Dorkside Toys financial issues/future discussion

[blackcomicnerd]

I was hearing about this rumor last week but I figured it was a bunch of nonsense. I got my Dorkside exclusives Valaverse figures this past weekend so I figured the rumors were bullshit. The site is pretty much DEAD now. Even though I preorder from multiple sources, Dorkside is always my first choice.

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[Darthgaar]

What is the person in the reddit post talking about regarding Major Bludd?

The specifics that I found online are that before Major Bludd was available anywhere in the US at Target, a number of Major Budds showed up on ebay at scalper prices and those sellers were located in Tennessee. Speculation was that Dorkside got a case somehow and was involved since they're located in TN additionally, that Robo received a Major Bludd anomalously in the mail at the time with Dorkside Toys having an affiliation with Robo.
The Redit poster that used to work for Dorkside confirmed the story by saying Dorkside Toys did receive a "rouge case" of Target Exclusive Bludd and they sold them off to family and friends locally which is how they ended up on ebay.
Not sure if it's true or not but the story makes sense.

[Shoretrooper69]

I'm going to chalk it up to the consequences of a lot of manufacturers raising their prices too quickly for small businesses to adapt. That gives them an easy out. I'd argue we'll see more small toy stores close in the coming months. I don't care about the drama behind any of them.

But let this be a warning about brands and businesses on the internet. You don't really know them. They're not your friends no matter how friendly their replies are. If they want to buy ad space or labeled sponsored content, fine. But always keep them at arm's length, never take anything for free, and never owe them any favors. There's always something you don't know.

[PG-Superfan]

What is the person in the reddit post talking about regarding Major Bludd?

The specifics that I found online are that before Major Bludd was available anywhere in the US at Target, a number of Major Budds showed up on ebay at scalper prices and those sellers were located in Tennessee. Speculation was that Dorkside got a case somehow and was involved since they're located in TN additionally, that Robo received a Major Bludd anomalously in the mail at the time with Dorkside Toys having an affiliation with Robo.
The Redit poster that used to work for Dorkside confirmed the story by saying Dorkside Toys did receive a "rouge case" of Target Exclusive Bludd and they sold them off to family and friends locally which is how they ended up on ebay.
Not sure if it's true or not but the story makes sense.

It's also not unheard of. Walmart has occasionally gotten "rogue cases" of Walgreens exclusives.

[MollyMillions]

Based on some stores locally that have closed and ones going through woes, one constant I've heard is the modern customer and pre-order system damns the store.

When everyone preorders everywhere to see who gets it first then cancels on the others, it leaves stores holding the bag.

I've also heard secondhand about a store that took preorders but didn't charge until shipment. That practice alone killed them when people cancelled or ghosted due to Life.

[zodach]

I just got a shipping notice for a few Black Friday sale items I purchased on Saturday so they definitely aren't done yet.

[tetragene]

But let this be a warning about brands and businesses on the internet. You don't really know them. They're not your friends no matter how friendly their replies are. If they want to buy ad space or labeled sponsored content, fine. But always keep them at arm's length, never take anything for free, and never owe them any favors. There's always something you don't know.

this. I never really experienced problems with them personally until now (over $100 in pre-orders via Paypal & so far no response to e-mailing), but people on here were always so ready to white knight for them like they had never done anything remotely questionable before. Or dole out excuses for why they did/didn't do something as being ok & customer's were just being ridiculous. Some people can go overboard with criticism/negativity, but the way other users took personal offense to anything but a glowing review of Dorkside was equally cringey & eye-roll worthy. Some people will be out considerable amounts of money so I don't think the whole "good guy/one of us" shtick is not going to fly

[PG-Superfan]

Based on some stores locally that have closed and ones going through woes, one constant I've heard is the modern customer and pre-order system damns the store.

When everyone preorders everywhere to see who gets it first then cancels on the others, it leaves stores holding the bag.

I've also heard secondhand about a store that took preorders but didn't charge until shipment. That practice alone killed them when people cancelled or ghosted due to Life.

You need scale to do the latter and ideally store exclusives to keep people in on preorders. That's essentially BBTS and EE.

But, again, this preorder approach with prepaying for stuff more than 3 months out violates Paypal's rules and a lot of credit card companies' rules.

There's a logistical reason why BBTS only holds Pile of Loot for 90 days and comic books take preorders around 90 days out.

The system wasn't designed for 6 month plus preorders with cash upfront. A store that does that risks their livelihood. You need to charge at shipment, charge at receipt with a maximum 90 day hold, or not take preorders more than 90 days out.

Super7 in particular has a lot of blame here. Mezco too. They flaunted the rules directly and resellers were dragged into doing the same to cover preorders.

Kickstarters get away with it thanks to a lot of legalese. You aren't buying products on Kickstarter. You're donating to makers and getting perks.

I haven't seen near that amount of legalese on Haslab or Mattel Creations and the odds are strong you could cancel 5 months after they take your money and they'd have to comply or lose their payment processing.

This preorder system is not sustainable.

