The Energon Pub

Greetings All,

I have decided to make a thread to see if there is enough interest in discussing the minutiae about the process of purchasing toys at general retail (more commonly known as Brick & Mortar or actual physical stores, since the prevalence of online shopping has arisen in the last decade). This arises out of a recent discussion in the Power of the Primes news thread whereby someone was able to purchase a toy at roughly half cost due to a number of flaws in the system.

Now I really don't want to argue politics, or point fingers at who is right/wrong. However...I want to keep in mind that this is a global forum. Fans are purchasing toys throughout the world, and in different places different rules may apply. I certainly do have my own internal sense of right/wrong , which may come across, and while I may project my ideas, I will not criticize anyone if their ideas are different from my own. Please remember however, if my ideas preemptively make others appear to be *shady*, please keep in mind I posted my comments first, and I am not the one making the other person look disingenuous.

For starters, let me take you all back to December 2016. I live in Northern California, and was purchasing two of the then newly released Titan Master figures for wave 3. They were found at a Wal Mart store about 10 miles from my home, and the UPC's were not scanning at the time. A Line Manager attempted to take them away from me stating *they must have a recall because they are not scanning", and I almost lost out altogether. I had to get persistent however and insist I go to customer service. Once I did, I explained my situation, and gave the actual cost of each item (which I believe was $4.97). I don't know what process she used to finalize the transaction, however I was able to walk away with a successful purchase.

Now I know that the this scenario came up several times, and is apparently occurring now with Power of the Primes wave 2 Legends Class figures within the United States. While Wal Mart (a global chain), claims to have comprehensive training of its employees, its obvious, that all these people are only human, so a variety of different scenarios can occur. The question is...which is correct?

Scenario 1 -An item is rung up and doesn't scan, if the employee asks you for the price, either give the correct amount, or if you don't know, you can ask an associate to return to the toy section to get the price.

Scenario 2- An item is rung up and doesn't scan, if the employee, without asking, puts in a Random Price (which will almost always be lower than the actual retail price), it is up to your own conscience as to whether or not you want to make the correction. Some employees don't care if their company loses money, in which case, they would be the source of the problem. Technically this should never happen. But it does.

Scenario 3- You go to self checkout and an Item does not scan, but you have another item of the same price that will (a same size toy form an older assortment). you just scan that item instead and proceed with your transaction. Now while this is not *theft* of money, it will cause the stores inventory system to be off. I only point this out because on one occasion due to lack of patience I did this myself. While I did not lose any sleep over it, I would probably not do it again, now that I know there is a better way.

These are just a couple of scenarios. There are dozens more, and while some look for opportunities to take advantage, reasoning that large corporations will not miss a few dollars, or suffer so much theft, *my purchase* wont mess up their inventory so much, or reason that "better I get these toys than the scalpers" well...all these points can be debated until the end of time, and we just may in this thread. I just wanted to offer a place for people to come if they have genuine questions about what could happen if a transaction doesn't go as planned. It would be nice if we lived in a world where all these machines and systems worked exactly the way they were supposed to, but until that day comes, I figure this subject is worthy of discussion.

If you have any personal experiences you'd like to share, or ideas on how to handle situations when they don't go according to plan, feel free to post here.

I believe that this would be better discussed in the toy discussion forum instead of Buy Sale Trade.

I will be:

1. Moving the thread as suggested above.
2. Changing the title. B&M is an actual store in the UK, and one popular right now due to its very low prices on TFs.

Hope you understand!

Absolutely do what needs to be done by all means

There's one more scenario there I think.

Scenario 4. It does scan, but the price is lower, than what you know it ought to be, and there is no sale going on. The price marked on the shelf is correct, but scans lower for some reason.

What do you do? What...do...you...do?!

I would say, that if the figure doesn't scan for some reason, you can do your best to provide an actual price for it. But outright lying about it to get a lower price not really the best approach in my view.


If the employee enters a random price(never seen this happen) then you may want to call it out, if you feel so inclined. Again, you are not actively deceiving any one. But it can be an act of omission to let it stand.

If the item does not scan, in the self checkout line, call a manager to help you out if you have time. Just scanning something else can cause issues.

^I've heard of this before, but I've never seen it. Good Call. IIRC someone was able to purchase a Masterpiece figure from Toys R US for something insane like 2 cents. Now of course this is "code" for TRU of an item that is supposed to go back to stock and no longer be sold. However if the clerk sells it for that price (which they should not do), there may not be much the customer can do. The right thing would be for the customer to explain it to the manager on duty. however in turn, the manager should honor the price it was purchased for, and take whatever measures are necessary (pull remaining stock, or inform their corporate office) so that the mishap doesn't happen again

This is a tough one when it comes about due to the wrong price via the company (not you or cashier). I try to practice an always honest approach to life. Sometimes it doesn't work out and you throw out those white lies, but, I am happy to say I've never purposefully given a wrong price just to win. I have made stores follow through on their promised pricing when it's wrong though, if it is their fault and not someone pulling a fast one. And by that I mean they placed incorrect pricing on an item. Only happens to me at the grocery when they mislable something as $/lb. And not $/each.

o.supreme wrote:Once I did, I explained my situation, and gave the actual cost of each item (which I believe was $4.97). I don't know what process she used to finalize the transaction, however I was able to walk away with a successful purchase.

