ANOVOS issues (ANOVOS ONLY discussion)

[Mara Jade's Father]

Well Disney isn't getting any money from all the Etsy and Ebay stores using their property. Some of these stores have been up for years without getting taken down. It seems to me they don't care and might as well just come out and allow it, that way more of the prop and costume makers can be more public.

Whoa! So your thinking is that Disney should make it so eBay and etsy stores should pay a percentage to them on the goods they sell? That would probably lead to Disney policing eBay, Etsy, and other places around the internet like our board to strike down those not paying their share. Not only that, but I would suspect that records and ability to track sales would be needed to ensure proper amounts would be paid. These records would then most likely be something that can be tracked by the IRS.

Is this really the direction you want to take our hobby?

 

[OCDChad]

Whoa! So your thinking is that Disney should make it so eBay and etsy stores should pay a percentage to them on the goods they sell? That would probably lead to Disney policing eBay, Etsy, and other places around the internet like our board to strike down those not paying their share. Not only that, but I would suspect that records and ability to track sales would be needed to ensure proper amounts would be paid. These records would then most likely be something that can be tracked by the IRS.

Is this really the direction you want to take our hobby?

No. Just let small businesses do whatever they want with the property as long as they don't mass produce. The places I buy my costume parts from do not have a competitor among the licensed sellers. There is nowhere else to go for me.

 

[cboath]

Well Disney isn't getting any money from all the Etsy and Ebay stores using their property. Some of these stores have been up for years without getting taken down. It seems to me they don't care and might as well just come out and allow it, that way more of the prop and costume makers can be more public.

If they're not reputable places or a number of them aren't, the bad experiences probably keep more people from going that route. If they're good and they're not flaunting it, it's likely no harm no foul if i had to guess. Don't prick the bear and he generally leaves you alone. Start tossing disney logos in and it's probably a different story.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

No. Just let small businesses do whatever they want with the property as long as they don't mass produce. The places I buy my costume parts from do not have a competitor among the licensed sellers. There is nowhere else to go for me.

So how does this help Disney/LFL as a company? Right now I think we should be thankful that they are not coming down on such sellers. But Disney/LFL put a lot of money into their properties and they are entitled and expected to make money off them. Companies are not evil for wanting to be successful and profitable. I think it is the fact that they do make money from Anovos and other license holders that do not feel threatened by these minor sellers. I think the moment they think Etsy, eBay, and other internet sellers are taking a chunk out of their bottom line, there will be a shake up. I would expect that from any company.

We really should appreciate what we have here. It's not only the studios that you have to worry about, it is the companies who paid the money for licensing rights who get upset about the potential loss of sales buy these unofficial sellers. They can get the studio's legal departments involved and that is not a great place to be in.

If you are not aware, back around 2003 there a dark time in the prop replica community. A board member who had been doing replicas as an unofficial seller decided to create Master Replicas. This should have been a great thing. Someone from the board who was well respected was going to be able to make replicas and utilize LFL reference material in the process. But since he knew that the board was a haven for other sellers and projects like he had done in the past, he made it clear that he would pursue legal action against anyone making unofficial replicas. This caused a lot of people to cease projects. Some did continue but they ran deep under the radar and most people who might have wanted such items did not even know such projects existed. Basically if you were not building it yourself or buying MR, your prop collection was not growing very much. It took a long time for the community to recover from that and get back to where it once was. I think a lot of the resentment you hear about MR is not because of their product and/or service but because of the way people in our community were affected by their stance on competition. Please note this was a while back and I may have some facts wrong. So like I said, be happy that companies like Anovos and eFx are not rocking the boat because things could be worse... they could be better granted... but they could be much, much worse.

 

[kokkari]

Just saw this

Letter from ANOVOS To Our Customers
To our customers,

At ANOVOS, we strive to make high quality products and deliver them in a timely manner. Our founding principle was to create costumes and props that would set the “gold standard” in production quality replicas. However, we realize that we have not effectively met the delivery expectations of our customers, and we would like to sincerely apologize for any frustration this may have caused.

Our goal is always to improve all aspects of our company, and we are aware of the delays in production, refunds, and in-stock shipments. We, too, consider these delays unacceptable and hear your concerns.

