Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[Alphahorizon]

2 minutes ago, Fisitron said:

Idk I’m happy with my purchase from N-Y

I would be as well. Congrats. That's the price of should be and would be if enough stock was made available. 

 

I just think that it's kind of dirty that enough stock is withheld at their website 2 then setup, two additional purchase windows to Mark the item up $100.

Edited June 3, 2019 by Alphahorizon

[General Rasp]

I wasn't able to grab one last night but hopefully some more pre-orders will open up later. If I am remembering correctly the VF-1J had a few pre-orders open up after the initial release. I got my VF-1J at MSRP from HLJ and didn't stay up for pre-order madness. 

[VF-1A Cannon Fodder]

Congrats to those who got through!

1. Missed on Ami Ami

2. Kept getting an error message at AE

3. HLJ was a ray of hope and got all way the way to the payment page spinning but I ended up getting cart-jacked.  I hoped to get a confirmation email that it actually went through.  Alas, none came.

Now, I patiently await TV Kakizaki to complete my DX set though I'd be content with my Hikaru IJ and Max 1A.

[kkx]

2 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

This happened to me, also during the first markup window, but I cancelled the order after getting the PayPal error four or five times. The order appeared cancelled in my order history. Then I put in an entirely new order which went through with no trouble the first time.

Then an hour later PayPal told me I'd paid N-Y again, and in my order history my cancelled order had been resurrected. So now I have two coming at 25,800 when I only wanted one. Don't want to get blacklisted by trying to cancel. Not sure what to do.

I am sure there will be someone here that will be willing to take the second one off your hands if you are asking for a fair price for it.

[Lockdown]

2 hours ago, Mac said:

What was the price on NY for the first round of PO? 

After being cart-jacked at many web store, I got lucky, I was desperate, I gave a last look at NY, 40 min after general PO opening NY listed and opened  pre orders 15,800 yen plus 3,500 yen shipping

[tjdetweiler]

Hi guys, quick question - Got one from HLJ - how soon do they send an email to say "sorry your order" has been cancelled?

[Double Spy]

2 hours ago, HardlyNever said:

Yup, this was the first price.  I think someone even screen-shotted it if you want to go further back and find it.  

I believe this is basically "mirage" pricing done by NY, that only a tiny portion of people actually get, but it attracts a lot more people.  I know lots of us made it to the last step of checkout with that price, and got an error.

After I errored out, I still had it in my cart, but at the new marked-up price.  I decided to pass (I already had one at HLJ).

They know what they are doing, and it is some devious... stuff.

Happened to me but I never got thru HLJ either, had in cart error tho. This morning I look at NY and see it still in cart. I said F it, NY wins, I ordered it. I lame Bandai for this. Lets produce like 20 valks and call it a day leaving money on the table. They should do a open pre-order to made so real fans get them and makes it so scalpers can go scalp something else.

[DewPoint]

So I'm wondering if this is something that can legally be done for discussion's sake.

When I was growing up I had a classmate up the street. On Halloween they would head out early in the evening, collect candy, sort out what they wanted to keep, and then hand out the remaining candy to visitors to their hours.

Following the same train of thought:  If a retailer "allowed" their employees to purchase items on pre-order from any retailer (including themselves), then open up later to the public.  Once stock was exhausted, they then "allow" employees to re-sell their items on the company website for a percentage of their profits.  Is this type of practice illegal? and if so what is it called?

[Double Spy]

I don't see why that isn't done MORE of. I'm sure it goes on ALOT.

 

[DewPoint]

10 minutes ago, tjdetweiler said:

Hi guys, quick question - Got one from HLJ - how soon do they send an email to say "sorry your order" has been cancelled?

Usually within a day or less based on past experience.

[gerwookie]

12 minutes ago, Double Spy said:

Happened to me but I never got thru HLJ either, had in cart error tho. This morning I look at NY and see it still in cart. I said F it, NY wins, I ordered it. I lame Bandai for this. Lets produce like 20 valks and call it a day leaving money on the table. They should do a open pre-order to made so real fans get them and makes it so scalpers can go scalp something else.

