HasbroToyShop.com To Ship To Canada This Fall?

Word on the street is that HasbroToyShop.com may finally open its doors to Canadians later this fall. Having dealt with their US version several times this year, I thought I would provide some analysis of the pros and cons that we are likely to face once this finally launches:

1) For most new items, HTS has everything we could possibly need, though they do tend to sell out for hotter items, sometimes during the preorder phase, which then means watching out daily for the reemergence of the product at some later date (usually within 2 weeks.) HOWEVER, the vast majority of items, even if pre-ordered will ship weeks or even months (!) after the initial street date in the US. Items like TFA Ultra Magnus will be in our hands from street teams long before HTS will bother shipping them...this seems to be a function of their commitments to their retailers, but it means fans hyper to get the latest in a timely way will have to sit on their hands for a while.

2) In an ideal world we would be getting US pricing but shipping from Cdn distribution centers. This is almost certainly NOT going to be the case. As such we will be facing US to Canada shipping prices + full Cdn taxes since HTS will always mark the full value of the items on the package as per the law. This will tend to bring pricing on most items back up towards the Cdn pricing except under special circumstances (see next point.)

3) About once a quarter HTS will have a solid sale worth paying attention to, typically represented by either free shipping (I have a feeling this may not end up being applicable in Canada), or 10-20% off, and very rarely, both a discount AND free shipping. For the very patient this can be a good way to make a larger order worthwhile, though again, with new items you are looking at a potentially long wait.

4) In reality, the best use for HTS for Cdn fans will be direct access to San Diego Comicon Exclusives when they come online each summer for a brief period of time. Being able to order directly from them on these items once a year will be better for all of us, vs. the current system of using ebay, msg boards or the co-op to get decent to bad pricing in order to get a piece of the rare figure action.




Expect further analysis when the system goes live (if it goes live!) later this fall.

Take care,

James