we bring up the idea of a cap. A group not one person needs to say this at bot-con. I doubt anyone will though.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Every year we bring up the idea of a cap. A group not one person needs to say this at bot-con. I doubt anyone will though.

I suppose the argument would be why would any collector require more than 3 of each figure? The fact that they would not be able to answer this would hopefully drive the point home.

Is it just me... or when i click on Runabout... it redirects me to the same page? I cant get the to the product description page for runabout, but i can for drift!

Is he sold out?

Edit: Oh yes he is. Just a few hours too late. Oh well, time to flood TFCC with a petition for a 2nd release Who's with me?

breastforce wrote:In terms of how many figures should be purchasable? A cap of 3 of each figure would go a long way to stop scalpers, as you could reasonably argue that you would want 1 figure MIB, 1 for display and then 1 for a friend.

I totally agree. I think 2-3 figures per member is perfectly reasonable, even if the intent is to sell one later to recoup costs. I don't have an issue with that, I know how tight money can be and it's an expensive hobby. My issue is with those that buy in volume only to hold them until the price goes up, then sell them all for massive profits.

I don't even have an issue with buying 1 or 2 for friends, those friends are collectors after all, and again, I understand how tight money can be (and their shipping costs are nuts ).

I just think a cap, at least within the first day or two (or even for the first week, if they were willing to do that), would go a loooooong way in making certain that every club member who is a collector got their chance to get the figures before the scalpers jump in and scoop them all up, 20 at a time, only to turn around and sell them for a profit on ebay once they've sold out. It would serve the collector community, and would still allow the 'scalpers' to pick up the excess stock for sale later if they so desired once the alloted time has passed so that the club isn't stuck with leftovers and the scalpers still get their profits. This just makes them wait a bit before they make it impossible for some collectors to get their figures first.

Planned on getting Drift the whole time, but caved on Over-Run at the last minute. I'm a sap.

Marcdachamp wrote:Planned on getting Drift the whole time, but caved on Over-Run at the last minute. I'm a sap.

wait... how are u even buying runabout? i cant click the buy now button!?

So is Drift sold out too?

It just seems wrong that members of the club miss out on this figure when non-members can buy multiple.

I thought one of the perks of being in a club was to get access to things that others don't.

Just to be clear, everyone buying these figures are members or newly registered members. Everyone had access to these just the same as anyone else. I completely agree that buying multiples should not be an option, but that's not up to anyone but the one's running the club.

Going forward, to those angry about the current set up, I say this: remember this experience. Get used to it, as it is likely to happen again if unprepared. Save your money for the run up to Botcon.

Reminder: The only way to kill off the scalpers is to not buy from them. If the richest of us still buy from scalpers, then the cycle will continue. If that's the case, we all must be prepared to camp Twitter once there is news that club exclusive releases are set to be released.

There are other options. KO's, 3P replacement heads, and FrenzyRumble custom commissions come to mind.

Dudes, a mate of mine has (hopefully) managed to grab a Runabout for me due to me not being in the club, you know why I don't join the club?

Reason number one, international membership is insane.
International shipping is insane.
Oh and you need a credit card to join and buy stuff, which I don't have and don't plan on owning any time soon.

Seriously, the pre-orders for these have been out for the entire week, sure most of it was wasted due to how incompetent the club is, but the fact still stands, they where available and you had time to get them. You didn't? Your own fault.

But I agree, Club members should be able to order one for themselves prior to the rest of the world. No idea how much that would do, due to the club always crashing and going down the crapper the day they go for sale.

I ordered a Club subscription and all they sent me were a bunch of TF magazines and a TF...talk about disappoint. Where is my pronz and free 'toy'?

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:Got Him!!!!

I've got a question for other international people who've ordered the figure(s), I noticed on my email confirmation that it said I needed to send a fax of my credit card and photo ID if it was my first order. Really!? That seems really strange to me. Also, technically joining the club would have been my first order.

Would be really grateful if someone could clear that up for me.

It looks like that's for International Orders. Are you in the United States? If so, you don't need to do that. At least according to the confirmation I got.

Nope I'm in Europe, I've sent a email asking for confirmation - it said that they reserve the right to cancel the order so hopefully I'll get a couple of days grace if that's what's required.

That said, if I was buying almost anything else and a company asked me to fax my credit card and ID to them I think I'd laugh all the way to their competitors site.

Just to go back to the faxing of ID etc... for international collectors I have sent the Club an email explaining that I don't have access to a fax machine and asking them to clarify what other method I could use. I stated I would be a bit cheesed off if they just cancelled my order for this when they have had 3 years membership from me with no previous problems.

As of yet I have not had a response.

I tried joining the club on Wednesday, thinking that I would have a login and everything ASAP. I still haven't gotten a login, and missed out on this.

Oh well. Maybe I'll pick up an extra Runabout to offset the $300 I'll have to pay on the secondary market.

Drift and Runamuck are officially sold out and taken off the store.

They sold out in less than 36 hours! And they still claim they ordered more stock.

Not to saddened by drift, have no interest in SG, but i really, really want a 2n release for runmuck. Probably getting an extra runmuck to sell of to buy runmuck or something.

Just an aside guys, just because the club made them doesn't mean Hasbro won't do a mainline release down the line of Runamuck and Runabout.

harrogatebantam31 wrote:

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

Primacron's Little Helper wrote:Got Him!!!!

I've got a question for other international people who've ordered the figure(s), I noticed on my email confirmation that it said I needed to send a fax of my credit card and photo ID if it was my first order. Really!? That seems really strange to me. Also, technically joining the club would have been my first order.

Would be really grateful if someone could clear that up for me.

