Xm Studios Selling Restrictions.

[Underaglassbell]

Yeah that's a tough call!
- No one that could potentially take delivery on your behalf, family close friends etc?

 

[El Mule]

SimplyToys offered the discounted price on full payments only from Thor PO. All other PO had discounted price based on your membership (standard vs Elite) and your location (-7% off retail price for international, since there's no SGT tax). Ergo, people only paid in full to get the discount on Thor, She Hulk and Black Bolt. And they're all within the 60 days period.
On all the others, people who paid in full are going to be a very minimal %, since there was no incentive to do so.
not that it matters - people shouldn't lose money on this, period.

 

[Tbolt]

Yeah that's a tough call!
- No one that could potentially take delivery on your behalf, family close friends etc?

Nah, I'm not from here, I am only here working for the DoD. Though I do have a buddy...but then add shipping to the US, and at best would be a one time thing, that would probably amount to $1500 by the time it is all said and done. Probably not worth it for me, I'm not one of the deep pocket big shots floating around.

 

[Tbolt]

SimplyToys offered the discounted price on full payments only from Thor PO. All other PO had discounted price based on your membership (standard vs Elite) and your location (-7% off retail price for international, since there's no SGT tax). Ergo, people only paid in full to get the discount on Thor, She Hulk and Black Bolt. And they're all within the 60 days period.
On all the others, people who paid in full are going to be a very minimal %, since there was no incentive to do so.
not that it matters - people shouldn't lose money on this, period.

So people in areas they were not supposed to sell to got a discount for being in areas they were not supposed to sell to...Anyone else suprised this blew up?

I just can't see how the consumer does not wind up out of pocket.

 

[El Mule]

So people in areas they were not supposed to sell to got a discount for being in areas they were not supposed to sell to...Anyone else suprised this blew up?

I just can't see how the consumer does not wind up out of pocket.

Not exactly, that's just the law. International buyers don't necessarily have to bear a country's VAT since they already pay it to their own country when the goods are imported.
It's like when you buy tax free stuff at the airport, not sure if you ever did. Example, here we have 22% VAT, right? If someone from outside Eu buys from my shop, he can ask to buy it 'tax free', I can fill a form for him, he pays full price and after a couple weeks he gets an 11% partial refund on his credit card, that's half of the VAT.
Some online shops simply do it straight away, many don't do it at all, I think it's up to the store management to allow it or not.

 

[wanderlai]

Seriously how is this different than when SS was distributing Bowen to areas off limits?

 

[El Mule]

Seriously how is this different than when SS was distributing Bowen to areas off limits?

Sideshow, at the time, bought the rights to distribute it all over the world, I guess. Non of the asian retailers did it or XM on their behalf, and the EU distributor only bought them (exclusively) for a portion of the european territory. That's what I have gathered out of this mess.
Basically, asian retailers and XM can ship only in those same countries where XM can ship directly, and the EU distributor's exclusive rights are cutting off asian retailers to prevent them from shipping here.
Now we only need to discover that Bryan is Keyser Soze, and we had all kind of plot twists.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Seriously how is this different than when SS was distributing Bowen to areas off limits?

That was worked out between Marvel, Bowen and Sideshow

 

[Spidey976]

That was worked out between Marvel, Bowen and Sideshow

In theory XM could do something similar... IF Sideshow was willing, but it would have to be Sideshow seeing as they hold the exclusive rights to do 1/4 in NorthAmerica.

 

[wanderlai]

That was worked out between Marvel, Bowen and Sideshow

Oh ok. I thought it was similar but I guess not.

 

[Tbolt]

Sideshow, at the time, bought the rights to distribute it all over the world, I guess. Non of the asian retailers did it or XM on their behalf, and the EU distributor only bought them (exclusively) for a portion of the european territory. That's what I have gathered out of this mess.
Basically, asian retailers and XM can ship only in those same countries where XM can ship directly, and the EU distributor's exclusive rights are cutting off asian retailers to prevent them from shipping here.
Now we only need to discover that Bryan is Keyser Soze, and we had all kind of plot twists.

No, I am well versed in the VAT living in the EU. I am simply pointing out there was a built in discount for being outside there supposed sell to area. That should have been caught at the start of this, then people would not be on the hook for so much cash and lost orders.

