Fair Pony Undercutting Resolved x-posted

Applejackgirl

Applejackgirl

Teeny Tiny Baby Pony
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
574
Okay, I was gonna hold back my scathing review of the fair, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back. Sweetune did a great job with coordinating everything to the last detail and I was going to write her aside from public eye on what I had to say, but Hasbro does deserves this out in the open. I don't think that we should ever allow Hasbro to host us again and I am really not sure I even want to see them at our fair again. The fair is kinda like a family of pony lovers gathered to share appreciation for this little toy, not to have their pockets shamelessly looted and treated like criminals. You are probably like, "what the heck is she talking about?" I bought a fair pony for myself and another for my mom at $35 and I looked on the hasbro site for the comic con release and there is the fair pony for $20!!! That is a bunch of crap. I don't blame Sweettune, she probably has no idea and any criticism I have is not leveled at her, like I said I have a lot of appreciation for her hard work.

So since I have been blatently gouged for my collectibles, here's the rest of the truth. When I arrived at Hasbro headquarters there was prison yard fencing with wire all around. The man at the head desk didn't even look at me when I came in the wrong entry (which should have been clearly marked in the torrential rain that was coming down.) We had to be escorted from the entryway to the restrooms and back. I watched others getting yelled at on the tour for having gaps in their line. We were made to line up along the walls and watched like we were inmates. The tour guides were friendly and nice but the bouncers, the security, or whatever would speak to you like a dog. I am not making this up. As for Hasbro and their question and answer session, it is a total lark. They are so afraid of corporate espionage that they will not give us any real information on upcoming products. They always answer, "nothing planned at this time," or "stay tuned."
With this $15 difference in price that they have overcharged collectors, I think it is high time we send Hasbro a clear message. We are the ones that keep them in business, and this abuse should not be tolerated. If anything the price at the fair should have been at a discount seeing as there was no processing/handling/warehouse involvement. I can't believe this betrayal. It's like inviting a friend over and charging them double what you would sell it to the rest of the world. Go look for yourself!
 
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Wow, that sounds absolutely awful. It makes me feel less jealous of people who went to the fair. :( I'm sorry you had such a bad time! T_T
 
Thats crazy! I still havent bought the fair pony yet and im kindve glad i waited. It just seems really unfair though and i feel for everyone that bought them at the higher price :(
 
WOW....thats pretty sucky! I just bought the fair pony from the fair website yesterday. I think I am going to ask for a refund and buy from them instead. That is a heck of a price different. That makes me pretty mad!
 
apanda0622 said:
Is this the first time the fair pony has been on hasbro for sale? I don't remember it being there last year. The comic-con pony was also on the website for sale last year and I noticed it had a reduced price from what it was at comic-con.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's never been on there before, I thought I was seeing things for a moment. I always get comic con on there too, but I had no idea that they used the same practice on those folks as well. Pretty shameful. To Whippet: I would love to do the same with mine, but alas I don't have a receipt or anything :( Makes you not trust buying the fair ponies in the future. :(
 
7850365f.jpg
for others to see...cause I had to see this for myself. That really is horrible!
 
Ouch hasbro that is not cool.

Wow that is major gouging right there...

Not cool. Hasbro

So sorry to hear you all had a awful time at the fair.

Hope they at least be fair and refund everyone who spent 35.00 each of the pony 15.00 back.

ABCWinter (Laurie :/
 
I *did* select to buy it, and it does actually work.

I was just on the site two days ago and it wasn't available for sale, so this is definitely new.


I also just bought two from Summer a few days ago, and while I'm REALLY peeved at the $15 difference, I know it isn't her fault, so I'm not going to try and get a refund. I'm imagining mass quantities stacked up in one of her closets, and I don't think it's fair to stick her with those when Hasbro's purposefully undercutting.
 
apanda0622 said:
whippetluv--that is the pic from the hasbro website catalog

Go to hasbro toyshop and you can actually put it in your cart and buy it!
Click to expand...

I actually had to go & check that out myself! I had an awesome time @ the fair. (I'm actually suprised we didn't get into any trouble 'cause Will kept BS'ing with security O_O ). Even though it cost it an extra $15, I'm kinda glad I got her @ the fair. I actually got her signed by the designer, so that was cool :) I thought fair staff got all the extra ponies after the fair & sold them off. So how does Hasbro have extras?
 
Yeah I feel very sorry for Summer. This is clearly not her fault at all. If when I bought from her website I am buying from her...then I am cool with the price. If I am still getting it from Hasbro eitehr way...then I want the money. Because it's very unfair of them to undercut the fair like that. And poor summer is going to be swamped with complaints and it's not her fault I am sure!
 
(I'll start by saying this is not directed to Summer who did an amazing job and such hard work making this Fair possible! This is disappointment with Hasbro itself!)

