Statue pre-orders: deposits, release dates and your rights

You often cannot just take a large statue or a 1/6 scale figure off the shelf. You order it a year, sometimes eighteen months, before release, pay part of the price up front and wait. With small editions this is the surest way to get one, but it raises practical questions: will you get the deposit back if you cancel, what happens when the release slips by another few quarters, and how does a pre-order in a Polish shop differ from one placed in Singapore? We answer them one by one, using offers we track in October 2026.

Why statues are sold as pre-orders

Resin statues and 1/6 figures are made in short runs. The maker announces a figure, collects orders from distributors and shops, and only then goes into production. More than a year often passes between the announcement and shipping. A few examples:

• Hot Toys Alien Queen 1/6 from "Aliens": the pre-order appeared in October 2026, and the estimated release date is 31 January 2028;
• Wolverine 1/6 Deluxe from the Marvel's Wolverine game: also January 2028;
• XM Studios Batman Black 1/3 Premium: an edition of 200 pieces, and the shop gives no shipping date at all (shipping costs to every region are listed as "TBC", to be confirmed).

On the Alien Queen page, the Polish shop notes that it brings this Hot Toys figure in only to individual order. With limited versions (Exclusive, Bonus, numbered editions), the pre-order is often the only chance to buy at the list price.

How a deposit works

With a pre-order you usually pay part of the price when you order and the rest when the figure is ready to ship. Shops work out that part in two ways.

A percentage of the price. At DystryktZero, the Hot Toys product page states a 10% deposit. The Alien Queen costs PLN 3,488.90, so you pay PLN 348.89 when ordering. The Wolverine Deluxe at PLN 2,091.90 means a PLN 209.19 deposit.

A fixed amount. Foreign shops set the deposit separately for each figure, in their own currency. At Cosmic Chase in Singapore, Batman Black 1/3 Premium by XM Studios costs SGD 2,225 with an SGD 800 deposit (36% of the price), and John Wick Chapter 4 1/4 Deluxe by Prime 1 Studio is SGD 1,349 with an SGD 500 deposit. Spec Fiction in the US also lists the deposit separately on each product page, in dollars.

On FigurAlert, the deposit converted to zloty is shown on the figure card and in the offer table, and on the Pre-orders page these figures have their own "Pre-orders with a deposit" block.

Advance payment vs earnest money: not the same thing

Polish law distinguishes two kinds of up-front payment: an advance payment (zaliczka) and earnest money (zadatek). The difference only shows when something goes wrong.

Situation	Advance payment (zaliczka)	Earnest money (zadatek, Art. 394 of the Polish Civil Code)
Contract performed	counted towards the price	counted towards the price
One party fails to perform	as a rule, returned to the buyer	the other party may withdraw and keep the earnest money, or, if it paid it, demand double
Contract terminated, or neither party at fault	returned	returned

An advance payment has no separate provision in the Civil Code: it is simply part of the price paid early. Earnest money works as security: if you order a statue with earnest money and fail to collect it without good reason, the seller may keep it. If the shop fails to perform, you can demand double the amount back. Before you pay, check the terms and the order confirmation to see what the shop calls the payment and what it says about cancellation.

Your rights when buying online

As a consumer buying from an online shop, you may withdraw from the contract within 14 days without giving a reason (Art. 27 of the Polish Consumer Rights Act; the same 14-day right applies across the EU under Directive 2011/83/EU). For the sale of goods, the period runs from the day you receive the parcel (Art. 28), not from the day you place the order. UOKiK, the Polish consumer protection authority, explains that you can also withdraw before receiving the goods, which includes while the pre-order is still open.

What this means for your money:

• after withdrawal the contract is treated as never concluded (Art. 31), and the shop has 14 days to refund all payments, including delivery at the cheapest option it offers (Art. 32 and 33);
• contract terms less favourable to the consumer than the Act are void (Art. 7), so a "non-refundable deposit" clause should not take away your statutory right of withdrawal in a shop subject to Polish law;
• if the shop has already shipped the parcel, it may charge you the costs you would have borne when returning after delivery, such as sending the item back.

The Act has exceptions to the right of withdrawal (Art. 38), for example goods made to the consumer's specifications, but a mass-produced statue from a maker's catalogue usually does not fall under them.

