Final FunPub Club sale - everything must go [Archive] - Ozformers Transformers Club of Australia (otca.com.au)

DarkHyren

15th July 2017, 11:12 PM

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this but since I havent noticed another current thread about the club store...
I was going to look at maybe getting some items but when I went to look at the checkout it said "In order to purchase from the Transformers Club, you must be a current member or have had a membership in the past". Now I did have a membership back in 2010 but their site wont let me log in and when I try and send a password reset it says "The email address that was entered is not associated with any Customer Account Area", so does this mean I cant get anything or is there some other way I can sign in/up?

OptimusNerd

16th July 2017, 05:59 AM

Borgeman

16th July 2017, 11:28 AM

If anyone is going to make an order shortly and are willing to buy something for me, send me a PM :)

griffin

16th July 2017, 01:02 PM

(moved this here - I called it a July sale, but they don't usually say how long their sale prices last... so don't take too long if you are wanting something)

They now have all the Custom Class toys available from all the years I missed it, from 2006 to 2012. Each one is US$300-500, so it would cost me about AU$5,000 to get them all. I know they are "rare", but the demand is already dropping off, and I think after this year, the demand in FunPub rarities (and their toys in general), will cut the value of them significantly.
Sure, most dealers with them will stubbornly sit on them at what ever their highest price once was, but who's going to spend that much money on a toy, if you didn't go to BotCon and it isn't a character you care about... because I don't see these as being investment pieces, even 20 years later (like original Gen1 toys were).
The real rarity from the early Custom Class toys (before they started selling them from 2013), was the attachment by those fans who built them at the convention. Quite a few did the class to resell straight away for profit, but at least half of the people there intended to keep it, as it had more sentimental value than any of the other convention toys they bought that year... and as such, it makes them even rarer. Besides, once it was hand-painted by the attendee who planned to keep it, it would be harder to sell, unless it looked professionally painted.

(those 7 Custom Class toys are the only FunPub toys I am missing, so it's like a loose end, but not something I am going to chase up at their current prices)

OptimusNerd

16th July 2017, 01:26 PM

(those 7 Custom Class toys are the only FunPub toys I am missing, so it's like a loose end, but not something I am going to chase up at their current prices)

I say you write to them and make them an offer :)

DarkHyren

16th July 2017, 06:03 PM

I think you're right about previous members being able to buy... But you might have to email them to get manual login reset. They're usually pretty responsive, but they might be at TFCon or just off for the weekend.Ok thanks, I sent them a message using the web form so hopefully they let me know soon
If anyone is going to make an order shortly and are willing to buy something for me, send me a PM :)No guarantees but I'm looking at a few things, will depend on how much money I have though if I do or dont but if I do and I'm able to buy I'll let you know

Sinnertwin

16th July 2017, 06:27 PM

That Terrorsaur is tempting, but at 112 bananas ($143) + ship, maybe it isn't that tempting :p

CHILENO20

16th July 2017, 08:52 PM

Another Funpub sale up now.

Best link (https://www.toyarama.com/store/transformers-clerance-c11.php)

I will be buying a BotCon Pirates/Knights set... but I only want Ginrai and Devcon... will be lookin to sell the rest (Cannonball, Ferak, Scorponok)

I'd be interested in Ferak if you decide to go through with this :D

1AZRAEL1

17th July 2017, 06:34 AM

Anyone doing an order able to throw a 2015 Kreo set in with their order?

https://www.toyarama.com/store/2015-botcon-exclusive-kre-o-earth-s-most-wanted-6-pack-p1256.php

UltraMarginal

17th July 2017, 09:58 AM

I strongly recommend sharing shipping if you can. good way to save some dollars

Raider

17th July 2017, 10:46 AM

Every time I look at their site I find more bots I want to buy.... grrrr... ok I am weak and will succumb to temptation yet again :p

If anyone is doing an order and will let me piggyback off them then please let me know :D

Borgeman

17th July 2017, 11:06 AM

So there's me, Chileno and Raider who definitely want something. Now to find a mule to make the order for us!

Anyone from Melb wants to sacrifice themselves to be that mule? I can on-post Raider's stuff to him, and deliver Cilenos, and am happy to arrange anything else required.