Over the next few days we will be communicating how ANOVOS plans to change in order to serve our customers and community better. It is our hope that these necessary changes in both process and transparency will restore your trust and faith in us as a valued customer.

Thank you for your support and patience.


Joe Salcedo, CEO ANOVOS Productions LLC

Dana Gasser, COO ANOVOS Productions LLC

 

[Apollo]

Looks like they are trying to minimize the tough questions that they know they are facing

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Looks like they are trying to minimize the tough questions that they know they are facing

My thoughts exactly. Did they not make the similar claims about a year ago? I thought there was some talk about not doing pre-orders. Sounds to me a lot like a political official who is doing a crappy term in office and now they are trying to get re-elected. I want to see them walk-the-walk and less talk-the-talk.

 

[Apollo]

Yep the recent “In Stock orders” that take months to ship comes to mind iirc

As with anything with them I will BELIEVE it when I SEE it

My thoughts exactly. Did they not make the similar claims about a year ago? I thought there was some talk about not doing pre-orders. Sound to me a lot like a political official who dis a crappy term in office and now they are trying to get re-elected. I want to see them walk-the-walk and less talk-the-talk.

 

[Kal Argos]

I am guessing all of the Anovos newsletter subscribers have recieved their statement.

If not, here it is in its entirety:

To our customers,

At ANOVOS, we strive to make high quality products and deliver them in a timely manner. Our founding principle was to create costumes and props that would set the “gold standard” in production quality replicas. However, we realize that we have not effectively met the delivery expectations of our customers, and we would like to sincerely apologize for any frustration this may have caused.

Our goal is always to improve all aspects of our company, and we are aware of the delays in production, refunds, and in-stock shipments. We, too, consider these delays unacceptable and hear your concerns.

Over the next few days we will be communicating how ANOVOS plans to change in order to serve our customers and community better. It is our hope that these necessary changes in both process and transparency will restore your trust and faith in us as a valued customer.

Thank you for your support and patience.


Joe Salcedo, CEO ANOVOS Productions LLC

Dana Gasser, COO ANOVOS Productions LLC

I personally am happy to see them owning this, a first public acknowledgement of the issues. I am looking forward to seeing their proposed changes and improvements. I hope this marks a fresh and bright future.


Edit: fixed typo

 

[intwenothor]

Over the next few days....

Even this announcement is delayed. Funny.

 

[cboath]

My thoughts exactly. Did they not make the similar claims about a year ago? I thought there was some talk about not doing pre-orders. Sounds to me a lot like a political official who is doing a crappy term in office and now they are trying to get re-elected. I want to see them walk-the-walk and less talk-the-talk.

Well, the first step is admitting you have a problem

Also, the step after that is saying you're going to do something about it.

Thing is, the first two steps are pretty easy. It's step 3, actually doing something that's the hard one. We will see. Not holding my breath, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Jagjaguwar]

I’m glad they’re addressing this, and I’ll assume it’s because they want to start making things right and not that they want to buy some extra time by saying the right things.

Really want to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. At this point, they have my money, and I’m not ordering anything else until things improve, so being optimistic can’t hurt.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

I’m glad they’re addressing this, and I’ll assume it’s because they want to start making things right and not that they want to buy some extra time by saying the right things.

Really want to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. At this point, they have my money, and I’m not ordering anything else until things improve, so that can’t hurt.

The cynic in me makes me think this is just a defensive tactic because they or their friends see these posts about confronting them at Celebration. This way they can say, we are aware and we are making changes. They absolutely need to make changes but these are the same issues they have for years. Seems fishy this is happening a couple weeks out from Celebration and now they are willing to act.

If they have real changes, they need to be something more than promises. It is no longer enough to say they are going to post updates or send out newsletters. They need to make policy change. Something like only accepting down payments. Or any orders will have the ability to cancel and be refunded at each point that an arrival date is missed. They need to show us that they are willing to put their neck on the line for their own failures.

I’m hopeful that they will get their act together , but not to the point that I am going to give them money for something they can’t immediately deliver. They have lost that level of trust and they need to earn it back.

