Okay, last week Gentle Giant earned my wrath due to the meltdown that was the Blackhole Stormtrooper fiasco. I've had a few days to cool off and start to put things into perspective.
Was it the worst exclusive experience ever? I don't know. For me it was, but then again I wasn't in on the Gold Bucky and phasing Vision, and have pretty much lucked out with Sideshow, either by getting through or having wait list conversions (although I don't think Grey Hulk/Spidey is gonna come home
).
However, in business I always find it's helpful for companies to do a post mortem to decide what when right or wrong, so that next time is more successful. Hopefully GG is doing just that.
Here's one from the collectors' perspective though.
1. This should be a wakeup call for Gentle Giant to come up with a better online ordering solution: for example one that pre-populates information for registered purchasers, so orders aren't kicked out for invalid reasons (credit card not matching up with address, etc.) This will also speed the ordering time for folks and free up GG's bandwidth for all the incoming calls.
2. GG should also have a backup "wait list" so that once cheaters and double dippers are weeded out others who did wait in line can still get a chance(yeah, I know a lot of people use friends, families, etc., but this should help). Also, once the flip market cools off, some folks tend to cancel because they won't get the 3x, 4x, 8x profits anymore. Maybe they should also consider "inclusives" if it works for SS.
3. Did anyone think for a moment that there wouldn't be a quick flip market leading up to this, which has been exacerbated by the experience? Does having this "help" or "hurt" GG? I don't know. On the "help" side, I guess you could say it creates buzz -- "hey, look we release busts and they can go up 3, 6, 10 times in value!" (Although most can still be had for less than retail). On the "hurt" side, it can frustrate new collectors, cause veteral collectors to throw up their hands and get out altogether, or tick off savvy collectors so that they start waiting for the larger run pieces to hit ebay and purchase them at lower than retail costs -- which takes profit out of the model for distributors and retailers, which reduces their support for GG products.
4. On the flip market -- Right now the market tolerance seems to be right under $400 (I see BIN's scoop up at $350 - $399, but sit @ $450 or so). I know these are the hardcore collectors who are just swallowing hard and deciding to take the hit before the price goes any higher. For me, knowing that I was one click away from getting a $65 bust, and having to now pay $400 for it because of a screwed up system is just too much to tolerate. I do think the market will cool, once this wave comes and goes (just like the SS 12" and PFs have -- remember the $299 Anakins, $1,200 Han exclusives, $600 phasing Visions). I kick myself for paying $350 for a regular Han PF, that I could get now for $200 only because I jumped the gun when I saw "sold out" and wasn't savvy to SS's process. I'm hoping this one will ultimately fall to $200, but that may not be realistic. The market will drive it, but we should know in a couple of weeks once some of the smoke has cleared, the folks who couldn't live without it have gotten theirs, and the flip market becomes more cutthroat. If there had been 2,000 of these, I wouldn't give it a second thought. 1,000 is a little tougher.
5. More to come -- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is going to be a mad rush for Mara Jade if it's handled the same way (however because it's an original sculpt, I don't see that). The real rush though, will be for the additional ep III stormtroopers (expect at least 4 more variants, 2 colors, chrome, and holiday or something along those lines). I can only hope that GG has gotten their act together by then, or the runs are at least 2K.
6. You win some, you lose some -- ultimately, this is the philosophy I keep coming back to. Most of the pieces in the collection were purchased at or below retail. While I could make the case for amortizing in $400 because of the appreciation in value across the line, I just can't go that high on principle. Yeah I'll probably break eventually
, but not at $400 I SWEAR!
7. Finally, it would be nice to see some letter of apology from GG and a commitment to fix the problems. I think it would go a long way to at least assuaging collectors' anger and frustration. Otherwise, eventually this is gonna come back and bite em, just like it does with other companies who forget that the #1 rule for success in biz is keeping your customers happy.
You go Kirth~
