In case you didn’t know, and maybe you did, Amazon added the other two singles to the three Hot Wheels Fast & Furious Premium Nissans it was pre-selling.
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
They have sold out, and I have no idea if they will restock. I’ve gotten a lot of comments about these, like what it means for the future of Hot Wheels hunting. Will buying singles on Amazon be a thing? I guess we will find out.
This could be a great thing, or it could be a disaster. We will see. The price with Prime free shipping is awesome, but how will they ship? Will a box with one bubble in and a card with smashed corners arrive? Will selling singles be feasible? We will all know in the next couple of months.
Let’s just watch.
Please please PLEASE let this become a thing!!!! What better way to give the scalpers a quick kick to the crotch than make the models available online AT RETAIL PRICE to whoever wants them? And with free shipping to boot! Yes, they’re both out of stock at the moment, but at least it gives us a fighting chance.
I think it’s a great idea, at least for premium releases. But then again you run the risk of “virtual pegwarmers”. The popular cars sell out quick and the other two or three in the mix just sit around. But with great mixes of popular cars like the F&F or Car Culture lines it may work out.
I didn’t say this on the previous post because I was waiting for these 2 cars to go on sale, so I’ll say it now. This seems to be a great decision to sell these on Amazon. And at retail price!!! This will give so many people a chance to grab these cars that they mostly wouldn’t have done at Walmart. However, I do hope Amazon has a sufficient stock otherwise it might be the same scenario as at a store.
On another note, I have Amazon prime but it doesn’t give me free shipping. Is free shipping limited to US or is it worldwide? Some clarification would be appreciated! Because I really want these cars.
If they start doing Majorette this way, I’d be interested. Hopefully Matchbox premium series and Real Workings Rigs will become this way. Hard to find in stores (except Globe Travellers, that’s a big pegwarmer around here), and usually the only people with them online are resellers wanting WAY more than retail.
thanx for the info i just ordered the whole set…
Hot wheels, matchbox and majorette should all pursue an online centered model. Selling sets is fine (singles even better) as long as it is possible to buy at retail prices at least when the models are first released. For JL, M2 and GL it is easy to get all the new models through hobby dealers. Why should MB and HW be different? All their models should be available online at retail through hobby dealers or directly from Mattel. At the very least sell cases or sets.
To be honest hunting is horrible. It is a huge time sink and it is costly. Yes, there is some thrill and yes, it is great to hold models. However, the selection is terrible in stores even if you show up in the middle of the night with the hope of raiding the new boxes. All the stores (except maybe Meijer) have very poor selection and the car aisles tend to be a mess (at least at many Wal Marts).
Think about the cost of hunting. Going to a couple stores can easily take a few hours. Plus, gas. Time spent is very costly (just multiply by your hourly wage). Moreover, Wal Mart is hardly a pleasant shopping experience (even with the new speedier automatic checkouts). If you add if the time spent and the gas money (plus, the wear on your car) you can easily justify spending the money to ship something from a hobby dealer instead. Worse, in stores the good models go first. Even you find a popular model it will tend to have wheel or paint flaws and/or a broken blister. If you order online people haven’t snapped up the flawless models first leaving everyone with an equal chance.
As for scalpers they will not disappear online. Whenever you have scarcity (and collectibles are about scarcity) you will attract scalpers. However, online at least ordinary folks have a shot. I’m more likely to be able to buy an Ignition model or a RLC car online than ever finding Chase pieces in store. I’ve gotten maybe 20-30 Chases in unopened cases through hobby dealers, but zero in stores.
I bought 50th favorites in two separate orders through Amazon. Packaging was great as it always is through Amazon. Overall, hobby dealers package very well. In fact, I’ve found that there are many more bent and damaged cards in stores. So that should not be a concern.
In many ways I love the TLV model. Regular releases. Easy to get at the beginning. No chases or event models. Less stress.
Even if this becomes the norm it will not change much for anyone. Resellers or hoarders will just buy them online vs. in store, and they’ll buy as much as possible. People getting shut out in stores will just get shutout online. If you are not quick enough to get to the stores before Resellers do…..what makes anyone think they’ll be able to get ahead of these people online?
I use to be into buying sneakers and that is obviously loaded with resellers. It’s nearly impossible to get certain sneakers online because somehow the resellers get a jump. Not sure how but they do.
Guys in the sneaker game have bots setup just waiting for the drop time, human beings stand no chance against stuff like that lol. If hot wheels start being valued new at $500 or more we could see the same stuff happen here
I’m more keen on this idea because I’m in the front range, and I’m the only guy in town buying Hot Wheels, so all my stores have had the same junk since January. Being able to just order them even in theory is better than never seeing them at all
A word of warning to those thinking of ordering cars from amazon in the future, if you’re not planning on opening your cars and you want to keep them on the blister I would strongly advise you don’t order from amazon. I ordered a bunch of the 50th Favorites cars (from Amazon itself) recently and waited eagerly for them to arrive. The box turned up nearly entirely open so you could see what was inside, and upon opening it, it became clear that not only was the box 4 times the size of the contents, there was absolutely zero packaging materials. So these cars had been smashing around inside the box like lottery balls before they are picked out. Every single one of them was wrecked. It’s a miracle that none of them actually fell out of the box!
I also ordered the F&F cars mentioned in this post and I think I will be cancelling the order in case they turn up trashed too. I certainly won’t be ordering from them again!