Matty Gift Cards: Another exercise in FAIL

Well, the Title says it all: Matty Gift cards SUCK!!

So, Mattel is giving people the chance to buy Matty Collector gift cards

$25, $50, or $100 cards...

It sounds nice but there's a catch:

Here’s how it works:

• The giver places their order on MattyCollector.com and receives a downloadable gift certificate PDF with a gift code to send the recipient.

• The recipient visits the MattyCollector.com Shop, makes their choices, and enters the coupon code during the Check Out process.

• The recipient is happy, the giver is a hero.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Entire Gift Certificate must be spent in a single transaction. Any remaining balance cannot be accrued.Ready to grab a Gift Certificate? Click here to pick which one you want to give!
P.S. Toy fans — print out this page and leave it where your loved ones can see it. How will they know if you don’t tell them?

 ENTIRE GIFT CERTIFICATE MUST BE SPENT IN A SINGLE TRANSACTION. ANY REMAINING BALANCE CANNOT BE ACCRUED.
See what I mean by "There's a catch?" This is a case of One Step Forward and Two Steps Back!

Let's Look at it in a more detailed manner:

$25: You can't buy anything that Mattel has on sale WITHOUT having to spring extra money to pay for shipping costs and taxes. The closest thing would be the $15 set of stands, but even those require the normal card to pay for whatever the gift card did not cover.

$50: Well, now you can buy 1 Figure ($20 if it's DC, $22 if it's one of the straggling Venkmans, $27 if it's a MOTUC) With Shipping and Taxes you'd be around $40... So, now you need to spend that $10 or lose it to Mattel. Problem is that in order to spend that $10, you have to once again, use your own card to cover the difference.

OK, let's do THIS!! $100 burning in my pocket:

OK $100: 3 of the $27 figures Shipping and Taxes leave me about $4 under the $100!! Success!! Not so fast, Kemosabe... Are you willing to let Mattel walk away with $4 that belong to you and that if you don't spend them, you'll never see them again?

That's what I thought... Now whip out your card, because you're going to PAY... The price difference in shipping and taxes...

So, basically, you either pay with your money to maximize the use of the certificate given to you, or you let Mattel rip off the person who gives you the certificate...

let's humor Matty... The screencapture above  (taken Yesterday) is for a theoretical purchase. The End of Wars Weapons Pak (now with more Kowl) a $20 item. As I said before, shipping could make it with a $15 items, but the taxes will screw you over. in this case it's $29.90 with USPS ground (Taxes pending where applicable) See the promo code section? that's likely where the card info has to be put on. Now, doing this on a Sale Date *either Early Access or normal Day of* would be a dangerous game.

Horde Troopers sold out Really Fast, Cyber monday Teela sold out really fast. Hell! the reason this Promo Code section exists was a nightmare... (back when this blog was learning to walk... and I was a bit reluctant to do toy reviews) I'm talking about Battle Cat... back when Beasts were not in the Sub.

Many fought the RSOD and lost Battle Cat due to Mattel's Generosity...

Good thing I don't want free samples from Mattel...
This pic would definitely burn that bridge.

Can you see where I'm going with this? The already bumpy road that is Matty Collecting does not need another obstacle. Instead of being a good thing, This "Matty Money" ends up looking more like a SCREW YOU CUSTOMERS kind of thing due to the seemingly half-assed efforts and
seemingly not well-thought out plan. Their intentions might be good, but... It's Still Digital River who we're dealing with and they don't have the best record for these things... Then again, they're almost 4 years too late with this.

While my attitude about them is really negative, it's not a bad idea... It's only the execution what is pretty awful. So, to end this rant in a more positive note: ♫I'm getting Standor!♪ I know it's not too much to get excited about, but it's freaking Stan Lee!