FROM: Vinylmation 360 Published Mondays

Collecting Vinylmation from Afar

Kelly Firth explains how to buy vinyls when you don't live near the Mouse

- by Kelly Firth, March 13, 2011

We have already taken a look at the basic must-knows of Vinylmation and the history of the hobby. This brings us to another question: How do you collect Vinylmation if you do not live near WDW or Disneyland Resort and can't visit often?

It's a dilemma faced by many collectors, new and old.

If only buying vinyls on your next Disney vacation is not enough to satisfy your Vinylmation wants, you'll have to look elsewhere. Here are some places to look.

DisneyStore.com

The easiest place for out-of-towners to purchase Vinylmation products is from the DisneyStore website. Most blind boxed series are released there, along with many window boxed vinyls. The 9" and Limited Edition 3" vinyls can be hit or miss. Thankfully, Disney is providing better release dates for Vinylmation items on their website. Knowing the release schedule is helpful and, at times, vital in terms of getting what you want.

Particularly with 9" vinyls, LE 3" sets, and some of the popular window boxed vinyls, you need to order as early as possible on release day. The website is typically updated between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM, EST. New items generally show up on a Friday (late Thursday night for those on the West Coast), and Wednesday is also a popular day for some previously released items to appear.

The vinyls most in demand are often sold out by 7:00 AM or 8:00 AM, EST. If you know something is being released on a certain day, be prepared to lose some sleep if you want the best chance at getting it. Occasionally, the site will be updated in the wee hours of the morning, and the scheduled release will not be added until later in the day. This is very rare, but it happened with the recent TaleSpin LE set.

While there are benefits to ordering from the DisneyStore website, such as frequent free or discounted shipping codes and online exclusives like the TaleSpin LE set, there are also some drawbacks:

• As with anything, there can be shipping problems. Have your order number handy and contact Guest Services if you have a problem.
• Some Vinylmation items never show up online. The Star Wars Vinylmation blind boxed series was never released online (Disney cited licensing issues as the cause), and the Disneyland 55 9" vinyls have not been sold anywhere other than Disneyland's D-Street.
• Sometimes a product set doesn't show up at DisneyStore.com on its release date. Other times, it does show up but at a higher price than advertised. There isn't much you can do, since Disney cautions on the official Vinylmation site that release dates and other information, such as design, price, LE size, etc., are subject to change.
• Blind boxes sold on the website do not necessarily come from one specific case. In a typical case, there are two copies of 10 different vinyls, three copies of 1 vinyl, and one copy of the Chaser vinyl. Since blind boxes sold online are handled differently, your odds of getting a specific vinyl are not the same, and your chances increase of getting more duplicates than usual. In true hit or miss fashion, some people have great luck while others do not.

Disney Store Branches

Starting in 2010, many Disney Stores around the country began carrying select lines of Vinylmation products. This is extremely helpful for those who don't live near the Parks and who don't want to deal with shipping. The Stores also provide out-of-towners an opportunity to blind box vinyls. Individual blind boxes are for sale on the DisneyStore website, but obviously you do not get to choose your own boxes from the case.

Thus far, the typical product assortment at any given Disney Store has been: Nightmare Before Christmas series, Have a Laugh series, Toy Story series, Urban 5 series, Animation 1 series, and Villains 1 series. Some stores have also carried some of the Urban 9" vinyls, and more stores carried at least a few of the Animation 9" vinyls.

If your local store carries Vinylmation, ask one of the Cast Members if they can call you when a new line or product is about to be sold. That way, if you miss a date online or something shows up unexpectedly, you can still be prepared. Keep in mind that not all Stores will do this for you.

eBay

If the DisneyStore website or the physical stores don't have what you want, then you may need to resort to eBay.

At any given time, you can find on eBay almost every vinyl ever released. However, before you buy anything, it is critical that you do your homework and do some serious soul searching about why you are collecting and how you want to collect. Do you want to pursue the original vinyls? Be prepared to pay big time for them and possibly bid against many other people. Do you want to stick to buying entire sets of new figures? Be patient, and you can find some great deals after the initial release hype dies down.

Since eBay is such a big part of the Vinylmation collecting experience, we'll look at it more closely in later columns.

For now, remember to check out the list of 'Completed Auctions' for any particular vinyl or vinyl set you are interested in. That will give you an idea of the average selling price. Stay aware of shipping costs: if you are buying one 3" vinyl at a time, money spent on shipping adds up very quickly.

WDW and DeliverEars Mail Order

Picking up the phone and ordering Vinylmation products on release days directly from Disneyland or Walt Disney World used to be one of the easiest ways for out-of-towners to acquire current product.

Unfortunately, in Spring 2010, Disney changed their policies and no longer allowed customers to order many vinyls over the phone. You can still order cases, but sometimes not until after the actual release date. It's best to call and ask if the product you want is available through mail order.

Keep in mind that most, if not all, 9" vinyls can no longer be ordered over the phone, and that shipping (both from mail order and through DisneyStore.com) is based on total order cost, not on order weight. If you're buying a case or quite a few single vinyls at once, shipping will be steep.

Other Options

If none of the above options work for you, there are a couple of other things you can try.

The easiest is to contact a friend or relative who lives near the Parks and ask if they would be willing to pick you up some vinyls and ship them to you.

If you don't know anyone near the Parks, look on the Vinylmation discussion forums for a helpful stranger. Be careful, though! Most collectors who offer to buy and ship vinyls are wonderful, Mickey-loving folks like us, but there are always a few rotten apples in every barrel. If the forum site has trading/selling feedback, make sure you check it first.

And never send money to a seller as a 'gift' through PayPal. Sellers who ask you to do so want to skirt PayPal fees, and if you go along with it, you'll lose your buyer protection privileges. Always ask the seller for an invoice.

Most Vinylmation and Disney collectible forums are not focused on trading and selling. Their main point is to share information and enable chat with other collectors. Some sites won't allow you to buy or trade until you have been a member for a certain amount of time. Regardless of which site you visit, if you join for the sole intention of buying, selling, and/or trading, do not expect to win yourself many fans!

Next week: Due to several requests, we'll talk about the decisions everyone needs to make about how to approach collecting. Are you collecting for profit or for enjoyment? Do you want to own a random assortment of vinyls or a specific series? There are no right or wrong answers, but I'll share some helpful tips next week. Look for the trading how-to column in early April.

Mark Your Calendars

Friday, March 18: Urban 6 Series scheduled for release at D-Street WDW and D-Street DLR. 3" blind boxed series. Limited Release. Retail price: Likely $9.95 or $12.95.

Friday, March 18: Urban 6 Series Combo Pack scheduled for release at D-Street WDW and D-Street DLR. A visible, as of yet un-previewed 3" vinyl attached to an Urban 6 blind box. Retail price: Likely $24.95.

Friday, March 18: Urban 6 Series Ear Hats with 3" figures scheduled for release at D-Street WDW and D-Street DLR. A Gumball Ear Hat and Viking Ear Hat, each inspired by an upcoming Urban 6 Series 9" figure, will be packaged with a related 3" vinyl. Limited Edition. Gumball set: LE 800. Viking set: LE 1000. Retail price: $49.95 each.

Friday, March 18: Vinylmation Jr. 3 Good Luck/Bad Luck Series scheduled for release on DisneyStore.com. 1-1/2" window boxed series featuring a mystery Jr. vinyl representing good luck, such as a white Japanese lucky cat, or bad luck, such as a black cat. Limited Release. Retail price: Likely $8.95.

On the last Sunday of every month, I'll devote this column to your questions and my answers. You can leave questions here as comments or else send them directly to me.

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