I've been to several cons.... from anime, to comic book, to horror, to everything in between. Most companies are good and do not jack up prices for the cons. They want your business, they want you to come back to them after the convention.
But unfortunately some do. They will jack up the price beyond comprehension for exclusive figures, books, whatever, JUST for the convention. While on site or in their store you could buy the merch almost half the price after the convention. Its crappy but... well it's pretty normal.

What really bothered me the most, is big name companies like DC and Marvel at the comic cons, offer freebies like comics, stickers, pins, posters, lots of things. No not raffle tickets, FREE MERCH on their tables for you to enjoy. They know you spent a crap load of money just to be there. They want your loyalty. I did not see this happening at Hasbro.
What, the only free thing was that poster right?
*edit* I have just remembered the goodie bag we got upon arrival. We did get a free pony in those.
Also side note... I don't care what they offered for lunch, not having a place for people to sit down was absolute crap.
And that was the worst cake I've ever had.:|

But now i'm afraid I have begun to ramble. My apologies.

I think my point is, maybe Hasbro shouldn't have it at their HQ again.
 
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Honestly, Willow, I completely agree. You addressed several points I didn't even think about. But I was thoroughly unimpressed with Hasbro's involvement in this year's fair. Now to do this with the fair ponies...it's just insulting. I'm not saying we keep Hasbro afloat, but don't we do enough for the MLP brand to be treated a little better than that?
 
This was brought up on the Arena and this was Sweettune's response:

The Fair Pony is only available through The My Little Pony Fair. It is not available on Hasbro Toyshop or elsewhere. It is put on the toyshop site as part of their catalogue as mentioned above. It is listed as $19.99 retail because that is the retail price of their regular Art ponies. Our price is significantly higher due to the small order quantity (500 ponies total).
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except now it seems that people are able to buy the pony from Hasbro so i don't know why that changed?
 
Youch! I'm kinda glad I didn't go. That's just... ouch. Not nice.

I totally think that Hasbro did that because they know that serious collectors will go to the Fair and buy the pony for however much money it's for, and then sell them as 'toys' and not 'collector's items' for lower....

:(
 
If we dump them, then we get no fair pony at all. But if we just make sure they know how unhappy we are with the 2011 fair, maybe they'll go, "Oh crap...sorry about that. We'll do better next year, swear!"
 
Willow said:
(I'll start by saying this is not directed to Summer who did an amazing job and such hard work making this Fair possible! This is disappointment with Hasbro itself!)

I've been to several cons.... from anime, to comic book, to horror, to everything in between. Most companies are good and do not jack up prices for the cons. They want your business, they want you to come back to them after the convention.
But unfortunately some do. They will jack up the price beyond comprehension for exclusive figures, books, whatever, JUST for the convention. While on site or in their store you could buy the merch almost half the price after the convention. Its crappy but... well it's pretty normal.

What really bothered me the most, is big name companies like DC and Marvel at the comic cons, offer freebies like comics, stickers, pins, posters, lots of things. No not raffle tickets, FREE MERCH on their tables for you to enjoy. They know you spent a crap load of money just to be there. They want your loyalty. I did not see this happening at Hasbro.
What, the only free thing was that poster right?
*edit* I have just remembered the goodie bag we got upon arrival. We did get a free pony in those.
Also side note... I don't care what they offered for lunch, not having a place for people to sit down was absolute crap.
And that was the worst cake I've ever had.:|

But now i'm afraid I have begun to ramble. My apologies.

I think my point is, maybe Hasbro shouldn't have it at their HQ again.
Click to expand...

I never got a goodie bag, when was that? :(

I also agree with your comments, the seating was not cool. I think that has been an issue at other fairs though, I dunno. I have been a vendor the last two times so I had a seat. I have really enjoyed the fairs, and I think Sweettune has done a wonderful job but I really think that Hasbro has been a bad host this year and I can't believe they are competing with the fair staff. They should buy all unsold quantities from Summer if they are going to be like that.

I am not sure about dumping Hasbro, though it sounds gratifying to do so, but I do intend on having a conversation with them about the poor business pracitices they have adopted.
 
This is so dissapointing.

The Fair Pony is supposed to be exclusive to the My Little Pony Fair and PonyCon. The UK Con hasn't even held their event yet, so I'm baffled at how the pony is being offered online.

Purchasing these ponies from Hasbro is a HUGE cost for the Fair. Now I'm afraid that we won't be able to sell our extras since the price is being drastically undercut through Hasbro Toyshop. If we can't turn a decent profit from the exclusive pony sales, the Fair may be in jeopardy next year.

I put out thousands of dollars out of my own pocket to make sure the 2010 Fair happened in Louisville after Winged Fantasy dropped the ball, but I'm unwilling to do that again. The Fair needs to be able to pay for itself because I'm not going to personally fund it again.

I understand those who are purchasing through Hasbro Toyshop because it is a cheaper option, but if they continue to sell the exclusive it will have a very negative impact on the Fair.

:(
 
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