Hey Everyone. Justin here to kind of do a recap of how things work when you’re actually ordering posters from us on high traffic sale days. We had a TON of people sign up for the site with this TRON release today and we got a lot of emails like this from angry fans:
Hi,
I had called and left a message earlier, however, you guys don’t open until 5pm, but I was messaging to make a complaint about my transaction earlier. Earlier today at 12:30-12:31 pm I hopped on MondoTees from my cell phone, added the original Tron poster to my cart, went through all the shipping and billing address stuff and after clicking next I was given an Out of Stock page, which baffled me. After refreshing the page and receiving another Twitter notification from MondoNews, sure enough, I was just jacked out of a purchase. Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit enough to bitch about it, however, I know how quick these sell and how much they resell for on eBay and this was supposed to be a gift for my girlfriend, as she loves the original Tron movie completely. I’m extremely pissed off, moreso at the fact that by adding a product to my cart, I feel it should be reserved, as I lingered on that page for about an hour, hoping to be one of the first to buy this poster. Apparently, the servers being blown up and my 3g network screwed me out of that. I would like to still purchase one of these posters and if you look at my previous purchases, there aren’t many, but I’ve always been a beyond satisfied customer and still hope to continue to shop here. I’m just hoping you can compensate me for this situation, as this issue was created on your end. Thank you for the time, and I apologize for the bitchiness, it’s just the holiday season, it’s stressful, and I was looking forward to this since it leaked a couple days ago.
This fan was mad, that’s clear and it’s TOTALLY understandable. Guys, I’m a collector, too. I collect toys, comics, shoes, all kinds of stuff and I fight just like you to get rare, collectible, LIMITED stuff online. I know how it feels when you don’t get what you want, especially when you’ve been refreshing and waiting for hours. The main thing I want to point out in the above message is this line:
“by adding a product to my cart, I feel it should be reserved”
This is false. There are TONS of reasons why you, the fan, don’t want this to happen. If you really want me to go into them, I’d be glad to drop a few in the comments, but the main point is that if you have something in your cart, it’s not yours until you make it through the checkout process and pay for it. I’m trying to keep this short and sweet as we have A LOT to do for the bunch of releases coming up before the end of the year, but since we do have a bunch of great stuff coming out, I thought I should make this crystal clear.
If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments or shoot me an email. Justin@MondoTees.com
-Justin
Any chance on increasing edition sizes? You have to admit, you guys have become much more well known in the last year, and you could probably move three times as much stock, and still be considered a Limited Edition boutique.
Steve-
If you look at how many we were printing of, say…the Martin Ansin PHANTOM OF THE OPERA poster last year, we have increased edition sizes, but we’re never going to blow it out super crazy. We are in the limited edition business and will always be. We have no interest in wholesaling to other people or doing runs in the thousands or whatever. I know it sucks that not everyone will get one, but that’s the nature of the beast.
I just have a weird question from the consumer’s perspective…if you’re buying groceries, can I grab your loaf of bread from your cart if it’s the last one?
I understand the limited nature of things, but if you’re in any brick and mortar store, if something is in your basket/cart, no one can come and grab said stuff from it while in your possession. Now, if that guy lost connection or went to a different page, that’s a completely different story. But if you’re in act of paying and the product disappears, then that feels like customers are being cheated.
I’ve always found the system to be smooth. I always figure these things are in high demand so I blame that and not the system if there is an issue.
How do you determine print runs and pricing? Seems rather arbitrary; some runs will be 240 some will be 350, etc. Knowing full well the Tron Series was going to be so popular I’m surprised only 240 were made vs say it wouldn’t make it that much less “limited” to increase the size run to say 350. That’s far from the thousands or anything remotely close to super crazy. Similar question about pricing. I’ve noticed a lot of the Star Wars ones run for about 50+ (probably because it’s just Star Wars and you can charge more), and I’m glad Tron’s price was affordable, but like the size runs, pricing seems rather arbitrary. Perhaps it has to do with size of print/materials/glowinthedark ink, etc?
I, for one, very much like small print runs.
But, I’d like to put my two cents in on what I’ll call “scalpers”. Folks are buying these posters and listing them on eBay (there are 21 already up), some for obscene prices. For folks like me who don’t check the site every N seconds, we are forced out by folks who do, and the folks at Mondo Tees and the artists see none of the benefit of the higher prices these scalpers obtain (although watching some other prints, the prices they obtain vary). Sure, once Mondo Tees has sold (auctioned) all they’re going to sell (auction) folks in the secondary market should feel free to buy and sell as they see fit.
