O.K. boys and girls...GAME ON!!!
I got back last night around midnight from my little excursion to DisneyWorld to pick up the exclusives. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I've picked up all three (not two) of the Disney Star Tours exclusived--RX-24 "Rex", G2-4T, and R3-D3. The bad news is, I could only pick up five complete sets so I now only have four sets up for trade. Disney is enforcing the five set per "paying" patron rule, so by the time I ran back out to my truck, changed shirts and returned to the store, they were once again sold out. I was told by an employee of "Once Upon a Toy" that they get shipments every Thursday night/Friday morning and they've always been sold out by noon that same day. Very few of the figures were in "mint" condition although I did get the pick of the bunch as the store opened about 15 minutes early leaving many to arrive a little late to trash the place.
With that being said, and if you didn't read my posts before, here's what we're gonna do:
I'm currently taking "silent bids" for these three awesome figs. The bidding starts right now and will end at midnight EST on Wednesday, July 31st . After this deadline, I'll contact everyone with the outcome who participated. All four sets of figures will go regardless of what is offered, therefore there is no reserve.
Fine Print: I reserve all rights in choosing the winners in reference to my own wants list as listed below. I've added a ton of POTF figures to my wants list that I still need so it should be easy to hit some of the items that I still require.
I will keep the highest integrity in making my selections-for example...if you are number 4 on my list and you offer a Saga "Bloody" Luke and the number 9 person also offers a "Bloody" Luke...you'll win as you were higher on my original list.
Question from participant: "If number 4 offers you the same item as number nine, what's keeping you from taking number 9's item just because you like it better?" To clarify-if the number 4 person offers a "Bloody" Luke in C-7 condition, and number 9 offers a "Bloody" Luke in C-9.5 condition, then obviously, this is the catch 22. Condition is the only measure to accept someone else's item over yours.
Question from participant: "If I offer a C-9.5 POTF figure on your wants list and someone offers you a C-9.5 EU figure from your wants list, how do you determine who gets the exclusives?" This is a tricky one, but I'll try to elaborate by stating, "it depends." It obviously depends on just how hard the item is to get or if I've had trouble in the past getting this item. As any collector knows, EU figures are slightly harder to acquire than most of the common POTF figures. But, as I stated, if I've had quite a bit of trouble acquiring the POTF figure in the past or it is fairly hard to come by, I'll select the POTF figure over the EU.
Question from participant: "How do I know if I'm winning or losing after I've placed my silent bid?" This is one of the biggest issues that the controversial ArtoosNews relayed to me and here's the only thing I can come up with: A silent bid is obviously made silently...thus deleting the "bartering" portions of a trade and seeming to make the endeavor a little more fair for everyone as you all bid "in the blind." Because I don't want anyone to get offended or angry with the selections that are made on Thursday morning, I'll give those of you who are interested the availability to email me with your request for the current winning list, although this is against my original intent of the reasons for this new idea.
Unfortunately, to prevent "dead-beat" bidders and to protect my investment, winning bidders must ship first if they cannot produce "valid" positive feedback. Rest assured as I have positive trades/feedback on the Jawa, JundlandWastes, and RebelScum. This "silent trade" is NOT limited to U.S. residents, but I will pay USPS Priority shipping to U.S. winners only-if you're a winner from somewhere other than the U.S., you will have to pay for the shipping costs (Sorry guys, the USPS is killin' us now.)
I take great pride in packaging my products to prevent damage by the USPS. Most will say that I overkill the padding, but it is for the protection of your products.
If you don't win this time around, don't worry. I'll probably plan a trip to DW at least every other month. I've got people asking for the Star Tours exclusive weapons as well. The Disney store also has some other HTF items like the 12" Ki-Adi Mundi (which I also picked up). They're a little pricey ($9.99 per 3 3/4" figure), but the store itself is awesome!
So...let me shut up and let's get this thing started. If you have any questions at all, just ask before the Wednesday night deadline. If it's a question that I think everyone would like the answer to, I'll answer and forward to everyone. Good Luck!!!
