Why Hot Toys taking so long to sell out?

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this forum and to Hot Toys collecting, but I've been told that in the past, Hot Toys would sell out rather fast. In fact, it wouldn't be unheard of for Hot Toys figures to sell out during preorder stage. Now, even highly regarded figures appear to be staying in stock longer. Is this because of higher prices these days? Perhaps a down economy? Or is it related to Hot Toys manufacturing more figures such that supply exceeds demand?

pins79 said:

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this forum and to Hot Toys collecting, but I've been told that in the past, Hot Toys would sell out rather fast. In fact, it wouldn't be unheard of for Hot Toys figures to sell out during preorder stage. Now, even highly regarded figures appear to be staying in stock longer. Is this because of higher prices these days? Perhaps a down economy? Or is it related to Hot Toys manufacturing more figures such that supply exceeds demand?

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Yes, and yes.

All of those. The better figures will sell out eventually. I think they made a million Supermans, but Spiderman is becoming hard to come by - last time I checked my favourite sellers the figure was well sold out, and the release date wasn't that long ago.

For me the price has kept me away mostly. Plus it's not hard to find Hot Toys figures once they release for lower than retail.

You used to be able to sell some for a pretty good profit if need be, but I think they upped their quantity and the demand may not be there. I guess we'll see what the second hand market looks like in a couple of mos..

pins79 said:

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this forum and to Hot Toys collecting, but I've been told that in the past, Hot Toys would sell out rather fast. In fact, it wouldn't be unheard of for Hot Toys figures to sell out during preorder stage. Now, even highly regarded figures appear to be staying in stock longer. Is this because of higher prices these days? Perhaps a down economy? Or is it related to Hot Toys manufacturing more figures such that supply exceeds demand?

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Used to be they'd all sell out months before they released, some even a few days after going up for order.

In my opinion they are doing some or all of the following:

• Releasing more figures per year than before which divides their customers into choosing between figures rather than ordering both
• Increasing the quantities of their figures production
• Overproducing from particular licenses (and underproducing from others)
• Undermining their collectability with reissues and remakes
• Losing customers through poor Quality Control, delays or lack of variety
• increasing prices for even 'basic' level figures

My guess is this is mostly due to the fact that they are producing these out the wazoo nowadays. I don't think demand has gone down.

If you're asking in particular in reference to Indy, Superman, Sparrow, Batman or Joker.... there will be plenty around for years. Very large production runs. Probably less so for Indy, his is more a demand issue. But they made tons and tons and tons of Supes. Expect the same from 1989 Batman.

pins79 said:

Is this because of higher prices these days? Perhaps a down economy? Or is it related to Hot Toys manufacturing more figures such that supply exceeds demand?

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Supply that far outstrips demand is what's hurting them now.

Though 'hurting' them is a relative term. I don't think they're hurting right now. I think Sideshow and the HT distributors are hurting, they're sitting on a bunch of stock. I don't know how the HT supply chain works, I doubt HT has a warehouse filled with Indiana Jones, Superman and Jack Sparrow right now. I'd imagine the bulk of the inventory is with SS right now. Considering how they've revamped FLEXpay and the free shipping and all those other perks, I think SS is freaking out. I think HT is just cranking out product as fast as they can, meanwhile the retailers and such are trying to soak it up, but the consumers just aren't buying.

They'd sell out of Superman at $400 if they only made 2000. But at 8,000 or 10,000 or whatever ridiculous amount they made, he's sitting. This new $200 Snake Eyes will be a good test to see how many figures will actually sell at $200. We haven't had any $200 figures yet with published edition sizes, so we shall see how well Sideshow thinks it will sell, and then we can base HT's edition sizes off that. I'm really interested to see what the edition size on Boba Fett ends up being. At 2,000 EX, the Reg is probably 6,000 and compare that to IG-88 at 750 EX and 2500 Reg, that's a huge difference.

I've seen very few Hot Toys figures have production numbers. In fact, about the only one I can think of would be the DX Bruce Lee Exclusive, which supposedly had a run of 750 as per the sideshow website. Well, there were also the Demon Bats/Scarecrow and Beat it MJ which supposedly were limited in production size.

At first I started buying all the Hot Toys I could get my hands on, but with all these remakes and lack of production size, it has steered the collector part of me away a little. Now I'm only focusing on select Hot Toys figures, and redirecting my attention to Sideshow statues.

pins79 said:

Well, there were also the Demon Bats/Scarecrow and Beat it MJ which supposedly were limited in production size.

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I believe those were released at 4,000 a piece. And that's HT's idea of a limited exclusive nowadays. There were some other exclusives with supposed edition sizes, though I have no idea how accurate they are. Seems like they changed their mind on the Sarah Connor/T-1000 exclusive after it was late for being released in time for the cons, and jacked up the size.

The first Batman Begins and Superman Returns figures were limited @ 1000 and numbered...
I'm oretty sure the HT Thriller MJ was closer to 10k or so...
Probably the same with Supes methinks...

