Reader Christopher bought his daughter a Webkinz stuffed animal — for those of your who are not familiar with these toys — with each animal you receive a code that is good for a one year subscription to a virtual version of the toy. After a year — you need to buy another toy or you lose access to your previous pets. Buying more than one toy per year doesn’t extend your subscription, you have to buy one each year to keep it going. Christopher thinks this is unethical.
Christopher writes:
Recently, my daughter (age 7) and I discovered the strategy employed by the makers of Webkinz to perpetuate their sales, by taking advantage of kids’ desires to maintain their virtual pets by having to purchase more and more Webkinz stuffed animals.
Webkinz, of course, are cute stuffed animals that allow kids to create an online version of their pet, then roam around in a virtual Webkinz world. You buy the stuffed animal in a store, and receive a code to logon to their website and see your pet “come to life” in the virtual Webkinz world.
What is buried in the user’s agreement is that the log on is only good for one year, at which time you have to buy another pet to keep access to your previous pets. Buying 2 pets at the same time only gives you a year, as the time is not additive; it begins when you register your pet.
After my daughter discovered she could not log on, and I looked within the user’s agreement, and found the problem, and their “solution.” Of course, my daughter immediately wanted to go and buy another animal. I emailed the company expressing my dismay at their strategy, and received a standard email back regarding purchasing another toy to log in.
I am hoping that other consumers write you about this unethical strategy.
What do you think? Are Webkinz a form of evil? Or is a year’s subscription fair?
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My cousin’s daughter is really into Webkinz and she has quite a collection of them. She knows all about the Webkinz rules and extending the service and needing another toy. Since she has so many, she just doesn’t register some until her subscription is up for renewal and then she registers one.
I think she explained that there are other ways to get either tokens or earn points so you can extend your service but she’s got a stash of Webkinz on hand so she can keep renewing her account.
I think she told me at Chrsitmas that even if she never got another Webkinz she could keep it going for another 10 years or so.
If an elementary age kid can figure that out on her own you think an adult would be able to.
Clever, but not unethical. Think of the toy as a kind of “gift with subscription,” like getting a cheapo tote bag with your year of Allure or a little stuffed polar bear with your Ranger Rick subscription. I do agree with previous posters that it should be additive. You can subscribe to a magazine for more than one year at a time. Don’t see why this would be any different.
Sounds more like an unethical ploy to sell FEWER toys. I mean if buying another one a month later doesn’t extend anything, why buy more than one per year?
My kids have roughly 30 webkinz each and most of their friends also have a similar number. At this point, rich old Ganz should just do the right thing and open the service up to lifetime usage and only kill accounts that haven’t been used for over a year.
The biggest part of the scam is that they know they know that the kids will not wait a whole year to renew their tags. They’ll do it the minute they buy the toy, and they’ll open a brand new account, too. They’re weird that way.
@mariospants: “kids will not wait a whole year to renew their tags. They’ll do it the minute they buy the toy,”
Exactly, in fact I think that should be the basis of the OP’s complaint, that expecting a parent of a child that just received a new Webkinz toy would patiently and carefully read the extensive (6,288 word) user agreement [www.webkinz.com] is ludicrous, and should certainly meet any court’s definition of duress.
btw, here is the specific text (from the 18th paragraph) on the terms of the subscription:
Each time you purchase an additional Webkinz pet, your Registration Period will be reset at twelve (12) months from the date that you register the new pet on this Website. Registration Periods are not cumulative – for example, if you register two new Webkinz pets at the same time, your new Registration Period would be twelve (12) months from the date of activation of the new pets, not twenty-four (24) months.
@CyGuy: @mariospants: Not true. You just parse them out. I’m looking at three right now my daughter hasn’t entered.
what you are getting is one year of use of the character associated with the specific code you’re redeeming, when you look at it that way, it’s not really a scam.. Granted, there are sites who offer the same for free (though plastered with advertising) but what you get is worth it..
and you CAN renew your account without buying a new plush (why would anyone want to?) [www.webkinzestore.com]
the fine print…
Registration Period
Your Account on this Website is valid for twelve (12) months following the date that you register your pet on this Website, unless terminated earlier in accordance with this User Agreement. You may extend or renew this period and any period which results from such extension or renewal as described below. Whichever period is then current shall be referred to as the “Registration Period”.
