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https://www.foxnews.com/travel/star-wars-galaxys-edge-stealing-sporks-ebay
::clears throat:: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I do not condone this behavior at all, but I find it absolutely hilarious. Who are these people that pay through the nose for this stuff?
People also have listings on ebay for the custom lightsabers and droids from the park. The buyer tells them how they want their item assembled and then the seller sends in someone to fill the order.
Side note: If Disney can link you to an ebay store that does this they will ban you from the parks for life.
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Geesh.
Ya, theft is totally uncalled for and these folks should be prosecuted.There is a market for merchandise only available at events or parks. It’s actually not a bad business for folks close to such a place who have access. I’ll have access to next year’s Masters in Augusta and plan to buy some merch to list. Certain items sell for nearly triple what they retail for at the event.
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Every time I see something like this spork, I almost want to jump on Alibaba, find a utensil manufacturer, send them a photo, and order thousands for pennies each.
I once went deep into this idea with a vintage bottle opener that was popular (sold one for $150). I contacted a manufacturer off Alibaba, made some CAD drawings to send them and photos, and got some good pricing and 3D printed samples sent to me. The brand on it is still active, so I was scared to knock it off. The pricing was 30 cents each – but had to order something odd like 7000 units.
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Before I started on eBay, I was diving into Amazon FBA and private labeling things. Sounds great at first what with all the “I make millions selling on Amazon!” videos out there, but the reality looks more like a huge gamble. After dealing with all the idea and product generation, you hope you get 7000 widgets that sell, not 7000 widgets that sit in a warehouse and bill you for storage.
For now I’m very glad I went the eBay route. As I keep growing, I’ll eventually expand into Amazon and learn their platform. For now, investing thousands of dollars on an idea just isn’t worth it to me. I can go to Harrah’s and gamble all day long…and at least get a “free” hotel room and dinner. 🙂
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I wonder if anyone has any sense on how well private label sellers do in the long term. Is it sustainable?
I’ve heard rumors of sellers finding an item that does well, but then I also hear the stories of people’s item being copied as soon as other sellers see that its popular.
So it becomes a game of investing in a popular item, selling quick enough before all the other sellers copy you, and then re0investing the profits into the next popular item hoping to never get caught with thousands of items that wont sell.
IS this everyone’e sense of the private label world?
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I think coming up with a “copy and replicate” item is a small gamble at first, then becomes bigger as more and more “copy and replicate” items flood the market.
I think a good example is fidget spinners – they were crazy for a few weeks a couple years ago, however, they were simple to replicate, anyone who could make one did, and now every discount store, dollar store, liquidator has pallets of them for sale for pennies. If you got in at the beginning, you made good $, however, those who jumped in at the end got burned.
I feel the challenge is to find something that won’t get too popular, but will sell consistently – but not too consistently that it will get noticed and copied.
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I made a living sewing and selling “project bags” for knitters. I figured I sew, I love to knit, I love the Day of the Dead, so I would set up booths at places like Yarn Con. My theme was, naturally, Day of the Dead. I made Day of the Dead banners using Day of the Dead fabrics. I made project bags using Day of the Dead fabrics, I sold my leftover Day of the Dead fabrics, etc. at these conventions. Oh my goodness. People were coming by saying things like “Can I just take a photo of this to see if my ___________ (insert family member, friend, coworker here) would like this bag?” or “Would you mind if I took a photo of your booth? It’s great!”
Fast forward. I am watching a knitting podcast. The podcaster holds up a project bag and stated that it was sent to her by “so and so”…”so and so” used my business name with the name of the business jumbled. As an example (I know I did not explain that properly) if the business name is “Landmark Boat Trips” they called their business “Boat Trips Landmark”. Oh my goodness! I could have gone through the computer and screamed. I had to watch that podcast about 5 times. Was I hearing things? It is not fun to have someone copy your “anything”. I get “inspiration”, but to “copy” is another matter.
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