Sideshow "Exclusives"...

[FM]

The sideshow exclusive Cordelia, Giles and Lorne figures are now available for preorder at the Buffy Collector Club for $6 less each (manage to get them with free shipping and you'll be saving quite a bit).

The only reason I preordered these from Sideshow is because I thought they would be the only place to get them. Now I might have to cancel Sideshow and go with the cheaper alternative...I probably wont do that but next time I might not be so quick to preorder from sideshow.

They also mention that Cordelia will be limited to 1500 pcs. with the other 2 still to be determined.

[VampireStake]

They are?!? Canceling my orders NOW!

[FM]

yeah. i love how they waited until their latest free shipping coupon expired (midnight tonight) to put them up. Clever. I wonder how many pre-orders will be cancelled...and will it mean sideshow doesnt allow this the next time?

[Browncoat]

Maybe the BCC has made a mistake? Did they sell D'Hoffryn? It'd be crappy to cancel it then find out BCC fluffed.

[buffyfannumerouno]

They wouldn't post these up there if they couldn't supply them to us. Although I want to wait a little to cancel my orders from Sideshow to order them from the BCC, just to be on the safe side. It's nice that they will be so much less if you order them from the BCC.

[VampireStake]

They only canceled Darla because SideShow would not provide any figures to them IIRC.

[BillyBudd]

I'm not sure whether or not some of you realize this, but the fact that Sideshow has opened up these exclusives to retailers could be interpreted as a bad sign for the line. It could indicate that Sideshow is not happy with sales.

If you want to support the line, keep your Sideshow orders. Buying elsewhere is still showing support, but it also means that less money goes to Sideshow, and that could influence future decisions about the line. Look at the bigger picture. Just sayin'.

[esc]

billybudd said:

I'm not sure whether or not some of you realize this, but the fact that Sideshow has opened up these exclusives to retailers could be interpreted as a bad sign for the line. It could indicate that Sideshow is not happy with sales.

If you want to support the line, keep your Sideshow orders. Buying elsewhere is still showing support, but it also means that less money goes to Sideshow, and that could influence future decisions about the line. Look at the bigger picture. Just sayin'.

That totally makes sense. You've managed to change my mind and I will be purchasing directly from Sideshow.

[BillyBudd]

Are you being sarcastic or serious? I am guessing serious, but it's hard to tell sometimes over the internet.

When people cancel their Sideshow orders, I am sure Sideshow takes a significant loss. We know for a fact that Sideshow is taking at least a $6 loss per figure because T&ST is discounting the figures by that much. T&ST obviously isn't going to take a loss on the sales. T&ST probably has to pay for shipping, so we can add a few dollars per figure for that. Factoring in a modest profit of $10 per figure for T&ST, we can make a very conservative guesstimate of a $20 loss per cancelled order. That adds up when multiple people begin cancelling their orders.

Of course, Sideshow is still going to make a profit in all likelihood. But the question becomes...is it enough of a profit to sustain the line?

[buffyfannumerouno]

Well they are still making money by selling them to other retailers. By selling them, I'm sure that they are losing a little less money and that's why the BCC is allowed to offer them at a lower price. If you think about it though they are now charging $5 more for the figures at Sideshow than they used to. This being ever more profit than they have previously made. It's also hard for some people to order from Sideshow as they accept money orders and certain credit cards but not Paypal. The BCC and other stores have the added offer of using Paypal. as well as offering the figures for a cheaper price.

[VampireStake]

Sideshow still makes money. Just because the BCC is selling them for $6 less does NOT mean Sideshow is loosing $6 on each figure sale. Not everyone wants to buy directly from Sideshow for various reasons. While the BBC may sell them for $38.xx, they buy them from SideShow for about $29 each. Sideshow still makes a sell. The $6 is paltry for Sideshow. Its all about moving inventory and getting people to like the brand 'SideShow' to buy other Buffy toys as well as Star Wars etc. Bu only offering the Buffy figures from there website they are not hitting every possible revenue source.

[VampireStake]

Another quick thought is Sideshow would not be offering these to the BBC if they were in toruble. While D'Hoffryn was not a big character, he sold fast. All 3 of these figures, with maybe the exception of Lorne, WILL sell out. First Cordy and Giles! Not another variant like Willow, Angel, etc. Please also keep in mind they are branching out Buffy into other things as well. We already have the statues of Buffy and Spike. Considering they just aquired the Angel license I do not see the 'end' of the line coming anytime soon. Alot of there other lines sell poorly (Planet of the Apes) but went on for a LONG time. I'd imagine to even see a few more figure announcements in the coming months. Were still missing a Wesley, another Buffy, another Spike, and an Angel Darla.

[BillyBudd]

vampirebrad said:

Sideshow still makes money. Just because the BCC is selling them for $6 less does NOT mean Sideshow is loosing $6 on each figure sale. Not everyone wants to buy directly from Sideshow for various reasons.

You've misunderstood me. For starters, I was talking about a specific situation: when people cancel their Sideshow orders and then order from a retailer instead. To quote myself (important clause placed in capital letters for emphasis)...

billybudd said:

WHEN PEOPLE CANCEL THEIR SIDESHOW ORDERS, I am sure Sideshow takes a significant loss.

In this situation, Sideshow is not making as much money as they otherwise would have. In other words, they are losing money. I did not mean that Sideshow is failing to break even on these sales. I guess I should have been clearer.

vampirebrad said:

Sideshow still makes money.

I am sure they do, just not as much as they would have. I was trying to indicate that Sideshow still makes a profit on these sales when I said the following:

billybudd said:

Of course, Sideshow is still going to make a profit in all likelihood. But the question becomes...is it enough of a profit to sustain the line?