1AZRAEL1

17th July 2017, 11:26 AM

I want a couple of things too lol. I can't mule though

OptimusNerd

17th July 2017, 12:06 PM

As soon as I get an answer back from Karen I'll see if I can add some stuff on and get her to revise the shipping quote for me.

So there's me, Chileno and Raider who definitely want something. Now to find a mule to make the order for us!

Anyone from Melb wants to sacrifice themselves to be that mule? I can on-post Raider's stuff to him, and deliver Cilenos, and am happy to arrange anything else required.

1AZRAEL1

17th July 2017, 01:05 PM

Looking at possibly being a mule for Sydney order. I wouldn't be ordering until 28th, providing sale stuff is still on sale. Plus have to speak to wife first. And if anyone wants to hop onboard would need to send some funds beforehand. If I get the go ahead, I'll post up a thread for the order

UltraMarginal

17th July 2017, 02:11 PM

Raider

17th July 2017, 02:50 PM

HAHA, careful you don't double up on anything you've got sitting at my place,

I was carefully going through the list this morning :p

1AZRAEL1

17th July 2017, 05:14 PM

I'll do a Sydney group order and post up the thread soon.

OptimusNerd

18th July 2017, 07:35 AM

Borgeman - I got a reply, and they can't give me an exact estimate on the shipping differences but she agreed that it shouldn't increase my shipping by more than 10-12 USD (but couldn't promise anything). That's still a bit better than the $55 is costs to ship on its own, but let me know.

Anyone else in Melbourne keen?

Borgeman

18th July 2017, 07:39 AM

Im in. Pm me your paypal details

OptimusNerd

18th July 2017, 08:59 AM

Im in. Pm me your paypal details

I will, but hold off - I'll email her, get her to add it to my order, and have her give me an exact cost. When it hits my credit card I can give you an exact AUD number.

I couldn't figure out postage difference on my own because some of the stuff I bought is now out of stock, so I can't create a new "fake" shopping cart to look at the different shipping scenarios.

DarkHyren

18th July 2017, 12:41 PM

Just FYI, I got an email back from the club and they are only allowing former members from 2012 onwards to purchase and my membership was in 2010 so I wont be able to make any orders

OptimusNerd

18th July 2017, 02:28 PM

Just FYI, I got an email back from the club and they are only allowing former members from 2012 onwards to purchase and my membership was in 2010 so I wont be able to make any orders

Bugger.

Where are you - I'd be happy to proxy if you're in/around Melbs.

Edit: I see you're in Sydney... I think that there's a Sydney-specific group buy thread going.

1AZRAEL1

18th July 2017, 02:42 PM

Bugger.

Edit: I see you're in Sydney... I think that there's a Sydney-specific group buy thread going.

Certainly is one :)

Just FYI, I got an email back from the club and they are only allowing former members from 2012 onwards to purchase and my membership was in 2010 so I wont be able to make any orders

I'll drop you a PM. My account is still active

BigTransformerTrev

16th September 2017, 09:40 AM

The sale is still going on. I notice they are putting up things at ludicrous prices, then dropping those prices the next month if noone picks them up, then even lower the month after.

I picked up the Botcon Animated Stunticon set last month. I just picked up Slicer, Leozack and Nova Prime today. Slicer had gone from $50us last month to $30us this month which I found reasonable.

Funnily, the postage came to $39.50us which, while not brilliant, is the best I've ever known from FB and was the cheapest of the 3 options. When I added a Knights set there were then only 2 options and the cheapest of them was $80us! Considering I only wanted Flare Up from the 3 Knights and the set itself was $45us, I didn't think it was worth an extra $100au just for that small toy.

Still a few decent deals on there, but take a tip and if there is something you quite like, take the risk and wait a month - you will probably get it cheaper ;)

UltraMarginal

18th September 2017, 09:16 AM

it's about a year now since we had the news that they were losing their transformers license. Surely they are getting sick of holding on to all that old stock. I expect it will continue to drag out and slowly get cheaper. It took them 6 months to allow you to buy the bagged convention sets without first purchasing the box set it was associated with.

I think the ludicrous prices are not so ludicrous since pretty much everything they sell is an exclusive and most of the older stuff, especially the small count items like custom class figures before 2011 are extremely rare. I don't value a lot of it myself but if they just cleared out everything for $20 it would be unfair on all those people that put the time and money into going to the conventions, part of which was to get the exclusive, otherwise unobtainable toys.

