I think they also said they're doing flat rate shipping now.
I just added Metalhead to my cart and the flat rate is $14.99 for US customers.
As tempting as the cartoon line is for me, I think I'll be sitting it out all together. If I could have gradually found them all at Target, I might have bit. But dropping close to $70 per two-pack after shipping on the NECA Store (and $45 for the single deluxe releases) would get old really fast. Not to mention having about ten releases to catch up on and at least that many more still in the pipeline. There's also too many foot soldier variants they force you to buy in order to obtain key characters like April and Casey.
It's great for those who are sick of searching Target and I guess it beats paying scalper prices. Still, that shipping cost is a bit steep with no way to combine orders and having to pay it all up front. It would also be a good idea to stagger out the one week pre-order windows a bit more for these reissues. Give customers a clear schedule at least a month early for when each listing will go live on the NECA Store. Allow folks to budget and plan accordingly instead of springing a pre-order on them overnight.
Now that it looks like the NECA Store may be handling US pre-orders for the line going forward, the company has apparently begun imposing restrictions on foreign retailers. It seems those retailers (who sometimes offer cheaper shipping to the US than the NECA Store charges for domestic delivery) are now prohibited from shipping TMNT figures to America. Stateside folks who had their pre-orders locked in from Canadian stores have started getting cancellation notices that indicate NECA's new distribution policies are to blame.
Also, got a $5 coupon form NECA for my Super Shredder order, that'll be nice to use towards future Turtle products.
I haven't gotten the $5 apology coupon, but I did receive a short message from their customer service when I inquired why shipping for one Super Shredder figure cost me $23 (about triple what it should have). I also asked if they could tell me why UPS Ground was no longer being offered. They replied:
I'm sorry, currently that is the only shipping option available for that item. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Sincerely,
The NECA Club Team
Maybe instead of sending me a coupon, they feel this reply is good enough for anyone who dared to complain. Granted, they don't
have to give out anything - but a $5 code is a hollow gesture in my book. Even if it was a $5 partial shipping refund instead of a coupon, I'd still be paying $18 for delivery of one figure (more than Tokka and Rahzar combined). A free shipping code would have gone a lot farther in restoring customer goodwill.
