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A better, brighter DSF lineup idea

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A better, brighter DSF lineup idea
I think the Higher Edition size idea works in theory. But like many other collectibles, things aren't collectible if they are easily attainable. A 1st edition copy of the Hobbit wouldn't sell for 10,000 if everyone could get their hands on it. With DA gone, Disney Shopping in the gutter, DSF is all we really have for highly valuable pins. Remove that and any new collector would have an IMPOSSIBLE time getting anything else. When I started collecting DSF helped me get my collection going. If it wasn't for all the Up, Tangled, Avengers etc. pins I would never have my DA 100s and grails.

Yes it would eliminate the campout problem but it would also eliminate the rareness of the pins, therefore removing the value from the hobby and eventually leading to less and less collectors. People collect things because they are rare. I rather have an LE 100 than an LE 1000 of the same pin. Why do new collectors gravitate towards tangled? Because its rare. Finding Nemo is a much better movie (hahahah jk jk don't kill me tangled fans) and no one seems to care about those pins and in my opinion they are awesome.

Its a good solution but the long term consequences might be worse than the original problem.
 

DSF staff is a member of this Forum. They never post but do read in detail all information. If a suggestion is made for business purposes to increase sales and profit, it will change. For now, few yell and complain but are there each release. They do have the monopoly on pins but at a prior job, there was a woman that complained every day. My manager told me when I first started working there at age 17, she will always complain but she is still buying her groceries here. Just listen and say sorry. Never tell her to go away because she will spend money elsewhere and still complain. At least we listen and get her money. I only have her for a brief minute, I don't have to live with her. I always remember this with each customer.
 
Luis75 said:
Its a good solution but the long term consequences might be worse than the original problem.
Click to expand...

This was something I was definitely thinking about when I made my post, and I hesitated before hitting the "post quick reply" button: I totally get it. Rare Item = More Coveted = Collection is Worth More. I definitely wasn't implying OE pins, but even upping the edition size just a little bit (LE 750? LE 1000?) might make a big difference...

Here's another thought I'd love to explore with you fine human beings: What if DSF just varied their offerings more? Let's be honest, two weekends of Tangled releases? I ONLY collect Tangled and this honestly makes my entire body hurt. Wouldn't it be nice if they offered pins for other collections between the crazy releases? Maybe some other Pixar pins, maybe some other princesses, heck, maybe even just some other movies? Tangled is only one film of 50+ feature films, they can't say they don't have the inspiration or content for other pins...
 

:eek2:

Shhhhhh... Big Brother is watching.

To DSF Staff: We know you are watching us MUUAAAHAHAHAHA
 

The ones who boycott will not get the pins as each release new real members and eBay sellers arrive at DSF. Just check the eBay listings. They have few sales. Usually less than 40. There ate a lot of them now. Then check their items for sale and completed list. All DSF and few hot pins from other Disney venues.
 
It has to be said...DSF views camping out for days as some sort of badge of honor...it's a status symbol to them. This problem has been escalating for a while now and yet all they do is hand out wristbands on not 1, but 2 days...because obviously having people camp out for 2 days is better than 1...or none. It's a bad business practice that WILL bite them on the a$$, unless they do something to avoid camping out.
 
Not related to how to fix the problem, but...

A lot of the people I've seen, especially on here, seem to be collections Tangled because the characters and the store resonate with them. They connect with a young person's quest to find themselves and start their life away from "home."

I've also seen people take the relationship between Flynn and Rapunzel as a reflection of their own relationship.

Yes, there are people who collect things just because of "rarity" but sometimes people just collect what they love.

I'm not a tangled collector by the way.

I do have le 100's and open edition throughout my pins though... And if I like a pin, I just like a pin.

I do understand how it could deter some "hard core" collectors and traders though.



I guess one of the few ways I can see the most safe and satisfied customers is letting people line up and trying to organise the events and security more. Don't let people line up before the store opens in the day of wristband distribution, but don't set a fixed time so there is a mad rush either.
 

