oust the flipper

^^ wow, so I guess ebay is like the "show your collection" section of SB for her?

its funny seeing how many circles she can go in..

 

She is happy to have bought it for that price and is a collector of Bemons but for some reason she wants to sell it for a little over what she paid but she's happy to keep it forever? huh? i'm a little lost myself

 

Ok, ok. One more. It's too good not to share. I swear I'm done now:

When asked: "So why don't you keep it if you love it so much?"

"Because I have taken enough picture and a good look on the item and want to buy other stuff too to look at? Like Green Bemon, for one. Anyway, enough talking for me today. You are very simple minded person, and I hope you can keep on dreaming to get Bemon at retail price. It will not happen, but who am I to say? 'Oh if we all can just not buy the item, it will go down.' Pfft. And then what? And people like you will get the item and I do not? What kind of BS is that. And by the way, the toy maker himself sell the item on Auction, and the item always go about the same price anyway in auction. I believe this item worth that much and I have no regret getting it. You do not seem to have that believe, so maybe you should ask yourself the question: Are you even qualified to collect Bemon? Maybe you should leave it to people like me who love the item and know how to support the artist, you know. Get it at proper price from the official auction, not try to dumb the price down for something as extraordinary as this toy."

 

Deadboy, I think you'd have to admit that a lot of it is. Some of it is pure art with great, passionate craftsmanship and a fascinating history. Yet at the same time, its still plastic.

I'm not doing that right now?

Ultra999, that got a laugh out of me. Maybe I should change my username and switch my picture to a headshot of the Sucklord...

Petite, again, I'd love to believe in a sense of community as well. I'm just saying that from my past experiences and what I've seen that's just not largely the case. If it is the case, maybe its more visible if you're a CA/NY local and you have folks in the hobby to talk face to face and establish a dialog with. I've sold stuff here and elsewhere for at or below cost, but it's usually because they managed to help me out before. I've been burned a few times, sure, but that doesn't stop me from helping certain people here and there. At the same time, that doesn't stop me from selling items at a markup as well.

 

Quote of the year.

 

Amethystcape I really beg to differ on your generalization that everyone here is a flipper or will be one at one point. How so? I don't have many prized (aka hyped super desirable) toys in my collection but I know I have a few. I could easily say fuck it, flip my Mecha Ju, Butanohana Spaceman, GID Maza and make some pretty nice coin but I don't? I wonder why? Hell I paid less than $125 for my GID Maza I think? In fairness I won it in a lottery but still with your ideology I guess I'm just stupid for keeping it and not turning it into a big fat profit for myself. Some of us here like our toys, some of here are collectors and not speculators, but you know what you're right. You're absolutely correct. This isn't a board for collectors anymore (save the vintage section), it's a board for speculation.

 

I absolutely don't mind your cynicism: I'm usually pretty much up there myself. I'd simply appreciate if you (or anyone) didn't buy limited items with the sole intent of immediately selling them for much more, or with the intent of sitting on them so that they will eventually be worth much more. Yes, if you hadn't bought the MBs, another flipper might have. But you can't deny there's an equal chance a genuine collector might have as well.

Oh and tooooootal thread derailment, but "petite" is the female form of "small" in French (and you know what it means in English). My username with spaces is actually petit étoilon rouge (small red spur/spangle).

 

I. HAVE. AN. F-ING. BEMON. COLLECTING. DIPLOMA!

(seriously, I don't know if it's the language barrier, but she sounds unhinged.)

(sorry, double post)

 

You're not stupid for buying and keeping what you love, Lixx. Some of the stuff in my collection I paid double digits for years ago is worthless to anyone but myself now. Do I regret it? Nope.

As for Natalia.Pritt, I think she's just got a language barrier going on. (In addition to, yeah, being slightly unhinged...)

 

The funny thing is, these ebay flippers often buy from each other. Not sure if they are a small group of people with multiple IDs trying to increase their feedback...

 

Or drive up the market.

And Lixx. This board isn't for speculation, it causes speculation and controls it.

Look at the guests vs members ratio at anytime.

 

This could just be because people don't always log in (or because s7 is notoriously slow in approving new users). And without logging in, they don't have access to the Wanted lists...

 

This is exactly like people who were into sneakers in the late 1980's, 90's and early 2000's.

You had people who were hardcore collectors.
Industrial design enthusiasts and just straight sneaker trend junkies of the latest athletic wear crazes.

