Daniel McAbee of The Tangled Web in Spartanburg, South Carolina saw the comment from Rembert Parker of Reader Copies on Yu-Gi-Oh! allocations (see 'Rembert Parker of Reader Copies on Yu-Gi-Oh! Allocations') and sent this update to his earlier comments:
In the five days since my initial e-mail about the Yu-Gi-Oh! allocations, I have indeed been able to find a distributor who can sell me some of the product that I need. I scrambled to try and modify my initial post to reference that but was unable to get it done in time. I was able to get a case of product (not the three that I needed) to help me through the temporary shortage, but many things from my initial post still stand.
Two of my regular distributors are severely allocated and are having to scramble to try and find boxes at a reasonable price to sell to their customers. My further discussions with those distributors seem to show that perhaps there is a difference in how Upper Deck classifies distributors when it comes to product allocations. I am curious to see how this resolves over the next few weeks. This doesn't affect all that these same distributors were told that they would no longer be offered unlimited boosters because of the recent distribution changes from UD. I am VERY used to getting allocated on first edition product and it is not as big a deal until you note that (if this holds true) that hobby distributors will not be getting any unlimited product. Since first edition is always somewhat allocated, it is the lack of unlimited product that is the killing stroke for me.
On the subject of allocations to Upper Deck direct accounts, I have heard nothing to contradict my earlier post but in the end, I hope that I am wrong about it. It certainly plays better for my business in the short term to be able to get Yu-Gi-Oh! cards to sell to waiting customers. I don't know what Upper Deck charges their direct accounts so I don't know if $9 more a box is higher than the box cost from my distributor or not but I don't intend to pay secondary market prices for new product only a week after it is released. I also have not heard that UD is offering their direct accounts three cases of unlimited boosters. If they are making this offer, then I would tend to believe that UD may be trying to repeat what Wizards of the Coast tried with Pokemon - cutting out regular distribution channels and going directly to the retailers. As I stated before, I don't want another distributor. I want the distributors that I already use to be able to provide the products I need, to go along with the service that they already provide me.
One other comment--my local Wal-Mart had a display of Flaming Eternity blister packs built Friday evening March 4, 2005. That means that Wal-Mart had a display built and on sale one day after my product arrived and only two days after the release date for Flaming Eternity.