Maybe it’s time to turn to...Kickstarter! Companies love that no risk thing and it’s worked great in the board game world for the most part.

[Chronocidal]

Personally I'd happily get behind every site just offering no pre-order discount, and requiring payment up-front.

That'll eliminate a great deal of the scalping, because you won't be enticing them with higher margins, and they'll have to take the risk up front.  What you'll be left with is people who actually want the item for themselves, and will be more willing to pay ahead of time to secure one.  Cut out the speculators, for the sake of the collectors.

A trade-off really.  Little bit higher prices for people who get there fast, but you'll be saving late-comers money by curbing runaway markup.

Edited June 3, 2019 by Chronocidal

[SpaceCowboy]

What I don't get is that is exactly what preorders are for.  To gauge interest.  I have a hard time believing the parts have already been manufactured and they can't set a number based on how fast preorders sold out.  VF-1S doesn't ship until November.  

[HardlyNever]

35 minutes ago, tjdetweiler said:

Hi guys, quick question - Got one from HLJ - how soon do they send an email to say "sorry your order" has been cancelled?

I think we're in the clear, but I'd give it a good 48 hours before being really confident.  The last time I remember people getting their orders cancelled at HLJ was the DX YF-19.  That was in about 24 hours after the madness (and it wasn't every order, ofc, just some of them).  If you got a couple confirmation emails from them, I'd be pretty confident yours is secure.

AmiAmi and HLJ were using a different kind of page for these orders this time, that can dynamically ping the database and check stock without having to reload the entire page.  So as bad as this PO madness was, and as angry as those sites made people, they are actually an improvement compared to how their old sites functioned, from an IA point of view.  They are also less vulnerable to bots, arguably.

So I think there will be less recalling of confirmed orders going on, but it could still happen.

Edited June 3, 2019 by HardlyNever

[SpaceCowboy]

Was replying to Gerwookie - but yeah, I'd be fine with up front payment as well.  I learned about this sale 5 hours after it happened which was about 4 hours and 59 minutes too late to do anything about it.  I sort of want a VF-1S Hikaru but now I'm left out in the cold.  

[tjdetweiler]

6 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

I think we're in the clear, but I'd give it a good 48 hours before being absolutely sure.  The last time I remember people getting their orders cancelled at HLJ was the DX YF-19.  That was in about 24 hours after the madness (and it wasn't every order, ofc, just some of them).  If you got a couple confirmation emails from them, I'd be pretty confident yours is secure.

AmiAmi and HLJ were using a different kind of page for these orders this time, that can dynamically ping the database and check stock without having to reload the entire page.  So as bad as this PO madness was, and as angry as those sites made people, they are actually an improvement compared to how their old sites functioned, from an IA point of view.  They are also less vulnerable to bots, arguably.

So I think there will be less recalling of confirmed orders going on, but it could still happen.

Hey bud, thanks for the reply I appreciate it! Congrats on getting one as well.

Cross fingers that our orders don't get cancelled.

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by tjdetweiler

[gerwookie]

6 minutes ago, SpaceCowboy said:

Was replying to Gerwookie - but yeah, I'd be fine with up front payment as well.  I learned about this sale 5 hours after it happened which was about 4 hours and 59 minutes too late to do anything about it.  I sort of want a VF-1S Hikaru but now I'm left out in the cold.  

Release day always has PO prices open for amazon japan and hlj right, presumably from extra supply from cancelled orders? Has that happened for the vf-1j and others? 

[oshanmacross]

So what are the chances there might be more available on release day?

I've done pre-orders for toys but never like this.....

[tjdetweiler]

16 minutes ago, gerwookie said:

Release day always has PO prices open for amazon japan and hlj right, presumably from extra supply from cancelled orders? Has that happened for the vf-1j and others? 

