Steelbook Retailer of the Year Award

[Man of Steel]

Hi All,

I don't know if the Mods have thought of this, but I really think we should have a Steelbook Retailer of the Year Award!

If anything - I think this award will get the retailers to be more competive to give us better quality steels, or at least try and persuade the studios on thoughts of the collectors e.g. the finishing, embossing, artwork etc. (not mentioning any names, but one retailer stands out in particular).

This year has been an amazing year for collectors, and with retailers having more of an input into the steelbook themselves we've had some very unique steels come our way.

I'm going to dive right into this...

So here are what I would consider the main players that produce exclusive steels:

Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.fr
Amazon.jp
Best Buy
HMV
Play.com
FutureShop
Media Markt
FNAC
Target
KimchiDVD
K2DVD
JSDVD
JBHiFi
The Hut Group (added to cover request).

So tell me people, what are your thoughts? I'm looking at retailers that mainly provide the best exclusives!

Mods - please make any amendments, additions or changes if necessary.

p.s. The Poll closes in 20 days - I think that give us sufficient time to declare a winner.

 

[tenderheartbear]

Tricky one I must admit.

Play really should have got my vote thanks to the sheer volume of releases and especially for Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. However, a lot of their steelbooks have been of movies that simply don't interest me or I had no intention of upgrading. Also, in recent months their packaging has been second to none with every steelbook I've ordered since MI: GP arriving in perfect condition.

HMV though, as much as I hate their delivery rates have this year simply offered more titles that I wanted to buy including The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, Wrath of the Titans and Dark Shadows. So by titles alone, I've voted for them.

Almost every retailer has had exclusives that are available elsewhere in the world but as someone who supports UK releases when I can I'm always pleased to see some decent priced steelbooks here no matter who has them.

 

[roseart]

Wow, an HMV vote.

btw, you have Amazon.gr in the options instead of Amazon.fr I thought their might be a new Amazon up and going.

 

[tenderheartbear]

Wow, an HMV vote.

As I say, I'm basing my vote solely on the steelbooks in question, not delivery times, prices, customer service or damages etc.

 

[karl01]

Amazon gets my vote out of the ones i have dealt with HMV and play have terrible customer service play is by far the worst.

 

[o0 Deuce 0o]

HMV just due to there actual steelbook releases, nothing to do with shipping times ect ect.

 

[zerro0094]

Voted for play. Good range, with exclusives, limited runs and nice artwork. Also, they responded to steelbook requests to improve packaging. Well done Play.com, now all you need is to ship outside Europe

 

[Drum18]

Let's see:
Iron Man 1-2, Terminator (exclusive chosen by HDN community), Prometheus, Forrest Gump, Top Gun, Hulks, and much much more... and also a brand new packaging method that sets standard for any retailer on the planet...

Why is there a contest with such awesomeness???

 

[jbsolo]

Hands down...it's been Play.com's year....

their steelbook team should get a proper bonus! they listen, they adjust and they do their job well!...kudos to our Play.com unknown heroes!

 

[SaberTooth]

Cant believe ppl are voting HMV - What's the point of a retailer producing a steelbook, if their customer service is so detestable that customers would rather not spend their money with them, no matter how nice the steel is? :violent:

And i thought the quality of steelbook design had nothing to do with the retailer and was actually dictated by the studios???

If HMV are releasing nice steels, its only because they have some kind of contract which is giving them this monopoly , right?

F**K HMV, I vote Play.com

 

[Pieter V]

Some stores were already on the good way, only on terms of shipping they needed a little move in the right direction. Futureshop is finally using a new packaging style, same as Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr. Makes it a lot easier for buyers and groupbuy-hosters. Now Amazon.com, Amazon.ca & Amazon.co.jp need to follow.

HMV stood still this year. There are still members here where the Creditcard is not accepted, and these issues began this year. Also in terms of packaging style, nothing has changed. Still those crap cardboard things. My orders all came damaged. No more HMV for me. How much exclusives they had, it doesn't weight against these counts.

I nominate Play.com. Before Mission Impossible 4 back in April, it was still one to avoid. In terms of packaging style as well as there Customerservice.

After MI-4 steelbook; Play.com came up with a new wave of steelbooks in combination of their new packaging style. They finally listed to our feedback, that those crap packaging things they first used, were not acceptable. Almost every order came damaged. But now everything has changed and no more worries. Good cooperation between High-Def Ninja & Play.com. Thanks Wreck and everybody else.

Now it is one of our favorite steelbook retailers. So many great steelbooks were released and WE have little control in terms of artwork and keep the collectors in mind.

Like:

Iron Man 1
Iron Man 2
Zombieland
Terminator

 

[Steelknight47]

Amazon.jp they know how to take care of their customers.

 

[JoshuaT]

I chose amazon France for 2 reasons. First there buy 2 Get 1 free policy. 2 I always get box in box packaging. Can’t beat that =)

 

[steelbook95060]

I really like the whole package at amazon(s)...but play seems to cater to steelbook collectors more. if they would only to ship to U.S.

 

[Slinchafi]

Amazon UK gets my vote. Their prices, customer service, shipping, everything is top notch. Play.com has better releases, but doesn't ship to my country. So until Play decide to cover the entire EU, Amazon gets the top spot.

 

[works99]

Play get my vote. They have been a bit quite on new releases recently but i give it to them mainly for the new foam packaging.

 

[sproutyrouty]

HMV never had any problems with them, deliveries always spot on and they have alot more exclusives than anyone else

 

[biscuitnoir]

Voted for Kimchi. Why? they offer cool Korean releases and they accept PayPal

 

[Sigill]

I think it is definatly Play.com. They have a wide range of steelbooks, they have had some great exclusives with embossing/debossing and there packaging is great!

 

[blu-steel]

I voted amazon.jp

I prefer quality over quantity.