zaggies Ok should have most out the door today.. first off, if anyone is unhappy about joining the toy club they should email me directly. I will offer a full refund if you are not happy. So far I've tried the following ways to distribute these "limited" toy club figures. First was I send out an email and first to respond got them. Down side was a few guys were out of the country or in meetings and by the time they got the email..well too late. So next time I set a particular time that was good for the US, but not Japan.. again mixed results. Ok so I got sick this past few weeks and started randomly selling the zag to toy club members ( which by the way top 80 people now, so I suspended new members till next year ) anyways, as you can see with only 30 pieces to go around and many more wanting them... well still not a good system. I'm always open to anyones thoughts on a "perfect" way .. which I doubt there is.. but I'm willing to listen to your thoughts on this. To me upping the number too much does not make sense.. and may even backfire...say I make 100 of the toy club pieces.. but only 40 folks buy it.. well than I have to sit on the balance. If they all sell, than they would equal the number of "normal" edition ones... and to me would defeat the purpose of a limited toy club version. I think Gargamel is hot now, so maybe this is only about Gargamel and not about any of the other toy club exclusives I've done ? Oh well, I'm trying to find a way, but it's difficult. By the way Toy Club members look for a special envelope coming your way... and Happy Holidays !
The more I think about it...the more I like the "random" members getting the opportunity to buy. Since the membership is so cheap, it's hard to complain with a straight face...if it was something like a few hundred dollars per year, then things may be different.
I think the raffle system is probably the fairest way to do it... doesn't really "penalize" anyone for being away from their computer, or for being a slow typer at a set time... There's no way to make everyone happy, and you shouldn't have to give refunds because people weren't lucky in the drawing... I mean it's super nice on your part, but it isn't fair to you. Maybe you should just state the way you're going to deal with this sort of thing for the near term, and that way people can know ahead of time what they're signing up for, and they can determine for themselves whether or not they want to join the fan club or not.
I got the membership coz it's fun and I got to be part of the start of a new toy company. . . and I got a cool shirt, print and black Xam (sp?) too boot. member #10
raffles Raffle - yes that would be a good way to go ... when I re-open the club we will no doubt have a statement about toy club exclusives for 2007. What do you guys think of pre ordering, and than that being the number it's set at...so if 75 people order than thats the limitation ? I think this is easy for something popular like Gargamel but I remember doing a Dream Rockets one where barely 20 people responded.... ;-P M
I think Mark should make more figures. I don't keep my paypal account loaded up all the time and by the time I find out anyway, all toys are sold out. I would have already purchased a handful of items and I bet there are way more than a handful of other people like me out there. Just food for thought. I'll stop being a whiny I FART A LOT now...
I dig the lower numbers. Not showing a release number and adding more to a run is one of the things that turned me away from other lines of toys.
Why the appeal of the ultra-low numbers? Are you saying that if there were 60 to 90 of these you'd stop buying them? From a purely capitalistic viewpoint, I would think the seller would do better in the long run, more sales = more $.
when you are talking about releasing a painted and unpainted version I prefer one of them to have a low run size.
I would not stop buying unless they reached a tipping point. I like to collect custom painted Zagarons and other Gargamel toys. I like the fact that I am the only person that has that piece. With the low run on production pieces, if I score one, I have a closer attachment to the piece, because I know I am not going to see it in everyones collection. Of course I don't buy just based on low numbers I have to be into the piece. This is just a personal preference.
I like the pre-order idea. It gives every member a chance to buy it and you don't get stuck sitting on a bunch of toys. You might want to think about payment up front if you do pre-orders. People have a tendency to have second thoughts after waiting a couple months for something to arrive. I love that Kaiju-Taro did those pre-orders on the Zagorans and Rumble Babies. It's so nice to not have to worry if you'll be able to find something without getting gouged on it.
I think you're doing great Mark and i personally got my membership to support you in your new venture..You can never make everyone happy and can only make it fair as possible..Whether its a mail in raffle or random picking of members for figs it is what it is..Keep up the great work and don't change a thing-John
I never got to join Max Toy Co last year but will definitely sign up for 2007, in January, as soon as Mark opens enrollment............ I had to chase down some of the Max Toys in the secondary market that I missed by not being a member......... If it were up to me, I would vote for the preorders, so that whoever wanted could order an item & at the same time, Mark wouldn't get stuck with any overproduced pieces that didn't sell out. in closing:.......... MAKE MORE ZAGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to join to support but my only hesitation was that the selection of toys were not my ultra favorite. Now Gargamel is on board and I am sure in the future Max Toys Co. will get more and more choices as they expand. I was going to join but realized that they are holding applications to join. I am eager to be a member, so please let us know when enrollment starts for next year. Keep up the great work.
How about a combination of pre-orders and very limited runs. You could offer stuff like Gargamel to all that pre-order (I was super disapointed that I missed out on the Zag, since I have purchased almost every MaxToy exclusive since I joined in June), but I also really like the fact that I have one of five of the all black Captain Maxx. If you did both, you would still own a limited toy that no one but members own and then there would be additional chances to get something even more rare. It's hard to keep everyone happy, I just love everything Mark has done.
Hey mark, I say pre-order is the way to go. I have bought from Kaiju Taro and they have shipped out like they promised. You are just as professional and have nailed it for Gargamel this year. The clears, Hedorahs, and GID pink were some of my faves this year. For $20 bucks got an awesome shirt and print. Thanks for keeping it fun! IKe