1AZRAEL1

18th September 2017, 11:03 AM

I can understand some people getting annoyed that the things they spent top dollar on at the time are now seeing them being sold off for a pittance. But that would be like saying, "I paid top dollar to get my Classics Seekers set finished, only to,have a cheaper option released later" or even "I passed on (insert toy) and now it's astronomically expensive"

Unfortunately none of us can predict the future, and even if the once expensive sets go for a lot cheaper, not much we can do. FunPub gotta get some money back for them

UltraMarginal

18th September 2017, 02:05 PM

True, but I think it's fine that funpub is starting high and reducing rather than just having a fire sale and clearing everything out. It avoids any real frustration that they're straight up 'devaluing' rare items.

I know we shouldn't be buying toys for their value as such but it's kind of cool to look at your collection and reflect on the rarity or ridiculous value of some of the less common items. :cool::D

BigTransformerTrev

7th October 2017, 08:32 AM

I note that even though they are 'dropping' the price of everything more each week, as the number of physical items they have of a particular piece drop they stick the price back up. I note that Leozack and Nova Prime are both nearly twice what I paid for them a month ago. Slice has gone up too - not down :rolleyes:

CHILENO20

7th October 2017, 09:18 AM

Yep, whoever is doing their price reductions has no clue at all.

BigTransformerTrev

8th October 2017, 09:09 AM

Yep, whoever is doing their price reductions has no clue at all.

Yeah they keep saying 'dropping prices' yet the price has doubled on three items since I ordered them together a month ago :rolleyes:

I also ordered a loose Stunticon set for $240 and now they have a set in the box for $340. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to have that gorgeous box - but I wouldn't want to pay another $100us for it.

UltraMarginal

9th October 2017, 11:08 AM

I think they've just reset all their prices for this final sale. They are gradually reducing everything by 10% a week till it's all gone.

good for you that you got it in the earlier sale. I too scored some great stuff a couple months ago in a previous sale.

1AZRAEL1

9th October 2017, 11:20 AM

I got some good things too. But I feel I gotta buy the last botcon kreo set, I ended up with a duplicate Spike but missing Dr Archville

griffin

11th November 2017, 03:38 PM

Sale is now at 70% off (http://transformersclub.com/shop).

griffin

12th November 2017, 05:18 PM

Someone on TFW has worked out the remaining stock numbers in the store, and posted them up yesterday (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/tfcc-final-sale.1123911/page-52#post-15209621)...

Updated stock:

Unsigned Depthcharge - 454
Zaptrap - 59
Ramjet - 473
Alpha Trizer - 94
Kre-O sets - 318
Slicer - 20
Spraxus - 51
Only Human Arcee - 79
Only Human Rodimus - 172
Transmutate - 111
Nova Prime - 102
Signed Depthcharge - 33
2013 assembled class figure - 144
2015 unassembled class figure - 27
Diaclone 2 pack - 56
Knights 3 pack - 82
2014 assembled class figure - 15
Waruders - 603
2013 unassembled class figure - 13
Pretenders 2 pack - 196
2014 unassembled class figure - 8
2007 unassembled class figure - 53
2008 unassembled class figure - 57
2009 unassembled class figure - 48
Machine Wars loose set - 120
Machine Wars boxed set - 35
Cybertron Most Wanted loose set - 207
Cybertron Most Wanted boxed set - 233
2011 unassembled class figure - 20

Some of those are a real surprise.
The Waruders were a bigger loss-maker than even I imagined. They made 2000 sets (http://gbblackrock.capturedprey.com/) and if there is still a third unsold after two years and now at 70% off, I'm thinking that they didn't get even half sold at BotCon 2015.
And look at how many unassembled custom class toys are still left. Even if none had been bought so far, that means FunPub had to have 200-300 made as a Hasbro minimum, but were unable to do anything with them after each BotCon.
The unfortunate thing about the remaining Class toys is that they won't come with any of the extras that were at the Class - stickers and exclusive parts/heads... or the instructions to build them.
So if you get one, and plan to build it, there were some Australians here who attended some of those pre-2013 classes (not me), and might be able to share a scan... or check out this TFW topic (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/botcon-customization-class-kits.1126722/), for a couple of the earlier years that have already been posted.

Paulbot

12th November 2017, 06:27 PM

If those numbers are accurate I feel I can wait a bit longer (bigger discount offsets the shipping cost!) before trying an order.