 

5 minutes ago, oshanmacross said:

So what are the chances there might be more available on release day?

I've done pre-orders for toys but never like this.....

Yes, sometimes Hobby search with its email notification but you have to be quick - from my experience with Ami Ami - they did release a couple more VF-1Js before the initial release - PO price but with tax so not too bad. HLJ, never saw it opened.

We just have to wait and see for the next upcoming release which is Max on what would be the trend.

[Shizuka the Cat]

( @Shizuka the Cat peeks into the MWF forums for a moment, still on her summer vacation trip. )

 

So.... how was the DX VF-1S pre-order madness?  Was it as bad as the VF-1A Max was?

I really wanted to participate in the madness, but I promised my fiance that I would give him my undivided attention last night.

I hope most MWF members were successful in ordering the valkyrie.

Let me know how it went!

 

Best wishes from a beach resort in St. Petes,

@Shizuka the Cat

[Chronocidal]

48 minutes ago, SpaceCowboy said:

What I don't get is that is exactly what preorders are for.  To gauge interest.  I have a hard time believing the parts have already been manufactured and they can't set a number based on how fast preorders sold out.  VF-1S doesn't ship until November.  

Bandai doesn't operate on the principle of doing what people expect.  I have to assume they do all of their market research on the back end, and have their production numbers figured out long before the pre-orders ever happen.  And I also assume that they don't give a rat's hindquarters about the international market, because Macross is for Japan only.

If they actually treated pre-orders as ways to gauge interest, or determine production numbers, every single pre-order for the 31A would have been filled on release day.

@Shizuka the Cat I'm sure you had a better time than most folks here.  Seemed like the overwhelming majority of attempts wound up stalled in broken/unresponsive/terrible website shenanigans and cart-ganking.  Seemed even worse than the Max 1A from my experience, if only for the frustration of having so many orders stuck in carts that were lost due to broken and unresponsive websites. 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Chronocidal

[Guyffon]

7 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

NY is just full of crap.   I'm fine with a price raise after the release date or earlier if people cancel orders.  This holding back stock is the worst and they get us suckers to pay because all the other stores quickly sale out.

Some of the other stores sold out so quickly that no human could submit orders that fast. Scalpers are either using bots or there's employees buying them first.  A modern day version of breaking open the case in the backroom and putting what you want resell on the side. 

I agree that NY is full of crap, but I doubt they hold back stock to sell at higher price, its more like they are competing with their customers to get it at the same msrp and then selling it at higher when they secure units from orders from other shops, orders that should have been awarded to true customers, but all this is speculative, for all we know they secure orders from big box stores that do not have online shops like yodabashi or bic camera.

[gerwookie]

Someone asked earlier. Has nin-nin worked out okay for others in the past? Paypal has the 180 days protection thing right? It was only “pay now” and not “pay later” and I know they have a policy for canceling those who “abuse or cancel often” but if they’re not reliable, should I cancel my order now? Through PayPal?

[505thAirborne]

31 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

( @Shizuka the Cat peeks into the MWF forums for a moment, still on her summer vacation trip. )

 

So.... how was the DX VF-1S pre-order madness?  Was it as bad as the VF-1A Max was?

I really wanted to participate in the madness, but I promised my fiance that I would give him my undivided attention last night.

I hope most MWF members were successful in ordering the valkyrie.

Let me know how it went!

 

Best wishes from a beach resort in St. Petes,

@Shizuka the Cat

You missed out on a "Class A Sh-t Storm" last night. Sold Out incredibly fast. 

[Alphahorizon]

@Shizuka the Cat, I dont even know if at the speed they sold out last night your speed of how fast you post early on would have done a dang thing. I had 3 in carts at different sites...and BAM!  All out when I went to pay. Not to say we wouldnt have appreciated your vigilance to the cause. 

[Shizuka the Cat]

4 minutes ago, Alphahorizon said:

@Shizuka the Cat, I dont even know if at the speed they sold out last night your speed of how fast you post early on would have done a dang thing. I had 3 in carts at different sites...and BAM!  All out when I went to pay. Not to say we wouldnt have appreciated your vigilance to the cause. 