Brian
"katnipp"
afpilot@bellsouth.net
I got back last night around midnight from my little excursion to DisneyWorld to pick up the exclusives. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I've picked up all three (not two) of the Disney Star Tours exclusived--RX-24 "Rex", G2-4T, and R3-D3. The bad news is, I could only pick up five complete sets so I now only have four sets up for trade. Disney is enforcing the five set per "paying" patron rule, so by the time I ran back out to my truck, changed shirts and returned to the store, they were once again sold out. I was told by an employee of "Once Upon a Toy" that they get shipments every Thursday night/Friday morning and they've always been sold out by noon that same day. Very few of the figures were in "mint" condition although I did get the pick of the bunch as the store opened about 15 minutes early leaving many to arrive a little late to trash the place.
With that being said, and if you didn't read my posts before, here's what we're gonna do:
I'm currently taking "silent bids" for these three awesome figs. The bidding starts right now and will end at midnight EST on Wednesday, July 31st . After this deadline, I'll contact everyone with the outcome who participated. All four sets of figures will go regardless of what is offered, therefore there is no reserve.
Fine Print: I reserve all rights in choosing the winners in reference to my own wants list as listed below. I've added a ton of POTF figures to my wants list that I still need so it should be easy to hit some of the items that I still require.
I will keep the highest integrity in making my selections-for example...if you are number 4 on my list and you offer a Saga "Bloody" Luke and the number 9 person also offers a "Bloody" Luke...you'll win as you were higher on my original list.
Question from participant: "If number 4 offers you the same item as number nine, what's keeping you from taking number 9's item just because you like it better?" To clarify-if the number 4 person offers a "Bloody" Luke in C-7 condition, and number 9 offers a "Bloody" Luke in C-9.5 condition, then obviously, this is the catch 22. Condition is the only measure to accept someone else's item over yours.
Question from participant: "If I offer a C-9.5 POTF figure on your wants list and someone offers you a C-9.5 EU figure from your wants list, how do you determine who gets the exclusives?" This is a tricky one, but I'll try to elaborate by stating, "it depends." It obviously depends on just how hard the item is to get or if I've had trouble in the past getting this item. As any collector knows, EU figures are slightly harder to acquire than most of the common POTF figures. But, as I stated, if I've had quite a bit of trouble acquiring the POTF figure in the past or it is fairly hard to come by, I'll select the POTF figure over the EU.
Question from participant: "How do I know if I'm winning or losing after I've placed my silent bid?" This is one of the biggest issues that the controversial ArtoosNews relayed to me and here's the only thing I can come up with: A silent bid is obviously made silently...thus deleting the "bartering" portions of a trade and seeming to make the endeavor a little more fair for everyone as you all bid "in the blind." Because I don't want anyone to get offended or angry with the selections that are made on Thursday morning, I'll give those of you who are interested the availability to email me with your request for the current winning list, although this is against my original intent of the reasons for this new idea.
Unfortunately, to prevent "dead-beat" bidders and to protect my investment, winning bidders must ship first if they cannot produce "valid" positive feedback. Rest assured as I have positive trades/feedback on the Jawa, JundlandWastes, and RebelScum. This "silent trade" is NOT limited to U.S. residents, but I will pay USPS Priority shipping to U.S. winners only-if you're a winner from somewhere other than the U.S., you will have to pay for the shipping costs (Sorry guys, the USPS is killin' us now.)
I take great pride in packaging my products to prevent damage by the USPS. Most will say that I overkill the padding, but it is for the protection of your products.
If you don't win this time around, don't worry. I'll probably plan a trip to DW at least every other month. I've got people asking for the Star Tours exclusive weapons as well. The Disney store also has some other HTF items like the 12" Ki-Adi Mundi (which I also picked up). They're a little pricey ($9.99 per 3 3/4" figure), but the store itself is awesome!
So...let me shut up and let's get this thing started. If you have any questions at all, just ask before the Wednesday night deadline. If it's a question that I think everyone would like the answer to, I'll answer and forward to everyone. Good Luck!!!
Brian
"katnipp"
afpilot@bellsouth.net