Why do some people get a pass when it comes to flipping toys?

Usually now a days I just lurk ( I’m sure that’s makes many people happy) but what the hell i’ll add my few cents...

My prices range from 100-500. It all depends on run size, cost of vinyl, size of toy, paint job etc. I think I’m pretty fair and don’t base them on after market.

This is also my full time job, each toy I sell I have to pay taxes on. Being a full time artist is a hard balance, trying to make art, and price it so you can live and support your responsiblities, but also make it fit the market price. I think if you look around I do just that.

I’d like to think that doing this for 10 years now has gained me some sort of cred to charge the prices I do, not hype. If I was just hype I’d be long gone I’d figure by now. That’s my opionin I’m sure many still think it’s worthless garbage.

Shipping, yeah I don’t see a penny of that. To be honest after PayPal fees, taxes and shipping materials a lot of the time I’m paying the difference. So that’s that, blame USPS. And like mentioned FUCK first class, I’ve been scammed before and not gonna happen again.

As well, I may not post a lot here but ask any artist that has sold in my gallery. They come first and I make damn sure they get more respect than any other gallery in existence. They get 75% of sales and I cut them a check at the end of the night, NO other gallery has ever done so.

Im a father and family man now, as much as I’d love to chat on this board, I honestly prefer to enjoy my family and make art and enjoy life. When I see people face to face at shows Esp my shops, I spend hours taking toys and the scene, and what ever questions they have over food and drinks. It’s so much better and reaches deeper in person than in an internet chat room where everyone seems to be out for blood. I’d much rather have a chat , take some photos for the wall and enjoy a good laugh any day, that’s real, not talking from behind a computer all day.

Flipping will always be here, sadly. I do as much as I can but I can’t dedicate my life to it, I’m not trying to be Sisyphus. Becuse that’s what it is. I can only tell people my thoughts so much before I look like the man shouting from my soap box. Don’t flip, and don’t buy flipped toys. It’s pretty simple but you can’t force people to follow the rules as much as you tell them how much it hurts.

Bootlegging. That seems to be being swept much more under the rug than flipping which is insane. This entire board and it came down to one thread. That’s a real problem. Because trust me if you don’t give two shits about my stuff being bootlegged, it’s gonna happen to your favorite artist next and trust me it will. Not a if but when.

 

And long may you continue, good sir.

Amen to that.

I find it interesting that a lot of the hubbub over toy flipping on SB revolves around the 'hottest' toys on the scene, which is not surprising i suppose.

Unfortunately, it affects pretty much the entire hobby in recent years and its not just the hot toys that are being flipped for silly money. My beloved Bear Model is one of those makers that has arguably never been 'trendy', but even their Kaiju toys are starting to fetch unusually large amounts of dough. There is a seller in Japan on ebay at the moment trying to flog some BM pieces for frankly laughable amounts. I literally LOL'd when i saw the prices.

We can complain about flipping as much as we want but some collectors are willing to pay it, for whatever reason. If they keep spending ridiculous amounts, it will carry on until the bubble bursts. This must happen in all fields of collecting . . . . boom and bust.

Would calling people out on it, really make a difference? I'm not sure.

 

I think two things are going on in regard to the supposedly 'unhyped' toys getting flipped. First many of the older toys by makers like M1, Bear Model etc are getting harder an harder to come by. I think this is because most have settled into collections and people are unwilling to part with them.

The second thing happening is loads of flippers buy up these toys cheap when they can, and then price them outrageously hoping to drive up market interest and getting novice kaiju collectors into thinking anything kaiju/sofubi is worth a shit ton of cash. It's laughable an ridiculous to those of us who know better, but I think some people really believe this and some enterprising flippers are taking advantage of their unpopularity by hoping an obsessive collector will throw down large sums thinking: "this never comes up for sale!".

These tactics have killed collectors trying to get a fair shake on new toy releases as well by perceived inflated market value- especially with a company like M1. I mean not taking anything from M1- their products are a gold standard of quality and should be sought after, but now every release is immediately hard to come by and go for large sums for those not able to get to an event. Maybe I live in a fantasy world but Matangos would never go for more than 10000 yen, Giant T28's were always under 25000 yen, etc etc. Now good luck with that! Maybe it is because there aren't that many around but it doesn't seem like it with all the auctions and online sales. Maybe I'm naive and there are just that many more collectors out there now?!