Each time you purchase an additional Webkinz pet, your Registration Period will be reset at twelve (12) months from the date that you register the new pet on this Website. Registration Periods are not cumulative – for example, if you register two new Webkinz pets at the same time, your new Registration Period would be twelve (12) months from the date of activation of the new pets, not twenty-four (24) months.
Alternatively, you may renew your Registration Period for additional periods of time as may be offered from time to time upon payment of the then-current and applicable renewal fee. If you renew your Registration Period in this way at any time during the existing Registration Period, then your new Registration Period will commence upon the expiration of your existing Registration Period. Renewal periods and renewal fees are set by Ganz in its discretion and are subject to change.
If you let your Account lapse without renewing it prior to the end of your then-current Registration Period as discussed above, you may reactivate your Account within the next six months: (i) for a further period of twelve (12) months from the date of reactivation by registering a new Webkinz pet; or (ii) for a further period equal to the length of the renewal period selected by you upon payment of the then current and applicable renewal fee, if available. Further details regarding renewal periods, fees and methods of payment will be provided as those features become available on this Website.
This Website is designed for you to register all of your pets using your original username and password. We strongly recommend that you do register all of your pets using your original username and password so that you can take full advantage of all of the features that we have on this Website. If, by mistake, you register a new pet using a different username and password, a new Account will be created. Accounts are separate. This means that you can only play with pets, earn and spend KinzCash, and use other features of this Website on an account-by-account basis. Renewing, extending or resetting one Account does not renew, extend or reset any other Account that you may have on this Website.
User Accounts, usernames and passwords are not transferable, even between your own Accounts, and similar to digital items and KinzCash, have no retail value and are not redeemable for cash. You may be able to gift pet access codes and any points, KinzCash or other digital items or rewards that you may earn on this Website through the KinzPost function except as otherwise prohibited by KinzPost rules and functions.
So, why can’t OP just register one toy at a time if he buys two???
@unpolloloco: he can.
If you accept that toy marketing always involves taking slight advantage of the children, and have no major qualms with that, then I see nothing textbook-unethical with this program. Parents facilitate the process of buying the toy and signing up for the online subscription, and they have full competency to give informed consent on the nature of the program.
Many adult online games charge subscriptions, and almost any online subscription costs more than a meager 6.99 a year. The fee does not strike me as exorbitant or “hidden” in any way. I’ll agree that purchasing extra Webkinz before the year subscription ends should allow the account to accrue more time. But can’t a consumer hold on the the code for their new Webkinz until after the initial one-year period ends?
1. The year from the “adoption” (purchase) of your last pet is not a hidden part of the agreement. It wasn’t even buried in an EULA, and can be seen any time you look at the pet in the “my pets” area of the site.
2. If your kid likes Webkinz, getting one every b-day and/or Christmas would take care of that part.
3. Ad free, safe, educational content disguised as fun.
4. If you want to extend your play and not clutter things up with another toy (or don’t get Webkinz in your neck of the woods) you can buy an “exclusive” virtual Webkinz that extends your subscription period.
This, nor the other toys that do a similiar thing, are in no way unethical. And I know for sure (as a parent of a daughter with one, and someone who plays on the site with his daughter) they are up front about the terms.
Anyone, including the author of this post, that didn’t know that ahead of time didn’t read the screens. Nor the packaging, nor the displays in the store. And I’m sorry if $9.99 retail for a toy and a year’s worth of online service is to much for the original poster, but its just unfair to call that unethical.
@Shawn Lockard: bravo.
Actually, I think expecting something for nothing is unethical.
The Webkinz site is wonderful. It’s child-friendly, and is not an advertisement for anything except Webkinz.
Perhaps Christopher would prefer to pay an annual subscription fee? Is $1.00/month too much for hours of entertainment for his daughter? That’s only $12/year.
