Zhu Zhu Pets™ Showing up Everywhere!

Good Morning, Hamster Homies!

As promised, Zhu Zhu Pets™ are beginning to show up in more places, with some slightly different purchasing options. ToysRUs.com posted this photo of a NEW hamster 4-pack containing Nugget, Scoodles, Jilly, and Winkie. Retailing for 39.99 for the set, it has not been in stock yet at Toysrus.com per the Zoolert tracking system. However.... for a hefty premium, you can currently purchase this 4 pack and an 8-pack of Duracell AAA batteries at ToysRUs-owned eToys.com (79.99) or FAO Schwartz (89.99). Personally, I do not recommend paying an extra $40-50 for a pack of batteries.

On a side note: ToysRUs and their pricing has been a point of contention for several months now. The newest change has been the price for the TRU-exclusive "Giant Hamster City." The original stated price was $84.99 for the first round of presales, which seemed reasonable for the amount of items it contains. This was right around the low-retail price of stores, such as Walmart, and you had the chance to buy a lot of items in a convenient bundle.

When another round of presales began (which had an estimated ship date of 11/23...that didn't happen either), the price was raised to $99.99. The $15 price increase was annoying, but many people still ordered them. Now this week, the "Giant Hamster City" playset was featured in the ToysRUs flier. No price was listed, only "Hot Price" next to the photo. Wonder why? Now that it is available to purchase in stores, the price has raised again to $129.99!!! ToysRUs's own retail price for purchasing the pieces contained in this set individually is only $104. Just another puzzling inconsistency to add to the list.

A regional store that I am very familiar with is Shopko. Now Shopko is selling Zhu Zhu Pets™ products online! They tend toward slightly higher retail price (11.99 per hamster), but still much more reasonable than eToys/FAO Schwartz/eBay. Additionally, they are one of few stores that carries the Starter Set with Patches hamster, which you can also purchase online now! At this moment, "wave 2" new hamsters are not available.

You can become a fan of Shopko on their Facebook page and you will see them post as soon as new Zhu Zhu Pets™ items are added to their website.

Walmart.com has added a few new purchasing options to their Zhu Zhu Pets™ line-up. These include a bundle of the original 4 hamsters ($32); a "choose any 2 hamster" bundle ($16); and "choose any 1 hamster and 1 accessory" bundle ($18). Obviously, these bundles reflect Walmart's individual retail price for the items. Though not in stock yet, these are a low-cost and convenient option for those scrambling to complete an online checkout.

Rumors are that Kmart and Justice girls clothing stores will be carrying Zhu Zhu Pets™ items, though it may not be until after January 1.

So, with so many more online purchasing options, how do you keep track of it all? ZOOLERT! The free Zoolert online tracking service allows up to pull up a tracking screen (or minimize it on your computer) and it does the work for you. For Zhu Zhu Pets™ items, the system checks online retailers every 60 seconds for newly posted merchandise, then alerts you with an animal noise. You can also choose to get email alerts. Additionally, there are special tracking option for Zhu Zhu Pets™ Hunters in Canada and the UK!

Currently there are 4 main tracking options to choose from:

☺ For those of you only looking for the newly released hamsters, GO HERE

☺ For those of you looking for any hamster (old or new), bundle packs, or the "Giant Hamster City" playset, GO HERE

☺For beds, carriers, and playset accessories,GO HERE

☺ If you are really desperate and do not mind paying the highest-of-high "retail" of eToys and FAO Schwartz, you can GO HERE

Happy hunting everyone!!

In-Stocks, Price Hikes, and Bits

Hello, Zhu Zhu-ites!

Walmart.com has sporadically been adding hamsters for the last several days. Some people are reporting luck with nabbing some, while others say that by the time they are alerted by Zoolert, they are out of stock. Other problems include getting the hamsters in your cart but being unable to checkout with them. (This was a reported problem when TRU.com had them in stock, as well). Zoolert is unsure of what is causing the problem... if literally they are only adding a very small number of hamsters (less than 10) at a time, and the massive amounts of people are snatching them up before the Zoolert tracker refreshes every 2 minutes. Regardless, I hope some of you have been lucky in your recent hunting ventures!

One word of advice: It seems that when an online retailer starts consistently adding stock, the brick-and-mortar stores also seem to get more shipments during that time. With that said, keep a close eye on Walmart ☺ And a making a friend or two in the toy dept. doesn't hurt your chances, either!

eToys is at it again....it appears several days ago, they raised prices on all of the accessory packs! With their hamsters still at 19.99, the accessories did seem to be priced at comparable retail. Now they are about $5 above Walmart's retail prices. What gives? Anyway, if you feel like paying 3rd party prices at a supposed retail store, eToys has nearly everything in stock.

As always, keep an eye on the Hamster Blog , as they are always giving away little hints about good things to come! Of course, I will keep you updated of any Zhu Zhu Pets™ news/rumors here!

Something Fishy at eToys?

Happy Hump Day!

Talk on the boards seems to have shifted to eToys.com. As a supposed "retail store", they do currently have Zhu Zhu Pets™ in stock....at more than twice the retail price! Interestingly enough, the accessories are all priced at average retail, while the hamsters are $19.99 each. What gives?!

According to this link , eToys is owned by Toys R Us. Individuals state that packing slips from eToys orders (as recently as yesterday), have the Toys R Us/Babies R Us logo on them. So, it becomes apparent that they share the same warehouse.

What's the big deal? According to Zoolert.com, Toysrus.com has not had any hamsters in stock since 10-9, nearly 2 weeks ago. (Incidentally, at that time they were selling the hamster 3-packs for 34.99... $5 over their own seperate hamsters retail of $9.99). Now Toysrus.com is bone dry, yet eToys has had ample stock for days.

It is appearing to many of us that Toys R Us.com must be rerouting their inventory to eToys and charging double-retail by doing so. Makes sense because it would be very contradictory if they charged twice as much online at Toysrus.com as they do in their brick-and-mortar stores. At $19.99, I dare say they wouldn't have anyone waiting in line at the store.

It's a free country, and Toys R Us has the right to do whatever it feels, right? True. But it certainly puts a bad taste in many people's mouths regarding the company in general. On one hand, in stores they are limiting to 1 hamster/person/day (or sometimes 1 per household, as I mentioned in an earlier post)...in an effort to spread the wealth and discourage 3rd-party hoarders. But on the other hand, if they are using their alias store, eToys, as a tool to cash in on the craze and charge more than twice the retail... not cool. Not at all. Especially since the average completed price on eBay today is $20/hamster, they are no better than the hoarders they are supposedly trying to discourage.