 

[darthjones]

Obviously at Celebration there will be, and should be, booos from the audience.

That said, this Anovos announcement talks about changes. But, while it is high time (like years overdue) we hear from the owners themselves, we are not in any way interested in the changes they have planned. The ONLY change we are interested in is the immediate delivery (within the next month) of all backorders AND the immediate refund (within the next month) of monies to anyone waiting.

Those developments would be HUGE changes for Anovos and G.D., we do NOT give a F as to what you have to do to accomplish it.

Dana, Joe - make those things happen and tell us about future changes AFTER every Anovos customer - every one - is more than satisfied.

 

[DarthWilder]

This brings back bad memories. Icons kept promising and saying things that you wanted to hear... until they went belly-up. As soon as the bankruptcy got filed, nobody was getting their money back. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[cboath]

Obviously at Celebration there will be, and should be, booos from the audience.

That said, this Anovos announcement talks about changes. But, while it is high time (like years overdue) we hear from the owners themselves, we are not in any way interested in the changes they have planned. The ONLY change we are interested in is the immediate delivery (within the next month) of all backorders AND the immediate refund (within the next month) of monies to anyone waiting.

Those developments would be HUGE changes for Anovos and G.D., we do NOT give a F as to what you have to do to accomplish it.

Dana, Joe - make those things happen and tell us about future changes AFTER every Anovos customer - every one - is more than satisfied.

Well, if you even remotely expect that type or resolution, getting ready for a big disappointment. You are right in regards to refunds being conducted pdq, but the sheer number of things on back order/delayed would make it impossible for them to deliver in a month unless they had warehouses full of everything and were just holding it back to piss people off. You can't ship what you don't have. They're far from a big enough player to lay down the law to chinese shops as well.

I will definitely echo that refunds should be handled inside of 48 hours from request. There's no reason not to short of not having the money. Next step would be to do what they pledged like 18 months ago. No more pre-orders, just selling things they actually have.

Sadly i find myself in MJF's camp. I think the comments and planning of protest here (and i imagine from other places as well) got them to do that so they can claim they're doing something. They only way to change minds is to actually make the changes you claim to want to make. Anyone can talk a good game. They need to actually deliver (no pun intended )

 

[intwenothor]

I will definitely echo that refunds should be handled inside of 48 hours from request. There's no reason not to short of not having the money.

There's your answer.

 

[Don93]

I do hope they can improve and turn things around. However, at this point any statements made by Anovos are empty until I see an actual change in their operations.

 

[masterjedi322]

I feel that there is an untapped merchandising opportunity that has yet to be pursued by anyone but yet is in high demand. That is what I call the casual prop replica. These are replicas that are made for cosplay and/or collectors.

MR touched on this briefly. They offered a Collectors Series set of items - I have the Qui Gon Jinn saber, which was ~$100 IIRC. It’s mostly plastic with some weights inside it to make it feel heavy. Overall, I think it’s a great piece and of a quality that would scratch your itch... I cannot recall what else, if anything, was offered under this line.

In reference to the letter Anovos sent - call me naive, but I am hopeful this is a turning point for them. Clearly, the complaints to them and Disney are starting to have an effect. But like others have said, saying is one thing; doing is another.

I have been a big fan of Anovos since they started, primarily because they’re us! The founders are fans who started making stuff on their own. They were driven by their passion and love of the genre to start a business to offer quality costume pieces to the broader fan base.

I honestly don’t believe Anovos is out to get anybody or steal their money, but clearly they need to get their house in order. Multi-year delays for products and month-long delays for refunds are unacceptable to their customer community and need to be promptly addressed if the company is to succeed.

Here’s hoping...

Sean

 

[oblagon]

This brings back bad memories. Icons kept promising and saying things that you wanted to hear... until they went belly-up. As soon as the bankruptcy got filed, nobody was getting their money back. I hope I'm wrong.

This is exactly what I predict will happen. String people along and then run with the money. Anovos has made big promises like this in the past and never followed through (ie no more pre-orders). All the pre-order money has to be going somewhere, yet nothing is in production. This smells of mismanagement.