What would be the possibility of auctioning off some (or all) of the prints so that you would see the benefit and I, as a collector, know that the folks making the art are receiving the bulk of the economic benefit from my support in my purchase?
Alternately, pre-orders or lottery might be reasonable, but I agree with small print runs. (Even though I’ve only been able to buy one poster, while I would have been happy to pay more for others like these Tron posters.)
So, basically, fastest connection and computer wins.
Well, actually if it’s in the cart it isn’t yours. It hasn’t been paid for so, if I want that bread I could walk up and take it. It’s common courtesy that tells us not to but, it isn’t yours yet. It sucks but, there are so many flaws if there were holds like this. If anything, I can see it making the posters even harder to buy on a resell market.
I’m pretty sure you can take something from someone’s cart when they aren’t looking. It isn’t their property, it belongs to the store until paid for.
I think this is the best way. So annoying when store allow people to cart items for extended time.
I have purchased several prints from Mondo in the last few months. My first purchase was the Evil Dead posters, however, I wasn’t able to score the “Hand Tree” design. I had a similar experience where I went through check out and was only able to purchase the second design. Sure, I wasn’t happy that I didn’t secure that print, but I didn’t blame Mondo for my misfortune. It happens. Since then, I have continued to buy prints from you guys. Thank you for the Bounty Hunter series! They are my favorite so far. And what I love about them is the little number that says 235/430. These make my purchases even more special and my friends even more jealous. It’s great to hear that you will also remain a limited edition business. Please, never change!
The customer was on a cell phone. I imagine it was difficult to get those prints when checking out with a 3G connection. Think of his grief as a warning to those fans who may think about purchasing prints in the future.
Keep up the good work! I’m excited for the next Del’Toro!
Raskan-
If you want to bring food up, let me say that your example is like comparing apples and oranges. Let me put it to you this way…the number one email we get is “Can you please print more or up your editions.” The second is, “We’re mad at you because flippers are buying your posters and putting them on ebay.” So, let’s say that we set it up so that if you put it in your cart, it stays in your cart until you pay for it. Okay. So, it’s in your cart. You’ve essentially reserved one and it gives you time to think if you want it or whatever one wants to call it. Flippers are a clever breed and if you think there are a lot of posters getting flipped on ebay now, can you imagine the field day they’d have with this system? They wouldn’t have to fight it out with the rest of you, rather, it’d make their lives sweet. All they’d have to do is get a bunch of their pals to add one to the cart and then they could take their sweet time checking out. They could make up fake names, addresses or whatever they want and get as many as they could. Does that make sense? Even if you put a time limit on how long it was in your cart, that still gives flippers or whoever a head start to clean house.
We’ve been doing this a while and we’re not trying to make lives hard. The way we have it set up isn’t going to change and it’s the best way we’ve found for this thing to work. The point of this blog post was to let everyone know how it works so there weren’t any surprises. Thanks for the comment.
-J
I’m not complaining about the cart system because I think it makes the process more transparent but there seem to be some clear cases where buyers are finding a way to get multiple copies of these prints. I missed out on the Danger print last week and had to pick it up on ebay — at a 250% premium. That’s life, however, on a repeat visit I see that the same vendor who sold me a copy of the print has another copy for sale. I know it’s a free market, but seeing flippers with — apparent — multiple copies pisses me off a bit. Is there something that could be done to remedy prior to shipping the merch to these obvious offenders?
To answer Raskan’s question, it also goes like this:
What if 20 people put the poster in their carts and don’t go through the checkout prices and finish PAYING for the item? Is it fair for those who are ready to pay? How long are you allowed to have it “linger” in your cart before others who are ready can pay? I can see how it would be frustrating having it in your cart and then being told at the end that sorry sold out but believe me we’ve all been there.
Bottom line is it’s whoever forks over the money first and completes checkout, plain and simple. From a business standpoint that’s the only way to do it. Sometimes due to poor connection or just unluck of the draw someone may complete checkout faster or not go through so much lag so they complete checkout first. But EVERY e-commerce store that deals with limited items behave the same way
Oh, and Justin, regarding “flippers” (or as I call them, “scalpers”), they are NOT collectors and preventing collectors from buying directly from the artists that y’all are. I’ll keep my eye out for a reasonable auction of these prints (having bought the Zombies poster off eBay) but won’t be sending these flippers flippin’ any more money then they spent to buy it off your site.