But there was kind of this sweet spot, early on - just like in every PRODUCT based interest as a "collectible" "hobby".
A period where the masses were not focused on sneakers, the media wasn't focused on it, and in general if you were "down" you'd have all your spots, and know about these european, japanese and off-brands that make your collection amazing.

You'd get them for "deals" or "retail".

People always got salty when a new person would get in, because it meant one more person snagging up what you had not gotten to yet, or competing with you on spots. And of course some would buy up big lots of shoes and hold them down and sell them off to friends- or the highest bidders.
Prices were going up, the "cool" sneakers weren't around as much and people were complaining about being priced out of the "hobby". That they got into it because it was "affordable". But if that is the only reason you do something, it shouldn't be a big deal to switch over to a new low priced money pit.

In the early 2000's sneaker blogs hit the scene. Nike SB was an overnight hype machine and the skittle-vomit-sneaker-hype-beast is born.

It has become near impossible to get any hyped, limited, tier 0, or other commercial releases. Even MASS releases end up in shopping mall stampedes and tons of re-sale.

Many real collectors are always left short while Flipper goes straight to the bay.
Remind me to make a t-shirt later of flipper jumping into a bay with a sack of goods.

Anyway - this was pretty much paralleled by toy culture / collecting / hobby on the same time line for Japanese toys.

There is a lot of allure, a lot of people completely ignorant to the history, and as of about 2000 on - a slew of new self label pieces in very short supply. To be clear - anything under 100,000 pieces is a short run on a global product scale.

So when someone makes 100 or 50 or god forbid 2 - you've got a very unrealistic expectation of this as a "hobby".
That isn't hobby. That is commerce.
That is a creator doing short run editions.
That's the art and design world. Not the toy world.

I know they LOOK like toys. But let's be serious. No one here is a kid or buying this for your kids. You can kid yourself and let your kid mess with a few pieces or give them beaters, but unless you're talking ugly-doll, no one is hitting the numbers or markets of actual toy stores.

I wouldn't expect self label product houses to sell items like chairs - at wal-mart prices AND survive.
Many people would be like "WTF!?! a $1000 chair! It's a Chair!" - but people deserve a living for the money and time and RISK for making it.
And pricing appropriately in self publishing keeps flippers out.

Part of the issue is that the creators have tried to do noble things and make decent runs and have pretty low price points.
And overall this has been mostly un-exploited by flippers. But they are always there at the gates.
The nature of this community rejects outrageous prices.
People try it - But I'd say it's a minority on Skullbrain.

When there is second market and even third and fourth market for an item, it's potentially a very expensive place to compete.
But I think some issues are within the realm of people being overly cheap and thrifty.

Many people like Nag, and Hirota have official YJA channels to try and raise money for their efforts. There is some good in demand, but I also believe in a free market.

Everyone wants to own a toy that is worth some outrageous amount of money. Don't lie to yourself and act like you aren't stoked when a toy you had the knowledge to get early on that sky rockets in value. It's affirmation that you've got good taste. But there is always have and have nots. Not everyone should have access to the same things that aren't necessities.

And even then it's a baseline of access.

I'd say a large part of the issue comes from the creators not having a way to fairly filter their small supply to demand ratio in direct sales. With a Mecha Gorilla Ju release, how does that guy know who is who? And why should he care? Is it really worth his time?

Supply and demand creates these issues. Some of it is hype, some of it is pure demand out of ravenous desire. I personally don't have a problem with free market, and feel people can buy and sell whatever they want at whatever price they want. If people are crazy enough to pay crazy prices - so be it.
And if you price your shit out so bad no one wants it - guess you better listen to your market and meet their demand.

Overall I'm guilty of purchasing a $175 piece recently for $600. I did it as I knew it'd get quite a bit of money if it went to the bay.
It was an opportunity that I had to consult with other toy makers, not just collectors on. And they begrudgingly admitted it was sadly the best aftermarket price I'd probably get. I felt a little shitty buying, but I can afford it.
It was kept private and off the lame-dar. (that is a radar pun)

But I also understand that ousting people parading as loyal collectors is GOOD. Scumbags out to score and profiteer should be clear about "I have dreams of making a racket off of limited edition hype items." And then that way at least we'd know what's up. So I applaud everyone for trying to help someone like Saigansho see that overall we agree with him trying to get his pieces into the right hands.