[Ru_1977]

But let this be a warning about brands and businesses on the internet. You don't really know them. They're not your friends no matter how friendly their replies are. If they want to buy ad space or labeled sponsored content, fine. But always keep them at arm's length, never take anything for free, and never owe them any favors. There's always something you don't know.

this. I never really experienced problems with them personally until now (over $100 in pre-orders via Paypal & so far no response to e-mailing), but people on here were always so ready to white knight for them like they had never done anything remotely questionable before. Or dole out excuses for why they did/didn't do something as being ok & customer's were just being ridiculous. Some people can go overboard with criticism/negativity, but the way other users took personal offense to anything but a glowing review of Dorkside was equally cringey & eye-roll worthy. Some people will be out considerable amounts of money so I don't think the whole "good guy/one of us" shtick is not going to fly

I don't know if I ever "white knighted", or if I'm even considered one of the posters who seemed to take criticism at dorkside personal. I definitely didn't hesitate to share my experience with them but never once mistook any communication with them as a sign of friendship or whatnot. If I'm mistaken, I apologize, but I also don't believe I ever tried to say anyone was wrong or lying if they had a bad experience. I still like to give dorkside the benefit of the doubt as far as motives and intentions, but I that obviously doesn't affect my spending practices since I pulled all my preorders and got refunded on two in stock items just to be safe. I genuinely hope for the best for both the business and its customers, all of whom could be out a lot of money. I definitely feel for all the guys who have PayPal preorders and can't imagine how awful that is to go through.

I think my only issue with people jumping on DS when they posted here was it just didn't seem the place for it. Some of us really wanted them to continue especially since they'd often give us heads up on upcoming preorders and even, once in a while, clues to wave breakdowns. But I get when one is frustrated at lack of service and they wanna get resolution how ever they can, so reacting to the company's posts here seems natural.

Eh. Either way, it's pretty bad all around now. Some are clearly still getting their orders and that's great but I doubt anyone is disagreeing with how bad this potentially is.

[fac]

Based on some stores locally that have closed and ones going through woes, one constant I've heard is the modern customer and pre-order system damns the store.

When everyone preorders everywhere to see who gets it first then cancels on the others, it leaves stores holding the bag.

I've also heard secondhand about a store that took preorders but didn't charge until shipment. That practice alone killed them when people cancelled or ghosted due to Life.

I want to second this, and almost wrote a similar post. Purposely pre-ordering from multiple sources with the full intention of canceling all orders but the first retailer to get it in is really unfair to the retailers - we talk alot here about businesses not engaging in good faith practices, but this is an example where it is the opposite and the consumers are not acting in good faith. Especially for items that are not as popular, a store can be left with a decent amount of unwanted stock they can't sell at retail price if they happen to get it in later than others.

[fac]

I think my only issue with people jumping on DS when they posted here was it just didn't seem the place for it. Some of us really wanted them to continue especially since they'd often give us heads up on upcoming preorders and even, once in a while, clues to wave breakdowns.

I think when Dorkside posted as a fan, giving some heads-up on case breakdowns or timelines or whatever in a thread about that wave, that should not have been an invitation for someone to complain about some customer service issues. And I think people pushed back on that.

I think when Dorkside started the thread about their plans, like the storefront or pile-of-loot feature, then they were promoting their business, which made both positive and negative comments about that business a fair topic.

[Ru_1977]

I think my only issue with people jumping on DS when they posted here was it just didn't seem the place for it. Some of us really wanted them to continue especially since they'd often give us heads up on upcoming preorders and even, once in a while, clues to wave breakdowns.

I think when Dorkside posted as a fan, giving some heads-up on case breakdowns or timelines or whatever in a thread about that wave, that should not have been an invitation for someone to complain about some customer service issues. And I think people pushed back on that.

I think when Dorkside started the thread about their plans, like the storefront or pile-of-loot feature, then they were promoting their business, which made both positive and negative comments about that business a fair topic.

That seems perfectly fair and sensible, yeah.

[renfield75]

It has never occurred to me to use PayPal to pay for things at e-tailers other than eBay. I don't even use PayPal for eBay anymore, I just started using my credit card once they allowed it. I mostly use PayPal for person to person orders now, trades and such.

Clearly there's some risk involved, as evidenced by this debacle. But what are the benefits of using PayPal? Why not just use a CC?

I used PayPal for two Dorkside pre-orders earlier this spring because my then-current card was going to expire before the items were expected to arrive. I used PayPal to avoid any possible problems with the changing cards and had no reason not to trust Dorkside at that point.

One of those orders I recently cancelled (and got the "store credit" email) and the other, with a loose Knull, I still have open. But even if I cancel that there is literally nothing else on their site now I want to use store credit on. I fear I will ultimately be out about $120.

[BAT]

I have $400+ of unfulfilled prepaid orders with Dorkside, another ~$300 of "store credit" from items that Dorkside cancelled or that I cancelled because they were >6 mo past release and still unfulfilled. I think it is shady to offer store credit for cancelled preordered items never shipped to or received by the customer, especially when there is no place in my account summary where the balance of "store credit" is visible to me and especially when it is the store that cancels the sale. I sent an email to Dorkside asking for an ETA for the Super7 2001 line 8 days ago with no response. I am worried and do in fact think they owe some public clarity about what is going on.

[Threash]

I have $400+ of unfulfilled prepaid orders with Dorkside, another ~$300 of "store credit" from items that Dorkside cancelled or that I cancelled because they were >6 mo past release and still unfulfilled. I think it is shady to offer store credit for cancelled preordered items never shipped to or received by the customer, especially when there is no place in my account summary where the balance of "store credit" is visible to me and especially when it is the store that cancels the sale. I sent an email to Dorkside asking for an ETA for the Super7 2001 line 8 days ago with no response. I am worried and do in fact think they owe some public clarity about what is going on.

If you paid with paypal store credit is the only option because they no longer have a paypal account and cannot refund you. I used my CC and they refunded me back to my card. If I were you I would be using that store credit ASAP on in stock items, whatever they are. And cancel the open pre orders. Take it from someone who lost over 700 dollars in pre orders from Nippon Yasan, get whatever value you can before they are gone.