by ScottyP » Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:33 pm
- Weapon: Battle Blades
Here's my take on things for the US audience. If you're in another country, my feedback does not apply to you, sorry!
Target/Walmart/TRU/Kmart/etc, aka any "Big Box" retailer's online store
As run of the mill as it gets. K-mart should not be relied upon to actually send you what you ordered. That said, they will refund you if you don't get what you ordered, just don't expect to always ultimately end up with what you ordered.
Outside of K-mart's occasional weirdness, there really isn't much to say here. Most often good, occasionally garbage, but are big enough to handle problems.
Amazon
If you collect, you should have Prime. Don't be afraid to do searches for Takara lines as well! I've gotten some cool Japanese stuff at great prices that shipped free on 2-day Prime shipping. As always, beware Marketplace for newer items, though for older or vintage items you should absolutely check here as well as eBay these days.
TF Source
99% of the time, reliable and problem free. Average shipping time, but nothing to fret about. Free shipping is what would be expected timing wise out of free shipping (as in don't expect Amazon's slave labor force to have it to you in 48 hours.)
They really don't like it when you cancel. I have a pre-order I need to cancel there and I don't look forward to it. They'll likely bully me for being laid off last month. That's what I need, yep. (For reference, my only other one canceled order there was the last time that happened in the Great Recession and they weren't very nice about it.)
Big Bad Toy Store
Cream of the crop, except with shipping time and cost. No free shipping whatsoever. Additionally, though you will pay for shipping on literally every order regardless of the size, it can take anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week to actually leave their "warehouse" which is basically just a room with one dude filling boxes as fast as he can. In the meantime, if you get impatient and irritated at the delay, and try to cancel, they'll tell you that it's just too late and you're stuck with their 1998 era logistics.
I stopped buying from them.
Hasbro Toy Shop
Generally, see the big box retailers. Only reason I have them separate is that they like to send things whenever they're available, even if it's within four boxes on an order that was all together.
I should explain further.
Say you order 2 RiD Warriors, 1 CW Voyager, and 1 SDCC Exclusive Awesome Boxed Set. This qualifies you for free shipping.
You may get up to four separate boxes on four separate days with 1 item in each. They won't up charge you, which is cool for us, but dang, this seems wasteful to both their bottom line and the planet.
Chosen Prime, Captured Prey, Transformerland, Robotic Planet, Ages3andUp, and Reprolabels/Toyhax/Toystages
These are the cream of the crop, in my opinion. Got an issue? Be prepared for an actual person to respond to you with actual care that you have said issue, and then take care of it. Some in the US don't like that A3U has 9.99 shipping at best, but uh, they're in Canada so I'm ok with this.
Toywiz
Lol. Don't do it. Just don't. Please, don't. They either won't have it, or won't take it back when your Botcon '05 Sentinel Maximus doesn't have a battery cover - while that's ultimately 3H's fault, they weren't exactly around anymore back in 2006 to take care of that, now were they? That Micron Booster 4 Chromebite wasn't in stock either back in 2013, now was it? Toywiz sucks and I will never, ever buy from them again.
). I say "one of those" because they are one of a few stores that are famous for cheap preorders, but sell out quickly. 