Colin-
Technically, flippers aren’t doing anything wrong. Once you buy the poster from us, you can frame it, sell it, set if on fire, whatever. It’s totally fine to do that. Is buying from a reseller the preferred way to get a poster of ours or for that matter, ANYTHING collectible? Of course not. Other than limit the sales of our posters to one per household, there isn’t much we can do. We’re not ebay police and can’t go check and see how they got theirs. It sucks, but there is only so much we can do.
I’m confused–I expected this post to explain how things work with ordering from Mondo (as the headline suggests). But really, you just called out an unhappy customer and then copped out completely with “if you really want me to go into them, I’d be glad to drop a few in the comments…”
Here’s a list of questions you should have been answering up front:
Why does Mondo make such limited runs of prints?
Will Mondo ever offer a print at a later time?
Why do I get Tweets that a print is for sale after said item has disappeared from my cart as being “sold out”?
Why doesn’t Mondo do pre-orders?
etc.
Chris K-
Not trying to argue, but just because someone is selling a print on ebay doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t a fan. Sometimes people hit hard times and need to liquidate some of their collection. It seems like it’d be tough to judge who is a “true” flipper and who isn’t based on the fact that they’re selling on an after market site.
Ramone-
What’s there to be confused about? If you read our blog, you will see that all of your questions have been answered. Thanks. I’ve talked extensively about those several times before.
It’s crazy to me that people can be so disappointed when they don’t get something that they didn’t even know existed until yesterday.
There will always be another poster, so relax and have fun with it– that’s the whole point, right?
You can’t get everything and really, if you think about it, you don’t want everything. That’s the fun of collecting– if you have everything, by definition you’re not a collector anymore.
Justin you already know we love you so keep up the stellar work.
To those just joining us welcome to the wonderful world of poster collecting!
There’s a whole community of nerds who spend way too much time and WAY too much money collecting ink on paper. Before you send our friend Justin a nasty-gram about things you wanted and didn’t get go ahead and pull up a chair over at expressobeans, omgposters and gigposters and say hi. You just might learn something
heh, weird. I saw the name Colin up there and was like, I don’t post here under my real name!!!
Rarely do I see another Colin around…
I completely agree, once you have sold all your prints re-sales are legit. But the large number of folks listing their art before they even have it in hand stinks of flipping. But of course, if you auctioned off all your prints, you would get the market value and there would be no market for flipping and us collectors would not feel we were getting ripped off by flippers.
Another option that may help is to do what tinyshowcase.com does; stick to a regular release schedule (to the second on the clock, 7:30PM EST every Tuesday, although they do unlimited runs other days) so folks basically all have the same chance at a print.
Are you guys the people who used to hold baseball card packages up to the light too?
Some collectors are no fun.
I don’t get the problem that people have with flipping. If we’re all honest with ourselves, the thrill of the hunt is one of the most exciting things about poster collecting. Now, I know sometimes you really want something and will have to live without it because of flippers, but imagine if only collectors bought posters and you still didn’t get one at the drop– then you would NEVER get one because the after market wouldn’t exist. Trying to have your cake and eat it to is what babies do.
Just be glad that you win some and lose some. That is life.
Limited edition means its is a limited run, full stop. No reprints. A select few get to own the print.
You complete purchase, then you own the print. Everything prior is up for grabs!
Twitter & Email notification (where used) gives enough notice to go to the website and start refreshing!
Dude Chris Justin ain’t askin for advice on how to do things better. His business runs butter smooth. He just wanted to give the new folks a heads up about the nature of limited print runs and how the shopping cart works.
I’m not speaking for Justin or anything but you seem to be coming from the assertion that Mondo is looking for a new way to do things. Try looking at if from another angle, they’re not
I scored both on my 3G network phone and all while going 45-50 mph down a busy street. Keep practicing.
Hello. Is there any way that you might consider having one of these sales on a weekend day? I have bought posters here before, but I always have to take off of work in order to do so. I don’t have anymore time I can take off before the end of the year and hate to miss out on anything. How about just one? Please?
I’m a banker and I have no issue with an “investor” picking up a limited “commodity” and selling it at a premium. It’s the very essence of a free market… no different than buying and selling sports cards, comics, gold, coins, stocks, bonds and so on. Who’s to say I won’t sell/trade/barter some of my unwanted collection at some point in the future?
It just irks me to see someone with multiple copies of the same release prior to the print shipping from Mondo. One per customer, household, etc… right? Assuming these are legitimate transactions, the vendor has obviously circumvented the process to obtain additional copies. I know there’s nothing that can be done because just like any other quasi non-legitimate venture, they’ll just find other ways to disguise their activities.