I also STRONGLY agree that you should be offering up your goods to the SB and other toy families FIRST before going to the bay.
I mean - people here are willing to spend money more or less.
But if you bought something just bait someone, I'd say that is a bonehead move.
Bad investments 101.

If you had a person lined up Nag ready, and they were all "Yeah I trade you dog!" then I could see where no one would need to have a complaint.

But the real issue is, you violated Saigansho's most recent public request - that these toys need to not be aired in his face by flippers jerking him around.
And the consequences are pretty un-pleasant.

Do me and everyone else here a favor. Out of courtesy to the whole toy community - keep your item off of ebay. Don't buy overpriced shit on hype of trade baiting / flipping, and come talk to your bros.

It sucks to not get a toy you want real bad, but all of us are missing gems from our shelves.
No need to wreck a whole global toy offer.

We're here for you dude.
I hold no ill will to anyone on this board.

I'd rather see us triumph and support than eat each other alive.

Just be glad you don't collect the vintage shit I do. No one in my field has room to moan. Our stuff is legitimate artifact and the people buying it are serious collectors of design, art and toy. It's a very high accolade for the creators pieces to be so loved and sought. It's not all bad.

Just get your hustle on, but we don't need to hustle each other.

Also it may be a good idea to require a login and sign up to see anything here.... Just saying. If people feel exploited - maybe we should protect ourselves.

 

This is actually very common in Asia. There are a lot of auction and sales sites, that people here probably don't even know exist, where people have collections with insane prices on them - and they do indeed use those sites as collection shelves / bragging rights.

It's not uncommon on yahoo japan to see someone game the auction site when they want to upload more photos of an item for free to see an auction at ¥99,999,999,999,999.99 just so people can see more images.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TylvUGJIi_w


And russblue, funny you should mention that, I found out I ended up selling at least 5 grodys to excommunicated board member riddlped. Kinda surreal I'd be selling to a stolen good toting rock-shipping conman but its a small world!

 

I agree with this. If everyone here has passed and you are able to find buyers elsewhere, good for you.

Lamethystcape buying up releases and going straight to double retail on ebay, whether to finance your grail, support your drug habit, or fund a revolutionary army in a foreign country, is fucking lame and I take offense to him saying we are all flippers.

 

Oh, and I'm Russblue11 on ebay as well. I've never sold anything though, and have bought like 1 kaiju toy there (mainly for textbooks)

 

@amethystcape

Don't get it twisted bro. I don't agree with what is going on ebay with mecha gorilla ju. Tighten up.

 

Perception shapes reality and from what I've seen my prior statements say exactly what I mean.

And please, a drug habit would be cheaper than toys. No thank you.

And diceone I got that from your post. I was just saying your post was very comprehensive and well organized and that I agree with it.

 

Bravo! I am quoting this for posterity. You raised some incredible points here. This is kinda like a gospel of SB. I also find it quite interesting that you admit that,

"Overall I'm guilty of purchasing a $175 piece recently for $600. I did it as I knew it'd get quite a bit of money if it went to the bay."

Its certainly a free market. Sounds like that $600 'the last Goga' I passed on last week? (I did not like the colorway, though I did start to like it more, it grew on me, and wanted it after). I have not, yet at least, maybe never will, buy a toy just because it was worth more money. I find this thread very good to help people realize that we can do better as a community, but its a drag, people really need to lighten up. When I first got into this Brian Flynn told me "Its got to be fun"...

 

I don't collect goga. TO BE CLEAR IM EDITING THIS - I didn't buy a goga for $600...

The piece I DID BUY : It's a great piece and IMO worth $600+ I'm not complaining.
I didn't feel like I was getting flipped on so much as someone was letting it go for a price they were willing to part with it over.

I'm just vocalizing the sting of market demand. Even if you can afford it, it's there.

 

This thread makes me want to sell my entire collection.

 

at retail?

 

Where is this $600 Goga you speak of? I think it's quite reasonable as well

 

This has gone down hill fast, extremely fast. To be honest the whole thing just starts to make me feel icky. I know that flipping is ruining a lot of good things that should just be fun and lighthearted. That said, I don't come here to feel like I am slamming my head in a door repeatedly. Some people are admitting to be flippers and I wont sell to them anymore. If you think there is no community here it's because you have not made yourself a part of it. In a mere two years I have been treated well on many things, many times. I try and be a good part of the community because it has been good to me. I'm not coming back to this thread anymore.