Dorkside Toys financial issues/future discussion

[TheSameIdiot]

What a bummer. Back to BBTS, I guess.

[slugzilla]

Of course they've made their social media accounts private now...

I've ordered from them in the past, and even had some active pre-orders with them, but I knew something bad was up as soon as they didn't put up all the new Hasbro pre-orders. Glad I cancelled everything then.

Eddie Campbell, the owner of Dorkside Toys obviously knew this was coming for some time now, and made absolutely no effort to address the situation, respond to people's concerns or warn them of what was going on. Instead they chose to keep pretending everything was fine so they could keep taking money from their customers, knowing full well that they were not planning to issue refunds.

The fact that they're not responding to people's E-Mails, locking down their social media, and aren't giving out refunds tells me they're trying to cut and run.

Knowing they're actively screwing your fellow collectors out of their hard earned money should be enough to convince everyone to stop ordering from them.

[Ultramane]

yeah it's not trolling or spite to tell people to be cautious when ordering from them now. we don't have a 20 page thread about their issues because everything is going great, yknow?

[The Ghost]

Good luck everyone. We've had a few online retailers go under in Australia in recent years and people have lost a lot of money on pre-orders:
- Premium Collectibles
- Toys & Beyond
- Bulletproof Villain

Probably a couple more I've missed but those 3 have been pretty big sagas for our collector community. And it always seems to come out of nowhere. :/

I guess it pays to be vigilant and not over-reliant on one source

[MollyMillions]

Wanted a farewell shirt, but they are only shipping US.

Ah well.

That's actually the only thing I'm really tempted to buy.

I thought it'd be fun to wear to local toy shows.

[Odowan]

Wanted a farewell shirt, but they are only shipping US.

Ah well.

That's actually the only thing I'm really tempted to buy.

I thought it'd be fun to wear to local toy shows.

Considering it would appear Dorkside has screwed a substantial amount of customers out of their money, you might get some looks.

[MollyMillions]

Yeah, we'll have to see how all the screw jobs shake out.

Toronto's Outrun Collectibles went from "We'll make it right and get everyone their money back" to "Well, out of time, peace out!" and ghosting.

interestingly enough, another store that decided a brick and mortar location during pandemic was the play to make. In downtown Toronto.

[Threash]

Good luck everyone. We've had a few online retailers go under in Australia in recent years and people have lost a lot of money on pre-orders:
- Premium Collectibles
- Toys & Beyond
- Bulletproof Villain

Probably a couple more I've missed but those 3 have been pretty big sagas for our collector community. And it always seems to come out of nowhere. :/

I guess it pays to be vigilant and not over-reliant on one source

I lost like 750 dollars when nippon yasan went under.

[Misfit]

Yeah, we'll have to see how all the screw jobs shake out.

Toronto's Outrun Collectibles went from "We'll make it right and get everyone their money back" to "Well, out of time, peace out!" and ghosting.

interestingly enough, another store that decided a brick and mortar location during pandemic was the play to make. In downtown Toronto.

I think a lot of places in the collector world saw a boom during COVID, some of which reinvested their newfound profits in a business that wasn't equipped to handle a slowdown. Going brick and mortar sure seems like the type of thing that probably would hurt someone in this field, especially if there is no rent control in place.

[iskopower]

So I cancelled my pre-orders (Classified Cover Girl wave and Retro X-Men wave) from Dorkside and got the former from Amazon while the latter I took advantage of the current Target sales.

The only order I have left with them is the Khonshu wave. They didn't cancel my order yet so who knows. I do hope Target puts out the orders for this wave during the sale. It's so hard to pay for full prices on figures like Howard the Duck, Red Skull and the Zombies.

[MollyMillions]

I think a lot of places in the collector world saw a boom during COVID, some of which reinvested their newfound profits in a business that wasn't equipped to handle a slowdown. Going brick and mortar sure seems like the type of thing that probably would hurt someone in this field, especially if there is no rent control in place.

Yeah, I don't run a retail business, but I do assist small businesses as a Shopify expert and marketer, so I get to peek under the hood of every client. Take what you say mixed with the toy world pitfalls of product arriving in waves, product being limited and niche, customers cancelling or not following up on product you've already paid for, it's rough.

Heck, I've never met a comic shop owner who was enthused about running his comic shop, can't imagine toys.

[Ru_1977]

That's actually the only thing I'm really tempted to buy.

I thought it'd be fun to wear to local toy shows.

Considering it would appear Dorkside has screwed a substantial amount of customers out of their money, you might get some looks.

Yeah, I talked myself out of getting a shirt since it's kinda morbid in a way.

[Misfit]

Heck, I've never met a comic shop owner who was enthused about running his comic shop, can't imagine toys.

Hah! Truer words have never been spoken.

[renfield75]

I wound up receiving my entire PayPal balance back from Dorkside, refunded through a purchase I made this summer on my debit card. So my balance with them is settled and they did right by me...hopefully everyone else gets their money back as well.

Sad to see Dorkside go. They were my main online store since 2015.

[Blackestday]

Wanted a farewell shirt, but they are only shipping US.

Ah well.

That's actually the only thing I'm really tempted to buy.

I thought it'd be fun to wear to local toy shows.

With “OWNER” printed across the shoulders on the back.
I ordered 2 and they’re already in transit. I feel like one of those vultures in cartoons checking back to see if a couple things were marked down.

I think they carried too much stuff that really doesn’t seem to sell unless it is marked down. Opening an actual store from an online business just doesn’t seem like a good idea unless you’re somewhere with known heavy foot traffic of adults that buy pricey toys.