Oh, wait … a new Webkinz would cost less than that. But the company would make more by charging $12/year. What to do, what to do?
@Alger: And considering their lil’kinz at walgreen’s are $5.99 and give a $1 to charity, that’s .50 a month for access.
What a terrible post.
The other big player in kids on-line words is Club Penguin – now a Disney property. It’s free to sign up and wander around and try out all the games – BUT a paid membership is *required* for virtually all of the more interesting personalization (decorating and changing your ‘Igloo’, actually spending the virtual currency earned from games, etc.)
Guess what? It’s $5.96 a month or the bargain plan at $57.95 for a full year for the online portion ONLY. If you want a stuffed animal that resembles one of the pet characters from the site they range from $6 to $10 at retail.
In addition – having spent many hours playing with my two kids on both sites – Webkinz is constantly expanded and improved, much more interactive and vastly superior. The way the Webkinz subscription works is obvious at first sign on. If a subscription ‘lapses’ the pets don’t go away online – they are still there when access is renewed.
As with anything – kids can get carried away and overindulgent parents can get soaked. There is a Webkins podcast called the Webkinz Webcast done by a dad and his two daughters that each have over 70 of the things. Nicely Ganz hasn’t hit them with its trademark club.
All in all – a $15 USD Webkinz (or a $10 USD LilKinz) with a year of access to a very well done and kid safe virtual world and a cute stuffed animal may be one of the very best values in kids entertainment period. Parents that indulge the desire for more than one of the things a year (including me) have only ourselves to blame.
This isn’t a big deal, especially since the website does have a lot of enjoyable games for kids.
However, they have absolutely dreadful service and were incredibly rude when I tried to see about correcting a mistake my daughter made in naming one of her umpteen webkins.
I just had this same conversation with my 7 year old son a few days ago. While it may be unethical to pitch things to kids, Webkins is hardly the first. This same child has been scanning the grocery aisles recently for special boxes of Cheerios because of some toy they have inside. This from a child who doesn’t eat cereal.
Having said that, Webkins is a crappy site among the sites that cater to kids in this way My kids are routinely frustrated with the games on the site. They have rules about how many times you can play a game in a day. For example, there is a game where your animal can perform a “job” and earn coins. You get one chance (that is to say, one complete game that lasts about 1 minute) to complete the job and if you don’t succeed, you can try again in 8 HOURS! That’s real time, not some Webkins space time continuum.
There are many games like this, some where you have to wait a whole 24 hour human day to play again. It seems that they don’t want the kids to earn their coins, which can only be spent in the little Webkins universe anyway.
So, your kid gets to play for a little while to try to earn “coins” and then look at a catalog wistfully at all the stuff he can’t get for his pet. This translates into less time on the site, as anyone who knows anything about kids and their ability to wait 8 hours to play a game, which is probably what these people want anyway. And there goes 15 bucks out the window.
Club Penguin is a much better site. First of all, it’s just as safe as webkins. Second, the kids can play for free. They can have as many little penguins as they like and can play as many games as they like. Basically, they can rot their brains on the internet for hours, for FREE! My kind of site. They can’t earn coins to buy things. For that, you pay do a membership fee.
Yes, your kid gets an actual stuffed animal when they get the Webkins one year membership, but we all know that’s not why they want Webkins. My kids have literally hundreds of stuffed animals between the three of them (stupid beenie babies) and the vast majority spend their furry lives in baskets in the closet, collecting dust and waiting for the day I send them to Goodwill.
Stuffed animals don’t hold much appeal. It’s the computer angle that gets them and that’s what gets Grandma to shell out 15 bucks a birthday for them. At least it’s Grandma in our family because it certainly won’t be Mom.
Ugh, since when was making money evil? Yes, the government should stop this practice immediately. Sheesh.
Here’s a novel concept: spend time with your kids instead of letting them gel their brains playing on the effing computer! I doubt seriously there is anything on that website that is as beneficial to a childs wellbeing than interaction with their parent’s. Lazy parents suck ass.