Is the packaging worth enough for it to effect the value of your purchase?

[bowspearer]

Got one which should make people shake their heads and laugh. Went into my girlfriend's local Target store last night when I found a WFC Bumblebee, only the top left quarter of the card had been ripped off it and the card was half ripped off the blister. I went to the service desk and asked how much they'd do it for. I was told $25. And Aussie retailers wonder why sales are down.

[KillinSpoon]

Got one which should make people shake their heads and laugh. Went into my girlfriend's local Target store last night when I found a WFC Bumblebee, only the top left quarter of the card had been ripped off it and the card was half ripped off the blister. I went to the service desk and asked how much they'd do it for. I was told $25. And Aussie retailers wonder why sales are down.

Well played, idiots. Nobody is going to buy it now...

[jena]

Got one which should make people shake their heads and laugh. Went into my girlfriend's local Target store last night when I found a WFC Bumblebee, only the top left quarter of the card had been ripped off it and the card was half ripped off the blister. I went to the service desk and asked how much they'd do it for. I was told $25. And Aussie retailers wonder why sales are down.

That's ridiculous. I suppose they will have to mark it down at some point because of the damaged packaging. I think at Kmart they would have marked it down by 50%. Or perhaps it's 30%, I'm not sure (and I should know because I work there on weekends). Target are shockers.

[griffin]

Maybe they don't want to encourage people to tear up packaging in-store so that they can get a discount on the product. And in their mind, toys are like any other product they stock, like kitchen appliances, clothes, stationary, etc - as long as the product inside is undamaged, the packaging is just there to ship it in.... and therefore would only discount if the product itself is damaged or missing something (like they do at Kmart with their clearance basket at the back of the store). Only collectors like ourselves value the packaging as much as the product (well, a few of us do).

[jena]

Maybe they don't want to encourage people to tear up packaging in-store so that they can get a discount on the product. And in their mind, toys are like any other product they stock, like kitchen appliances, clothes, stationary, etc - as long as the product inside is undamaged, the packaging is just there to ship it in.... and therefore would only discount if the product itself is damaged or missing something (like they do at Kmart with their clearance basket at the back of the store). Only collectors like ourselves value the packaging as much as the product (well, a few of us do).

I've marked down items at work (Kmart) when the packaging has been really badly damaged or missing altogether. In most cases we usually just patch it up as best we can. Lots of sticky tape, hah!

[bowspearer]

Maybe they don't want to encourage people to tear up packaging in-store so that they can get a discount on the product.

Which is going off the theory that Hasbro would do a credit claim on it, which I highly doubt.

And in their mind, toys are like any other product they stock, like kitchen appliances, clothes, stationary, etc - as long as the product inside is undamaged, the packaging is just there to ship it in.... and therefore would only discount if the product itself is damaged or missing something (like they do at Kmart with their clearance basket at the back of the store). Only collectors like ourselves value the packaging as much as the product (well, a few of us do).

Which only proves my point about how out of touch Australian toy retailers are and how their sales are plummetting as a result. Furthermore this is the same retailer who got in the Takara version of MP-02 and MP-04 so clearly Target head office is not only aware of collectors but has also marketted to them in the past- like when they picked up most of the US store exclusives between 2001-2006 for RiD-Cybertron. Clearly somewhere between Head Office and the stores, Target have some serious communications problems.

[TF76]

Most toy packaging would just be ripped up and thrown away so I can't see why it SHOULD be reduced.

If you were a collector really worried about the packaging condition you probably wouldn't buy it because it wouldn't be at the standard for your collection.

If the packaging condition didn't matter and all you wanted was the toy, then why does it matter?


Im confused and what does this have to do with the toysale?

[Lint]

Clearly somewhere between Head Office and the stores, Target have some serious communications problems.

You can replace "Target" with the name of most large organisations


I don't know if this has been mentioned yet but I saw on TV that the toy sale has been extended till the 10th of August.

They didn't say anything about further reductions and I'm not terribly excited because there were not many pickings to begin with imo.

[Dkaris]

i love the emo in these retailer threads. Its pretty simple, if a store wont discount items to as low as you want because of damaged packaging etc then dont go there. its pretty simple. if your a collector chances are you've bought it online or you'd wait until you find one in another store in better condition. No amount of baaawing on an internet forum is going to change the way retailers do business or how much they mark things down for you.

tl dr: bawwing on the internet doesnt solve your problems.

[bowspearer]

Most toy packaging would just be ripped up and thrown away so I can't see why it SHOULD be reduced.

If you were a collector really worried about the packaging condition you probably wouldn't buy it because it wouldn't be at the standard for your collection.

If the packaging condition didn't matter and all you wanted was the toy, then why does it matter?

You've made the same mistake here most toy retailers do at the store level. The fact is that collectors do exist and this is the store chain which short of TRU, has had the most store exclusives. Not only are their head office aware of collectors but they've marketted to them. As such it is entirely reasonable for Target to be aware of the basic fact in collecting that packaged toys cost more than loose toys. If I'm not about to pay the same price for a figure that's effectively loose as I would for a sealed figure, then why should I do so in a store?

Forgetting about collectors for a minute though, what about parents? How many parents are going to be buying toys as presents for kids and how many of them are going to pay $25 for a toy that has it's packaging ripped to shreds when they can walk a few hundred metres down to Kmart and pay that as normal price for a deluxe? That's the first point to this.

Secondly, Target are in the middle of a Toy sale which they're now extending. The whole reason this is happening is because Australian retailers are suffering badly from people voting with their feet and buying online and internationally. So the idea of them wanting business right now is a pretty reasonable one.

Im confused and what does this have to do with the toysale?

You mean besides the fact that this happened at Target and during the toy sale, or the fact that toy sales are being extended because of how poorly retailers are doing compared to online international toy shopping atm? Furthermore, how is this any less relevant than criticisms of Target's refusal to price match with BigW during the toy sales?