It looks like that's for International Orders. Are you in the United States? If so, you don't need to do that. At least according to the confirmation I got.

Nope I'm in Europe, I've sent a email asking for confirmation - it said that they reserve the right to cancel the order so hopefully I'll get a couple of days grace if that's what's required.

That said, if I was buying almost anything else and a company asked me to fax my credit card and ID to them I think I'd laugh all the way to their competitors site.

Just to go back to the faxing of ID etc... for international collectors I have sent the Club an email explaining that I don't have access to a fax machine and asking them to clarify what other method I could use. I stated I would be a bit cheesed off if they just cancelled my order for this when they have had 3 years membership from me with no previous problems.

As of yet I have not had a response.

Yeah, nor have I. I guess it might be that the rule is only enforced for more 'suspect' countries which don't have such a good working relationship with the US.

Dead Metal wrote:Dudes, a mate of mine has (hopefully) managed to grab a Runabout for me due to me not being in the club, you know why I don't join the club?

Reason number one, international membership is insane.
International shipping is insane.
Oh and you need a credit card to join and buy stuff, which I don't have and don't plan on owning any time soon.

Seriously, the pre-orders for these have been out for the entire week, sure most of it was wasted due to how incompetent the club is, but the fact still stands, they where available and you had time to get them. You didn't? Your own fault.

But I agree, Club members should be able to order one for themselves prior to the rest of the world. No idea how much that would do, due to the club always crashing and going down the crapper the day they go for sale.

Here's why the system is broken. Some collectors have enough money to buy at will but many others have a more limited budget and you also never know when life is going to throw you more bills.

The club kinda operates on the theory of "Wait for us as long as we tell you to and stop complaining, even if that means weeks or months" while they expect the fanbase to operate on the theory of "24-36 hrs is plenty of time and any other purchases/bills don't matter as much as ours"

That's just not right.

Delicon wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Dudes, a mate of mine has (hopefully) managed to grab a Runabout for me due to me not being in the club, you know why I don't join the club?

Reason number one, international membership is insane.
International shipping is insane.
Oh and you need a credit card to join and buy stuff, which I don't have and don't plan on owning any time soon.

Seriously, the pre-orders for these have been out for the entire week, sure most of it was wasted due to how incompetent the club is, but the fact still stands, they where available and you had time to get them. You didn't? Your own fault.

But I agree, Club members should be able to order one for themselves prior to the rest of the world. No idea how much that would do, due to the club always crashing and going down the crapper the day they go for sale.

Here's why the system is broken. Some collectors have enough money to buy at will but many others have a more limited budget and you also never know when life is going to throw you more bills.

The club kinda operates on the theory of "Wait for us as long as we tell you to and stop complaining, even if that means weeks or months" while they expect the fanbase to operate on the theory of "24-36 hrs is plenty of time and any other purchases/bills don't matter as much as ours"

That's just not right.

Don't fight each other. TFCC's whole system of preordering figures is flawed. They are the only online Transformers company (that I know) that still sells preorders this way. It's an all out frenzy, with lots of disappointments for people. It shouldn't be like this. There are much better ways to offer these figures so that everyone has the opportunity to buy them and TFCC has the opportunity to rake in even more profits. But they don't seem to be able to lead themselves in that direction.

Stormrider wrote:

Delicon wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Dudes, a mate of mine has (hopefully) managed to grab a Runabout for me due to me not being in the club, you know why I don't join the club?

Reason number one, international membership is insane.
International shipping is insane.
Oh and you need a credit card to join and buy stuff, which I don't have and don't plan on owning any time soon.

Seriously, the pre-orders for these have been out for the entire week, sure most of it was wasted due to how incompetent the club is, but the fact still stands, they where available and you had time to get them. You didn't? Your own fault.

But I agree, Club members should be able to order one for themselves prior to the rest of the world. No idea how much that would do, due to the club always crashing and going down the crapper the day they go for sale.

Here's why the system is broken. Some collectors have enough money to buy at will but many others have a more limited budget and you also never know when life is going to throw you more bills.

The club kinda operates on the theory of "Wait for us as long as we tell you to and stop complaining, even if that means weeks or months" while they expect the fanbase to operate on the theory of "24-36 hrs is plenty of time and any other purchases/bills don't matter as much as ours"

That's just not right.

Don't fight each other. TFCC's whole system of preordering figures is flawed. They are the only online Transformers company (that I know) that still sells preorders this way. It's an all out frenzy, with lots of disappointments for people. It shouldn't be like this. There are much better ways to offer these figures so that everyone has the opportunity to buy them and TFCC has the opportunity to rake in even more profits. But they don't seem to be able to lead themselves in that direction.

Because they're fu*king pathetic, I don't know whats. I can't call them amateurs, because that would imply that they're willing to learn and actually care about what they do, but they don't.

Dead Metal wrote:

Stormrider wrote:Don't fight each other. TFCC's whole system of preordering figures is flawed. They are the only online Transformers company (that I know) that still sells preorders this way. It's an all out frenzy, with lots of disappointments for people. It shouldn't be like this. There are much better ways to offer these figures so that everyone has the opportunity to buy them and TFCC has the opportunity to rake in even more profits. But they don't seem to be able to lead themselves in that direction.

Because they're fu*king pathetic, I don't know whats. I can't call them amateurs, because that would imply that they're willing to learn and actually care about what they do, but they don't.

TFCC's website seems to have the worst possible user interface. You have to keep logging in, after even refreshing the page. Stuff like a customer service email is not even provided, and Over-run was even listed on the store 1 day after he sold out.

BTW, anyone know the email to contact TFCC? I really want to complain about stuff . And maybe get enough people to start an over-run 2nd release