Toy Fans,

We’ve heard your questions and thought it might help to give you more information about how the subscriptions work. Here’s an overview of the process:

Both Club Eternia and Club Ecto-1 work the same way. Club Eternia subscriptions ship every month and Club Ecto-1 subscription figures generally ship every other month. All subscription shipments happen in tandem with our monthly sales, which are on the 15th of the month. If the 15th falls on a weekend or major holiday, the sale will be the following business day.

When the figures are about ship, we say that the subscription has “renewed.” We use that term because we don’t charge your card until your order is ready to ship, so for each shipment we essentially start your subscription again. This can be confusing, but it’s a common practice in e-commerce.

So what happens when it’s time for your subscription to renew?

One Week Before the Sale Date: First, we send you an email about a week before we’re going to charge your card letting you know you that it’s going to happen. At this point, you should plan to have the funds available in the next 48 hours.

How do you know how much you’ll be charged? Here are guidelines you can use to accurately forecast how much each subscription shipment will cost:

•You can see how many products are included in your subscription each month by visiting MattyCollector.com and going to the monthly Sale Items page (the link will be at the top of the home page). You’ll either be counting Masters of the Universe products, Ghostbusters products, or both depending on your subscription.
•If a product is included with subscriptions, it will state “Included with 2011 subscriptions.” If it isn’t, it will state “Not included with 2011 subscriptions.”
•You can also see the price associated with each product on this page. Just add up the cost for each product in your subscription(s) and that’s how much you’ll be charged, not including shipping or taxes.
•Don’t forget that if you have multiple subscriptions, you’ll need to multiply your final cost by the number of subscriptions to reflect the final cost of the current month’s shipment.

Five Days Before the Sale Date: We make our first attempt to renew your subscription and charge your card for your order 5 days before the next sale date. If the charge goes through, we send you an email letting you know that your subscription has successfully renewed, meaning your card has been charged and your order will ship by the next sale date.

If the first renewal attempt fails for any reason, we will always attempt to renew your subscription a second and third time. Here’s how the renewal attempts work:

•Second Renewal Attempt: One day prior to monthly sale date, we make our second attempt. If it’s successful, you’ll get an email advising you’re in the clear. If not, we’ll make a third attempt…

•Third Renewal Attempt: Six days after monthly sale, we make our third attempt. If it’s successful, you’ll receive an email advising you your credit card was charged and your order will be shipped. If not, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-GO-MATTY or email MattyCollector.CS@digitalriver.com and they’ll do their best to help you.

Two Business Days Before the Sale Date: We begin shipping subscription orders two days before the sale. In most cases, subscription orders will be shipped by the time the sale starts. If you don’t receive a notice within 3 business days following the sale date, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-GO-MATTY or email MattyCollector.CS@digitalriver.com.

Day of Sale: Your subscription order will have shipped, but you’re always welcome to come to visit MattyCollector.com and purchase additional figures!

One last thing to note… our sales always start at 9 a.m. Pacific /Noon Eastern. Twice a year, our clocks change for Daylight Savings Time. For 2011, our clocks “spring forward” by one hour on March 13th and “fall backward” on November 6th. We’ll post reminders of these time changes in our Fan Forums, on Facebook and Twitter. A quick search online will also give you the dates and there are even conversion calculators for our international friends.

I hope all this information helps!