Archive for the 'Store' Category
— December 1, 2007
If you have seen the store recently, you may notice some big changes. As soon as Hero Hunt closed, it has been re-opened. Only now, the listings will be pulled from somewhere else. Can you guess where? Well, Ebay, of course! If you can’t beat them, you may as well join them.
As for the changes, the first thing you should notice is that Gentle Giant products are being displayed exclusively on the first page. From the side navigation, you can browse the categories listed there which are action figures, comics, Harry Potter collectibles, Lord of the Rings collectibles and science fiction collectibles. You can also search these results from this web site from the search bar located at the top.
I hope that you will still find the site valuable, even though you are no longer buying directly from me. On the plus side, buying from eBay, you should be able to save money on newer products. You might also be able to find older items that you missed the first time around to add to your collection.
You may be asking why would I browse eBay from your site instead of eBay directly. Well, that is up to you to decide. I think it offers a lot of value in that it narrows your searches by excluding a lot of other categories and only showing action figures, comics and collectibles. So why not give it a try and see what you think? Let us know as always. Thanks.
— November 29, 2007
To anyone who visits this site:
You may have noticed the lack of updates to this site in about six months. There is a reason. Unfortunately, the store part of Hero Hunt is closing ASAP. Now that most of my inventory is gone and all pre-orders have been taken care of, I have no reason to keep the store open. Thus the decision to shut it down. The site will be sticking around though. This blog will also continue. I will be launching something else here soon, so stay tuned. I hope you will like it.
Why I am Closing my Store
I feel I need to talk about closing my store here, and this is the place to do it. I have been wanting to talk about the ins and outs of the business for a long time, but it never felt appropriate, mainly because I didn’t want to bite the hand that feeds, i.e. Diamond Comics. I think the need for a series of blog posts detailing my different business experiences with Hero Hunt is necessary. Probably more to come on that. For now, I’ll stick to why I am closing the store.
The main reason is simply competition. There is too much competition online right now in the collectibles business. There are many established online stores selling the same items I was, and more are cropping up everyday. And the 600 pound gorilla in the room in this business is eBay. It was not profitable for me to operate an online store, therefore it was not worth my time. So about six months ago, I stopped accepting pre-orders through the site. After that I began trying to unload my inventory through various outlets, mostly through eBay, at less than wholesale prices. More on this also later.
There are other reasons besides competition that it was not profitable for me to run an online store. Competition is just the main reason, I feel. One of these other reasons is Diamond Comics, which is also a huge part of the problem of competition. I have very strong feelings for Diamond Comics, most of which are negative. Diamond deserves a whole post in itself, so that is about all I will say right now.
Other contributing problems were e-commerce, as a whole, and the collectible industry in general. I have more to say on all these subjects. So I don’t think I am finished yet. If you want to know more about this, stay tuned. Thanks.
— April 27, 2007
Update: These items are now in stock.
I am excited to announce that the Spider-man 3 Spider-man bust from Diamond Select and Gentle Giant is shipping next week. This item will be put up for sale as soon as it is in stock. We still have the Black Spider-man 3 mini bust in stock here. Both of these pieces are amazingly detailed and look straight out of the movie. They are limited and will be highly sought after once they are gone so get yours soon!
Also, from Bowen Designs, the Iron Fist statue and Modern Wasp mini bust are also shipping next week.
— April 24, 2007
Yep, you heard me. Hero Hunt is doing away with pre-orders. We are doing this in the interest of serving you better. Here’s why.
Reason #1: Allocations. The collectibles we are selling are very limited and get allocated by the distributors too often. This results in canceling customers orders, which we feel is just bad business. This way we only put up for sale what we have in stock when it arrives, and it’s first come first serve.
Reason #2: Confusion. Since we opened for business, there has been too much confusion that seems to have resulted in a lot of frustration for our customers. Many are confused by what is a pre-order, when the item ships and when they will be charged. We feel this way, no one should be confused.
Reason #3: Bad Business Model. We feel all around that pre-ordering is a bad business model. Due to the fact the quality of recent items was not what customers were expecting, many canceled their orders and stated that they were no longer pre-ordering items. In addition, our current e-commerce software doesn’t really support pre-ordering, though we still tried to make it work. Getting rid of pre-orders makes it much easier to handle the distribution of product correctly.
As a result, we will not be offering anymore pre-orders. Any current pre-order items will be phased out of the site. All current pre-orders placed up until this point will still be honored.
We have been online for less than a year, and it has not been easy. A big thanks goes to the customers who have supported us! We hope that in the end this move helps to serve you better. Please feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below.
— April 16, 2007
The Star Wars Animated Stormtrooper maquette from Gentle Giant is shipping this week. The Stormtrooper maquette is the latest in the Star Wars Animated maquette series from Gentle Giant. Others in the series include the Boba Fett maquette, Darth Vader maquette, Princess Leia maquette, C-3PO maquette and the Luke Skywalker maquette.
— March 23, 2007
Just got notice that the Spider-man 3 mini busts from Diamond Select with sculpts by Gentle Giant will be shipping and will arrive next Wednesday. I am not taking orders right now, but I will post what I have available next Wednesday when they arrive. Let me know if you are interested though. Price will be $60 each.
— March 22, 2007
This just in… new pre-orders from Gentle Giant have landed and been added to the store. Why pay retail, when you can pre-order from Hero Hunt and save 20% or more!
Gentle Giant has added a new Star Wars line of busts called ‘Classics,’ which are about 5 inches tall, do not have sculpted arms and have a lower price point.
Also, we have added a new category for pre-orders to help you find the latest pre-orders easier, although you can still find these on the home page and under each item’s category.
— March 19, 2007
We have several Gentle Giant Star Wars items that were previously sold out, now back in stock.
Also, there are several items expected to ship this week from Gentle Giant and Bowen Designs.
Finally, Gentle Giant has announced that the following product is shipping soon.
— March 7, 2007
We are taking pre-orders again for the Spider-man 3 mini busts from Diamond Select with sculpts by Gentle Giant . Also, we are finally allowed to show the photography for these busts so each product has been updated with the images. At the pre-order price, these won’t last long so get your orders in. The cut off date for pre-orders on these is March 11.
Update: Pre-orders are closed.
— February 24, 2007
This just in! Product shipping next week, Wednesday February 28th, includes:
Star Wars
Lord of the Rings
- Strider mini bust
- Ringwraith mini bust
Marvel
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