Disney can increase the LE. DSF can't. They make selected themes to sell out with some lasting a week but do sell out. DLR and WDW have a huge customer base and space. See what happen to Marquees with LE 500. Only if a hot one was released. If not they just sat there. How about an LE 500 Robin Hood? An LE 500-1000 would only be the 5 hottest characters. Boring.
 
As seen from the LE 500 marquee experiment this year, increasing the edition size risks lowering the demand and DSF needs demand to remain high.

No announced release dates would pretty much eliminate the trade events though. I also think you would see more pins go unsold since the big releases tend to create hype.

I also agree that online distribution wouldn't work since we've seen from Disneyland releases that they get flooded with many fake entries.

A lottery selection on release day would probably lead to larger crowds since people would bring friends and family to increase their odds of being selected. Those of us who go alone or in small groups would rarely get pins and all those wasted drives will create ill will towards DSF.

I think the campouts and wristbands have been the best solution so far but I can see why they want to eliminate them. It is a huge liability issue for them to allow this on their property.

I guess from a business standpoint the best solution would be to start bundling. Sell a VIP package for $100 that includes a midnight showing of a film, a meal, and a FastPass to be first in line to buy pins. Those who can't afford the VIP package can wait in line although for a Tangled release those without a VIP package would likely not get anything. Would I like this solution? No. But would it be cold, hard capitalism at its finest? Yes.
 
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An option mentioned to DSF was increase the pin retail by let's say $10. It would be worth not to arrive two days. Hmmm. They increased the retail to $14.95 and were all going to buy it. I think $14.95 is going to be the normal and still be LE 300.
 
What if we added the Fab 5 onto every single DSF pin? Not just one of them, but all 5 creatively squeezed in?
 
ok. chiming in now. reading everyones replies takes a while, as soon as I add another idea to the OP more have popped up.

increasing edition size....
pro: more pins for more people. woohoo!
con: less sought after because its not as rare. DSF tried this with marquees and PTD's... did anyone notice that the le500 marquee's went upside down trades to wants?
Suggestion: up it to 400 not 500. seems it would balance better.

limit 1 per:
pro: more pins for more people
con: more people bring friends. AND folks would be less willing to trade em away.

non announced releases:
pro: no line ups.
con: reduced sales for the store. Line ups do profit the store, we use the bathroom, buy food, drinks, ice cream, merchandise....

the solution needs to benifit everyone, the traders and the store or it will not happen.
 
Luis75 said:
I think the Higher Edition size idea works in theory. But like many other collectibles, things aren't collectible if they are easily attainable. A 1st edition copy of the Hobbit wouldn't sell for 10,000 if everyone could get their hands on it.
Click to expand...

But at the time the book came out, if you wanted it, you could get it, right? It's TIME that made the first edition rare. People read their books, threw them out, spilled coffee on it, etc. More and more people discovered the story. The remaining copies became valuable because it was "nothing special" the day of release.

I wanted to comment on one of the other ideas...

All surprise releases

CON: Winners and losers will be determined by where you live and where you work. Anyone close to Hollywood will win for almost every release. People living in San Diego will never win. As someone living out of state, a schedule allows even me to win if I'm willing to schedule around it. All surprise means I can never win, because there's no way for me to get there fast enough.
 
Master... honestly for the pins that are released that cause all of the drama, DSF could sell them for $50-$100 each and they would still sell out within hours Also, with not announcing releases the pins would still sell out on the first day (again for the types of pins that cause camping). As nice as the people here on DPF are, I wonder if DSF had a surprise release of Rapunzel dressed as Jessica with Stitch as Pascal that it would ever be posted on the forum for everyone to see . There would be texts and phone calls to people, but my guess is that it would be at least a few hours until it's posted.
 
