The Little Toy Company Website

[DELTAprime]

I have confidence I will get my Big Powered. I have zero confidence it will be when they claim. If they stuck to their claimed dates then people wouldn't bug them about it.

Anyway, anyone know what the latest date is for Big Powered cause it's clearly not going to be the claimed "march"?

[M-bot]

I have confidence I will get my Big Powered. I have zero confidence it will be when they claim. If they stuck to their claimed dates then people wouldn't bug them about it.

Anyway, anyone know what the latest date is for Big Powered cause it's clearly not going to be the claimed "march"?

This is how the process goes:
- Supplier says to TLTC “This stock is for release on such-and-such a date”
- TLTC says to consumers “expected time of release is such-and-such a date”, as provided to them.
- Supplier does not release product to TLTC on that date (as the first runs of their stock go to big retailers, like Robot Kingdom for instance.
- Everybody who doesn’t get their stock the minute it was expected complains loudly online and floods them with emails asking “when is this product coming out? You said it would be on such-and-such a date!!!!”
- TLTC can then choose between spending their time replying to emails or actually shipping out stock they do have to people. It’s an inevitable choice.

TLTC have not “claimed” anything. They have reported what their suppliers report to them.

Look, I totally get it. People (including me) got horribly burnt by the likes of PC. If this ain’t your bag, best not shop at smaller retailers. Go to Robot Kingdom or BBTS.

I’ve only ever received everything I’ve ordered from TLTC. Plenty of it later that the expected date, but a little patience and understanding goes a long way. That goes for other players like Toybot Importz, who I’ve also only had good experiences with.

[UltraMarginal]

This is how the process goes:
- Supplier says to TLTC “This stock is for release on such-and-such a date”
- TLTC says to consumers “expected time of release is such-and-such a date”, as provided to them.
- Supplier does not release product to TLTC on that date (as the first runs of their stock go to big retailers, like Robot Kingdom for instance.
- Everybody who doesn’t get their stock the minute it was expected complains loudly online and floods them with emails asking “when is this product coming out? You said it would be on such-and-such a date!!!!”
- TLTC can then choose between spending their time replying to emails or actually shipping out stock they do have to people. It’s an inevitable choice.

TLTC have not “claimed” anything. They have reported what their suppliers report to them.

Look, I totally get it. People (including me) got horribly burnt by the likes of PC. If this ain’t your bag, best not shop at smaller retailers. Go to Robot Kingdom or BBTS.

I’ve only ever received everything I’ve ordered from TLTC. Plenty of it later that the expected date, but a little patience and understanding goes a long way. That goes for other players like Toybot Importz, who I’ve also only had good experiences with.

Well Said!

[jaydisc]

+1

[Sinnertwin]

Anyone deal with their eBay store?

[The Letter M]

Anyone deal with their eBay store?

I've bought stuff off their eBay store before. No dramas here. Everything got shipped out quickly.

[jaydisc]

Same. While it’s more expensive there’s greater accountability. Their seller ratings will drop if items aren’t shipped out in the handling timeframe promised.

[DELTAprime]

Australian toy retailers blaming the distributors, where have I heard that bullshit before???

[yoshi594]

It’s probably worth noting that I am nothing more than a customer. I’m reporting what ive been told, which I have no reason to disbelieve.

TLTC not responding to your specific message/messages has nothing at all to do with their supplies, timing of suppliers and stock inventory. Not justifying it, or any of their business practices, which is their concern, just noting those 2 things are not necessarily related.

the 2nd part of my post was meant to reflect the supply levels for after release sales and not doing preorders when everyone else is doing it.

[jaydisc]

Australian toy retailers blaming the distributors, where have I heard that bullshit before???

While that might have been a bullshit excuse for other failed or dishonest retailers, it doesn't change the fact that it's still a reality for the legitimate ones.

I've done a fair bit of wholesale importing over the past 10 years, and from my experience, it's an absolute shitfest. The margins are nearly non-existent, the timeframes constantly blow out, and being told that there simply isn't enough supply and your order has been cancelled isn't uncommon.

I famously remember a situation where we had ordered a bunch of cases of Encore Bruticus, paid our deposit (in HKD) months in advance only to be told the order was cancelled. The money was refunded, but it was six months later, and the difference in AUD to HKD had moved so much that we lost a large portion of the deposit in currency conversion. I'm sure that thread is still here under Group Orders.

Also, I think due to the pathetic margins, these resellers have been relying on transport by sea, are other cheap methods which greatly reduce reliability. In nearly all of these cases, communication from the local reseller would go a loooooooong way to improving the situation, but unfortunately, it seems like virtually all of our resellers suck at this. On top of that, a fair chunk of the community is unreasonable in their expectations and demands, and that can sometimes clog up the communication pipe even further (although that's not an excuse).

So yeah, if I was still a reseller right now, I'd be pretty up front that the March date for big Powered is Takara's Asian release date, along with the fact that it's always at the end of the month, and I'd probably also buffer it with another 60 days. I'd also have a blog, or Twitter feed where I regularly posted updates like:

2019-04-03 We have received the following items from our Asian supplier: x, y & z. Delivery expected to being on 2019-04-15, with an arrival around 2019-05-15.

2019-05-16 Still awaiting May shipment of x, y and z. Estimated arrival this week.

2019-05-20 x,y and z have arrived in our local warehouse and will be shipping out domestically to customers over the next two weeks

Yadda yadda.

So yeah, TLTC should know better than posting a date of March for Big Powered without a bit more qualification. They're mismanaging expectations. But anyone here with a slight understanding of these realities could probably give them a bit more breathing room, regardless of that lack of clarity.