actiontoys.com

[SkyWarp91]

anyone shopped here before? are they safe?

[SkyWarp91]

guess I'll give it a try!

[UltraMarginal]

I seem to recall someone asking about them in the last year or so, I don't know if they went ahead with a purchase or not. or how it turned out if they did.

otherwise I don't know much about them.

[SkyWarp91]

Okay so since there hasn't been much response about this I have bought an item on the site and hence begins my amatuer-journalisitc review to keep ozformers well-informed about whether this is a place worth buying from.

Let's sum up my current experience with the store as of now in one word - good.

Though the site may not have the best appearance and may seem outdated, it's still functional. It's not impossible to navigate, and almost all items have a photohraph (and those that do - it's what the item actually looks like, not some promotional stockphoto). Service has been great as well, I've contacted the help email and have got a response so quickly from Jim I'm very impressed - much more so than BBTS which promises a 48 hour minimum response-time (which they actually live upto as well ). The stock on this site includes a large, varied library of rare vintage items from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Street Sharks! - and for you star-wars fans, there's some real cool figures out there at dirt-cheap prices. The clearance sales are REAL impressive. Which leads onto the next aspect...

Pricing - The prices for the stock at this store are varied. Some are cheap - especially those in the clearance sales and the regular stock - well it's expensive - but this site does stock even the rarest of toys that barely or have never seen the light on eBay before. And there are some real gems on there, so perhaps price won't mean a thing (unless you can't afford it of course).

Now, onto the checking out/buying phase. Be wary folks that if you add anything to the site's basket that the site won't remember them if you logoff or turnoff your comp like other stores like BBTS and Robotkingdom do. Must be something to do with the cookies. Once I setup my account which was relatively easy, I proceeded to place my order and was given a summary of the total and postage. Now, postage - the site claims $8 for flat-rate in the US only and if you're doing international orders - they will contact you with the total for international postage before they charge your credit card. There's no estimation beforehand after you've placed your order on the site BUT you can simply ask via email how much postage will be - and from my experience - they're very flexible with types of postage on offer for international orders and were even nice enough to recommend not using UPS as that would be VERY expensive (but if you really wanted to use UPS they wouldn't have a problem with it I presume). Now, a little bit of a nick-pick here - when you process your orders and it comes to the postage part - there is a drop-down menu that only offers one option - the US postage option despite the site saying it offers international postage. What this means is that once you've placed your order and you're an international buyer - you'll have to wait till they get the postage price and then get you to authorise the payment with the total.

As said before, you can get a postage quote with a simple email detailing what you intend to buy. I've made my purchase and now it's the waiting game - so far so good. Let's hope this experience turns out to be a good one.

- Skywarp91

[5FDP]

I got my fingers crossed for you buddy. Buying online from a shop you've never bought from previously can be pretty stressful.

[SkyWarp91]

Just sent my csv via email so that I can get charged the total. This is somewhat dodgy part as it was done via email - but I've got some safety measures put into place...

[UltraMarginal]

how do you feel about the final postage price? was it close to what you previously discussed with them over email?

[SkyWarp91]

I'm using USPS Express International, $70 total but the packages that I've ordered are big, about the size of a couple of ultra class figures

[SkyWarp91]

I'm using USPS Express International, $70 total but the packages that I've ordered are big, about the size of a couple of ultra class figures

Ultra class boxes/Masterpiece boxes more likely.

My CC got charged this morning - the payment is correct - actually cheaper cos of the US dollar so at this stage we know the site hasn't done a dodgy and stole all my money and ran off with it. Very good. Though the payment is pending meaning that they're not at the stage of sending it yet.

I'm going to assume that this site doesn't have a system in place yet that automatically charges your CC and that the site owner / worker has to fill out forms the old way to get their payments as it took about a day or two to get charged unlike BBTS.

[SkyWarp91]

So I got my package yesterday and well....

....it's all good!

The toys are packaged nicely in somewhat of a stable box and arrived fast (via USPS Express International which is a bit more expensive but shaves so much time and worry).

The fact that the toys arrived and they are there is a testament that this site is not a scam and I gave my thanks to Jim (the site owner) and he was very happy with the feedback. I've decided to buy again from this store for the star wars clearance products.

Now, one thing I noticed about this site is that even after making my purchases, the items that I bought remained in stock and the status of my order was still 'pending' - despite the fact that I was emailed by USPS tracking page. The status of the order still remains in pending, despite recieving it and the items and the items that I bought still remain in stock. Yes it could be possible that this store stocks more than 1 of each item, but given their rarities I consider it unlikely or that Jim does really have an arsenal of rare toys. If you do order an item that is actually out of stock, you will be notified and obviously you will be charged less.

All in all, my experience has been pleasant with this site and I highly recommend other members shop there for any rare toys, or even Transformers.

Just keep the following points in mind:
- There is great, almost within the day communication with this site.
- The navigating on the site is somewhat outdated, but still technically functional. Stock listings may be un-updated and so would order statuses. REMEMBER that this site, based on my experience does not remember what you put in your basket / cart once you close the site / turn off the computer (even though cookies work at BBTS for me).
- Postage internationally is not stated until you a) ask for a quote from the contact email or b) await a postage price after you've made your order.
You can get traditional first class USPS or express international USPS or even UPS but note the latter, especially UPS can be expensive.
- prices may be expensive; so this is a site for more of the rarer things you can't find anywhere else and want them now - but the clearance sales are realy good imo
- I paid via credit card and that process took a couple of days - the payments were proper so no error there.

So that's about it - happy shopping friends!

- Skywarp91