Not suprised the EU distriutor stepped in (who knows, might have been the one that tipped this all off), considering he paid for the right to sell/distribute here and was getting chopped off at the knees and undercut on price.

 

[El Mule]

No, I am well versed in the VAT living in the EU. I am simply pointing out there was a built in discount for being outside there supposed sell to area. That should have been caught at the start of this, then people would not be on the hook for so much cash and lost orders.

Not suprised the EU distriutor stepped in (who knows, might have been the one that tipped this all off), considering he paid for the right to sell/distribute here and was getting chopped off at the knees and undercut on price.

It's not a discount, tho. You make it sound like an incentive placed by SimplyToys for international customers, when in fact it's just a tax deduction they can or cannot apply, and they apply it on ALL their merchandise.
Also, european distribution is screwed all over the place, not just for XM pieces. The Prime1 Batman retails at 1200€ (cheapest in Europe) up to 1400€. If I order the Exclusive from Sideshow, with shipping and customs, it ends up at around 1170€. You see what I mean? SimplyToys would be cheaper than the EU distributor regardless of the partial VAT deduction they apply.
We got to the point that the exchange rate is so near and that these collectibles are so expensive, that the various distribution steps jack up the price higher than ordering directly from outside EU.
And don't get me started on XM's european distributor. I exchanged word with one of the XM retailers here in Europe, I've heard very messed up things.

 

[traylorc]

The solution is dont sell/distribute outside your contractual zone. Some of you keep missing that. SS is not the bad guy here.

Absolutely agree...

Look...there are a lot of things we can blame SS for, but this is not one them. XM caused this problem...and I don't care if it was representative from SS who reported to Marvel that XM was violating their licensing agreement. It is unrealistic and extremely naive to expect the existing US license holder to watch a competitor conduct business in their sales territory and expect them to do nothing. If you owned SS, I bet 99.9% of you would have no problem informing Marvel of the violations.

 

[wanderlai]

Oh well :/

 

[Snadinator]

XM didn't sell directly outside their regions. The Retailers did.

Did anyone make a stink when BigBadToystore sold the Gentle Giant Black Widow from Winter Soldier to Europe or other regions GG was not allowed to sell to?

 

[toycrypt]

Dang finally got my letter. Captain America, Thor and Loki have all been cancelled.

 

[Underaglassbell]

XM didn't sell directly outside their regions. The Retailers did.

Did anyone make a stink when BigBadToystore sold the Gentle Giant Black Widow from Winter Soldier to Europe or other regions GG was not allowed to sell to?

Still wish I pre-ordered her via BigBadToystore given the catastrophic fail, whereby almost all of the EU distributors never received stock orders were cancelled.

I had to pay scalper fees for mine in the end.

 

[sarakawa]

This thread is like beating a dead horse...til it's alive again! Time to move on fellas...we lived the sweet XM dream for a while and it was glorious! Now you either pony up for evilbay or admire from afar

 

[traylorc]

XM didn't sell directly outside their regions. The Retailers did.

Did anyone make a stink when BigBadToystore sold the Gentle Giant Black Widow from Winter Soldier to Europe or other regions GG was not allowed to sell to?

Unfortunately Marvel doesn't care if it was XM or their retailers selling outside the pre-defined sales territories. When XM signed an agreement they had a responsibility to make sure any retailers or distributors understood the rules...that what XM signed for...the buck stops with them.

If you keep your retailers and distributors informed where XM products can be sold, and those partners still elect to sell outside the pre-determined sales territories, then the fun begins. You inform the licencor (Marvel) of what is going on, you want Marvel to know that you have been actively informing the problematic retailer or supplier about selling within the pre-defined sales territories. You then you initiate additional dialogue with all partners and remind them of the terms of the license agreement. If any partners still insist on selling outside of the pre-defined sales territories, you stop providing them product, and you let Marvel know exactly what is going on. Keeping Marvel in the loop protects the relationship, and makes sure that problematic retailer or distributor cannot contact Marvel and tell them they never knew about any sales restrictions.

 

[nemenforcer]

This thread is like beating a dead horse...til it's alive again! Time to move on fellas...we lived the sweet XM dream for a while and it was glorious! Now you either pony up for evilbay or admire from afar

There was once a dream that was XM. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish...it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.