And in my first post in this thread, I said this:

billybudd said:

Buying elsewhere is still showing support, but it also means that less money goes to Sideshow.

vampirebrad said:

Not everyone wants to buy directly from Sideshow for various reasons.

Yeah, and the main one is that they want to save money. I'm simply pointing out that when you cancel your Sideshow order to buy from T&ST, your $6 savings is Sideshow's $20 (or more) loss. In all likelihood, Sideshow still makes a profit on the sale, but it's a MUCH smaller profit.

[VampireStake]

"Yeah, and the main one is that they want to save money. I'm simply pointing out that when you cancel your Sideshow order to buy from T&ST, your $6 savings is Sideshow's $20 (or more) loss. In all likelihood, Sideshow still makes a profit on the sale, but it's a MUCH smaller profit."

True, but I could careless. Its not my fault SideShow deicded to sell these to the BBC. Im not gonna pay $6 more to buy it from Sideshow and another $6-7 just for them to ship it (considering Its almost always free from the BCC). Sideshow has already made enough of there figures from the Buffy line be 'SS exclusives'. They got my money for Darla and D'Hoffryn, but they won't if I can get ot cheaper somewhere else.

Edit: You're way off on the prices as well. It costs SS roughly $11-$13 to produce each figure (including packaging costs, shipping from the manufactor etc.) While they may sell it to the BBC for $29-$32 (IIRC), they still are making a profit.

Edit 2: Also please take into account while they may be 'losing' a certain amount of money by selling to wholesales, they are also saving money at the same time. By selling 200 Lornes to the BBC that means 200 less items they have to individually package up, prepare for shipment, shipping supplies, warehouse space, possible clearence for lower then normal prices if said item does not sell, paying employees to take and process orders, etc.

[FM]

I love sideshow and all but I wont feel sorry if they lose $20 when someone cancels an order. They shouldnt make these sideshow exclusives if they will sell them elsewhere. I wont be cancelling my orders but I will be more reluctant to order from them in the future.

The line seems to be doing ok. Cordelias run of 1500 shows that...its a pretty good run and it will definitely sell out.

And I dont know why they upped the price. I dont mind paying that much for a really limited exclusive figure but Cordelia is neither.

[BillyBudd]

vampirebrad said:

True, but I could careless. Its not my fault SideShow deicded to sell these to the BBC. Im not gonna pay $6 more to buy it from Sideshow and another $6-7 just for them to ship it (considering Its almost always free from the BCC). Sideshow has already made enough of there figures from the Buffy line be 'SS exclusives'. They got my money for Darla and D'Hoffryn, but they won't if I can get ot cheaper somewhere else.

Fair enough. I was just trying to give people some food for thought.

Considering Sideshow makes more money on exclusives, why convert exclusives to non-exclusives? The most reasonable answer is that Sideshow thought that it would take forever for the figures to sell out. Apparently, Sideshow would rather make a smaller profit in a short amount of time than wait for a larger profit.

People who buy into the above theory may not mind spending extra money to support the line to the best of their ability. Of course, this is all speculation.

Edit: You're way off on the prices as well. It costs SS roughly $11-$13 to produce each figure (including packaging costs, shipping from the manufactor etc.) While they may sell it to the BBC for $29-$32 (IIRC), they still are making a profit.

I never said that Sideshow isn't still making a profit. I said that they are, but a smaller one.

And I never said that I know the exact numbers. I even referred to my final number as a guesstimate. It doesn't matter what the exact numbers are. My main points are still valid.

[esc]

billybudd said:

Are you being sarcastic or serious? I am guessing serious, but it's hard to tell sometimes over the internet.

No, I was being serious because you made total sense. Someone had mentioned about that with purchasing exclusives directly from the exclusive holders. If we don't continue to purchase directly from the exclusive holder, then holders will no longer want to contract an exclusive. This happened with Cinequest, Toyfare, Entertainment Earth, and Tower Record exclusives from the 6" line. The exclusive holders can not sell their own because other stores are selling them for a lower cost than what they need to sell at to keep in business. This was explained to me by Cinequest, therefore they can not continue being an exclusive holder. If we continue to only purchase from BCC, then TST will be the only store who wants to be an exclusive holder and then we as fans will get less figures per line.

Like the Sideshow rep told me at SDCC, if the fans continue to show an interest, they will produce.

[sometimesjoan]

The reason I ordered my Giles from Sideshow was to support, in that small way, this site and the 'friend' bonus that it gets when people order after clicking on their banner ad.

[FM]

Thats one of the reasons I wont cancel all my orders. I dont want the bonus taken away.

[urbandruid]

Something else to think about, too, is that even if BCC sells the figs cheaper, you usually have to wait longer to get them. Even when it costs me more to buy from Sideshow directly, I like that when the figures ship, they ship directly to me, not to another store that will then (knowing BCC, whenever the heck they get around to it) send them on to me.

Then there's the figures with the exclusive accessories. Yeah, some of them have been lame- how many of us cared if our Drusillas had the dead bird or not?- but some of them are cool, and the easiest way I've found to get those cheaply is to order from Sideshow.

I obviously have no idea how the line's doing, but I think these Sideshow exclusives, like Cordy, showing up at other retailers after a bit is really a lot like what happens with the 6 inch line. For a while you can only buy them from AFX or TST or whomever, then DST and everyone else will start selling them, too. I think it just gives the original exclusive holder a leg up, so that for a while they're the only one selling "their" figure.