I really don’t want the current system to change either. To paraphrase a comment I read the other day “I pick these things up on an abacus no problem… the detractors need to sharpen their trigger finger.”
Totally agree with the way you run your system, so don’t change it. People can moan about fastest connection wins, but its no different to fastest finger on a phone or most dedicated queuer for a store. I just love knowing it’s possible that I could be a lucky one who gets one and if I don’t it’ll be something I’ll yearn for and try to find at a collectors trade show one day in the future. Thats half the fun of collecting isn’t it?
Although whilst this blog post is set to make it clear, maybe you could add a succinct message to the cart that states this to new users? ..Just so there are no surprises.
Iron, hey if Justin doesn’t want to get the market value for the art, that’s his choice and I appreciate that he does a nice job with the art and the site. The fact that he posted this post, and allows comments means he IS looking for input, and he can feel completely free to ignore my input.
kinda off topic, but any rough idea when the tron posters might be made available on sideshow’s site and what’s the best way to find out when they are going to be sold?
Didn’t get one because I was at lunch, no biggie, but this cart BS is nonsense.
Get some real web developers in on this.
Amazon lightning deals are more popular than any of these posters ever hope to be. Thousands upon thousands click a button at once, the first X amount of people to click said button have the item added to their cart, and a percentage of the too late people go on a reserve list. They have 15 minutes to check out (which I will agree, if you really want said item, is generous and should be reduced if ever implemented on items such as these). If said buyers don’t complete purchase in time, that stock goes back into the pool and gets offered to the reserve listers, who then have X minutes to add it and check out, and so on..
The reserve list is probably too much to implement, but if you think giving people even a marginal 60 seconds to checkout (with well-posted ‘YOU HAVE SIXTY SECONDS TO CHECK THE BALLS OUT YO’ signage) isn’t awesome and doesn’t help the flippers at the same time (who wouldn’t do any of the stupid crap mentioned in these comments in an amount large enough to matter).. Well you’re just a cool poster nazi who doesn’t want to at least give the illusion of a somewhat fair system. If you think about it, any joe schmoe can click a button fairly fast, but not all of us are the world’s fastest typers..
This is the same BS NikeStore.com pulls for its midnight-releases-you-would-never-know-about-if-it-werent-for-twitter, but at least they have a terrible flash website to blame..
If we add the 60 seconds reserve thing, would we have less people being bummed that they didn’t get one? We’d have the SAME AMOUNT OF PEOPLE saying, “Why can’t you just have it the way you used to.” It’s the same thing that happens when we print a low run of posters. People say print more. Then, if we print a higher edition on something, people say we’re getting greedy and printing too many. We’re not going to please everyone, so we’re going to do it one way and not change it.
I didn’t write this blog to get into arguments. Just wanted to let people know how it works with us. If you know the rules and how things go, you at least have that going for you vs. being completely in the dark.
The thrill of the hunt is a large part of the fun of collecting, which some of the newer people don’t seem to grasp. I’ve scored my fair share of prints on here and missed out on a ton as well, it’s all part of the collecting game. As are flippers, those that circumvent the rules, etc. Would you rather Justin and co. spend their time chasing down people on Ebay that have multiple prints – which by the way is easy enough to do if you have a friend, gf/bf etc. that buys one for you (not stating I do this, just pointing out an example) – or would you rather they spend their time continuing to line up these incredible prints and series? Asking for a larger edition size is a double edged sword as well, alot of serious collectors as well as artists prefer lower print runs as it makes the item more attractive b/c of its scarcity, as well as more valuable. Much of the time if you cannot get a print on here that you wanted, follow the artist’s site as they release their copies at a later date. Comparing this system to food in a market is ludicrous. If anything its like buying tickets to an event – the tickets are limited and if you are unlucky enough to miss them then you need to pay an aftermarket price to obtain them. Mondo does a knockout job, and ya’ll need to accept the fact that you can’t get everything you want, but if you do it may come at a higher price.
Yeah, comparing it to a grocery store is asinine. If there were only 250 loaves of bread in the world, I assure you, you would not get one.
@Justin
Only replying because probably you thought I came off harsh, but that’s literally just how words spill out of my mouth and I have a general grievance with cart systems that do this in general, and not MondoTees. My grievance with you guys is that you have radar for when I’m not watching TweetDeck for 3 minutes! Also you need shirts in fat people sizes, because people are fat and getting fatter by the minute.