CHILENO20

13th November 2017, 10:36 PM

Was about to put an order through but may hold off for a little if those numbers are correct.

griffin

14th November 2017, 06:21 PM

With so many recent items left unsold, I'm starting to think that Brian was happy to offload the Transformers license with all that dead stock collecting dust
It really sucks that some of the 2016 items are/were still available at over 50% off, after paying full price "just in case"... and all those other people I bought stuff for at BotCon or from the Club Store. Like the two Human figures, now US$16.50 each (from US$55). And look at the Subscription Optimus & Megatron Pretenders - now just US$74 for the pair.
(all those magazine issues that they'll probably end up throwing in the bin... :p )

I hope that the unassembled Custom Class kits come with screws and pins... as I'd try to build them if I got the ones I'm missing. Otherwise, they are just an expensive envelope of plastic parts.

Raider

14th November 2017, 09:29 PM

I hope that the unassembled Custom Class kits come with screws and pins... as I'd try to build them if I got the ones I'm missing. Otherwise, they are just an expensive envelope of plastic parts.

Has anyone asked them directly?

griffin

14th November 2017, 09:39 PM

Bought the four Custom Class toys I don't have that they still have in stock (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011). The older three will probably still be in stock next week (which would be another US$90 cheaper), but the 2011 toy might not... and they average out to be about US$100 each, which is close enough for me.

Postage was still the expected excessive amount, at US$75 for what is basically 4 Deluxe toys in baggies... so should be half that.

Now to see if they arrive, and see if I can build them... and then do up a photo review of the 23 years of BotCon toys.
(this will leave me with just five American BotCon/Club toys I will be missing, which are five other Custom Class toys, from 2004, 2006 x2, 2010 and 2012)

griffin

15th November 2017, 12:46 AM

Has anyone asked them directly?

Judging by the comments on the TFW topic I linked to above, for instructions, it sounds like they do... and one of the items in the Club Store says that it doesn't come with any "Hardware", which I assume means the screws and pins.
From what I (vaguely) recall from the Custom Class, the screws and pins are inside the sealed bag. The one on the Club Store that I think is missing them, might have been taken out for someone in the Custom Class who was missing something, or lost something.

Jim_jim

15th November 2017, 01:40 PM

I am still waiting for the final showdown :P

There are several that I want to buy

Paulbot

18th November 2017, 10:24 PM

A couple of things I was looking at have sold out (or are in speculator's carts). Going to try again tomorrow.

griffin

16th December 2017, 06:24 PM

After holding off for a week or two (after promising to drop the prices every week), they are now down to 10% of their original* prices (http://transformersclub.com/shop).

(*price at the time of the start of the sale)

Only 129 different items left available (could be less, as people are getting messages of items being out of stock when they try to cart them)... and only two toys were left being listed that I could see - the Waruder 4-pack (no surprise there) now only US$16.90 for four Deluxe Waspinators... and the Depth Charge on card (a big surprise to me) for a tiny US$3.90.
(I tried to cart a single unit of both of them, but it said that they didn't have enough stock of either... so it looks like no toys are left)

At those prices, their excessive shipping would probably be bearable.

It's probably worth noting that they still have their "GIJoe" Transformers exclusives (https://www.toyarama.com/store/gi-joe-club-exclusives-c14.php) in-stock at full price, as they were moved over to their GIJoe store before this sale... but expect to go through all this again in 2019 when they have to sell off all their GIJoe stock (including these Transformers items) at progressively cheaper prices.

Paulbot

16th December 2017, 06:41 PM

I was holding out for one more price drop! Wondering if some of those things are in people's carts as people try to test the system for quantities remaining...

griffin

16th December 2017, 07:10 PM

I was holding out for one more price drop! Wondering if some of those things are in people's carts as people try to test the system for quantities remaining...

I think that's a flaw of their online store... as I've seen people on TFW say that they carted items and were waiting for another price drop, as if they were able to keep them carted for a lengthy period of time.
We might see a stocktake in the next week (which shouldn't take long), and have any missed items added.

It was odd to see the Waruders all go at once, as they had about 500 sets of the four packs a week ago... but they might have been bought up for something like a convention, as I heard that Petes Robot Convention is having a custom class that will be using the Club pretenders, which is why their big amount disappeared overnight a few weeks back.