Why does it matter how long they take to sell out?

pins79 said:

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this forum and to Hot Toys collecting, but I've been told that in the past, Hot Toys would sell out rather fast. In fact, it wouldn't be unheard of for Hot Toys figures to sell out during preorder stage. Now, even highly regarded figures appear to be staying in stock longer. Is this because of higher prices these days? Perhaps a down economy? Or is it related to Hot Toys manufacturing more figures such that supply exceeds demand?

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It's most likely a number of things. I think it is due to the higher prices, the way the economy is right now and there is more supply of each figure available. Maybe to keep the ebay prices down, so alot more new collectors can still purchase these figures at a reasonable cost. HT is releasing alot of figures as well and that may have something to do with it too.

The good thing about it is that you have some time to think about it; if you want the figure bad enough, before ordering. I would just collect the figures you really want and just have fun with this hobby.

karamazov80 said:

My guess is this is mostly due to the fact that they are producing these out the wazoo nowadays. I don't think demand has gone down.

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My thoughts, too. Demand's not an issue when they're manufacturing the figures of our dreams these days.

Why Hot Toys taking so long to sell out?

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because they release massive amount, and many people stopped collecting them in the last year or so due to their lack of brand integrity.

A better question to ask would be: Why is it taking Hot Toys so damn long to ship their products out?

Also take iron man as an example.the mark iii sold out faster cause at that point no one had an iron man in there collection,by the time the mark vi was released people may have had 1 or 2 iron man figures so they pass on a third.not to mention if you make a 1000 mark iii s and they sel out fast,your gonna make 2000 mark iv s and if they sell out 3000 mark v s and so on .

Its something I've noticed as well, I just ordered the shadow predator comic con exclusive from sideshow today. I would have thought this would have been long sold out but here it is how many months later still in-stock. Sideshow exclusives used to be only available at sideshow but now you can find this guy at bbts, cotsworld collectable, and so on. So they must have a bunch of them for sideshow to send them out to other retailers.

gagaliya said:

because they release massive amount, and many people stopped collecting them in the last year or so due to their lack of brand integrity.

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Thats kinda true. They're not exactly working to keep customers happy...

• Buy a non-superhero figure and there's a 70/30 chance it'll be delayed.
• Buy a figure from a new franchise and you're pretty much guaranteed not to get anymore than two of the main line-up.
• Buy a rubber figure and it's pretty much guaranteed to have quality problems.
• Buy a Batman or similiar figure and you're pretty much guaranteed that it will be an obsolete version as they'll remake it.
• Buy a Figure with defects and you're guaranteed hot toys won't care, (Captain America Wonky 'A' & star)
• Want official updates on projects or any communication other than directions to their store and you're guaranteed not to get them

kl241 said:

A better question to ask would be: Why is it taking Hot Toys so damn long to ship their products out?

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My entire order list was due last year and are mostly all due in May they'll probably be delayed again

Thing is there are Sideshow and 3A and Enterbay pieces i want but i choose to order from Hot Toys. Anymore delays and i'm calling it quits and going to those companies.

steven.giunta said:

Also take iron man as an example.the mark iii sold out faster cause at that point no one had an iron man in there collection,by the time the mark vi was released people may have had 1 or 2 iron man figures so they pass on a third.not to mention if you make a 1000 mark iii s and they sel out fast,your gonna make 2000 mark iv s and if they sell out 3000 mark v s and so on .

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There'll be collectors like me who have their Iron Man and don't want anymore and there'll be those who sell of their figures to buy newer version which is pretty sad IMO as those great figures will all eventually end up languishing in boxes in a garage unable to be sold, those people aren't really "collectors" IMO

SwedishHeat said:

Supply that far outstrips demand is what's hurting them now.

Though 'hurting' them is a relative term. I don't think they're hurting right now. I think Sideshow and the HT distributors are hurting, they're sitting on a bunch of stock. I don't know how the HT supply chain works, I doubt HT has a warehouse filled with Indiana Jones, Superman and Jack Sparrow right now. I'd imagine the bulk of the inventory is with SS right now. Considering how they've revamped FLEXpay and the free shipping and all those other perks, I think SS is freaking out. I think HT is just cranking out product as fast as they can, meanwhile the retailers and such are trying to soak it up, but the consumers just aren't buying.

They'd sell out of Superman at $400 if they only made 2000. But at 8,000 or 10,000 or whatever ridiculous amount they made, he's sitting. This new $200 Snake Eyes will be a good test to see how many figures will actually sell at $200. We haven't had any $200 figures yet with published edition sizes, so we shall see how well Sideshow thinks it will sell, and then we can base HT's edition sizes off that. I'm really interested to see what the edition size on Boba Fett ends up being. At 2,000 EX, the Reg is probably 6,000 and compare that to IG-88 at 750 EX and 2500 Reg, that's a huge difference.

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It will be interesting how this shakes out. I have to think the excess inventory is putting delays on Hot Toys production schedule. I am sure SS is adjusting their ordering and maybe even not carrying Hot Toys inventory with the way they are currently rotting on the shelves. Wait until retailers start liquidating their stock or doing mass returns to Hot Toys, this could really hurt 1/6 collecting.