You guys have the product and supply it, you guys determine how it’s obtained from you and no one else really has a say. I completely agree, for everyone who who clamors for something like my suggestion there’s someone who would whine for the opposite, etc. Can’t please everyone, blah blah blah. I appreciate you at least attempting to answer people who whine about this stuff though, bigger corporations that pull the same junk wouldn’t even respond.
Seriously though, hunt down the Star Wars cantina poster guy and make him draw it until the end of time or I will!
There sure are a lot of cry babies posting here. The simple fact is, not everyone who wants one isn’t going to get one. That said, a little patience and some smart googling will probably get you one. Maybe not today, or even in a month. I have picked up plenty of out-of-print Mondo editions, some for less than cost just by being patient. Stop whining, there will be more.
This isn’t the grocery store, and this isn’t Amazon, and this isn’t Ticketmaster. Mondo’s poster doesn’t become your poster until you get a confirmation number–and no sooner. These things will always be limited, and so there will (almost) never be enough to go around. That’s the nature of the hobby, and so the frustrations come with the territory. If you’re new, learn the ropes, get Tweets sent to your smart phone, and stay close to a computer on drop days (especially between 11-12 CST). Maybe even buy a gift card so you can check out fast and the poster doesn’t sell out while you’re being redirected to Paypal and back.
Keep up the good work, Justin!
First time poster (pun intended), long time buyer. I think you guys do a great job. It does sting when you miss a print, but it sure is sweet when you get one. That is all.
Apparently none of you people have ever tried to buy anything off mattycollector.com on a drop. Bunch of wimps.
dylansdad is right, it sucks to miss out on a release. i have missed tons and i have a crappy day but find it some where else and make ur self happy. wait til the hype blows over and find it for a decent price. your probably going to by other posters in the secondary market anyways. bummer i know but get over it.
keep up the good work justin, mondo and alamo. you guys have hands down released some of the best posters this year!
This system works,
I’ve missed out on quite a few prints that I’ve had to then pay through the teeth for on eBay.
It’s my own fault for not being at a computer, or trying to use my phone to make the purchase.
I live in Australia, the on sale time usually drops anywhere between 3am and 5am…I start work at 6am.
I make the effort to get up early enough to sit at my computer to constantly refresh the page, even if that means that I’ll be falling asleep for the rest of the day at work. I’ve never missed out on a print doing it this way.
If you want something, get it.
If there is a system in place that you don’t find convenient, adapt.
As for the limited release, it is what it is.
“Do or do not, there is no try” – Yoda.
Whaaaa!! This is pretty ridiculous that you guys even have to respond to this. I understand the whole new wave of fans, but you’ve done everything over the years to make this buying process as smooth as possible. From upgrading the site, to continually having awesome new stuff, you guys do a great job.
It’s sad that the sense of entitlement runs so high in America and it makes me ashamed to be an American sometimes. It’s like the person at the back of the drive thru honking when someone in front of them orders a huge order and they have to wait while it’s made. Honk-HONK!! I wanna get fat faster!
I will say this too; the email went up a few mins before the print went on sale, so people had plenty of time to get on the site and start refreshing. I had NO problem getting these prints, but i’ve also been shut out in the past. It works both ways. Don’t change a thing, because you guys have it down to a science now and don’t let the whiners get you down!!!
Huh? says: “Don’t change a thing.”
^^ I’m with this guy. I’ve been fortunate…I’ve been successful in getting every print that I wanted/can afford. Keep up the good work…you guys are awesome.
Keep the system the way it is, it keeps me from spending too much.
For the record, as of 8AM PST, 28 posters up for sale (many in pairs) on eBay, 15 already sold.
Don’t change a thing Justin. It sucks for some – but that’s why it’s collectible. I’ve missed out on some and been lucky on a few others. That’s the way it goes, get over it. They are new to the community and this seems to happen in cycles. Same thing when Star Trek and Star Wars were announced as well.
The system sucks.
I hate having to deal with the drops where you wait hours in front of your computer just to have it snatched away by a flipper before you can check out.
The “allure” of the limited edition is completely lost on me. I buy for the art and have never sold a print.
That said, this is Mondo’s business model and they have been successful with it so far.
I can’t imagine they are going to change it when they sell out of every print within minutes of the drop, no matter how much people complain.
So, either 1) Suck it up, 2) Deal with the secondary market, or 3) Don’t buy their posters.
Just dropping in to say keep up the great work Justin & Mondo crew. Love you guys.
Now who do I need to talk to to get you guys to do a TAPEHEADS poster?…