Delivery deadlines are a separate matter. If the contract sets no date, the seller must hand the item over to a consumer without undue delay and no later than 30 days after the contract is concluded (Art. 543(1) of the Civil Code). A pre-order usually has an agreed date, but if the shop is late, you can set it an additional deadline and withdraw from the contract once that deadline passes without delivery.

A release date is an estimate

Makers usually give a quarter or a range of several months, and shops turn it into a specific day, often the last day of a month. The Hot Toys figures in the Polish shop are dated 31 October 2027 and 31 January 2028, and the shop itself notes that the date is approximate and may slip.

An extreme example: in October 2026, Soul Wing Athena 1/4 from "Saint Seiya" is still listed at Cosmic Chase as a pre-order with an ETA of "Q4 2021 - Q1 2022". From the outside you cannot tell whether this is a delay of several years or a product page nobody updated, which is why it is always worth asking the shop for the current date before paying. Figures whose stated release date has passed while the shop still takes orders are collected on the Pre-orders page in the "Past the planned release date" block.

Extra risks with foreign pre-orders

1. Exchange rate. You pay the deposit at today's rate and the balance at the rate on the day you pay it. According to NBP average rates, the Singapore dollar cost PLN 2.8133 on 1 October 2025 and PLN 3.0472 on 20 October 2026, about 8% more. For Batman Black, the balance is SGD 1,425: about PLN 4,009 at the first rate and about PLN 4,342 at the second. Your bank converts card payments at its own rate, so your amounts will differ slightly.
2. Duty and VAT at customs. You pay import charges only at customs clearance, when the parcel reaches the EU, and they are calculated on the value of the whole figure plus shipping, not just on the balance. We explain how to work out the landed price in our article on customs and VAT when buying outside the EU.
3. Non-refundable deposit. The terms of Cosmic Chase and Spec Fiction (as of October 2026) state plainly that deposits are non-refundable. The Cosmic Chase terms also say that buyers cover any price increase by the maker, and that you have 30 days from notification to pay the balance. In a dispute with a shop outside the EU, Polish consumer law is hard to enforce in practice, so the shop's terms are what counts.
4. The shop's health. The longer a pre-order runs, the longer your money sits with the seller. When the wait lasts years, the risk that the shop disappears is real, whatever the country.
5. Extras only for Bonus versions. The extra part, such as an alternate head or an art print, goes only to buyers of the Bonus version, which has its own limited edition: for Prime 1 Studio's David Martinez from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners it is 500 pieces worldwide. Once it sells out, only the version without the extra remains. More in our article on statue versions.

How to protect yourself

• Pay by card. If the item never arrives, your bank can try to recover the money through a chargeback. These are card scheme rules, not statutory law: the time limit usually runs from the expected delivery date (often 120 days), but there is also an overall cap counted from the payment date, 540 days according to publicly available descriptions of Visa's rules. With a release eighteen months away, paying in full up front may fall outside that cap, so a small deposit plus the balance at shipping is the safer setup. Confirm the details with your bank.
• Keep evidence. Take screenshots of the offer with the price, deposit, date and the terms as of the day you order. Shops change product pages, and in a dispute what counts is what was promised at the time of purchase.
• Compare the landed price. A cheaper pre-order from abroad can end up more expensive than in a Polish shop once duty, VAT and shipping are added, and you will pay the balance at a rate you do not know today.
• Set alerts. On the figure page, the "Alert me when pre-orders open" button covers announced figures no shop sells yet, and the "Alert me when the price incl. shipping drops below" field sets a price target. You need a free account for this.

Reserve now or wait

Reserve straight away when:

• it is an Exclusive or Bonus version or a numbered edition, like the 200 pieces of Batman Black Premium;
• the deposit is low and you pay the rest only at shipping;
• you are buying from an EU shop, where you can still back out up to 14 days after delivery.

You can wait when:

• the figure comes from a line that tends to be reissued: popular Good Smile Company or Kotobukiya models sometimes come back in a re-release;
• it is the Regular version of a large statue, which after release usually reaches several shops at once;
• the release is very far off and the shop requires full payment up front.

You will find open pre-orders and announcements in the Pre-orders section, fresh releases under New, and Hot Toys and other figures in the 1/6 scale section.

This article simplifies the law and is not legal advice. In a dispute with a Polish shop, a municipal or district consumer ombudsman (rzecznik konsumentów) will help free of charge.