Oh, I am sorry to hear that they sold out while in your cart. You have my sincere condolences.

These pre-order madnesses are getting harder and harder, at least when it comes to the DX Chogokin VF-1

[That one dude]

1 hour ago, SpaceCowboy said:

What I don't get is that is exactly what preorders are for.  To gauge interest.  I have a hard time believing the parts have already been manufactured and they can't set a number based on how fast preorders sold out.  VF-1S doesn't ship until November.  

That's a really good point. Anyone got an answer?

I mean the planning team makes the figure, Marketing contacts local stores and decides the quantity, and then development places the final order number based on what their told. So quantities are set waaaay in advance, and there are still going to be huge lines on open day for that shelf stock anyway. 

Pre ordering this far in advance seems pointless.

[Shizuka the Cat]

13 minutes ago, 505thAirborne said:

You missed out on a "Class A Sh-t Storm" last night. Sold Out incredibly fast. 

At least I hope that a high percentage of MWF folk were able to get an order in.

[HardlyNever]

Just now, That one dude said:

That's a really good point. Anyone got an answer?

I mean the planning team makes the figure, Marketing contacts local stores and decides the quantity, and then development places the final order number based on what their told. So quantities are set waaaay in advance, and there are still going to be huge lines on open day for that shelf stock anyway. 

Pre ordering this far in advance seems pointless.

It's all a mystery, as far as I can tell.  For us, we preorder to know that we have one, but why Bandai takes pre-orders to begin with, for non-TWE stuff, is one of many mysteries of Bandai's business practices.

What I also don't understand is what dictates how many units each retailer gets.  It can't be simply they order as many as they want, because they could all definitely order and sell more.  It has to be some sort of ranking/priority system.  Adding to the confusion is why NY seems to be the only place willing/able to source additional stock (from other retailers maybe?) at lower cost.  CDJapan does proxy services, but those prices are usually ridiculously high.

Unfortunately, I don't know that we'll ever get full answers to these questions.

[Ridden001]

7th is the strike parts?

[Guyffon]

Maybe thats the reason why there are extra stocks on launch, they see pre orders sell out, and make more than the pre orders and when it launches some stores will still have stock (physical stores only?)

[sh9000]

I originally planned on getting only Vermillion Squadron and I’m sticking to it.  I just need a VF-1A TV Kakizaki and VF-1S TV Roy if and when they get released and I’m done.

Edited June 4, 2019 by sh9000

[borgified]

17 minutes ago, Ridden001 said:

7th is the strike parts?

Yes it is... TWE = Easier to order and cart jacking, web crashing and wheel of death avoided.

[eggy99]

I think we need to factor in Bandai's manufacturing factory capacity. There are many product lines that Bandai produce and only finite manufacturing capacity to meet all their release dates. Based on their sales data and market research they'll see the appropriate amount of capacity they should be allocating to their Macross line. 

If the factory is utilised more to produce Macross then another more profitable series will have to lower their factory resource usage which would make sense from a business point of view. 

I'm hoping we can see higher priority of Macross for Bandai once they are able to include the international market once HG no longer hold the Macross license.

[pafy6285]

51 minutes ago, That one dude said:

That's a really good point. Anyone got an answer?

I mean the planning team makes the figure, Marketing contacts local stores and decides the quantity, and then development places the final order number based on what their told. So quantities are set waaaay in advance, and there are still going to be huge lines on open day for that shelf stock anyway. 

Pre ordering this far in advance seems pointless.

So the customers can reserve their copy. Even if the figures will be available on stores on release day, it's possible that it will still be hard to get the figure if it's popular. And worse, scalpers might flood those stores and get all copies, just like what happened with MetalBuild Eva01 (scalpers from China flooded Japan stores. Locals complained and that's why there's an immediate reissue).