I don't pay attention to hyped toys that much or the flippers who try an manipulate that market, but when it starts to bleed into my licensed character world I get really annoyed.

 

Telenobo

 

TeleHELLno

 

Telehellnobo: A "Skullbrain Presents" Telenovela

 

Riffing on a similar thought - buying a whole shit-ton of über rare event exclusives to flip on yer next trip to Tokyo . . . real fuckin' classy!

 

Lmfao

to be fair, stupid iPhone changes it to telephone, i thought i corrected it but guess not

 

@eckotyper i thought it was intentional haha

 

guys for what it worth its a viable argument but has been going on for years..you can search the forum for old posts pertaining ti this subject from 2005. Not saying its not worth chatting about but take a second anf do some digging it may help your perspective or may not you never know..

 

Well Hell, guess this thread had a little life left in it after all...
Back to the original post, I believe David answered the first question with the 2 that followed.

Can't say much about the booth because frankly, I've never set foot in it since its inception 3(?) years ago. Its existence and now expansion into a small marketplace is completely perplexing to me & reeks of poor taste.
If just older toys being sold at retail or less, it would be a another story, but from all accounts that's not the case. Aftermarket sales and flips will always be around, but should not be happening at a convention booth IMO.

Not expecting anyone involved to chime in at this late hour, nor expecting the artists/makers who seemingly turned a blind eye to this "garage sale" that (in some cases) was selling their work for inflated prices under the same roof.

Best to hope for (before this thread croaks) is someone that purchased something from the booth to speak up...
Please don't feel guilty by association. Simply looking for a different perspective on the matter.

*edited to clean up/shorten the wall of text

 

Because life isn't fair.

 

Part of why I still don't own an Orm !
Can't wait for those to be bootleged, now

 

If you catch all these people flipping doesn't it make you all look a bit slow & useless. How come they always get there just before you or outbid you? That's really weird.
Even if it was cheaper I think you'd miss it all over again and if you diddn't even want it in the first place it's none of your business really.
I can't understand why your collecting things you cant afford if your not going to make any profit to pay for them? It's not going to work.
Maybe you got hooked when it was going cheap but you can't complain because the sales have ended and actually you were very lucky to get what you did, which we can see from your galleries is... an entire room full!
Hmm, the flippers must have been asleep that day.

 

@Kristupas just curious, how long have you been collecting?

 

Momma says "stupas is as stupas does"

@toothaction can you please just odibex this guy?

 

This is a private forum and the general consensus is that flippers are parasites and unwanted here. This is a place for people who respect other collectors and don't try to get people to pay for their collections. The sales thread here usually has items for retail or less as an appreciation for others who practice this way of collecting. Flippers and opportunists who join and abuse this are not liked - is this really so difficult for you to comprehend???

Basically we treat each other as friends, and friends should not profit off of each other. Do you have friends? Do you try to make money off of them? Are you a shitty friend?

If you are really here, on skullbrain, to defend flipping or trying to change minds, then you are truly a moron. Do what you want and accept that people here and in the collecting world will think you are scum. Why do you care? Just fuck off an flip your toys elsewhere. Plenty of people are doing it. I'm sure they will think you're cool. Why do you continue to lurk around here with all of us fascist nazi toy dictators?

BTW, your ramblings in this quote are pretty much drivel. Replying to you is inherently unproductive. I'm just hoping that you at least pick up on the fact that you are already considered a nuisance here and hopefully decide to grab a few others dipshits you know on here and leave out of spite.

k, bye

 

I love you.

 

@Kristupas you sound like a fucking toddler or someone who needs a nap or timeout. Please put your bigboy pants on or just leave already.

 

At the end of the day that is the one thing so many people just can't seem to understand. Many of the people who collect this stuff are friends. Many of the people who collect this stuff are friends with the people who make this stuff. There is no real degree of separation like with other stuff people collect and flip. So when people like this new troll try and use the same arguments for flipping toys here and funko pops it just doesn't add up.

Does anyone know anyone who sculpted a funko pop? Or who painted it? Or who designed it? Or who pulled the vinyl? Probably not. So when that type of thing is flipped no one really bats an eye because there is no real personal involved. Yet people still try to compare apples and oranges when it just doesn't apply.

The last toy I bought was designed and sculpted by a guy who is here on SB and painted by a guy I have spoken to several times on IG and pulled in japan by another guy who posts here on SB so yeah. It's just different and it's not entirely outrageous when we feel like people who buy these toys should be considered part of the community and act accordingly.