Discover what lessons we learned from the February Pandora Anniversary #pandora20 release…

Limited Edition Pandora 20th Anniversary Frog Charm

Last week Pandora released the second of their special 20th Anniversary Charms. After a tense time trying to order the 20th Anniversary Frog charm, let’s see what tips we have learnt.

1. Not only is the hype real, it is getting more intense

I think January may have taken people a little bit by surprise when the Strawberry was announced and went on sale relatively quickly. This time round it seemed everyone wanted the second 20th Anniversary charm!

The 20th Anniversary charm went on sale 40 minutes earlier in Australia than last month. But it sold out before anyone really realised it had even gone on sale. In the UK it sold out online in just 15 minutes! In European countries there were different scenarios, I think Italy went online at the same time as the UK which was 1am there, while other countries went online in the early hours.

2. The Pandora UK eStore is consistent

By my reckoning it went on sale at 12:01 which was the exact same time as January. I said it would go on sale after midnight, it did, and charms were sold — lots of them until they were all gone less than 15 minutes later. I hope it continues this way all year. You stay up late, you grab your charm, you let everyone know on IG or whatever, and you go to bed. I also hope the demand remains about the same so I can still get hold of my own one!

3. My links to the site helped

Lots of people contacted me to say they couldn’t find the charm until they clicked the link on my page. As I had the direct link in advance I was able to include it on the press release. Of course the it didn’t show up on the eStore until 12:01 but it helped people find it.

Next month I will include direct links for Australia, Canada and USA. Unfortunately I can’t add links for European countries as they require a log in.

4. I received a certificate this time ?

Also, you should be able to claim a Strawberry certificate in store with your receipt. One lady was told by a Sales Assistant to go in store with January’s receipt and claim her Strawberry certificate. She did this and now she is happy. This is a good way of solving the problems we had last month.

5. The pain is real

I don’t think this was Pandoras intention. They did not plan to cause misery and rage. I don’t think they sat around their boardroom tables planning increasingly torturous methods to inflict on us. But here we are. Many in North America, who after staying up all night, did NOT get a charm. Understandably – they were not happy. They were even more unhappy after seeing customers who had snagged one (or 5) and selling it on eBay for 3 times the price. I am not happy about this either.

The only way to combat the situation on ebay is this: DON’T BUY FROM EBAY. It’s a free market and people can do what they want, but if we buy from people who are profiteering from this then they will do it again and again.

It think the US and Canada websites had a technical problems that meant people could get the charm into their bag but could not order. Those that did manage to order had their orders cancelled. Hopefully it will be better next time. 

6. Set up Apple Pay and learn how to use it efficiently

My husband watched as I sat there peering at my credit card, reading the numbers forward and then backward (an excellent tip I think), checking I had the name and the address correct for the third or forth time and then finally (after a little hover over the pay button) pressing it. Why don’t you use Apple Pay? he asked. 

There are a million good reasons starting with security, privacy, data protection, cyber crime… and the fact I had never heard of it. It stores all your card details in the cloud (what could go wrong?) he says and you can pay in seconds. 

Pay. In. Seconds. That will give me the advantage I need over my rivals! 

If only I could keep this information to myself.

7. Be aware of restocking

Most sites sell out and then have stock made available later. This point has been edited because I made some quick assumptions about how a shopping basket works which, it was pointed out to me, were not correct – I researched it and that turned out to be true. The fact remains that these charms come back into stock on some sites. I know for sure that Australia deleted a bunch of orders from people who ordered more than one item.

Some people were able to press refresh and had it pop up. I know this is what leads to a lot of additional frustration and people pressing refresh a million times but be aware that things can come back into stock.

One final observation if you are getting error messages would be to try a different browser – swap Safari for Chrome, try a different device, tablet or desktop PC. These are not guaranteed to succeed but computers are glitchy and a different platform may give a different result.

8. Some stores in the US sold the Frog in January

Although this does not directly affect me I don’t think it is fair. It concerns me to think of fans and collectors arriving at 9am on the 20th at their nearest store which sells the 20th anniversary charms, only to be told they have sold out.

9. This is not a worldwide collection

I think it is a shame that Pandora only chose to release this charm in a number of key markets. I know that some countries like Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia and Greece didn’t get the Strawberry charm in January. However, Greece did get the Strawberry charm in February on the 20th so there is hope for other countries. 

Personally, as a collector, I have received help from fellow Pandora fans to purchase exclusive charms from Russia, China and the US. Of course I am not suggesting we should be willing to pay at a premium, and I will never buy from eBay!

10. We have more poetry

Silver little Froggie,
So hard to find,
Where did you hop to,
Will you be mine?

Dancing on the Lilly pad,
Out of stock online,
Late night on the internet,
This is such a grind.

20 years of Pandora charms,
I don’t know what to say,
I saw you on the ebay,
Is there no other way?

What charms will follow you,
My little Frog Prince,
Ten more charms to go,
Any hints?

This month I hosted a live blog on the evening before the release of the second Pandora 20th Anniversary charm. As it was successful and helped many locate the charm online I will do the same thing for the March release.

Everyone is excited about next months charm and some fans may even know what it is. However please keep the information to yourself and don’t share it on this site. Thank you x

Unfortunately not everyone was able to purchase the Pandora 20th Anniversary Frog Charm. I am really sorry for such a disappointing outcome for those who tried and failed to purchase. Were you able to purchase the Limited Edition Frog charm? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below…