  • sign in sheet this one kinda seems like the same as it currently is because there would just be a two day camp out for the sign up sheet
  • ticket under seats not a bad idea a long as there is no camping out for a darn seat
  • random starting number clever idea but can you imagine the tirade buy the guy or girl who was waiting 3 days just to get passed
  • all surprise release, no announced releases this is a good idea in theory but we do not live in a perfect world. Thus CMs will still leak info which will give whoever receives this info a MAJOR advantage
  • one pin per guest limit This is actually an idea I suggested. It would far from solve the problem and would actually make it harder for out of SoCal Collectors as the true collectors of the character would not be able to help them out. HOWEVER I think it would decrease the amount of scalper if even if its just 1 less because only buying one decrease their profit margin
  • increase edition sizes This idea is a variant of the one pin per guest rule. There would still be camping out just more people would get it
On the wristband thread a member presented a neat idea. You go in the store present ID and get a DPF shopper card. Go online and register and then you get an email if your randomly selected as one of the buyers
 
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I think 1 per person would largely INCREASE the amount of scalpers. Where before you just needed you take yourself to get your pin and your trader pin. Now you have to take a friend. That is the same problem as before. Now, we will see all sorts of non-collectors in line. Just because you are a "true collector" doesn't mean you will be first in line. A true seller could bring their friends and family to resell the pins and make an even bigger profit since its a 1 per person limit and you KNOW that means less people get the pin.
 
Psycho...I really don't agree with the con that you have under non announced releases. It's basic business practice that the more often you have somebody go into your store, the more $ you'll make. The way it is now, the releases are once or twice a month. Most people only go to dsf for the releases. Let's say that those first 150 in line only go to DSF for an announced release. Sure, they're buying food and merchandise for those 1 or 2 days. Now, imagine no release dates. Those same 150 people would show up much more than 1 or 2 days in a month. I'm not saying that each person buys something every time they go in, but they're exposed to more opportunities each time they go in. Sure, they're hungry camping out...but if they go in 10x a month looking for pins, chances are they are hungry more than once and they see more clearance items, or other new non pin related items. How many times do you go to Target and buy things not on your list?
 
I sent in this idea but I don't think they liked it, ha!

So for releases that seem to generate a lot of buzz, they could implement a raffle for the first however many wristbands. 10? 15? 25? 50? In order to be placed in the raffle you need to spend X amount of $dollars on merchandise? food? ice cream? on a specific day(s). If you spend that much you get entered into the drawing for a wristband. That way people who can't campout bc of work etc...still feel like they may have a chance and people who want to line up can. I feel like the line-ups however should go back to how they were on BRAVE. No lining up more than the day before the release. People want to get there at noon, then so be it. Wristbands are distributed once 150 people are in line. Then people can hang out and do whatever. No worries about cutting, no having to come back another whole day, no missing two days of work. That was by far the most enjoyable release for me even though I did have to spend the night. They could also choose to let people go home if something is happening where they don't want people in ally like they did for the pixar event release. Subject to their discretion.

As someone with a full-time weekday job, I'm not a fan of the new system at all but I am also not going to whine about it to the DSF staff. They don't owe me anything, so if I can't make it then someone else will take my place and they will still get the money.

I'd also be a supporter of RSP's but I know they said they don't have the technical ability to do so.

Goofies seat idea could work if the seats are number. Pick a random seat and sit down. They call random seat numbers or groups of seat numbers. But then they'd have to have the theater available and have to clean up after everyone which is more of a pain in the butt for them.

Really, if we want DSF to keep making pretty pins, we need to consider what is easiest for them from a business standpoint. Otherwise they might just get fed up and cut the program....which would equal really sad sad Amy....

and to throw my 2 cents in, I am not a fan of upping edition sizes. Those le 500 marquees just sit in my trade book. No one really wants them. I am just as much a pin TRADER as I am a collector so I want pretty pins to trade that people actually want. Otherwise what fun is trading...
 
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BTW, DSF does have open edition pins (blue card back).

There is no need to put a ticket under a seat to look for. All the seats have rows and numbers (balcony, mezzanine, orchestra level). They sell the VIP tickets that way. So get people seated in specific sections and draw/randomize numbers that way.
 
Scalpers already have been bringing their friends even at the two per person
 
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