It's simple. They went into a manager mode on the kiosk/cash register, typed in a name, typed in a price, and sold it to you for that price.

o.supreme wrote:Now I know that the this scenario came up several times, and is apparently occurring now with Power of the Primes wave 2 Legends Class figures within the United States. While Wal Mart (a global chain), claims to have comprehensive training of its employees, its obvious, that all these people are only human, so a variety of different scenarios can occur. The question is...which is correct?

I believe the correct scenario with this is that the store will send associate over to the that section and see if there's a price for it. But that takes time. And associates get lazy. And in the case of Walmart, you probably have 5 people behind you in line.

o.supreme wrote:Scenario 3- You go to self checkout and an Item does not scan, but you have another item of the same price that will (a same size toy form an older assortment). you just scan that item instead and proceed with your transaction. Now while this is not *theft* of money, it will cause the stores inventory system to be off. I only point this out because on one occasion due to lack of patience I did this myself. While I did not lose any sleep over it, I would probably not do it again, now that I know there is a better way.

When you try to scan and it doesn't come up, the associate tending to the self-checkout area should catch that and they'll take over like a regular cashier at that point.

Overcracker wrote:There's one more scenario there I think.

Scenario 4. It does scan, but the price is lower, than what you know it ought to be, and there is no sale going on. The price marked on the shelf is correct, but scans lower for some reason.

What do you do? What...do...you...do?!

I would say, that if the figure doesn't scan for some reason, you can do your best to provide an actual price for it. But outright lying about it to get a lower price not really the best approach in my view.


If the employee enters a random price(never seen this happen) then you may want to call it out, if you feel so inclined. Again, you are not actively deceiving any one. But it can be an act of omission to let it stand.

If the item does not scan, in the self checkout line, call a manager to help you out if you have time. Just scanning something else can cause issues.

Scenario 5. Titans Return Legends on clearance. Power of the Primes Legends is not. Wave 2 Legends don't scan. They scan the Titans Return figure. They put in the clearance price for the Power of the Primes figure.

Do you speak up?

Overcracker wrote:There's one more scenario there I think.

Scenario 4. It does scan, but the price is lower, than what you know it ought to be, and there is no sale going on. The price marked on the shelf is correct, but scans lower for some reason.

What do you do? What...do...you...do?!

If an item scans at a lower price, I take it! Sure, that may seem a bit dishonest, but that's just me following policies some other stores have: "Scanned price is final price". As in, the price database is always correct, no matter what the shelf tags say. I do draw the line at prices higher than the MSRP however, or when the sale has seemingly ended without the stockers updating the tags. That's when I start yapping

Funny o.supreme mentioned that "2 cent" Masterpiece Bumblebee, but that was a huge cheat. Long story short, the figure was on a shelf designated for a different, cheaper, product. The person in question grabbed it, and argued it was to be sold to him at that cheaper price shown, even though the shelf tag and the scanned price prove the contrary. He only got it because he threw a fit in a manner of speaking and the manager grew tired of the whole ordeal. NOT something I'd recommend doing at all. All that needs to be said, and then left alone. Seriously, it sparked a rather nasty discussion here.

Rysquad wrote:Scenario 5. Titans Return Legends on clearance. Power of the Primes Legends is not. Wave 2 Legends don't scan. They scan the Titans Return figure. They put in the clearance price for the Power of the Primes figure.

Do you speak up?

Don't know if I would, it depends on who I'm with or dealing with, really. If the cashier is friendly or talkative, in other words more receptive to interaction, I would speak up and explain. If he or she is like "meh" or even rude, I shrug and think "Whatever".

If they give me a lower price, I will take it. But I wouldnt do anything shady to get a lower price, like lie about what price it should be. It has never happened that they ask me how much something is, we usually just scan a similar item from the shelf. It happened for some DC figures. The latest wave was not in the system, so they just scanned a previous wave. That previous wave happened to be on sale, so that was good for me. But they did that, not me, and it was because they put an item on the shelf that was not in their system.

Its similar to the case where a product is marked ridiculously low and shouldnt be on the shelves. They made this possibility happen through an error in coordination. So why shouldnt the customer profit from an error on their part.

As long as it is their doing and not a customer going out of their way to create a mistake (like switching price tags or something else), then I see nothing wrong with that. They give you a price and you can accept or reject it. If its lower than what you were hoping for, then good for you